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Sunday Morning Book Thread 03-31-2019

university club library nyc.jpg
University Club Library, New York City


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, snark, and a continuing conversation on books, reading, writing, and publishing by escaped oafs 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 I think you're all going to hate me for, because not only are they a complete eyesore, but the lines are so arranged so that your eyes are drawn in to a place where you just don't want to go.


Pic Note

You'll want to click on it to see the larger version. The Florentine ceilings, imported and installed around 1850, are absolutely spectacular.

(h/t lurker scottst)


It Pays To Increase Your Word Power®

INTERTRIGATION is mutual friction, or the act of two things rubbing against one other.

Usage: Stormy Daniels' intertrigation records were sealed by the court for the public good.

Books By Morons


This was the first tweet in a thread that quickly turned into a discussion of conservative authors and promoting them. So I stuck my big nose in and volunteered to help out with the signal boost, and I got a pretty good response from a number of authors.

Rawle Nyanzi reached out to me to tell me about his own upcoming novel:

I've got a book coming in May called Shining Tomorrow, about a civic-minded high school girl going toe-to-toe with a private military company to save her best friend...in a world where the Japanese Empire controls the US. Your audience is sure to like this book since it contains some satirical elements about our current political moment. However, the purpose isn't to propagandize, but to tell superheroic stories in a milieu different from modern, 21st century America or anything similar to it.

It's not up on Amazon yet, but more info is available on Nyanzi's website, including a promo trailer. The cover art looks like this:

Shining Tomorrow (low-res cover).jpeg

I take it he's a big anime fan, then.

___________

Next we have A Traitor to Dreams, the first novel by author Alexander Hellene, a sci-fi/urban fantasy mix with an isekai (stranger in a strange land) premise:

Elpida Kallistos has everything she wants . . . almost. There is one unfulfilled dream, one desire standing between her and happiness. Enter the Dream Trashcan from Ideomatic, Inc., guaranteed to eliminate unwanted desires while you sleep. All it takes is the click of a button and the desire is gone, permanently.

And it works! But when Elpida has second thoughts and opens up her Dream Trashcan, she finds more inside than circuitry and wires. She finds a whole other world . . . the Dreamscape, a realm where angelic, winged beings called Stewards hunt down desires made flesh. But her presence makes the Dreamscape unstable, and Ideomatic will do anything to get her out.

This one sounds wild. And it's only 99 cents on Kindle.

___________

And then there's Yakov Merkin's Galaxy Ascendant series, which he describes as "a grand-scope, action packed space opera series in the Star Wars vein."

From the Amazon blurb:

After her homeworld suffers a devastating attack, Grand Admiral Nayasar Khariah wants nothing more than vengeance upon the Galactic Alliance, the interplanetary civilization that had expelled her people and then refused to punish the organizers of the attack. Her opportunity finally comes when she meets Executor Darkclaw, who has been tasked with conquering the Galactic Alliance— to be followed by the rest of the galaxy—by his master, the all-powerful energy being known only as the High Lord.

Things abruptly change, however, when Darkclaw unexpectedly starts feeling emotions he does not understand, and finds himself heretically questioning the only purpose he has ever known—irrevocably altering his view of the ongoing war.

There are 3 books in this series (so far). You can buy a Kindle edition of the first one, A Greater Duty, for 99 cents.

___________

The Compleat Martian Invasion: Earth's Defense Awakens by John Taloni is "a steampunk take on War of the Worlds / First Men in the Moon / The Time Machine plus Burroughs and Verne":

With Earth left in shambles by the Martian invasion, Queen Victoria's daughter Louise must lead the world through a dire emergency: The Martians are coming back. First she must rescue Cavor from his prison on the Moon in order to build a defense fleet. Even with Cavor their efforts would be for nothing without the genius of Nikola Tesla leading the way. And on Mars, unexpected allies fight a rearguard action to help Earth. Meanwhile the Time Traveler repeatedly appears, but is he friend or foe?

The Kindle version is $2.99

___________

Adam Lane Smith e-mails:

I've got a new book coming out March 30th called Maxwell Cain: Burrito Avenger. It's designed to feel exactly like watching a classic 1980s or 1990s action flick like Die Hard or Demolition Man. It's humorous but also packed with action. I ran a Kickstarter and we blew well past the original goal, so we're also producing an audiobook. Paperback, Kindle, and Audiobook all release on March 30th simultaneously.

So you're in luck, because Mar. 30th was yesterday. So what is Maxwell Cain: Burrito Avenger about?

Maxwell Cain, also known as “Bloody Rain Cain,” is a cop fed up with the murderous hooligans who control the streets of San Pajita, California.

After years of public service, Max is fired for executing too many dirtbags, and he seeks solace at his favorite taqueria. When his comfort burrito is sullied by the careless actions of brutal thugs, Max finally snaps. What begins as an argument over a ruined lunch quickly spirals into a hurricane of blood and revenge.

Max is joined in his fight by the gorgeous Kate Valentine, a baker with an itchy trigger finger. As the two rush into battle against an entire criminal organization, they are hunted by the relentless terror of the seedy underworld: Johnny Legion.

This book is designed to feel like watching a classic 80s or 90s American action flick.

So it's like John Wick, only with a burrito rather than a dog.

Never mess with a man's burrito.

The cover art looks like good, cheesy fun:

burrito avenger.jpg

Hey, that guy looks like Dwayne Johnson hopped up on meth, only with a bit of hair.

I started reading it last night. The writing style is reminiscent of early Mickey Spillane, only not as erudite and refined.

(No actual burritos were harmed in the writing of this book.)


Moron Recommendations

231 I saw David Horowitz on CSPN hawking his latest book, Dark Agenda, and was so impressed I bought it. It is about the progressives war an Christianity and it is very good. It seems incongruous that an agnostic Jew is defending Christianity but he points out that religion isn't the real target; it just got caught in the cross fire. The real target is western values, particularly American values. The concept that all men are created equal and do not need a king or pope or tyrant of any name to rule them arose directly from the Protestant Reformation (and that idea must be destroyed). Although much of this book is pretty grim (not to mention ragestroke inducing), there is humor. Madalyn Murray O'Hair tried repeatedly to defect to the USSR but the Soviets wouldn't have her. They thought she was crazy (or maybe that she would do us great harm if she remained here). I have a few caveats (in addition to it being ragestroke inducing). It's one of those books that are so packed with ideas that you can get lost in the implications of a comment and realize you haven't actually read anything for a few minutes. Although it is not anti-Catholic (Horowitz doesn't have a dog in that fight), it clearly attributes American history and American values to the 97% of the population who were protestant Christians at the time of the Revolution.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 24, 2019 10:54 AM (+y/Ru)

I think the CSPAN video AW watched is this one here, which is about 50 minutes long. It is well worth watching, though the Q-and-A at the end is kind of lame, so you can skip that and not miss a whole lot. He starts out by asking the rhetorical question, "So why am I, an agnostic Jew, defending Christianity?" He goes on to explain that he recognizes that America was founded by a bunch of (Protestant) Christian white guys and the liberties we enjoy in this country came from their (Protestant) Christian beliefs and were baked into the cake at the start.

Tackling a broad range of issues from prayer in the schools to the globalist mindset, Horowitz traces the anti-Christian movement to its roots in communism. When the communist empire fell, progressives did not want to give up their utopian anti-God illusions, so instead they merely changed the name of their dream. Instead of “communism,” progressives have re-branded their movement as “social justice.” Dark Agenda shows how the progressives are prepared to use any means necessary to stifle their opponents who support the concepts of religious liberty that America was founded on, and how the battle to destroy Christianity is really the battle to destroy America.

During the CSPAN talk, Horowitz mentioned that the culture war started with the Roe v. Wade decision. I have been following Horowitz since the early 80s and I had always thought he was pro-choice, but listening to him talk about the issue now, he sounded very much like a pro-life guy. He then admitted that his views on abortion were "changing", but did not go into specific details

You can read all about it in Dark Agenda: The War to Destroy Christian America, although at $14.85, the Kindle edition is a bit pricey.

___________

'Terry' de-lurked to recommend The Fat Vampire by Johnny B. Truant. And by 'fat vampire', it doesn't mean a vampire who feeds on fat (ugh), bur rather a vampire who is a grossly obese fat guy:

A vampire with a conscience saves Reginald Baskin's life by turning him into a vampire. What's not to like? When the former-victim is 300 pounds, slow, weak and out of shape and now destined to an eternity of healing. Always healing back to his original vampire out-of-shape. This tale is an exploration of that crazy idea. Why not? It's really good writing and really great fun on the way.
Hey. Reggie saves the day from a vampire apocalypse. Twice.


This is the first of a six novella series best enjoyed in one omnibus volume. Subsequent titles are Tastes Like Chicken, All You Can Eat, Harder Better Fatter Stronger, Fatpocalypse and Survival of the Fattest.

In the series Truant writes the funniest vampire mythos that I have ever met. Yeah. This is Horror-Humor. I never heard of Truant before, and still suspect it's a nom de plume because the writing is just too good... but he works with other guys and they've formed sterlingandstone.net to publish their prolific output, most of which is pretty good. (Some is just word count, buy it's better than 50-50 that I will enjoy their writing.)

Seriously - this is good. I try to pass the word on about it, but no one ever believes. I guess it's just too insensitive to write about fat people, especially if they live forever.

Posted by: Terry at March 24, 2019 10:04 AM (64PZ4)

___________

Lurkette 'vivi' isn't a real lurker because I actually recognize her nic. She calls herself a "lurker-light", so we'll go with that. Anyway, her recommendation is for Thornton Wilder's The Bridge of San Luis Rey, which she describes as "a compelling narrative, masterful and memorable characterizations, and compassionate understanding of the human heart." From the Amazon blurb:

The Bridge of San Luis Rey is American author Thornton Wilder's second novel, first published in 1927 to worldwide acclaim. It tells the story of several interrelated people who die in the collapse of an Inca rope bridge in Peru, and the events that lead up to their being on the bridge. A friar who has witnessed the accident then goes about inquiring into the lives of the victims, seeking some sort of cosmic answer to the question of why each had to die. The novel won the Pulitzer Prize in 1928, and was the best-selling work of fiction that year.

She also gives a shout-out to The Fixed Period by Anthony Trollope, a satirical dystopian novel set in the future (1980!) about a society that wants to create a utopia. By killing off old people:

The Fixed Period is set in the year 1980 in the Republic of Britannula, a fictional island in the vicinity of New Zealand, and deals with euthanasia as a radical solution to the problem of the aged. The novel takes the form of a personal account written by the President of Britannula about the island's recent history. It has frequently been remarked that when the book came out Trollope himself had reached the age of 67, the exact age at which all Britannulans are obliged by law to retire from their worldly affairs and begin a year of preparation for death.

So Trollope thinks that's dystopian, huh? I'd like to go back in time and pay him a visit. "Hey Tony, guess what? It's 2019 and Mohammedans are practically running your country and also, you can get arrested for saying that a man who is dressed like a woman isn't actually a woman." He'd probably say "Oh pshaw! Did you really expect me to believe such a preposterous tale? Be off with you, else I shall call for the constabulary."

It's available for free.

___________

A recommendation from lurker 'SaltLife':

Wife and I fled the NW to sunny ( and sunnier dispositions) NE Florida so my library currently sits in a pile of boxes but I figured that I'd lurked long enough. I highly recommend Tom Holland's In The Shadow Of The Sword. Technically a non-fiction history book but it reads more like historical fiction and it gives some excellent insights into the origin of Islam. Only problem, since I'm of the advanced age of 29 I can't remember where I got the idea to check it out. Very possible that I saw it on AoSHQ. If not, take a look. The Horde would love it.

I think the genre that In the Shadow of the Sword: The Birth of Islam and the Rise of the Global Arab Empire belongs in would be "popular history". Take a look:

No less significant than the collapse of the Roman Republic or the Persian invasion of Greece, the evolution of the Arab empire is one of the supreme narratives of ancient history, a story dazzlingly rich in drama, character, and achievement. Just like the Romans, the Arabs came from nowhere to carve out a stupefyingly vast dominion—except that they achieved their conquests not over the course of centuries as the Romans did but in a matter of decades. Just like the Greeks during the Persian wars, they overcame seemingly insuperable odds to emerge triumphant against the greatest empire of the day—not by standing on the defensive, however, but by hurling themselves against all who lay in their path.

The Kindle edition is $9.99. Holland is also the author of Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic and The Forge of Christendom: The End of Days and the Epic Rise of the West, "a grand narrative history of the re-emergence of Europe following the collapse of the Roman Empire."


book cartoon 20190331.jpg

___________

If you like, you can follow me on Twitter, where I make the occasional snarky comment.

___________

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 Aloha Librotarians!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 31, 2019 09:01 AM (kQs4Y)

2 Hiya

Posted by: JT at March 31, 2019 09:01 AM (icuj/)

3 I highly recommend Stephen Coonts’s rip-snortin’ tale of Texas Independence, “Liberty’s Last Stand”. It came out in 2016, written before the Assumption of the Skull Throne by the Trumpenator. In this timeline, President Barry Soetoro has used a manufactured crisis to declare martial law, taking control of the already pliant media and sending uncooperative high-ranking officials to internment camps. (There was a time, not so long ago, where I had a sinking feeling something like this might have occurred.)

It gives you a lot to think about. The military are asked to either join the Republic or leave Texas. For some it’s an easy choice – fight the dictatorship and support freedom. But what if you’re a career soldier and you (and your father and grandfather) have fought for the United States? A lot feel it’s violating the oath for something that may be temporary. As one character says, “You don’t burn the house down just because the sewer is backed up.” What if you want to leave but your spouse is from Texas? What about property and businesses? Will government retirements be forfeit?

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 31, 2019 09:02 AM (kQs4Y)

4 OM, why?? Those pants are like the Eye of Sauron.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 31, 2019 09:03 AM (kQs4Y)

5 Good morning fellow Book Threadists. Hope everyone had a great week of reading. Yesterday was my birthday and today I got a belated gift. See next paragraph.

PLEASE NOTE: The Kindle Daily Deals, today only, is all CS Lewis. The seven Narnia books, offered individually, are 1.99 each. The Kindle collected version is 30 bucks and the books usually cost about 8 dollars each, so this is a deal. I was shocked to find I didn't already have the e-versions.

The non-Narnia books are: Absolution of Man, A Grief Observed, The Four Loves, Screwtape Letters, and The Great Divorce for 2.99 each. Again, that's a quarter of the usual price.

I'm getting the ones I don't have. I have all of them in dead tree versions but this makes an inexpensive backup and convenient to carry. Duplication of CS Lewis books is never extreme.

Posted by: JTB at March 31, 2019 09:03 AM (bmdz3)

6 en-biggen is impressive. thanks

Posted by: thrint in hiding at March 31, 2019 09:04 AM (1XtI9)

7 That top photo is gorgeous! It looks like a temple for books, which in my opinion, is the correct attitude. The color scheme is different but those vaulted ceilings remind me of parts of the Library of Congress.

Posted by: JTB at March 31, 2019 09:06 AM (bmdz3)

8 My gosh is that Hillary

Posted by: Bye Gone at March 31, 2019 09:06 AM (C4WwT)

9 Hmmm.

I think I had those pants.

In 196.... nevermind.

Now get offa my lawn!

Posted by: Anon a mouse at March 31, 2019 09:06 AM (6qErC)

10
Biden says 'it was never my intention' to touch a woman inappropriately. So no intent. It's over.

Posted by: James Comey at March 31, 2019 09:07 AM (jYje5)

11 Bonjour mes nerdes des libres!

Gotta be honest, back in college when my highest standard was "willing" those pants would have worked.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at March 31, 2019 09:08 AM (fuK7c)

12 OM, why?? Those pants are like the Eye of Sauron.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 31, 2019 09:03 AM (kQs4Y)


https://stoatnet.org/wtfhrc.jpg

Posted by: hogmartin at March 31, 2019 09:08 AM (t+qrx)

13 Ah, awoke this morning to 2 inches of snowy globull warmening.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at March 31, 2019 09:09 AM (EgshT)

14 I read City of Thieves by David Benioff. It was recommended here a few weeks ago. It's a story of a writer who interviews his grandfather in order to record the grandfather's life in the siege of Leningrad during WW II. It's a short work, 258 pages, so the story moves along. Interesting, good book.

I also read Lies by T. M. Logan which was recommended here awhile ago. This is a very good thriller about a man being framed for the murder of his wife's lover. Lots of plot twists and turns and a surprise ending. An enjoyable read that was hard to put down.

Posted by: Zoltan at March 31, 2019 09:09 AM (8jlwn)

15 https://stoatnet.org/wtfhrc.jpg"

It's my life.
Now leave me alone...

Posted by: Anon a mouse at March 31, 2019 09:10 AM (6qErC)

16 Finished reading "Soulless" by Gail Carriger that I mentioned last week. Set during Victorian era London it features vampires, werewolves and other stuff. The heroine Alexia Tarabotti is soulless and has powers to defeat the evils of darkness, except her really crummy family. Half Italian with the looks to match they consider her an unmarriageable spinster (she's only 26) and horror of horrors she speaks her mind.

Some of her encounters include; a vampire who speaks with a lisp and another one who's flamboyantly flamboyant, doers of evil, Queen Victoria, and werewolves. She has a steamy fling with one of them and if I were the type to underline risque passages in hardbacks I would have underlined the risque passages in this hardback when they get to the hanky panky. But it's only when he's in human form not in wolf form because that would be preverted.

This book was a hoot to read so I will probably read more of the series.

Posted by: Jake Holenhead at March 31, 2019 09:11 AM (TDyHc)

17 Good Sunday morning, horde!

I missed you last Sunday, was in Boulder for my uncle's funeral. A truly great man, electrical engineer who worked on the Gemini and Apollo missions, and many other cutting edge tech. His was a life well lived.

I did get some reading done on the plane--I'm reading The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War, by Joanne Freeman. I really kind of find books like this a comfort, because then I don't feel like things are too bad right now.

Posted by: April at March 31, 2019 09:12 AM (OX9vb)

18 It's a crime to beans in your burrito. Beans are a side dish.

Posted by: Fritz at March 31, 2019 09:12 AM (LuPts)

19 I am reading "GULAG, A History" by Anne Applebaum.

So far it is a very interesting read. The part where Anne is in Czechoslovakia shortly after the collapse of communism and she comes across an outdoor fair and sees little hammer and sickle trinkets and pins from the soviet era for sale and American tourists buying them up and laughing while trying on the hat or pin or what not and Anne asks would they wear that crap and laugh if it were swastikas on sale instead of commie gear.


Posted by: Hairyback Guy at March 31, 2019 09:12 AM (Z+IKu)

20 Happy Birthday April !

Posted by: JT at March 31, 2019 09:13 AM (icuj/)

21 Thanks for drawing attention to conservative indie authors. I particularly enjoy John Taloni's The Compleat Martian Invasion, and I'll have to check out the rest.

This week I reread JP Mac's excellent Hallow Mass - a previous recommendation from the Sunday Morning Book Thread. A student rises to the occasion when unspeakable evil threatens, not just her campus, but also all of existence. JP Mac makes Lovecraft accessible in this clever mix of unspeakable horror, ironic humor, and modern-day campus political correctness.

I also read The Heretics of St. Possenti by Rolf Nelson. Blurb: "Bishop Thomas Cranberry finds himself at a loss when he is confronted by a thief and realizes some disturbing truths about himself. The experience sends him in search of the men who are increasingly absent from the Church, who find themselves at a loss in a world that has gone increasingly feral, and who feel that they have nowhere to go and no one to whom they can turn for support. In listening to them and attempting to understand their plight, he finds an unexpected mission."

Intriguing premise, well executed.

Posted by: Hans G. Schantz at March 31, 2019 09:13 AM (1pQvR)

22 3 Coonts' book will probably be made into a movie in a few years. By then it will be a documentary.

Posted by: bill in arkansas at March 31, 2019 09:13 AM (xzqr4)

23 Good morning, everyone!

Having picked up Gibbon, I'm trying to get through him as quickly as I can and just end the pain.

In book-related news, for Lent I'm making the kids watch some of the old Bible-based movies, back before Hollywood went to war on conventional morality. Last night was "Ben Hur" which is marvelous. The kids were whining about the length, but I pointed out that they would binge-watch whole seasons worth of shows that ran far longer.

Anyhow, it makes me sad to see the art we had vs the art we have.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 09:13 AM (cfSRQ)

24 it doesn't mean a vampire who feeds on fat (ugh)


Hey, who's got two very long and sharp canine teeth and is the most popular guy in Hollywood?

This guy!

And about Brie Larson's ass?

You're welcome!

Posted by: The Vampire Who Feeds on Fat at March 31, 2019 09:14 AM (CRRq9)

25 I enjoyed the Gail Carriger series (the ones that I read -- is the Umbrella Protectorate an ongoing thing?).

Could have done without the throwaway line that America was too fundamentalist to have such an organization.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 31, 2019 09:14 AM (kQs4Y)

26 "to put" - fire my editor!

Posted by: Fritz at March 31, 2019 09:14 AM (LuPts)

27 Read "Bhowani Junction" by John Masters. A historical novel published in 1954 it takes place in 1946 India during the chaos of Britain's withdrawal prior to India's independence and partition. The story centers around 3 characters; a British officer (English), and two Anglo-Indians (English-Indian mix) and their experiences and fears about what might happen to them after independence.

The Anglo-Indian fears were well founded. Loyal to Britain they were looked down upon by the English as well as the Indians. And if the British/Indian class/caste system wasn't bad enough there was the religious hatred between muslims, hindus, and sikhs. Then there were the commies, always the damn commies.

Gandhi is mentioned several times. One of the characters calls him "that sanctimonious little bastard." From what I've read of him that's a kind statement. While he helped bring down the British Empire and advocated non-violence he also wasn't opposed to violence under some conditions. He also despised blacks and had a bizarre attitude toward women. The myth of Gandhi is just that, a myth.

Masters' fiction books are good, but I prefer his nonfiction, especially his book "The Road Past Mandalay" which I think is the finest account of a soldier in war.

Posted by: Jake Holenhead at March 31, 2019 09:14 AM (TDyHc)

28 19
I am reading "GULAG, A History" by Anne Applebaum.


Posted by: Hairyback Guy at March 31, 2019 09:12 AM (Z+IKu)

---
Didn't Applebaum go all-in on Muh RUSSIA?

I don't encounter her work much anymore and I think that's the reason.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 09:15 AM (cfSRQ)

29 For my paperback sci-fi jones, I’m reading “The Long Afternoon of Earth” by Brian Aldiss. It takes place in the far, far future where a remnant population of humans is at the bottom of the food chain in an Earth overrun by aggressive and angry vegetation. The pygmy humans have evolved green skin to blend in and evade plant and insect predators. Spider-like “traversers” have spun a strand of webs to the Moon, which now has an atmosphere, and to which the humans hope to escape. It’s a weird and implausible tale that defies physics, but weird is kinda my bag.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 31, 2019 09:16 AM (kQs4Y)

30 You say Thornton Wilder, I hear Rodney Dangerfield.

Posted by: Burger Chef at March 31, 2019 09:16 AM (RuIsu)

31 This is why I don't write books. My non-linear brain gets me into trouble and I abuse myself.

Posted by: Fritz at March 31, 2019 09:17 AM (LuPts)

32 I started The Landmark Herodotus. This is best read with a cup of good tea for sipping (or bourbon) and a good magnifying glass for the maps and footnotes. This is going to take a long time to finish. I'm only a few pages into it and am constantly distracted. In almost every paragraph I hear echoes of Homer, Arabian Nights, even Conan stories, and many other historical and literary matters. This slows down my reading but is a lot of fun.

I don't remember noticing so many diverse distractions in a previous reading of Herodotus. Maybe I'm getting stranger (always a possibilty) or maybe I'm better read these days. The two are not mutually exclusive.

Posted by: JTB at March 31, 2019 09:17 AM (bmdz3)

33 Having picked up Gibbon, "

Billy?

/heh

You say Thornton Wilder, I hear Rodney Dangerfield."

Heh again...

Posted by: Anon a mouse at March 31, 2019 09:18 AM (6qErC)

34 This is why I don't write books. My non-linear brain gets me into trouble and I abuse myself.
Posted by: Fritz at March 31, 2019 09:17 AM (LuPts)


Yeah, it's rough.

Posted by: Neal Stephenson at March 31, 2019 09:18 AM (t+qrx)

35 This is why I don't write books. My non-linear brain gets me into trouble and I abuse myself.

Posted by: Fritz at March 31, 2019 09:17 AM (LuPts)



Go on...

Posted by: Shep! at March 31, 2019 09:18 AM (CRRq9)

36 Currently reading The American Mind by Henry Steele Commager. Published in 1950, it is a survey of the evolution of American thought during the 1890s to early 20th C. as seen through various books. The book was recommended by one of Mrs. Cop's patients.

The sections on religion, politics and society have been pretty interesting. The section on novels has been less so. A big limitation is that Commager assumes that his reader is familiar with these books; after decades, these authors have been forgotten. When Commager gives extended quotations, it's more useful.

Tentative rating = 3.5/5. (Still reading, but I don't think my evaluation is going to change)

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at March 31, 2019 09:19 AM (5Yee7)

37 Does poor trigger discipline count if it's anime?

Posted by: I like cookies at March 31, 2019 09:19 AM (xxAFD)

38 The tweet about supporting authors (and the subsequent paragraphs) brings up something I've been thinking about the last few years. One person who hits on this a lot is Klavan, of course in his case he included more than just books.

But I have a problem with this. Given that I have limited means, and thus cannot simply give donations but can buy only for my personal consumption, what exactly is my OBLIGATION here? The simple fact is that I have never liked the culture I live in, and the older I get the stronger that is. I know it speaks ill of my character, but I find myself ever more drawn to Evelyn Waugh as a kindred spirit. I started rejecting Boomer culture in the 60s, and I've seen nothing to tempt me to change.

So, why should I, when I'd rather read older books, have to read the stuff they come out with now? This is especially so given that a lot of the energy seems to be in sci-fi, which is not my thing, and from what I have tried, I find mysteries are just worse. The "message" beats you over the head. (The last such writer I've gone with was Michael Gilbert, who was notable in that, if you read several of his, you won't be able to tell which side he was on, though he was in fact a Tory. When he and Patrick O'Brian died, that was it, given the decline of Tom Wolfe.)

I'd rather try a "new" Trollope. So, where should I stand on this?

Posted by: Eeyore at March 31, 2019 09:21 AM (VaN/j)

39 Those pants are fine. I would wear them to barbeque in my backyard.

Posted by: Said no non at March 31, 2019 09:23 AM (UdKB7)

40 The Compleat Martian Invasion: Earth's Defense Awakens by John Taloni is "a steampunk take on War of the Worlds / First Men in the Moon / The Time Machine plus Burroughs and Verne"

Bummer he's only doing Kindle since I don't "do" electronic books. If he'd also give a Print-on-Demand version, I'd purchase the book. Sounds like it could be fun.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at March 31, 2019 09:23 AM (5Yee7)

41 Sorry for the sock fail. The pants made me crosseyed.

Posted by: freaked at March 31, 2019 09:25 AM (UdKB7)

42 Good morning, Book Horde! I had a good week for books. Two weeks ago, I got my first (and last) bonus check from work, so I splurged on a few book orders that came in this week:

Naval and Military Press of the UK had a clearance sale, so I picked up few books from them:

"Operation Menace" by Arthur Marder, about the failed attempt to take Dakar in West Africa from Vichy France in WWII.

"Regency Spies" by Sue Wilkes, about British rebels and revolutionaries during the Regency Period (ca. 1780-1820)

"Small Wars an Their Influence on Nation States 1500 to the Present" by William Urban.

"Panzer-Kraftwagen: Armoured Cars of the German Army and Freikorps" by Rainer Strasheim, a nice illustrated reference to the variety of armored cars of the WWI era, many of which were one-of-a kind examples.
Even with shipping from the UK, these were cheaper than ordering from used booksellers here in the States.

And from ebay, I bought:
"The Stolen Village" by Des Ekin, about the Barbary raid on Baltimore, Ireland, in which all of the inhabitants were killed or kidnapped by the muslim raiders

"Attack on London: Disaster, Rebellion, Riot, Terror & War" by Jonathan Oates, an overview of the bad times London has seen over the years

"Britain's Gurkha War: The Invasion of Nepal 1814-16" by John Pemble

And in the non-history section, I got the 1989 original horror anthology "Dark Visions" which has an early story by George R.R. Martin, and several stories by King.



Posted by: josephistan at March 31, 2019 09:25 AM (Izzlo)

43 20 JT, thanks, my birthday isn't really until April 26.

I got my birthday present early, out of necessity.

Posted by: April at March 31, 2019 09:25 AM (OX9vb)

44 I'd rather try a "new" Trollope. So, where should I stand on this?


Exactly where you are. One of the joys of life is expired copyrights and free books on Kindle.

Mine is now packed with stuff I've read and stuff I hope to get to: Twain, Joyce, Conrad, James, that fuckwad Conan Doyle, and even Robert Howard and Zane Grey.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at March 31, 2019 09:25 AM (fuK7c)

45 I enjoyed the Gail Carriger series (the ones that I read -- is the Umbrella Protectorate an ongoing thing?).
Could have done without the throwaway line that America was too fundamentalist to have such an organization.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 31, 2019 09:14 AM

She's written 5 books in the Umbrella Protectorate series, plus several other series. I don't know anything about those though. And her comment about America was too fundamentalist was annoying. Guess she just doesn't love 'Merica.

Posted by: Jake Holenhead at March 31, 2019 09:29 AM (TDyHc)

46 Just like the Romans, the Arabs came from nowhere to carve out a stupefyingly vast dominion - except that they achieved their conquests not over the course of centuries as the Romans did but in a matter of decades.
______

Well, sort of. The trouble is the unstated implication that there was more to it than there is. The Arabs, clearly NOT through some vast strategic plan, happened to explode just as the TWO great empires had exhausted each other in a brutal war. And one of them did rally, to last for centuries longer.

OK, it's a hobby horse of mine, to rail against seeing necessary historical causes where a lot of happenstance is involved. Probably the best model for how history works is the way markets do; the people involved do have agency, and make decisions with varying degrees of rationality. But the Law of Unintended Consequences, aka Time and Chance happeneth to them all.

Posted by: Eeyore at March 31, 2019 09:30 AM (VaN/j)

47 I never wore pants like that and they probably didn't come big enough for the possibility. But I remember that 'look' from the late 60s. I do not miss it.

I'm trying not to think about the waste of oxygen wearing them.

Posted by: JTB at March 31, 2019 09:31 AM (bmdz3)

48 I never wore pants like that and they probably didn't come big enough for the possibility. But I remember that 'look' from the late 60s. I do not miss it.
Posted by: JTB at March 31, 2019 09:31 AM (bmdz3)


It did its job well enough for the time, throwing off early optical gun director computers. But radar made it obsolete.

Posted by: hogmartin at March 31, 2019 09:33 AM (t+qrx)

49 "Britain's Gurkha War: The Invasion of Nepal 1814-16" by John Pemble
Posted by: josephistan at March 31, 2019 09:25 AM

Before that war was over the British were trying to figure out how they could recruit the Gurkhas into their army. When they did it was a win-win for both.

Posted by: Jake Holenhead at March 31, 2019 09:33 AM (TDyHc)

50 Ha! Dazzle Pants!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 31, 2019 09:34 AM (kQs4Y)

51 Good morning all. Sunny and cold here in heaven. Hoping the saps runs today, as I have helpers here. Full disclosure: I'm not wearing pants. Commenting from the jacuzzi tub. But there is a lot of foaming bath going on. Keeping it classy.

Posted by: Muad'dib at March 31, 2019 09:34 AM (ydNpi)

52 Completed 'Roug Lawyer' by John Grisham. It wasn't WES. Don't buy it even if it is on sale. Now working on The Paper Magician by Charles Nunberg.


Posted by: Vic at March 31, 2019 09:34 AM (mpXpK)

53
The HypnoToad of Bell Bottoms!

Posted by: naturalfake at March 31, 2019 09:35 AM (CRRq9)

54 42

Naval and Military Press of the UK had a clearance sale, so I picked up few books from them:

posted by: josephistan at March 31, 2019 09:25 AM (Izzlo)
______

Aargh! This always happens when I'm strapped. I assume it's over.

Posted by: Eeyore at March 31, 2019 09:36 AM (VaN/j)

55 I am almost finished reading Ike by Michael Korda.

I guess Mike Hammer is at church. The author makes several references to Churchill's 6 volume work on WW II.

I think Mr. H. has read it, and I would like to hear his opinion on it.

Posted by: JT at March 31, 2019 09:36 AM (icuj/)

56 Full disclosure: I'm not wearing pants. Commenting from the jacuzzi tub. But there is a lot of foaming bath going on. Keeping it classy.
Posted by: Muad'dib at March 31, 2019 09:34 AM (ydNpi)


Honestly, I'm a little disappointed it's not full of maple syrup.

Posted by: hogmartin at March 31, 2019 09:36 AM (t+qrx)

57 It's OK. Joe Biden has sexual needs.

Posted by: Babs Streisand at March 31, 2019 09:36 AM (KOCKb)

58 Speaking of science fiction, an article I was reading last week took me to Wikipedia, and the page showed a copy of a first edition cover of Robert Heinlein's The Number of the Beast. I realized that I had bought a copy of that book right after it went on sale. I thought some more and remembered that I got it autographed when Heinlein was talking at NASA here in Houston. Checking my bookshelf I saw that a number of years after I got it, I put it in a sealed one gallon plastic bag.

When I looked on the Internet, the prices for similar quality autographed first edition copies ranged from a low of $250 to a high of $450. Not as much as my autographed copy of Atlas Shrugged, but not bad.

Posted by: An Observation at March 31, 2019 09:37 AM (Sx4eG)

59 The Strange Death of Liberal England 1910- 1914 by George Dangerfield
My favorite history book chronicles the decline of the Liberal party in England just before the apocalypse of the Great War. Essential to understanding the collapse of the British Empire. This used to be hard to find but now with Amazon easy to pick up a used paperback copy for $5.

Posted by: Dread0 at March 31, 2019 09:38 AM (Bptbo)

60 Good morning, fellow Book Threadists! I'm still working on the Fletcher series, recommended a few weeks ago: book three...
In between revamping the front garden, and working away on the next Luna City installment. Trying to get the garden done before it gets too bloody hot to work outside, and then my daughter and I have two craft market events at the end of April...

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at March 31, 2019 09:38 AM (xnmPy)

61 @ 37

Whoops! Didn't catch where that finger was, but it's much too late to change it at this point.

And yes, I *am* a big fan of anime.

Posted by: Rawle Nyanzi at March 31, 2019 09:39 AM (XaAY0)

62 44 I'd rather try a "new" Trollope. So, where should I stand on this?


Exactly where you are. One of the joys of life is expired copyrights and free books on Kindle.

Mine is now packed with stuff I've read and stuff I hope to get to: Twain, Joyce, Conrad, James, that fuckwad Conan Doyle, and even Robert Howard and Zane Grey.
Posted by: Bandersnatch at March 31, 2019 09:25 AM (fuK7c)
_____

Why call Doyle a "fuckwad". Nutcase, I can see. But I've always had a great respect for him in that he realized that his occult shit didn't belong in a Holmes story. And Holmes is, after all, great.

A few others: Hope (Zenda), Hornung (Raffles), and Wren (Beau Geste). I also have a bunch of Rex Stout that I haven't read yet, but don't know where they are. But in general, it's not a bad idea to check what Mark Steyn chooses to read on his site, and just read those books.

Posted by: Eeyore at March 31, 2019 09:40 AM (VaN/j)

63 Having picked up Gibbon, I'm trying to get through him as quickly as I can and just end the pain.

Good luck with that. I had to ban Eddie to my bookshelf when his dipshittery got unendurable until I was mentally ready to re-engage.

For all the bitching that I do about my book group, all of it richly deserved, they still are capable of surprising me in a pleasant way, in this case The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. When I first heard we had this queued up I rolled my eyes and thought WTF. But this is an engagingly written scary story with a small cast of interesting characters (it's a good thing the writer is a woman because the two female characters alternate being friendly and total bitches to each other; no telling if the Netflix version has totally wrecked that with SJW mania) that I'm enjoying a great deal. The house itself is a major character and Jackson briefly refers to the Winchester House in San Jose, which I've been to and is like what you'd get if one of the chateaus in the Loire Valley was designed by a crazy person with unlimited funds and the wherewithal to tell any builder who said "this is too insane for me" to fuck off and find someone more mercenary to keep adding to the monstrosity.

I've been reading Nabokov's early short stories concurrently with his biography and, not surprisingly, his stories about emigres and their dislocations are much better than his tedious blathering about youthful love. Already there's evidence of his power of descriptions and affinity for quirky situations that were more fully realized in Pale Fire and Lolita, and probably other works I haven't read but plan on doing so.

Posted by: Captain Hate at March 31, 2019 09:41 AM (y7DUB)

64 >Honestly, I'm a little disappointed it's not full of maple syrup.
Posted by: hogmartin at March 31, 2019



I need a bigger syrup operation to pull off that sort of profligacy. Also, I have found much smaller quantities of the Amber to be effective enough.

Posted by: Muad'dib at March 31, 2019 09:41 AM (ydNpi)

65 Those pants are a gateway into another parallel universe of pain. Think about it, - an entire novel written about the cover art!

Posted by: Fritz at March 31, 2019 09:41 AM (LuPts)

66 My gosh is that Hillary
Posted by: Bye Gone at March 31, 2019 09:06 AM (C4WwT)
~~~~

The one and only!

Posted by: IrishEi at March 31, 2019 09:41 AM (NtglE)

67 Mrs f'd found a copy of "Fort Hawkins and Frontier Georgia" for me. Benjamin Hawkins was a French Interpreter for Washington during the war and afterwards was made Indian Agent for "All of the tribes South of the Ohio River". Ben Hawkins basically had the job of keeping the indians and white settlers from killing each other. Fort Ben Hawkins in Macon Ga was built in 1803, when that was the frontier and across the river were still Indian lands.

He eventually ended up on the banks of the Flint River where he had the Indian Agency and plantation where they tried to teach the Indians agriculture and trades. Nothing remains of that place, except for Ben Hawkins' grave, which I visited last week. It's out in the country, on a bluff on the river, in a beautiful peaceful spot rarely visited.

Posted by: freaked at March 31, 2019 09:41 AM (UdKB7)

68 Downloaded Edward Lengel's "To Conquer Hell: The Meuse-Argonne, 1918" to add some high-level view research, for my book on grandfather. I thought i would be able to quickly walk through that offensive, and move into the 1920s. As often happens, however, a compelling subplot emerged. his notes, his unit record, and the histories highlight some pretty dramatic incidents. a theme of the book is leadership in combat, and in the first three days of Meuse-Argonne, senior officers were being replaced wholesale. so, instead of breezing through, I will take some time to develop.

Posted by: goatexchange at March 31, 2019 09:42 AM (1Yxnu)

69 4 OM, why?? Those pants are like the Eye of Sauron.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 31, 2019 09:03 AM (kQs4Y)


Because the last couple of weeks, book thread morons have been scoffing at me, "those pants aren't so bad."

So this week, I was, like, hold my beer.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 09:43 AM (htV9h)

70 One of the 'ettes is not wearing pants whilst reading the Book Thread.

Posted by: Moron News YOU Can Use at March 31, 2019 09:43 AM (+1LZb)

71
Started reading the take a look portion of "Maxwell Cain: Burrito Avenger". Thanks a lot, OM - that's now two weeks in a row where I'm tempted to make a bunch of book purchases. I knew that I should have left for that gem and mineral show earlier this morning - it likely would have been less costly.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at March 31, 2019 09:43 AM (pNxlR)

72 Posted by: Rawle Nyanzi at March 31, 2019 09:39 AM (XaAY0)

Whoa, hello there.

Posted by: hogmartin at March 31, 2019 09:43 AM (t+qrx)

73 OregonMuse: Thanks for posting these photos of libraries. They are always a pleasure to see.

Posted by: pst314 at March 31, 2019 09:43 AM (iRbDn)

74 8 My gosh is that Hillary

Posted by: Bye Gone at March 31, 2019 09:06 AM (C4WwT)


It is, indeed.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 09:43 AM (htV9h)

75 Morning all!

Finished another O'Reilly Book, "Killing the Nazi's."

Well written and the the authors list sources at the end.

I was appalled to find out murderous Nazi thugs were hired by the CIA and amused that a legendary Nazi, Otto Skorzeny, worked for Mossad.

Posted by: Blake - used vacation salesman at March 31, 2019 09:44 AM (WEBkv)

76 Good morning! I moved over to a Zombie world. Reading The Black Tide Rising series. I do not know why I get on a survivalist or apocalypse kick every now and then.

I bought a two book series and on Andrew Jackson by Marquis James. Published in the 1930s. Not sure I can muster the energy for the early American English of the time.

Posted by: Rob at March 31, 2019 09:46 AM (QtlEW)

77 It is, indeed.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 09:43 AM (htV9h)
--------------

Yeah, about that...the eye is drawn to?

That you even think our eyes being drawn to certain areas is going to cause an issue when the subject matter is, in and of itself, stomach churning...

Posted by: Blake - used vacation salesman at March 31, 2019 09:46 AM (WEBkv)

78 So, why should I, when I'd rather read older books,
have to read the stuff they come out with now? This is especially so
given that a lot of the energy seems to be in sci-fi, which is not my
thing, and from what I have tried, I find mysteries are just worse. The
"message" beats you over the head. (The last such writer I've gone with
was Michael Gilbert, who was notable in that, if you read several of
his, you won't be able to tell which side he was on, though he was in
fact a Tory. When he and Patrick O'Brian died, that was it, given the
decline of Tom Wolfe.)



I'd rather try a "new" Trollope. So, where should I stand on this?

Posted by: Eeyore at March 31, 2019 09:21 AM (VaN/j)

---
I have something of this problem as well. It's hard for me to go out and look at new authors because I'm still working my way through the old ones (like Gibbon, for example).

However, there are people who are voracious readers who like quick reads, so the PSAs are for their benefit.

The other issue where I agree with you is the genre. I write sci-fi because it interested me, but I'm not actually a huge consumer of it. Having done so, I'm at a bit of a loss because if I strike out in a new genre, how many of my readers will follow me?

Since like all independent authors I'm into shameless self-promotion, I will conclude by recommending my Three Weeks with the Coasties to you based on your statement about Waugh.

It's a work of satire much like Waugh's earlier work and is centered on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

I plan on writing more about my military career, but much of that will have to wait until I can retire lest I kneecap myself.


Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 09:47 AM (cfSRQ)

79 Why call Doyle a "fuckwad".

Mostly displaced anger at ace for telling us to read Baskervilles for a book club and then not reading it himself.

It's a stupid, stupid book. The only other Doyle I've read is a bunch of stories in high school which I remember mostly for their O Henry twists.

I'm not really mad at Doyle, I'm disappointed in ace.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at March 31, 2019 09:47 AM (fuK7c)

80 So Hillary never had any taste in clothes. Those pants are crying out to be burned.

Posted by: CN at March 31, 2019 09:47 AM (U7k5w)

81 I started reading L.A. Confidential by James Elllroy.

I read it almost 30 years ago, and I am a big fan of the flick.

The book is different than the movie.

I've read a lot of Ellroy's books over the years; I like him.

I had ordered some other books by Ellroy and I got a notice from Amazon saying UPS can't locate my address.

I've been here almost 30 years. Sounds to me like the driver could use a course in map reading,

And maybe English as a second language.

Posted by: JT at March 31, 2019 09:47 AM (icuj/)

82 It seems incongruous that an agnostic Jew is defending Christianity but
he points out that religion isn't the real target; it just got caught in
the cross fire.
Judaism is also a target, of course. And of course the left believes that any civilizing creed or institution must be either suborned or destroyed.

Posted by: pst314 at March 31, 2019 09:48 AM (iRbDn)

83 Happy Sunday! Baseball is back! It's going to be a great day.

I'm 3/4 of the way through N. N. Taleb's Antifragile, the book that followed his infamous The Black Swan. It's very good. It expounds and expands on some of the ideas in The Black Swan which is mainly about the epistemological issues we have in realizing the significance and unpredictability of rare events. Antifragile addresses something that may have bothered some after reading TBS: having an better sense of what not to do (how to not be a turkey) but not sure what to do to capitalize on positive Black Swans. Antifragile explains ways in which we could protect institutions (economic, technological, political) from big catastrophes and encourage systems to benefit and grow from positive asymmetries in life, as in entrepreneurship, for example.

If you read The Black Swan and liked it, I recommend Antifragile. If you haven't, and would only choose one I would recommend the former. Taleb also has a new one called Skin in the Game. Has anyone read it?

Posted by: Nowak at March 31, 2019 09:48 AM (yzaGW)

84
Because the last couple of weeks, book thread morons have been scoffing at me, "those pants aren't so bad."

So this week, I was, like, hold my beer.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 09:43 AM (htV9h)
-------------

Oh great, we're going to be treated to a series of ugly pants on ugly people.

I'm surprised you've not put up a pic of Michelle Obama in her leopard print pants with the hooker boots.

Posted by: Blake - used vacation salesman at March 31, 2019 09:48 AM (WEBkv)

85 @OM: sorry to miss the chess thread but we had a dinner guest. I tried the problems later in the evening.

Jennifer Yu is the US Women's Chess champion having won the event one round early. She's still in high school.


Posted by: Off the reservation at March 31, 2019 09:49 AM (vWMNq)

86 This is such a great thread! I love seeing pictures of both institutional and private libraries, and reading about books written by moron-types.

However, I do not appreciate having my eyes deliberately drawn to Hillary's crotch.

Posted by: Ladyl at March 31, 2019 09:49 AM (TdMsT)

87 I've got three books going now: City of Thieves, Searching for Sunday and Critical Care. A little more about the last one in a second. But the most memorable thing I've read was Archbishop Fulton Sheen's meditations on The Stations of the Cross, here.

http://bit.ly/2OBUxhC

I have heard the "regular" version at church so much I went in search of others on line. This one is powerful, too. Mary's Way of the Cross.

http://bit.ly/2U4Fi77

Now on to Critical Care. The author sounds like a Moron. A youngish man pays for a year in advance (and gets a discount price) for his grandfather's upcoming nursing home stay. Unfortunately, the grandfather checks out before checking in.

Said nursing home refuses to refund the money, so the grandson (coincidentally, named after his grandfather!) moves in to get his money's worth.

The computer-programmer grandson works out of his bedroom at the home and antagonizes the other patients, nursing staff -- and especially the director, his arch nemesis.

The grandson comes to find he likes adult diapers and the convenience they afford, esp. when his brother takes him out to a restaurant. He says he'll never go back to "big-boy" pants again!

So far, so good, but I got it on the cheap from BookBub (Kindle), otherwise, it was outrageous.

Posted by: SandyCheeks at March 31, 2019 09:50 AM (tGSHk)

88 My gosh is that Hillary

Posted by: Bye Gone at March 31, 2019 09:06 AM (C4WwT)

It is, indeed.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 09:43 AM (htV9h)

----------

Why do you hate us, OMuse?

I believe I sent you a link to some ugly pants that were NOT stuffed full of Hillary, and I don't believe you used them yet. I'll have to see if I can find it.

Oh, and I just started Dante's Purgatorio for my over-achieving bookclub.

Posted by: bluebell at March 31, 2019 09:50 AM (aXucN)

89 Reading Beyond Opinion by Ravi Zacharias.

It's a beautifully written and pragmatically formatted book on Christian apologetics.

I would not recommend it though, unless you into debating Christianity and enjoy point/counterpoint style material. I enjoy philosophy, however, so it's right in my bang zone.

Posted by: Bitter Clinger at March 31, 2019 09:50 AM (tITQq)

90 I'm surprised you've not put up a pic of Michelle Obama in her leopard print pants with the hooker boots.
Posted by: Blake - used vacation salesman at March 31, 2019 09:48 AM (WEBkv)
--------

You take that back RIGHT NOW. That way lies Yoko.

Posted by: bluebell at March 31, 2019 09:51 AM (aXucN)

91 Gandhi is mentioned several times. One of the characters calls him "that sanctimonious little bastard." From what I've read of him that's a kind statement. While he helped bring down the British Empire and advocated non-violence he also wasn't opposed to violence under some conditions. He also despised blacks and had a bizarre attitude toward women. The myth of Gandhi is just that, a myth.

He was really fucking weird in a lot of ways. According to my Indian son in law, the official attitude there is positive while generally acknowledging the weirdness. Not to mention the partition of Pakistan was a logistical nightmare that killed a lot of people and resolved nothing considering lots of rock worshipers said "why the fuck would I go there?" Needless to say he's a hero to lots of shallow thinkers like Shelton Lee.

Posted by: Captain Hate at March 31, 2019 09:51 AM (y7DUB)

92 57:A compulsive hair sniffer seems to be on the OCD spectrum, but I bet Biden has a bit of frotterism going on as well.

Posted by: CN at March 31, 2019 09:51 AM (U7k5w)

93 You take that back RIGHT NOW. That way lies Yoko.

Posted by: bluebell at March 31, 2019 09:51 AM (aXucN)
----------------

Posted by: Blake - used vacation salesman at March 31, 2019 09:52 AM (WEBkv)

94 Good luck with that. I had to ban Eddie to my
bookshelf when his dipshittery got unendurable until I was mentally
ready to re-engage.



I've been reading Nabokov's early short stories concurrently with
his biography and, not surprisingly, his stories about emigres and their
dislocations are much better than his tedious blathering about youthful
love. Already there's evidence of his power of descriptions and
affinity for quirky situations that were more fully realized in Pale
Fire and Lolita, and probably other works I haven't read but plan on
doing so.

Posted by: Captain Hate at March 31, 2019 09:41 AM (y7DUB)

---
Once you recognize that Gibbon is an asshat about religion, it goes faster. I'm kind of like "uh-huh, uh-huh, okay, and the timeline moves forward in...two more pages. Great. We'll just skim this section then."

My father is a huge fan of Nabokov. He really likes Lolita because it's such a deceptive book. He thinks it was an elaborate joke. Some folks thought it was based on a true story (because of the intro), and of course the subject matter was titillating for its time, but my father says it was an amusing writing exercise for ol' Vladimir.

Watch for the doggies. It's important.


Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 09:53 AM (cfSRQ)

95 Oh great, we're going to be treated to a series of ugly pants on ugly people.



I'm surprised you've not put up a pic of Michelle Obama in her leopard print pants with the hooker boots.

Posted by: Blake - used vacation salesman at March 31, 2019 09:48 AM (WEBkv)


One of these days he should put up a pic of a pretty young lady in yoga pants, just to see if anybody's paying attention.

Posted by: I like cookies at March 31, 2019 09:53 AM (xxAFD)

96 Oh and Happy Birthday to anyone else who isn't having a birthday today.

Posted by: JT at March 31, 2019 09:53 AM (icuj/)

97
Those Skankles pants remind me of the band uniform of bib overalls that was in place when I was at Michigan Tech. I lasted for one year in the band / pep band, leaving because I wanted to attend every home hockey game and be seated somewhere with a great view of the action. Tech was in the Frozen Four all three of my final years there and the team was great fun to watch.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at March 31, 2019 09:53 AM (pNxlR)

98 54 42

Naval and Military Press of the UK had a clearance sale, so I picked up few books from them:

posted by: josephistan at March 31, 2019 09:25 AM (Izzlo)
______

Aargh! This always happens when I'm strapped. I assume it's over.
Posted by: Eeyore at March 31, 2019 09:36 AM (VaN/j)

It looks like they still have a lot of books on deep discount

www.naval-military-press.com/special-offers

Posted by: josephistan at March 31, 2019 09:53 AM (Izzlo)

99 I'm surprised you've not put up a pic of Michelle Obama in her leopard print pants with the hooker boots.

Posted by: Blake - used vacation salesman at March 31, 2019 09:48 AM (WEBkv)


Challenge accepted!

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 09:55 AM (htV9h)

100 He was really fucking weird in a lot of ways.
According to my Indian son in law, the official attitude there is
positive while generally acknowledging the weirdness. Not to mention
the partition of Pakistan was a logistical nightmare that killed a lot
of people and resolved nothing considering lots of rock worshipers said
"why the fuck would I go there?" Needless to say he's a hero to lots of
shallow thinkers like Shelton Lee.

Posted by: Captain Hate at March 31, 2019 09:51 AM (y7DUB)

---
He was positively obsessed with poop.

Quite the odd duck.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 09:56 AM (cfSRQ)

101 Currently reading the back of a box of Froot Loops. Added BHT for freshness was not a twist I saw coming.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at March 31, 2019 09:56 AM (oVJmc)

102 I believe I sent you a link to some ugly pants that were NOT stuffed full of Hillary, and I don't believe you used them yet. I'll have to see if I can find it.
Posted by: bluebell at March 31, 2019 09:50 AM (aXucN)


Good morning, bluebell.

I don't remember you sending me ugly pants links.

If you did, please resend it. Thanks.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 09:56 AM (htV9h)

103
Challenge accepted!
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 09:55 AM (htV9h)
--------------

You're welcome?

*Makes note that attending a MoMee may not be in my best interest*

Posted by: Blake - used vacation salesman at March 31, 2019 09:58 AM (WEBkv)

104 Not many people realize Gandhi was 1.)A lawyer and 2.) Islamic. When you find that out it changes people's perspective on his advice to the Jews to go quietly into the gas chambers.

Posted by: An Observation at March 31, 2019 09:58 AM (Sx4eG)

105 I'm surprised you've not put up a pic of Michelle Obama in her leopard print pants with the hooker boots.
Posted by: Blake - used vacation salesman at March 31, 2019 09:48 AM


This.

Some things are beyond the event horizon, public acceptance-wise.

Posted by: Intragalactic Yoko Ono Artistic Achievement Appreciation Association at March 31, 2019 09:58 AM (+1LZb)

106 I ordered one of the Tara Ross books on the electoral college, but as I bought a cheaper used copy, it hasn't arrived. So, I am still plodding through The Place of the Lion, and I can see why Williams books do not have a greater audience and why he's considered the oddest inkling.

Posted by: CN at March 31, 2019 09:58 AM (U7k5w)

107 The pants picture is one where the wearer is uglier than the pants.

Posted by: Zoltan at March 31, 2019 09:58 AM (8jlwn)

108 70 One of the 'ettes is not wearing pants whilst reading the Book Thread.
Posted by: Moron News YOU Can Use at March 31, 2019 09:43 AM (+1LZb)
---
Guilty as charged!

Come at me, copper!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 31, 2019 09:58 AM (kQs4Y)

109
101 Currently reading the back of a box of Froot Loops. Added BHT for freshness was not a twist I saw coming.
Posted by: Mr. Peebles at March 31, 2019 09:56 AM (oVJmc)


Correction, you are reading a side panel. If you were "reading the back", you'd be playing dipshit games and puzzles that leave Beto begging for a rematch. "Wait! I see it now - gimme another chance!"

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at March 31, 2019 09:59 AM (pNxlR)

110 My father is a huge fan of Nabokov. He really likes Lolita because it's such a deceptive book. He thinks it was an elaborate joke. Some folks thought it was based on a true story (because of the intro), and of course the subject matter was titillating for its time, but my father says it was an amusing writing exercise for ol' Vladimir.

I'm pretty sure in part it was to see if any critics would call him out for writing such a creepy book and being confident they wouldn't. I think he and Faulkner were the greatest writers of my not short (I'm older than Vic) lifetime.

Posted by: Captain Hate at March 31, 2019 09:59 AM (y7DUB)

111 Sad to say I dropped money on Disney's Dumbo because my kids reeaaaaaaly wanted to see it. I was bored to tears. My kids liked it.



Posted by: Lurking Lurker at March 31, 2019 09:59 AM (FiUMj)

112 He really likes Lolita because it's such a deceptive book.


That's its charm. I loved the moment I realized I couldn't trust the narrator.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at March 31, 2019 09:59 AM (fuK7c)

113 If you read The Black Swan and liked it, I recommend
Antifragile. If you haven't, and would only choose one I would
recommend the former. Taleb also has a new one called Skin in the Game.
Has anyone read it?

Posted by: Nowak at March 31, 2019 09:48 AM (yzaGW)

---
The thing about Taleb is that a lot of his concepts can be spelled out in an essay. Making them book-length draws them out farther than they need to be.

But he makes good points. I read the Black Swan and it was good, glanced at Antifragile (but also read an essay on it) and Skin in the Game seems kind of self-explanatory (and again, he wrote about the thesis).

He does not like the "elites," and regularly dumps on them, which is fun to watch.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 09:59 AM (cfSRQ)

114 The concept that all men are created equal and do not need a king or pope or tyrant of any name to rule them arose directly from the Protestant Reformation...
_____

To continue on the point of my comment #46, that really isn't true. None of the Reformers believed that; they all believed in (a) the need for "conductors" to guide the faithful, and (b) a new and expansive view of kingship. Don't take my word for it, take C S Lewis's. I know I constantly recommend his OHEL volume's introduction, The New Learning and the New Ignorance. (And also the rest of it.) But it's the most accessible instance of someone directly attacking that view. (Online, but I can't seem to find it now.)

Posted by: Eeyore at March 31, 2019 09:59 AM (VaN/j)

115 Done, OMuse!

Posted by: bluebell at March 31, 2019 10:00 AM (aXucN)

116 >Guilty as charged!

Come at me, copper!
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 31, 2019 09:58 A



It getting to the point where we may need to form a Book Thread Sans Pants Militia to protect our rights, and such.

Posted by: Muad'dib at March 31, 2019 10:00 AM (ydNpi)

117
That pic is Shrillary immediately after she decided, "I'm gonna join the Marines!"

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at March 31, 2019 10:01 AM (pNxlR)

118 Oh, and I just started Dante's Purgatorio for my over-achieving bookclub.

Posted by: bluebell at March 31, 2019 09:50 AM (aXucN)

Modern purgatory lasts only 86 years.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at March 31, 2019 10:02 AM (wYseH)

119 111: Good to know. Does the baby elephant get rip roaring drunk like he does in the original cartoon version?

Posted by: CN at March 31, 2019 10:02 AM (U7k5w)

120 He was positively obsessed with poop.

Quite the odd duck.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 09:56 AM (cfSRQ)


The late, great commentator and curmudgeon Richard Grenier wrote all about this in his book 'The Gandhi Nobody Knows'

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0840753799

The basis for which was his 1983 article in Commentary Magazine:

https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/the-gandhi-nobody-knows/

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 10:03 AM (htV9h)

121 Modern purgatory lasts only 86 years.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at March 31, 2019 10:02 AM (wYseH)
---------

You belong back in Inferno. That was last month's read.

Posted by: bluebell at March 31, 2019 10:03 AM (aXucN)

122 That's its charm. I loved the moment I realized I couldn't trust the narrator.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at March 31, 2019 09:59 AM (fuK7c)

---
This is also why movie versions are pointless. It's funny how Hollywood went with the whole "old dude has hots for jailbait" plot line, ignoring the rest.

I bet Nabokov was laughing his ass off when he saw how they ran with it, too.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 10:03 AM (cfSRQ)

123 Later all. We are about to sample the first batch of 2019 syrup on French Toast!

Posted by: Muad'dib at March 31, 2019 10:03 AM (ydNpi)

124 The basis for which was his 1983 article in Commentary Magazine:

https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/the-gandhi-nobody-knows/


Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 10:03 AM (htV9h)

---
Yep, that where I got my info.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 10:04 AM (cfSRQ)

125 Morning all. Do any writers here use speech to text? If so which program? My typing sucks.

Posted by: Cannibal Bob at March 31, 2019 10:04 AM (0rsWa)

126 It getting to the point where we may need to form a Book Thread Sans Pants Militia to protect our rights, and such.
Posted by: Muad'dib at March 31, 2019 10:00 AM (ydNpi)


I identify as Commonwealth.
http://tinyurl.com/y9kc9uup

pants
PLURAL NOUN
1 British Underpants or knickers.

Posted by: hogmartin at March 31, 2019 10:04 AM (t+qrx)

Posted by: hogmartin at March 31, 2019 10:04 AM (t+qrx)

128 Later all. We are about to sample the first batch of 2019 syrup on French Toast!
Posted by: Muad'dib at March 31, 2019 10:03 AM (ydNpi)
---------

Living the dream! Bon appetit!

Posted by: bluebell at March 31, 2019 10:05 AM (aXucN)

129 79 Why call Doyle a "fuckwad".

Mostly displaced anger at ace for telling us to read Baskervilles for a book club and then not reading it himself.

It's a stupid, stupid book. The only other Doyle I've read is a bunch of stories in high school which I remember mostly for their O Henry twists.

I'm not really mad at Doyle, I'm disappointed in ace.
Posted by: Bandersnatch at March 31, 2019 09:47 AM (fuK7c)
______

The Hound is unique in that it really isn't a Holmes story, for most of it. He's there at the start and end. But MIA for the bulk.

OTOH, I like it a lot. The opening deduction scene about Mortimer's stick is classic Holmes, and the atmosphere of the moors is terrific, IMO. (I'm thinking of trying Lorna Doone, which I've never read, but which is supposed to have a lot of it. I just don't want any Bronte shit.)

Posted by: Eeyore at March 31, 2019 10:06 AM (VaN/j)

130 Morning Readers!

Posted by: Weasel at March 31, 2019 10:06 AM (MVjcR)

131 Not many people realize Gandhi was 1.)A lawyer and 2.) Islamic.

I'm pretty sure he was Hindu. He was very sympathetic to the islamic vermin and regularly exasperated his co religionists but that was the extent of it.

Posted by: Captain Hate at March 31, 2019 10:06 AM (y7DUB)

132 Hello, Weasel.

Posted by: hogmartin at March 31, 2019 10:06 AM (t+qrx)

133 108 70 One of the 'ettes is not wearing pants whilst reading the Book Thread.
Posted by: Moron News YOU Can Use at March 31, 2019 09:43 AM (+1LZb)
---
Guilty as charged!
Come at me, copper!
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at March 31, 2019 09:58 AM (kQs4Y)


( *scoffs* )

Pics, or it didn't happen.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 10:06 AM (htV9h)

134 booken morgen horden

Posted by: votermom certified russian matryoshka bot at March 31, 2019 10:07 AM (dm05u)

135 Hi Weasel! No farm this weekend?

Posted by: bluebell at March 31, 2019 10:07 AM (aXucN)

136 I bet Nabokov was laughing his ass off when he saw how they ran with it, too.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 10:03 AM (cfSRQ)


All the way to the bank.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 10:08 AM (htV9h)

137 Cuckerberg sez: We need govt to regulate the internet.

What could go wrong?

Posted by: Lurking Lurker at March 31, 2019 10:08 AM (FiUMj)

138 Well, sort of. The trouble is the unstated implication that there was more to it than there is. The Arabs, clearly NOT through some vast strategic plan, happened to explode just as the TWO great empires had exhausted each other in a brutal war. And one of them did rally, to last for centuries longer.

OK, it's a hobby horse of mine, to rail against seeing necessary historical causes where a lot of happenstance is involved. Probably the best model for how history works is the way markets do; the people involved do have agency, and make decisions with varying degrees of rationality. But the Law of Unintended Consequences, aka Time and Chance happeneth to them all.
Posted by: Eeyore at March 31, 2019 09:30 AM (VaN/j)

Agree completely - and I think there's plenty of evidence to be found that implicates an additional factor in Islam's rise. It's always seemed incredible that so many Christian regions could become Islamic so quickly, even through force; but recall we only have the records of the event as they were related by Orthodox Christianity (and even that is sketchy, so much from that time was lost)

There's a lot of evidence that after the Council of Nicea in 325 that Orthodox Christianity, with its twin centers in Rome and Constantinople (Constantinople being far more powerful in the early days) became increasingly heavy handed and oppressive in its treatment of any Christians who still followed doctrine they opposed. The non-trinitarian Christians were those they especially despised, and not so coincidentally those were centered in Syria, Egypt, and the rest of Northern Africa.

Also, in the first couple of centuries, there's evidence that middle eastern Christians and Mohammedans co-existed quite comfortably and did not actually see a huge gap between their religions. (That got stamped out as the Arab Empire became more powerful) I suspect that Mohammed, besides capitalizing on the military collapse of two great empires, was also able to ride a regional revolt by non-orthodox Christians against the heavy handed Orthodoxy of Constantinople and Rome.

And this part ended up getting airbrushed out of the history of the times in later centuries, because it didn't fit in well with either sides's narrative.

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 31, 2019 10:08 AM (V2Yro)

139 booken morgen horden
Posted by: votermom certified russian matryoshka bot at March 31, 2019 10:07 AM (dm05u)


de trein is stukkie wukkie

Posted by: hogmartin at March 31, 2019 10:08 AM (t+qrx)

140 Hello, Weasel.

Posted by: hogmartin



Oh, look at hogmartin acting like a regular citizen who didn't just cheat the hangman.

Posted by: The Barrel at March 31, 2019 10:08 AM (fuK7c)

141 "... one of those books that are so packed with ideas that you can get lost
in the implications of a comment and realize you haven't actually read
anything for a few minutes."

That happens to me a lot, which is good, and bad. So the tangent for this "WASPs founded America" thing, is that WASPs used to have a lot of kids. Catholics later acquired the stereotype of having lots of kids (every sperm is sacred), and blacks having kids without fathers was the stereotype of the welfare incentive (American blacks are also not producing "enough" kids now). Now we are importing or "birthers" from the third world.


We need to bring back those "baby factory" (/s) days, not just steel production, but American Made babies. Why not have policy encouraging women to have a rich Martha Stewart life at home, raising kids, more one income (Dad) families? That should be the gold standard, not village/commie raised kids that would turn their parents in for supporting Trump.


The "Hispanic" population in our hemisphere have a stronger family foundation, imo. We are probably demographically required (at this point) to work with them (in civics classes, movies, culture) on becoming grounded in our WASPy foundation, if we are going to save Our Republic.

Posted by: illiniwek at March 31, 2019 10:08 AM (Cus5s)

142 68
Downloaded Edward Lengel's "To Conquer Hell: The Meuse-Argonne, 1918" to
add some high-level view research, for my book on grandfather. I
thought i would be able to quickly walk through that offensive, and move
into the 1920s. As often happens, however, a compelling subplot
emerged. his notes, his unit record, and the histories highlight some
pretty dramatic incidents. a theme of the book is leadership in combat,
and in the first three days of Meuse-Argonne, senior officers were being
replaced wholesale. so, instead of breezing through, I will take some
time to develop.


Posted by: goatexchange at March 31, 2019 09:42 AM (1Yxnu)

---
What division was Grandpa in? My great-grandfather was replacement for the 5th. Years ago my father typed up the letters between him and my great-grandmother and I had hoped to use the Great War centennial to publish them but he became strangely (and passively) resistant because they are rather personal.

I've put the project on hold, but not before digging into the same area you are (so to speak).

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 10:09 AM (cfSRQ)

143 129: The continued fascination with Emily Bronte baffles me completely in the Me Too era.

Posted by: CN at March 31, 2019 10:09 AM (U7k5w)

144 He was really fucking weird in a lot of ways.
Posted by: Captain Hate at March 31, 2019 09:51 AM

When Gandhi took his vow of celibacy (not sure if his wife was grateful or not) he would test himself by sleeping nekkid with 2 young girls. After 2 of his women workers were sexually harassed by a man he forced them to cut their hair to remove the man's temptation. He believed a women menstruating was the physical manifestation of her distorted soul.

Weird? That's putting it a bit mildly.

Posted by: Jake Holenhead at March 31, 2019 10:09 AM (TDyHc)

145 Oh, look at hogmartin acting like a regular citizen who didn't just cheat the hangman.
Posted by: The Barrel at March 31, 2019 10:08 AM (fuK7c)


There are rules for this sort of thing. A save's a save.

Posted by: hogmartin at March 31, 2019 10:10 AM (t+qrx)

146 In addition to not buying Disney tickets and supporting non-leftist writer and publishers, I highly recommend buying tickets on opening weekend to the few non-leftist movies that somehow get released. This weekend that is Unplanned. Without any graphic violence or gratuitous swearing, it was still given an R rating in a blatant attempt to kill this anti-abortion work of art. Highly recommended. Audience score of 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, while the overwhelmingly leftist critics are not reviewing it or are slamming it. Please see it soon.

Posted by: motionview at March 31, 2019 10:10 AM (pYQR/)

147 Modern purgatory lasts only 86 years.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at March 31, 2019 10:02 AM


So you can look forward to the Red Sox not dominating the Yankees at some point, perhaps.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at March 31, 2019 10:10 AM (+1LZb)

148 The only thing that could be worse than that picture of Hillary, would be one of her wearing those pants - that was taken today.

Posted by: An Observation at March 31, 2019 10:11 AM (Sx4eG)

149 Cuckerberg sez: We need govt to regulate the internet.



I watched a Joe Rogan podcast with Tim Pool and Jack Dorsey.

Pool and Rogan dropped the suggestion that the Twitter deplatforming of conservatives might demand the need for government regulators to come in.

Dorsey actually endorsed the idea.

That makes me nervous. The deals have already been struck.

Posted by: Bitter Clinger at March 31, 2019 10:12 AM (tITQq)

150 [Tom] Holland is also the author of Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic and The Forge of Christendom: The End of Days and the Epic Rise of the West, "a grand narrative history of the re-emergence of Europe following the collapse of the Roman Empire."

-
Tom's brother, James, is also a historian and author but rather than ancient history, James focus is on WWII, particularly the air war. Among his books are The Battle of Britain: Five Months That Changed History, May-October 1940, Dam Busters: The True Story of the Legendary Raid on the Ruhr, Fortress Malta: An Island Under Siege 1940-43, and Big Week: The Biggest Air Battle of World War Two. (Until I just looked him up to refresh my recollection, I didn't know that he also wrote all those action novels. I may have to check some of those out.) If you're a history geek who watches a lot of history documentaries, you often see James described as a "conflict archeologist" exploring old fortifications, battles etc.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 31, 2019 10:12 AM (+y/Ru)

151 Howdy hogmartin,

bluebell - sadly, no farm this weekend. I needed to finish up our taxes and do a few other things here. I need a couple of nice days before a good rainy spell so I can overseed the road.

Posted by: Weasel at March 31, 2019 10:12 AM (MVjcR)

152 A couple of things on my mind. First of all, the library pictures, I think I figured out why I don't connect with them. Many public libraries were built and funded by the big money philanthropists, and the world in which they lived. There was a sense that people were connected to each other in ways that doesn't exist anymore. So the ornate buildings... they're more like relics than living spaces.

Second, the notion of what's popular and what we "should" be reading or watching or eating or having sex with or whatever... yeah, the whole world can be simplified as thus: If it's popular, there's a very good chance it isn't good for you, and if it's good for you, you're going to have to work hard to find it.

I do wish those authors well, the ones who are trying to write with quality, but maybe it doesn't really help to complain that everyone is buying the crap. Because people always buy the crap.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 31, 2019 10:13 AM (cY3LT)

153 124 The basis for which was his 1983 article in Commentary Magazine:
https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/the-gandhi-nobody-knows/
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 10:03 AM (htV9h)
---
Yep, that where I got my info.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 10:04 AM (cfSRQ)


I'm old enough to have read that article when it was first published.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 10:13 AM (htV9h)

154 So I was going to leave and do other stuff but then last second thought "what's that pants thing?" So went up and clicked. Yeah, thanks so much. Ugh.

Posted by: Cannibal Bob at March 31, 2019 10:14 AM (0rsWa)

155 re:Lolita, what I heard was that Humbert was Old Europe and 'Lolita' was
America - the old, dying Europe being tempted/used by the vital America -
but that could be wrong, been a long time since I read it

Posted by: geezer der mensch at March 31, 2019 10:14 AM (D80T6)

156 It looks like they still have a lot of books on deep discount
www.naval-military-press.com/special-offers
Posted by: josephistan at March 31, 2019 09:53 AM


One of the books on offer is:

"JG 53 "PIK AS" The Ace of Spades Series :Units"

Posted by: Duncanthrax at March 31, 2019 10:15 AM (+1LZb)

157 Agree completely - and I think there's plenty of
evidence to be found that implicates an additional factor in Islam's
rise. It's always seemed incredible that so many Christian regions
could become Islamic so quickly, even through force; but recall we only
have the records of the event as they were related by Orthodox
Christianity (and even that is sketchy, so much from that time was lost)



Posted by: Tom Servo at March 31, 2019 10:08 AM (V2Yro)

---
The Christians didn't convert at first and later on they weren't allowed to because the tax they paid was too lucrative for the Caliphs to give up.

I mean, we think of Egypt as totally a Muslim country right? Yet they still have millions of Christians. Same in Iraq (until Dubya and Obama jacked everything up).

The misconception comes in part from fragmentary (and biased) records, but also because of simplified histories. Like the maps showing "The Rise of Islam." See, Egypt is now Muslim!

Except most of it wasn't. There were some conversions early on, but the remarkable thing is how stubbornly people clung to their faith. Same as in the Caucasus and the Balkans.

In the latter, area, that's why Bosnians (Muslim Serbs who became the ruling class) were so hated by the Serbs who didn't.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 10:16 AM (cfSRQ)

158 The only thing that could be worse than that picture of Hillary, would be one of her wearing those pants - that was taken today.

-
Didja notice how the convergence of those stripes forms a bull's eye at the crotch?

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 31, 2019 10:16 AM (+y/Ru)

159 Something I've not seen mentioned. I assume everyone is familiar with Monster Hunter Inc., by Larry Correia? Fun books and, bonus, the writer is a gun guy.

Mr. Correia also wrote a series, the "Grimnoir Chronicles" that I thought were very well done, maybe even better than Monster Hunters and, due to the success of the Monster Hunter series, somewhat under the radar.

Interesting series, set post WW1, where certain kinds of people have powers which they can control, depending on their ability. Stylistically, the series reminds me of the hard-boiled detective genre.

Fun read.

Posted by: Blake - used vacation salesman at March 31, 2019 10:17 AM (WEBkv)

160 The Brits should have shot Gandhi when they had the chance.

Then discredit him with all of his weird sexual preversions and tell the hindus he was a secret commie mooselim and tell the mooselims he was a commie hindu then sit back and watch the sparks fly.

Nip it in the bud.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at March 31, 2019 10:18 AM (Z+IKu)

161 One must embrace the barrel to avoid a mischance with the chronicler.

Posted by: Fritz at March 31, 2019 10:19 AM (LuPts)

162 holy shit this is crazy

https://www.mrctv.org/blog/wacky-mole-media-goes-musical-mueller

go to 2 mins

Posted by: rhennigantx at March 31, 2019 10:19 AM (JFO2v)

163 143
129: The continued fascination with Emily Bronte baffles me completely in the Me Too era.

Posted by: CN at March 31, 2019 10:09 AM (U7k5w)

---
Why? The whole movement is founded on hypocrisy.

If you can't understand how women can dye their hair blue, rail against the Patriarchy and then turn around get all worked up over Bronte or Austen, you don't know much about women.

Much of the movement's anger comes from the fact that Colin Firth isn't willing to sweep them away to his country estate.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 10:19 AM (cfSRQ)

164 154 So I was going to leave and do other stuff but then last second thought "what's that pants thing?" So went up and clicked. Yeah, thanks so much. Ugh.
Posted by: Cannibal Bob at March 31, 2019 10:14 AM (0rsWa)
---------------

OM's version of a motivational poster?

Posted by: Blake - used vacation salesman at March 31, 2019 10:19 AM (WEBkv)

165 Didja notice how the convergence of those stripes forms a bull's eye at the crotch?
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 31, 2019 10:16 AM


Mesmerizing, indeed ...

Posted by: Webb H. at March 31, 2019 10:20 AM (+1LZb)

166 But he makes good points. I read the Black Swan and it was good, glanced at Antifragile (but also read an essay on it) and Skin in the Game seems kind of self-explanatory (and again, he wrote about the thesis).

He does not like the "elites," and regularly dumps on them, which is fun to watch."

Nick Taleb has very keen mathematical insights - it may take someone in the future to really flesh out some of his points. But throughout "Black Swan", he constantly explains, and provides examples, of how what we call the "science" of statistics is deeply flawed, on a theoretical and mathematical basis. The result of that is that we have extremely false beliefs as to our predictive abilities, and we tell ourselves it's "Science!!!" But in actual fact it's just the same old chicanery.

(forget big things like the Global Warming scams - delve into the reasons why most drug tests are not reproducible, and you can get very frightened to realize how much of our modern lives are based on frauds, especially our health care system)

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 31, 2019 10:20 AM (V2Yro)

167 160 The Brits should have shot Gandhi when they had the chance.

Then discredit him with all of his weird sexual preversions and tell the hindus he was a secret commie mooselim and tell the mooselims he was a commie hindu then sit back and watch the sparks fly.

Nip it in the bud.
Posted by: Hairyback Guy at March 31, 2019 10:18 AM (Z+IKu)
--------------

I've long believed that Gandhi's crap wouldn't have survived 10 minutes in Muslim country.

But the West is evil.

Posted by: Blake - used vacation salesman at March 31, 2019 10:21 AM (WEBkv)

168 I'm pretty sure he was Hindu. He was very sympathetic to the islamic
vermin and regularly exasperated his co religionists but that was the
extent of it.
I stand corrected. Don't know where I got that incorrect information.

Posted by: An Observation at March 31, 2019 10:21 AM (Sx4eG)

169 165 Didja notice how the convergence of those stripes forms a bull's eye at the crotch?
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 31, 2019 10:16 AM

Mesmerizing, indeed ...
Posted by: Webb H. at March 31, 2019 10:20 AM (+1LZb)

hence Eris' Comment, right at the top, "It's Like the Eye of Sauron!!!"

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 31, 2019 10:22 AM (V2Yro)

170
hence Eris' Comment, right at the top, "It's Like the Eye of Sauron!!!"
Posted by: Tom Servo at March 31, 2019 10:22 AM (V2Yro)

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

I learned at the foot of the master. But, there were places even I wouldn't go....

Posted by: Eye of Sauron at March 31, 2019 10:23 AM (WEBkv)

171 155
re:Lolita, what I heard was that Humbert was Old Europe and 'Lolita' was
America - the old, dying Europe being tempted/used by the vital America -
but that could be wrong, been a long time since I read it


Posted by: geezer der mensch at March 31, 2019 10:14 AM (D80T6)

---
My father makes a compelling case that it was simply an elaborate joke that allows people to project whatever they want to see.

The pseudo-academic intro, over-the-top narrator name, the reference to Annabel Lee, the deliberate use of the doggeh are all the hallmarks of a skilled author having some fun.

And he made big bank off the porny stuff. No author whines about getting rich.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 10:24 AM (cfSRQ)

172 AH - gpa was Pennsylvania National Guard, which became 28th Division. He was a combat engineer, so, 103rd Engineer Regiment.

I hear you, regarding personal notes. i am fortunate, in that he wrote about fifty pages, in the year before he died (1973). that's the good news. The bad news: he was exceptionally modest, and so when it came down to his significant accomplishments... he either wrote nothing, or said, "Lot's of books cover this period."

Posted by: goatexchange at March 31, 2019 10:24 AM (1Yxnu)

173
He does not like the "elites," and regularly dumps on them, which is fun to watch.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 09:59 AM (cfSRQ)

-----------

Yep. He's pretty scholarly in his dumping, too.

I agree they could be condensed, Antifragile is worse in this regard than The Black Swan if memory serves me. On the other hand, he exposes readers to a lot of interesting thinkers along the way. There are a few references in Antifragile regarding education and medicine that I hope to take a closer look at.

Posted by: Nowak at March 31, 2019 10:24 AM (yzaGW)

174 Thanks for the "Black Swan" recommendation.

Ordered.

Posted by: Blake - used vacation salesman at March 31, 2019 10:26 AM (WEBkv)

175
Taleb is a semi-frequent guest on EconTalk; always interesting

Posted by: AltonJackson at March 31, 2019 10:27 AM (KCxzN)

176 He was really fucking weird in a lot of ways.
Posted by: Captain Hate at March 31, 2019 09:51 AM

When Gandhi took his vow of celibacy (not sure if his wife was grateful or not) he would test himself by sleeping nekkid with 2 young girls. After 2 of his women workers were sexually harassed by a man he forced them to cut their hair to remove the man's temptation. He believed a women menstruating was the physical manifestation of her distorted soul.

Weird? That's putting it a bit mildly.
Posted by: Jake Holenhead at March 31, 2019 10:09 AM (TDyHc)

Gandhi? Great guy! Weird personal life, but I particularly liked how helpful he was with the pesky British empire problem.

Posted by: Zombie A. Hilter at March 31, 2019 10:27 AM (cY3LT)

177 the pants are bad enough, but that face is truly evil. like it was baked in.

Posted by: chavez the hugo at March 31, 2019 10:28 AM (KP5rU)

178 163: Being a woman, I understand this completely, but still marvel at the wild eyed desire to be Catherine Earnshaw.

Posted by: CN at March 31, 2019 10:30 AM (U7k5w)

179
couple of links of Taleb on the EconTalk podcast (about an hour each)

tinyurl.com/Taleb-Antifragility

tinyurl.com/Taleb-Black-Swans

Posted by: AltonJackson at March 31, 2019 10:31 AM (KCxzN)

180
I hear you, regarding personal notes. i am
fortunate, in that he wrote about fifty pages, in the year before he
died (1973). that's the good news. The bad news: he was exceptionally
modest, and so when it came down to his significant accomplishments...
he either wrote nothing, or said, "Lot's of books cover this period."


Posted by: goatexchange at March 31, 2019 10:24 AM (1Yxnu)

---
Mine wrote a two-page summary of his military service (third person) and it was neat to see his line of march. Blew me away that when I deployed to Germany, I visited some of the same places he did while serving with the Army of Occupation.

The letters are remarkable, which is why I want to publish them. My great-grandparents met at a church revival in the spring of 1917, married that fall and he was drafted shortly afterwards. They lived 20 miles apart so wrote each other constantly and then as he want to basic training and then shipped out the letters kept coming. We have most of them.

It's a great love story, too. She's pregnant wondering if her husband will come home and he's moving up to the Meuse crossings where his company will lose half its strength.

There's a letter he started in early November that has a postscript at the bottom dated 11/12/18 that says simply "I am o.k."

What a relief my great-grandmother must have felt when that arrived!

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 10:32 AM (cfSRQ)

181 Didja notice how the convergence of those stripes forms a bull's eye at the crotch?

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 31, 2019 10:16 AM (+y/Ru)

Didn't the twilight zone start with a similar graphic?

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at March 31, 2019 10:32 AM (9Om/r)

182 98 54 42

Naval and Military Press of the UK had a clearance sale, so I picked up few books from them:

posted by: josephistan at March 31, 2019 09:25 AM (Izzlo)
______

Aargh! This always happens when I'm strapped. I assume it's over.
Posted by: Eeyore at March 31, 2019 09:36 AM (VaN/j)

It looks like they still have a lot of books on deep discount

www.naval-military-press.com/special-offers
Posted by: josephistan at March 31, 2019 09:53 AM (Izzlo)
_____

Thanks, but OUCH! the one's I'd like most are still beyond my means at present.

I do note they have Roskill's official history. I don't have it, but found it disappointing. For a lot of the naval war, you have to go to the other volumes on the specific campaigns; eg, Norway.

Posted by: Eeyore at March 31, 2019 10:33 AM (VaN/j)

183 Tolle Lege

Now if only I'd follow my own advice and buy a new book

Posted by: Skip at March 31, 2019 10:33 AM (BbGew)

184 I love this tactic of sealing records so no one can know what's in it, NZ seems to even make laws with severe penalties if a citizen has possession of the mass murder's manifest so they can't find out it was a Leftist's false flag operation.

Posted by: Skip at March 31, 2019 10:36 AM (BbGew)

185 I read a bunch of books this week. I finished "Tearing Down the Wall of Sound", a biography of Phil Spector. I thought it was very balanced. It ends at his trial for murder. I also read "Thanks a Lot, Mr. Kibblewhite", Roger Daltrey's autobiography. Very entertaining. Last up was The Mummies of Urumchi. I read this several years ago and will always regret that I missed a lecture by the author. It's a fascinating book, one of the few where the textiles are examined and documented. But it also confirms my bias against archeologists. They didn't know you could dye colored wool!

Posted by: Notsothoreau at March 31, 2019 10:37 AM (Lqy/e)

186 Being a woman, I understand this completely, but still marvel at the wild eyed desire to be Catherine Earnshaw.

Posted by: CN at March 31, 2019 10:30 AM (U7k5w)

---
If you want to read some overwrought Brit Lit, try Ann Radcliffe. Austen's Northanger Abbey is a send-up of it.

Heck, Dumas takes a shot by referring to a castle in The Man in the Iron Mask as being something out of the works of Ann Radcliffe.

Of course, she's been memory-holed because Social Justice!


Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 10:37 AM (cfSRQ)

187 I've long believed that Gandhi's crap wouldn't have survived 10 minutes in Muslim country.
Posted by: Blake - used vacation salesman at March 31, 2019 10:21 AM (WEBkv)


Gandhi's crap wouldn't have survived 10 minutes anywhere in the world except in a West that had grown fat and decadent.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 10:38 AM (htV9h)

188 My mother says her mystery novel is "ready for publication," but as her editor, I disagree. She's got chapters switched around and the middle is a mess since she moved things around. I am certainly going to earn this check!

Posted by: pookysgirl at March 31, 2019 10:38 AM (XKZwp)

189 Nyanzis cover art is so BESM* it might even be fun nyah.

* Big Eyes Small Mouth.

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 31, 2019 10:39 AM (ZgGov)

190 . (I'm thinking of trying Lorna Doone, which I've never read, but which is supposed to have a lot of it. I just don't want any Bronte shit.)
Posted by: Eeyore at March 31, 2019 10:06 AM (VaN/j)

Lorna Doone is by Richard Bkackmore, so you're safe

I agree that Baskervilles is very gothic. I liked it.

Posted by: votermom certified russian matryoshka bot at March 31, 2019 10:39 AM (dm05u)

191 holy shit this is crazy

https://www.mrctv.org/blog/wacky-mole-media-goes-musical-mueller

go to 2 mins

-
If you take every word in the Mueller report with an even number of letters as a dot and every odd number as a dash, it just spells out over and over again:

All work and no play makes Trump guilty as hell. All work and no play makes Trump guilty as hell. All work and no play makes Trump guilty as hell.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 31, 2019 10:40 AM (+y/Ru)

192 Posted by: geezer der mensch at March 31, 2019 10:14 AM (D80T6)

---
My father makes a compelling case that it was simply an elaborate joke that allows people to project whatever they want to see.

The pseudo-academic intro, over-the-top narrator name, the reference to Annabel Lee, the deliberate use of the doggeh are all the hallmarks of a skilled author having some fun.

And he made big bank off the porny stuff. No author whines about getting rich.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 10:24 AM (cfSRQ)


I haven't read the book, but I did see the dramatization, I think done by HBO, with Jeremy Irons in the lead. What struck me particularly is how unsensationalized it is. Irons presents the character as tortured, and the girl as essentially naive, full of life.

Over the course of the film, both characters are basically destroyed by this obsession, and it's a sad, harsh reality that brings whatever fantasy the viewer (or reader) might have had, to a conclusion.

I have no idea if the book is written that way, but I think that movie is fairly realistic, in a lot of ways.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 31, 2019 10:40 AM (cY3LT)

193 A while back someone on the book thread recommended Belarus by Lee Hogan. I found a used copy and finally started and finished the book in one sitting so thanks to who rec'd it. It tells the story of a rich Russian family who dreams of terraforming and starting a new world so that it copies old Russia. So there is lots of Russian folklore, politics and a nasty surprise waiting for the settlers since another race already lives hidden in the planet. Add a war between planetary alliances and well drawn, but tragic characters and I couldn't put it down.

Posted by: Charlotte at March 31, 2019 10:40 AM (W4LFA)

194 AH - good story, definitely worth publishing.

I have snapshots he took, as well, which include ones that contain ZERO context. For example, he has a blurred snap of "SGT Dewey's grave." no further info. well, buried inside a unit record is a one-liner mentioning SGT Dewey, who was killed cutting wire for Patton's tanks to roll across the battlefield. I love stuff like that. but it slow me down, no end.

Posted by: goatexchange at March 31, 2019 10:41 AM (1Yxnu)

195 Posted by: Bitter Clinger at March 31, 2019 09:50 AM (tITQq)

Ravi Zacharias has a website and you can download his sermons/lectures from there. They are worth listening to.

Posted by: Kindltot at March 31, 2019 10:42 AM (mUa7G)

196 I told captain I was reading Rushdie's first midnight's children which was his attempt at magical realism when he was working at Ogilvy

Posted by: Admiral marcus at March 31, 2019 10:42 AM (ziPqS)

197 I just finished reading 6 X H (six stories by Robert Heinlein) and Does God Have a Nature? by Alvin Plantinga. Philosophical theology, I'm afraid, is a little over my head. I find myself agreeing with whoever I read last.

Posted by: Jim S. at March 31, 2019 10:45 AM (ynUnH)

198 They didn't know you could dye colored wool!

Posted by: Notsothoreau at March 31, 2019 10:37 AM (Lqy/e)

Seriously? I suppose it never occurred to them to ask either.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at March 31, 2019 10:46 AM (uquGJ)

199 Ocasio-Cortez: Republicans Had To Amend The Constitution To Make Sure FDR Didn't Get Re-Elected

-
Otherwise he'd still be president today!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 31, 2019 10:46 AM (+y/Ru)

200 Hound of the Baskervilles will always have a warm spot in my heart partly because it was a good story but also because it was one of the books that led to more 'adult' novels. And it was memorable. (This is almost exactly what Dirda experienced describing his introduction to Holmes.) Second grade, a 15 cent paperback of "Hound" ordered through the Scholastic Books program, endless waiting for the thing to arrive (an eternity in kid time), then reading it on a literal dark and stormy night. Yeah, it left an impression.

I wonder if my enjoyment of atmosphere and descriptions of terrain in a story stems from "Hound" and "Treasure Island". I read both at about the same time.

Posted by: JTB at March 31, 2019 10:47 AM (bmdz3)

201 5
Posted by: JTB at March 31, 2019 09:03 AM (bmdz3)
_____

FYI, it's The Abolition of Man, not absolution.

Posted by: Jim S. at March 31, 2019 10:47 AM (ynUnH)

202 163 143
129: The continued fascination with Emily Bronte baffles me completely in the Me Too era.

Posted by: CN at March 31, 2019 10:09 AM (U7k5w)

---
Why? The whole movement is founded on hypocrisy.

If you can't understand how women can dye their hair blue, rail against the Patriarchy and then turn around get all worked up over Bronte or Austen, you don't know much about women.

Much of the movement's anger comes from the fact that Colin Firth isn't willing to sweep them away to his country estate.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 10:19 AM (cfSRQ)
______

I don't like putting Austin with the Brontes. My experience with the latter two kept me from reading Austin for years. But she's not at all like them; quite fun in fact. And much more serious.

And, BTW, Jennifer Ehle was MUCH better than Firth. So was Benjamin Witrow.

Posted by: Eeyore at March 31, 2019 10:48 AM (VaN/j)

203 I have no idea if the book is written that way, but I think that movie is fairly realistic, in a lot of ways.


I haven't seen either the Kubrick movie or the Jeremy Irons version, but as AH and I were discussing above they can't do what the book does.

Btw, I really want to re-read the book now.

The book is told first person, you gradually realize that you can't trust the narrator to tell you objective truth, so you have to reevaluate everything he's told you and everything he's going to tell you.

One movie pulled off the unreliable narrator bit, "Good Bye Lenin", but only at the end where the narrator misses the clues from his mother that she knows what he's done.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at March 31, 2019 10:48 AM (fuK7c)

204 I don't get Ace's reference to "chromatic aberrations" in the sidebar. What does lens distortion have to do with any of this?

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at March 31, 2019 10:48 AM (5aX2M)

205 Does anyone actually suppose the Beast was ever a Goldwater Girl? After all, her whole demeanor screams daddy-issues. Moreover, how does one go from being some kind of rock-ribbed Goldwater conservative to a full on Saul Alinsky disciple?

Posted by: Old Dude at March 31, 2019 10:51 AM (LGXGf)

206 Anonymous- Too funny, Jussie is totally exonerated because no charges were proven, Trump is totally guilty because charges haven't yet been charged.

Posted by: Skip at March 31, 2019 10:52 AM (BbGew)

207 186: I've already read most of those, but couldn't get through the entirety of Udolpho as it was pretty boring stuff. I'm glad Radcliffe has not experienced a revival, although I'm not sure it is worse than all the more recent vampire and witchcraft literature.

Posted by: CN at March 31, 2019 10:52 AM (U7k5w)

208 My father is a huge fan of Nabokov. He really likes Lolita because it's such a deceptive book. He thinks it was an elaborate joke. Some folks thought it was based on a true story (because of the intro), and of course the subject matter was titillating for its time, but my father says it was an amusing writing exercise for ol' Vladimir....


Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 09:53 AM (cfSRQ)



Yeah, pretty much.

I love Nabokov.

But, once you get past his early novels, which tend to be Kafkaesque dark comedies for the most part.

And get to Nabokov the American Writer,

his novels are either elaborate jokes and/or puzzles.

I think he was trying to prove that he was not only the smartest guy in the room, but in the city, in the state, in the country, on the continent, on the planet,

and had the brainpower and cleverness to pull it off.

Posted by: naturalfake at March 31, 2019 10:53 AM (CRRq9)

209 which I think you're all going to hate me for, because not only are they
a complete eyesore, but the lines are so arranged so that your eyes are
drawn in to a place where you just don't want to go.
=======================
I knew, without any doubt, the pic to which you were referring, before I clicked the link. But I clicked anyway.

Posted by: mrp at March 31, 2019 10:53 AM (Pqytn)

210 "Didja notice how the convergence of those stripes forms a bull's eye at the crotch?"

Nope. I was nearly blinded by the thighs.

Posted by: freaked at March 31, 2019 10:54 AM (UdKB7)

211 >>Otherwise he'd still be president today!

I'm sure that many Democrats would be perfectly fine with having him preserved and displayed Lenin style.

Posted by: Aviator at March 31, 2019 10:54 AM (2cuLk)

212 When Gandhi took his vow of celibacy (not sure if his wife was grateful or not) he would test himself by sleeping nekkid with 2 young girls."

I can face the temptation! Let me face the temptation!!!

Posted by: Sir Galahad the Chaste at March 31, 2019 10:54 AM (V2Yro)

213 The Black Swan anti elites (I hate that term) calls to mind a recent podcast from First Things:

http://tinyurl.com/y3xanxuf

I don't know how much I buy, but Deneen has some interesting ideas. The first half he lays the groundwork; toward the end he has some suggestions that made me think. (I do agree heartily with the ideas that (a) any attempt to abolish the elite/popular split is futile, and (b) the fact that today's ruling classes use egalitarianism as a tool to keep their edge over the populace.)

Posted by: Eeyore at March 31, 2019 10:55 AM (VaN/j)

214 I don't like putting Austin with the Brontes. My
experience with the latter two kept me from reading Austin for years.
But she's not at all like them; quite fun in fact. And much more
serious.



And, BTW, Jennifer Ehle was MUCH better than Firth. So was Benjamin Witrow.

Posted by: Eeyore at March 31, 2019 10:48 AM (VaN/j)

---
They are writing about the same thing, but take a very different approach to it.

Yes, if you like one, it's possible not to like the other but I think there is a considerable overlap.

Since you brought up adaptations, the Kate Beckinsale Emma is completely superior to Gwyneth Paltrow's.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 10:56 AM (cfSRQ)

215 ordered through the Scholastic Books program,

-
The first chapter book I ever read I got through that program. It was Robb White's The Secret Sea. I loved it and it started me on a lifetime of reading. It would be banned today because it's violent, including torture, and refers to the citizens of a certain country as [TRIGGER ALERT!] "Japs".

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 31, 2019 10:56 AM (+y/Ru)

216 138

And this part ended up getting airbrushed out of the history of the times in later centuries, because it didn't fit in well with either sides's narrative.
Posted by: Tom Servo at March 31, 2019 10:08 AM (V2Yro)
____

I don't see the airbrushing. It was certainly mentioned in a lot I read as far back as the 70s, and in classes. Granted there are people who pick a particular history and treat it as gospel, but that's just a mistake. Common, but it's long been known.

Posted by: Eeyore at March 31, 2019 10:58 AM (VaN/j)

217 Posted by: Old Dude at March 31, 2019 10:51 AM (LGXGf)
.
------

I think in many ways Hillary is an apolitical thug. I bet she saw how the Uniparty and Deep State totally ran over Goldwater, and said "that's where the real power is. That's where I want to be."

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at March 31, 2019 10:58 AM (5aX2M)

218 199 Ocasio-Cortez: Republicans Had To Amend The Constitution To Make Sure FDR Didn't Get Re-Elected
-
Otherwise he'd still be president today!

One is so tempted into talking about Actual Dates, and the you just gotta stop and say "Wait, it's just a Troll! Back away, quietly!!!"

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 31, 2019 11:00 AM (V2Yro)

219 205: I'm sure she picked up Alinsky and her communist dictator aspirations during her time at Wellesley. Maybe an overfondness for an academic or a desire to lead her cohort down that path. Anyway her senior thesis is readily available online.

Posted by: CN at March 31, 2019 11:00 AM (U7k5w)

220 Yes. And these are women very experienced in textiles. There's this maroon colored fabric. She says it reminds her of hair dyed with henna. When they get a closer look, they realize it's brown wool overdyed. Then she mentions they didn't know you could do that. But I will cut her some slack because she does such a great job of describing the textiles.

I found another bookon the mummies and am tempted to get it. These are from a Caucausian culture in China. They were herders and nomads. And some were found with plaid fabric. There seems to be a connection to the Celts.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at March 31, 2019 11:00 AM (Lqy/e)

221 He strikingly doesn't understand Indian history otherwise he would realize the 65 war was as significant as 67 was to israel.

Posted by: Admiral marcus at March 31, 2019 11:01 AM (ziPqS)

222 "Groups" with strong centralized control can do quite well. "The West" and especially the USA, try to give the individual greater liberty, which can be inherently "destabilizing".


Critical Theory and Cloward/Piven have been weapons effectively used against US, to divide us on planes protected by the constitution, but then flipped into a divisive wedge. (unconstitutional resolutions to White Guilt for slavery, for example).

American Liberty needs to be reestablished as a good thing .. VD Hanson has spoken along those lines, and Pat Buchanan is also good on that subject.

http://tinyurl.com/y3xglwbu

Posted by: illiniwek at March 31, 2019 11:01 AM (Cus5s)

223 "Dumber than a box of hammers" just doesn't quite cut it anymore.

Posted by: freaked at March 31, 2019 11:01 AM (UdKB7)

224 205
Does anyone actually suppose the Beast was ever a Goldwater Girl? After
all, her whole demeanor screams daddy-issues. Moreover, how does one go
from being some kind of rock-ribbed Goldwater conservative to a full on
Saul Alinsky disciple?


Posted by: Old Dude at March 31, 2019 10:51 AM (LGXGf)

---
It's not a stretch at all. She was a Goldwater Girl to try to please daddy and make him like her.

Didn't work, so she changed teams.

I knew a number of girls in college who were Dutch Reformed or Strict Catholic who went to college and became Wiccans because it pissed their parents off. Under questioning, they couldn't really articulate a reason for their religious conversion, but man, did Mom and Dad freak out over it!

Which was the whole point.

A lot of Boomers are like that. I've got family that are personally the most conservative people you will ever meet, but they vote Socialist to stick to their now long-dead parents.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 11:01 AM (cfSRQ)

225 Moreover, how does one go from being some kind of rock-ribbed Goldwater conservative to a full on Saul Alinsky disciple?
Posted by: Old Dude at March 31, 2019 10:51 AM (LGXGf)

Old Saul did things that made a young Hillary feel alive and sexual for the first time in her young, sheltered life.

Saul had sexual needs.

Like that book by Nabokov.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at March 31, 2019 11:02 AM (Z+IKu)

226 I'd rather try a "new" Trollope. So, where should I stand on this?

Posted by: Eeyore at March 31, 2019 09:21 AM (VaN/j)

Stay right there and don't read Kindle unlimited. It's the biggest slush pile in history. Albeit inclusive of some professional work.

Posted by: Terry at March 31, 2019 11:02 AM (asmlr)

227 205 Does anyone actually suppose the Beast was ever a Goldwater Girl?

Yeah, pretty much everybody. This is a fact that has never been disputed.

After all, her whole demeanor screams daddy-issues. Moreover, how does one go from being some kind of rock-ribbed Goldwater conservative to a full on Saul Alinsky disciple?
Posted by: Old Dude at March 31, 2019 10:51 AM (LGXGf)


She went to college in the 1960s and there, no doubt. she was constantly bombarded with commie propaganda. Some are more susceptible to this than others. Especially those, I'd imagine, with daddy issues.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 11:03 AM (htV9h)

228 I stand corrected. Don't know where I got that incorrect information.
Posted by: An Observation at March 31, 2019 10:21 AM (Sx4eG)


Don't sweat it, you're in the Horde. You got the lawyer part right and by accounts I've read he was outstanding at that.

Posted by: Captain Hate at March 31, 2019 11:03 AM (y7DUB)

229 As a teenager she was influenced by Carl inglesby one of the ads founders who wanted to denazify America because of gehlen, the reformed nazi rottweiler who founded the German security service.

Posted by: Admiral marcus at March 31, 2019 11:04 AM (ziPqS)

230 @193 Charlotte
I really liked that book too. Lee Hogan wrote a continuation of that story entitled "Enemies", lots of great world building. I'd really like to see her continue the story further.

Posted by: Northwest at March 31, 2019 11:04 AM (2RRSX)

231 Morning all. Do any writers here use speech to text? If so which program? My typing sucks.

Posted by: Cannibal Bob at March 31, 2019 10:04 AM (0rsWa)


Weil sum pogroms our bitter then our their's. Ewe now.

Posted by: Kindltot at March 31, 2019 11:05 AM (mUa7G)

232 Nabokov

*snickers*

Good gosh when the loli style was starting to hit US shores from Japan, some of the young girls into it finally realized where the term came from and well tried to redefine the word loli as not being shorthand for Lolita.

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 31, 2019 11:05 AM (ZgGov)

233 She went to college in the 1960s and thee, no doubt. she was constantly bombarded with commie propaganda. Some are more susceptible to this than others. Especially those, I'd imagine, with daddy issues.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 11:03 AM (htV9h)


Plus her intelligence is second only to the JEF's as being wildly overstated.

Posted by: Captain Hate at March 31, 2019 11:05 AM (y7DUB)

234 169 165 Didja notice how the convergence of those stripes forms a bull's eye at the crotch?
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 31, 2019 10:16 AM

Mesmerizing, indeed ...
Posted by: Webb H. at March 31, 2019 10:20 AM (+1LZb)

hence Eris' Comment, right at the top, "It's Like the Eye of Sauron!!!"
Posted by: Tom Servo at March 31, 2019 10:22 AM (V2Yro)

The whispering Eye of Sauron

Posted by: Insomniac at March 31, 2019 11:06 AM (NWiLs)

235 I've already read most of those, but couldn't get
through the entirety of Udolpho as it was pretty boring stuff. I'm glad
Radcliffe has not experienced a revival, although I'm not sure it is
worse than all the more recent vampire and witchcraft literature.

Posted by: CN at March 31, 2019 10:52 AM (U7k5w)

---
Tastes vary, of course. There are people here who actually like James Fennimore Cooper. I can't stand him.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 11:06 AM (cfSRQ)

236 "Didja notice how the convergence of those stripes forms a bull's eye at the crotch?"

Nope. I was nearly blinded by the thighs.
Posted by: freaked at March 31, 2019 10:54 AM (UdKB7)



Blinded by the thighs
My eyes like a douche
Headed for her sweet surprise...

Posted by: Zombie Manfred Mann and the Earth Band at March 31, 2019 11:07 AM (CRRq9)

237 214
They are writing about the same thing, but take a very different approach to it.

Yes, if you like one, it's possible not to like the other but I think there is a considerable overlap.

Since you brought up adaptations, the Kate Beckinsale Emma is completely superior to Gwyneth Paltrow's.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 10:56 AM (cfSRQ)
_______

I sat down to the Ehle/Firth adaptation, expecting to hate it. It won me over.

And I mostly agree about Emma, though Northam was good; better, I think, except in the "Badly done" scene. But overall, I like Kate SO much better than Gwyneth I'm not sure I can be fair.

After seeing Keira's Bronte-esque P&P my first comment was "Badly done, Knightly."

Posted by: Eeyore at March 31, 2019 11:08 AM (VaN/j)

238 232
Nabokov

*snickers*

Good gosh when the loli style was
starting to hit US shores from Japan, some of the young girls into it
finally realized where the term came from and well tried to redefine the
word loli as not being shorthand for Lolita.


Posted by: Anna Puma at March 31, 2019 11:05 AM (ZgGov)

---
Anyone remember the Long Island Lolita? I love New York tabloids.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 11:08 AM (cfSRQ)

239 Didja notice how the convergence of those stripes forms a bull's eye at the crotch?
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 31, 2019 10:16 AM

Mesmerizing, indeed ...
Posted by: Webb H. at March 31, 2019 10:20 AM (+1LZb)

hence Eris' Comment, right at the top, "It's Like the Eye of Sauron!!!"
Posted by: Tom Servo at March 31, 2019 10:22 AM (V2Yro)

The whispering Eye of Sauron

-
It follows you around the room!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 31, 2019 11:09 AM (+y/Ru)

240 I have no idea if the book is written that way, but I think that movie is fairly realistic, in a lot of ways.


I haven't seen either the Kubrick movie or the Jeremy Irons version, but as AH and I were discussing above they can't do what the book does.

Btw, I really want to re-read the book now.

The book is told first person, you gradually realize that you can't trust the narrator to tell you objective truth, so you have to reevaluate everything he's told you and everything he's going to tell you.

One movie pulled off the unreliable narrator bit, "Good Bye Lenin", but only at the end where the narrator misses the clues from his mother that she knows what he's done.
Posted by: Bandersnatch at March 31, 2019 10:48 AM (fuK7c)


Find the version with Jeremy Irons. Directed by Adrian Lyne. I suspect what you are talking about, the unreliability of the narrator, is very much present in it.

After a quick lookup, it would appear the distinction for this version is, there's no humor. None. Really, I've seen it. If the book contained some dark humor, this movie took it out completely.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 31, 2019 11:10 AM (cY3LT)

241 Whispering thighs?
Magic thighs?
42

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 31, 2019 11:11 AM (ZgGov)

242 And I mostly agree about Emma, though Northam was
good; better, I think, except in the "Badly done" scene. But overall, I
like Kate SO much better than Gwyneth I'm not sure I can be fair.



After seeing Keira's Bronte-esque PP my first comment was "Badly done, Knightly."

Posted by: Eeyore at March 31, 2019 11:08 AM (VaN/j)

---
Paltrow's problem is that she's so light and breezy and wonderful and nice and wonderful and light and breezy that there's nothing actually there.

Yes, Beckinsale is more my cup of tea (so to speak), but she also provides an actual human for the role instead of something light and wonderful and breezy.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 11:11 AM (cfSRQ)

243 237: Romola Garai was a better Emma than either, IMO.

Posted by: CN at March 31, 2019 11:12 AM (U7k5w)

244 Long Island Lolita... with a name like Buttafouco tossed in... cannot forget that.

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 31, 2019 11:12 AM (ZgGov)

245 224
I knew a number of girls in college who were Dutch Reformed or Strict Catholic who went to college and became Wiccans because it pissed their parents off. Under questioning, they couldn't really articulate a reason for their religious conversion, but man, did Mom and Dad freak out over it!

Which was the whole point.

A lot of Boomers are like that. I've got family that are personally the most conservative people you will ever meet, but they vote Socialist to stick to their now long-dead parents.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 11:01 AM (cfSRQ)
_____

Absolutely spot on. We used to call it "I can shock grandma!" syndrome.

When I was in college I got back at them by wearing a tie to class. It's great fun being lectured for being a conformist because I was the only one doing so. A very few saw the point; most were clueless.

As my WWII vet father like to say "We weren't the greatest at raising kids, that's for sure."

Posted by: Eeyore at March 31, 2019 11:12 AM (VaN/j)

246 Posted by: Notsothoreau at March 31, 2019 11:00 AM (Lqy/e)

My personal theory on the development of plaids is that they started by using frame looms and continuous weave. That automatically creates a bias-woven plaid fabric and frame looms would have required very few resources to build.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at March 31, 2019 11:13 AM (uquGJ)

247 Venezuela is participating in earth hour for me. Told me they got my back on this one so I'm not gonna join.


Hack in black says trump cant reverse obama's drilling ban edict because obama intended them to be forever. Funny how that works. pretty sure this judge would never say the same about a trump order. Trump should just ignore it. Judicial branch has no authority interfering with purely executive activities.
But gorsuch amirite?

Posted by: MST3K at March 31, 2019 11:13 AM (9N+85)

248 Find the version with Jeremy Irons. Directed by
Adrian Lyne. I suspect what you are talking about, the unreliability of
the narrator, is very much present in it.



After a quick lookup, it would appear the distinction for this
version is, there's no humor. None. Really, I've seen it. If the book
contained some dark humor, this movie took it out completely.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 31, 2019 11:10 AM (cY3LT)

---
For along time the joke was that Jeremy Irons only did movies that involved some sort of sexual hangup. Dead Ringers, anyone?

I think I saw his Lolita, but don't remember much about it. The big thing with the book is that it is darkly funny and also surprises in odd ways.

And the dog thing. That was pure Vladimir having fun.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 11:14 AM (cfSRQ)

249 Anyone remember the Long Island Lolita? I love New York tabloids.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 11:08 AM (cfSRQ)


The media, amirite? Nattering Nabokovs of negativity.

Posted by: hogmartin at March 31, 2019 11:15 AM (t+qrx)

250 Also, Boomer (and post-Boom) socialists never seem to realize that what they are advocating amounts to putting control in the hands of Assistant Principals. I love pointing that out to them. They tried "not conforming" and ended up being the teacher's pets.

I hate my generation, and have since the 60s. But that is kind of circling back to my first comment today.

Posted by: Eeyore at March 31, 2019 11:15 AM (VaN/j)

251 A lot of Boomers are like that. I've got family that are personally the most conservative people you will ever meet, but they vote Socialist to stick to their now long-dead parents.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 11:01 AM (cfSRQ)


Gosh, it's almost like humans are stupid and irrational and make all sorts of choices that are bad for them, for reasons that make no sense at all...

Almost.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 31, 2019 11:15 AM (cY3LT)

252 Time to head out to church.

Stay reading, my friends!

Posted by: Blake - used vacation salesman at March 31, 2019 11:16 AM (WEBkv)

253 Chris Rock badmouths Jussie from inside the lions' den; i.e., at the NAACP awards!

https://bit.ly/2U5Q50U

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 31, 2019 11:16 AM (+y/Ru)

254 226 I'd rather try a "new" Trollope. So, where should I stand on this?

Posted by: Eeyore at March 31, 2019 09:21 AM (VaN/j)

Stay right there and don't read Kindle unlimited. It's the biggest slush pile in history. Albeit inclusive of some professional work.
Posted by: Terry at March 31, 2019 11:02 AM (asmlr)
_____

I don't do Kindle. A few hours, and reading online gives me a headache. About the time this thread lasts, or a bit longer.

Posted by: Eeyore at March 31, 2019 11:17 AM (VaN/j)

255 Nattering Nabokovs of negativity.


For five Horde Points: Who wrote that (with nabobs) for whom?

Posted by: Bandersnatch, fish brag pics welcome at e-mail in nic at March 31, 2019 11:17 AM (fuK7c)

256 It was a bad idea for the humans to leave the trees.

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 31, 2019 11:18 AM (ZgGov)

257
When I was in college I got back at them by wearing a tie to class.

Posted by: Eeyore at March 31, 2019 11:12 AM (VaN/j)

---
I was raised by my rebellious parents to be irreligious.

So I converted to Catholicism.

I'm worried that my kids may slide away, but thanks to the current culture, being religious is still rebellious. Plus I'm cautiously optimistic that they don't hate me and respect my opinions.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 11:18 AM (cfSRQ)

258 Posted by: Rawle Nyanzi at March 31, 2019 09:39 AM (XaAY0)

Welcome! Have you been lurking or is this your first time at the HQ? If the latter, you picked the best day of the week to start. Weekend threads tend to be relatively on-topic and civil. Open threads, especially the over night thread ("the ONT") can get a little woolly sometimes. But we're (mostly) OK once you get to know us.

Posted by: Bob the Bilderberg at March 31, 2019 11:18 AM (qc+VF)

259 Long knives out for Biden. He'll survive but he'll be wounded.

Silly thin Democratic field. "Sudden Heart Attack" and "Assassination" have better odds.


Posted by: Ignoramus at March 31, 2019 11:19 AM (1UZdv)

260 Plus her intelligence is second only to the JEF's as being wildly overstated.

Posted by: Captain Hate at March 31, 2019 11:05 AM (y7DUB)

I love it when people say 'she's so accomplished!'. Really, name one...just one.

*crickets*

Posted by: Tami at March 31, 2019 11:19 AM (cF8AT)

261 I don't do Kindle. A few hours, and reading online gives me a headache. About the time this thread lasts, or a bit longer.

Posted by: Eeyore at March 31, 2019 11:17 AM (VaN/j)

---
Happily all my books are available in paperback!

And very affordably priced, too.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 11:20 AM (cfSRQ)

262 Long Island Lolita... with a name like Buttafouco tossed in... cannot forget that.
Posted by: Anna Puma at March 31, 2019 11:12 AM (ZgGov)

Yup....I went around for weeks just saying "Joey Buttafouco" where ever and when ever.

People would just shake their heads......

I think he's dead now.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at March 31, 2019 11:20 AM (Z+IKu)

263 For five Horde Points: Who wrote that (with nabobs) for whom?
Posted by: Bandersnatch, fish brag pics welcome at e-mail in nic at March 31, 2019 11:17 AM (fuK7c)


I'd only get half credit and I'd have to look up the 'who wrote it' part.

Posted by: hogmartin at March 31, 2019 11:20 AM (t+qrx)

264 For five Horde Points: Who wrote that (with nabobs) for whom?

Posted by: Bandersnatch, fish brag pics welcome at e-mail in nic at March 31, 2019 11:17 AM (fuK7c)


Some dude who worked for the New York Times when they had a few token Repuboicans on board.

Posted by: I like cookies at March 31, 2019 11:20 AM (xxAFD)

265 Dennis Prager says often the Greatest generation didn't pass on why they were the greatest generation.

Posted by: Skip at March 31, 2019 11:21 AM (BbGew)

266 Plus her intelligence is second only to the JEF's as being wildly overstated.
Posted by: Captain Hate at March 31, 2019 11:05 AM (y7DUB)


I don't know about this. In the early days of the internet, I used to chat with this conservative guy who knew her back in the day (I guess he do some kind of legal work in Arkansas), and he said she was one of the most smartest people he'd ever met.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 11:21 AM (htV9h)

267 The media, amirite? Nattering Nabokovs of negativity.

Posted by: hogmartin at March 31, 2019 11:15 AM (t+qrx)


Negativism.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 11:21 AM (htV9h)

268 I dated a gal in high school, who was very pretty and sweet but it was one of those 3 and done dealios, because-

not only was she boring to talk to but she was absolutely terrified of getting home one minute after 10:00 pm. Apparently, her parents were insanely strict with her.

Fast forward five years.

I'm served at this ratty college bar by this tatted up, beer-bellied, greasy haired, biker chick.

Guess Who!

Posted by: naturalfake at March 31, 2019 11:21 AM (CRRq9)

269 It was for Nixon's VP, Agnew. By Pat Buchanan I believe

Posted by: Ignoramus at March 31, 2019 11:21 AM (1UZdv)

270 I don't do Kindle. A few hours, and reading online gives me a headache. About the time this thread lasts, or a bit longer.


The Kindle Paperwhite is very much like reading on paper and not like reading a computer screen.

Posted by: Bandersnatch, fish brag pics welcome at e-mail in nic at March 31, 2019 11:22 AM (fuK7c)

271 I'm entering the eighth month of my Limerick A Day for a year challenge. Link in my nick for anyone who might be interested. Enjoy.

Posted by: Muldoon, resuming the horizontal position at March 31, 2019 11:22 AM (m45I2)

272 For five Horde Points: Who wrote that (with nabobs) for whom?
Posted by: Bandersnatch, fish brag pics welcome at e-mail in nic at March 31, 2019 11:17 AM (fuK7c)


William Safire?

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 11:22 AM (htV9h)

273 >>I love it when people say 'she's so accomplished!'. Really, name one...just one.

*crickets*
Posted by: Tami

I flew more miles on your dime as secretary of state than anyone ever did before.

Posted by: Hillary at March 31, 2019 11:22 AM (2cuLk)

274 Nattering Nabokovs of negativity.
======================
Gore Vidal, for...let's see...let's see...zzzzzzzz

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at March 31, 2019 11:23 AM (ty7RM)

275 268 I dated a gal in high school, who was very pretty and sweet but it was one of those 3 and done dealios, because-

not only was she boring to talk to but she was absolutely terrified of getting home one minute after 10:00 pm. Apparently, her parents were insanely strict with her.

Fast forward five years.

I'm served at this ratty college bar by this tatted up, beer-bellied, greasy haired, biker chick.

Guess Who!
Posted by: naturalfake at March 31, 2019 11:21 AM (CRRq9)

That's all rather sad.

Posted by: Insomniac at March 31, 2019 11:23 AM (NWiLs)

276 I'm surprised you've not put up a pic of Michelle Obama in her leopard print pants with the hooker boots.
Posted by: Blake - used vacation salesman at March 31, 2019 09:48 AM (WEBkv)

Don't give him any ideas.

Posted by: Fox2! at March 31, 2019 11:23 AM (MwFQu)

277 I don't know about this. In the early days of the
internet, I used to chat with this conservative guy who knew her back in
the day (I guess he do some kind of legal work in Arkansas), and he
said she was one of the most smartest people he'd ever met.


Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 11:21 AM (htV9h)

---
People change over time. I know, shocker!

Plus, being high IQ does not preclude also being delusional or having terrible judgement.

I've known more than a few people who were smart and totally squared away in their youth who turned into useless tools by middle age.

Maybe they weren't as smart as I thought after all?

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 11:23 AM (cfSRQ)

278 Absolutely spot on. We used to call it "I can shock grandma!" syndrome.
=====

My grandparents were older than most (WWI grandfather) so the 60s didn't offend or bother them that much. Short skirts were fine, long hair was fine (picture of grandfather and brother with long curls and infant 'dresses'), drinking drugs, etc were okay - just don't do it in the street and scare the horses. They were offended by the various communist/anarchist radicals, but they had grown up with that type of nihilism in Chicago/Milwaukee.

Posted by: mustbequantum at March 31, 2019 11:24 AM (MIKMs)

279 I'm served at this ratty college bar by this tatted up, beer-bellied, greasy haired, biker chick.

Guess Who!
Posted by: naturalfake at March 31, 2019 11:21 AM (CRRq9)


Amy Schumer?

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 11:24 AM (htV9h)

280 You mean the glittery golden fish-scale hooker boots that cost most than the yearly school lunch plan for one child in Brooklyn....

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 31, 2019 11:24 AM (ZgGov)

281
When you find that out it changes people's perspective on his (Gandhi) advice to the Jews to go quietly into the gas chambers.

Posted by: An Observation at March 31, 2019 09:58 AM


For real? I can't find this on the internet.

Posted by: Newest Nic at March 31, 2019 11:24 AM (jYje5)

282 Hillary is smart. Not nearly as smart as she thinks she is. Ans she's got more evil over time. Grabbing power can do that.

Posted by: Ignoramus at March 31, 2019 11:24 AM (1UZdv)

283 I'm served at this ratty college bar by this tatted up, beer-bellied, greasy haired, biker chick.

Guess Who!
Posted by: naturalfake at March 31, 2019 11:21 AM (CRRq9)

Amy Schumer?
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 11:24 AM (htV9h)


Joan Collins?

Posted by: hogmartin at March 31, 2019 11:25 AM (t+qrx)

284 Some dude who worked for the New York Times when they had a few token Repuboicans on board.


This yes. For Agnew. Not Buchanan.

Posted by: Bandersnatch, fish brag pics welcome at e-mail in nic at March 31, 2019 11:25 AM (fuK7c)

285 Guess Who!
==================
Meghan McCain??

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at March 31, 2019 11:25 AM (ty7RM)

286 Elizabeth Barber also wrote a door stopper of a book called Prehistoric Textiles, and a more accessible book called Women's Work, the first 20,000 years.

I forget now whether it's in the Mummies book or the Women's Work but she relates an amusing anecdote about plaids. She tried re-creating a scrap from Hallstat and after counting out an irregular warp she realized she had the scrap turned. It was the warp that was counted out precisely and the weft that was done by eye.

Posted by: Lirio100 at March 31, 2019 11:25 AM (JK7Jw)

287 Nattering Nabokovs of negativity.


For five Horde Points: Who wrote that (with nabobs) for whom?

-
The Greek Veep, Spiro Agnew, about the CNNs of his day.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 31, 2019 11:25 AM (+y/Ru)

288
That's all rather sad.
Posted by: Insomniac at March 31, 2019 11:23 AM (NWiLs)



It is.

Life is a funny old thing.....without mercy.

Posted by: naturalfake at March 31, 2019 11:25 AM (CRRq9)

289 280 You mean the glittery golden fish-scale hooker boots that cost most than the yearly school lunch plan for one child in Brooklyn....
Posted by: Anna Puma at March 31, 2019 11:24 AM (ZgGov)

How much can 1/4 cup of raw jicama and half a scoop of gruel cost?

Posted by: Insomniac at March 31, 2019 11:25 AM (NWiLs)

290 Hillary is smart. Not nearly as smart as she thinks she is. Ans she's got more evil over time. Grabbing power can do that.

Posted by: Ignoramus at March 31, 2019 11:24 AM (1UZdv)

---
Plus the vodka. Lots and lots of vodka.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 11:26 AM (cfSRQ)

291 William Safire?


Yuppers. And you were also right about negativism.

Posted by: Bandersnatch, fish brag pics welcome at e-mail in nic at March 31, 2019 11:26 AM (fuK7c)

292 Plus, being high IQ does not preclude also being delusional or having terrible judgement.
I've known more than a few people who were smart and totally squared away in their youth who turned into useless tools by middle age.

Maybe they weren't as smart as I thought after all?
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 11:23 AM (cfSRQ)


I noticed he said she was "smart". He didn't say "wise."

Hell, a bright 11-year-old can solve a quadratic equation. Wouldn't want her running the country, though.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 11:26 AM (htV9h)

293 For real? I can't find this on the internet.

Posted by: Newest Nic at March 31, 2019 11:24 AM (jYje5)


The wording has been sensationalized, but basically correct in content.

https://tinyurl.com/y926etgv

Posted by: I like cookies at March 31, 2019 11:26 AM (xxAFD)

294 How much can 1/4 cup of raw jicama and half a scoop of gruel cost?

Factor in the administrative overhead needed to dispense that for a year ...

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 31, 2019 11:27 AM (ZgGov)

295 I'm served at this ratty college bar by this tatted up, beer-bellied, greasy haired, biker chick.

Guess Who!
Posted by: naturalfake at March 31, 2019 11:21 AM (CRRq9)

Amy Schumer?

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 11:24 AM (htV9h)



Me?

Posted by: Amy Schumer at March 31, 2019 11:27 AM (CRRq9)

296 Hillary is smart.

-
Smart = absence of conscience

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 31, 2019 11:27 AM (+y/Ru)

297 261 I don't do Kindle. A few hours, and reading online gives me a headache. About the time this thread lasts, or a bit longer.

Posted by: Eeyore at March 31, 2019 11:17 AM (VaN/j)

---
Happily all my books are available in paperback!

And very affordably priced, too.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 11:20 AM (cfSRQ)
_____

Well, the Coasties book you recommended seems to be Kindle only.

Posted by: Eeyore at March 31, 2019 11:27 AM (VaN/j)

298 And get to Nabokov the American Writer,

his novels are either elaborate jokes and/or puzzles.

I think he was trying to prove that he was not only the smartest guy in the room, but in the city, in the state, in the country, on the continent, on the planet,

and had the brainpower and cleverness to pull it off.
Posted by: naturalfake at March 31, 2019 10:53 AM (CRRq9)


Yes to all this.

I found his lectures on literature, Russian and otherwise, fascinating. He absolutely hated Dostoyevsky which had to be at least in part class based since Fydor was kind of a lowlife who would often write quickly to pay off gambling debts. Plus Nabokov's uncle was in charge of a prison camp where they acted like they were going to execute Dostoyevsky until they used blanks or some such mind fuck. He considered his work pseudo Freudian claptrap which misses the point badly imo.

Likewise he had a low opinion of Conrad's work, for whatever reason, but doted on Robert Louis Stevenson. There's no explaining taste other than it differs for each person (I have more than a few guilty pleasures).

Posted by: Captain Hate at March 31, 2019 11:28 AM (y7DUB)

299 I probably won't ever read this book because I don't really like reading long nonfiction political essays but others might find it good:

The true subject of this book, then, is "regime change," how we got from "there" - our founders' understanding of justice, morality, and politics - to "here": the tradition-and-history-destroying, common-good-denying, anarcho-tyrannical, pathologically altruistic dystopian oligarchy currently throttling the West.

How could we let such a glorious inheritance go? Why did our elites and a growing portion of the populace come to despise it all?

For the United States is not now, and has not been for some time, a constitutional republic as the founders and their heirs understood that term. As Marini shows, the administrative state is not merely unconstitutional; it is anti-constitutional. Leo Strauss identified the essence of constitutionalism as the practical reconciliation of wisdom and consent.


Unmasking The Administrative State by John Marini

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 31, 2019 11:28 AM (39g3+)

300 that is gorgeous

Posted by: phoenixgirl at March 31, 2019 11:28 AM (0O7c5)

301 This yes. For Agnew. Not Buchanan.

Posted by: Bandersnatch, fish brag pics welcome at e-mail in nic at March 31, 2019 11:25 AM (fuK7c)


Maybe I'm getting old, because I remember this kind of stuff instantly from when I was in my teens.

Posted by: I like cookies at March 31, 2019 11:29 AM (xxAFD)

302 The Greek Veep, Spiro Agnew, about the CNNs of his day.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 31, 2019 11:25 AM (+y/Ru)


Agnew said it, but it was a phrase written by conservative columnist William Safire, who was his speechwriter at the time.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 11:29 AM (htV9h)

303 For real? I can't find this on the internet.

Gandhi advised passive resistance for the Jews. Which is pretty much what they tried and got murdered by the million.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 31, 2019 11:29 AM (39g3+)

304 Hell, a bright 11-year-old can solve a quadratic equation. Wouldn't want her running the country, though.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 11:26 AM (htV9h)


I can't solve a quadratic equation. You also wouldn't want me running the country.

*looks around self-consciously*

I'll just... I'll just be over here then.

*slinks off*

Posted by: hogmartin at March 31, 2019 11:30 AM (t+qrx)

305 It was the warp that was counted out precisely and the weft that was done by eye.

Posted by: Lirio100 at March 31, 2019 11:25 AM (JK7Jw)

Which makes sense really, and also would mean the piece was *not* done on a frame loom as warp and weft are automatically the same. One data point against my theory.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at March 31, 2019 11:31 AM (uquGJ)

306 Even if it's these pants, which I think you're all going to hate me for, because not only are they a complete eyesore, but the lines are so arranged so that your eyes are drawn in to a place where you just don't want to go.

Pic Note

You'll want to click on it to see the larger version.


Um

...Florentine ceilings...

OOohhh. THAT pic.

Posted by: mindful webworker - not quite all here at March 31, 2019 11:32 AM (GvEen)

307 The commie infiltration has been persistent since the 30's (Duranty/NYTimes covering up Ukraine genocide, for example). We "won" WW2 but half Europe was delivered to the USSR, and our own government had the real red scare ... which won over public perception, with "McCarthyism" being their Orwellian flip of the real narrative. The red "scare" only went away because they succeeded. Reagan was a speed bump, but then came the Bushies/CIA/DeepState.


We "won" the cold war, yet their infiltration through our institutions is now being completed, unabated. Obama was their first red diaper baby president (with Jarrett his brain). This has been an external enemy (mostly USSR then, now maybe China or Muslim Bro' MENA powers).


It may be the oligarchs on the right (globalists that conspire at CFR meetings, and control monetary policy for the world) ... have taken over from some of the Chicago based communism, idk. But Soros/Cameron/Clinton broke Libya and flooded the EuroZone with jihadists and a demographic nightmare.


Our policy needs vast change ... we hope Trump can regain control for US ... outcome uncertain.

Posted by: illiniwek at March 31, 2019 11:33 AM (Cus5s)

308 Hound of the Baskervilles will always have a warm spot in my heart partly because it was a good story but also because it was one of the books that led to more 'adult' novels. And it was memorable....
Posted by: JTB at March 31, 2019 10:47 AM (bmdz3)


Modern readers usually don't understand why Sherlock Holmes plays such a relatively small part in the mystery. Arthur Conan Doyle had killed-off Holmes in the short story, "The Final Problem." Doyle had come to hate the character (he detracted from Doyle's historical novels -- now pretty much forgotten -- in which he wanted to be considered as an author of serious literature).

Publishers kept waving money at him and he relented after hearing a horror legend that he particularly liked. It was presented as a recollection of an unpublished adventure that took place before Holmes' death. Doyle essentially shoe-horns Holmes into the horror legend to make the big bucks ... er ... guineas. Still a great story, but understanding the dynamics of why Doyle wrote the novel the way he did helps put it in context.

Doyle is now primarily remembered ONLY for Sherlock Holmes (and his biographer, Dr. John Watson). These two characters will probably be subjects of essays, books and movies for many years to come. They certainly seem to satisfy some sort of primordial need inherent to the human psyche.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at March 31, 2019 11:33 AM (5Yee7)

309 I'm currently reading Calculating God as recommended by someone here, whose name I apologize but I cannot recall. I'm enjoying it so far. I'm not a big sci fi fan, but this is light and easy to read and pretty fun.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 31, 2019 11:33 AM (39g3+)

310 I don't do Kindle. A few hours, and reading online gives me a headache. About the time this thread lasts, or a bit longer.

=====

I don't read on Kindle, but mine has a 'blue shade' option to take out blue so the background color doesn't interfere with sleep. Very handy and it works well.

Posted by: mustbequantum at March 31, 2019 11:33 AM (MIKMs)

311 A limerick a day is not easy
Especially if none are sleazy
But if Muldoon keeps on
Like a true Moron
He might get Pulitzer for cheesy

Posted by: freaked at March 31, 2019 11:33 AM (UdKB7)

312 The Hound is unique in that it really isn't a Holmes story, for most of it. He's there at the start and end. But MIA for the bulk.

A Study in Scarlet and The Valley of Fear weren't really Holmes stories either. Both are political/religious polemics bookended by appearances by Holmes.

Posted by: Bob the Bilderberg at March 31, 2019 11:33 AM (qc+VF)

313
For real? I can't find this on the internet.

////


The wording has been sensationalized, but basically correct in content.

https://tinyurl.com/y926etgv

Posted by: I like cookies at March 31, 2019 11:26 AM


Okay, in effect. Thanks. I worry sometimes about the internet scrubbing that goes on. I see from the date of his writings at that time he had no knowledge of the gas chambers to come.

I've always felt somewhat ambivalent about Gandhi. Disinterested at best.

Posted by: Newest Nic at March 31, 2019 11:33 AM (jYje5)

314 Meghan McCain??

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at March 31, 2019 11:25 AM (ty7RM)

---
Okay, a digression if I may.

Like everyone else here, the whole character-bashing of Trump pisses me off, but what really gets my goat is the notion that John McCain was some sort of paragon of husbandly virtue.

The guy does his stint in the Hanoi Hilton and then proceeds to run wild when he gets home, dumping his loyal, long-suffering wife for a much-younger heiress.

Oh, and where are the children of that first marriage? Everyone acts like Meghan is an only child, when she's very clearly not.

I may take heat for saying this, but absent getting shot down, McCain would have amounted to just another washed-up naval aviator getting some off-base side action - assuming he didn't crash one time too many and stall out as an O-5.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 11:34 AM (cfSRQ)

315 I wouldn't know a quadratic equation if it bit me on the ass.

Posted by: Insomniac at March 31, 2019 11:34 AM (NWiLs)

316 251: I know a lot of boomers like that. Most adored their parents until the university professors worked to instill a sense of mistrust and hatred. And they did work it on a regular basis. I started my college days in a residential college of a large university, where even the literature and writing classes were twisted in a way to make you feel that middle class America was built to oppress. I found myself buying into it, and made an ass of myself during winter break. Oddly, my salvation came from dating an accounting major, and fellow Redwings fan, who managed to steer clear of the bullshit.

When you're with a group of people who all believe the same nonsense and socially reward their fellow travelers, it can be hard not to join in, and I'm not sure that the tendency to please the professors and Marx up your work is totally irrational as it was necessary for a good grade and social standing. To carry your collegiate stupidities around through your entire life (like a moldy backpack with peace symbols on it) and not examine the professors' motivations is lazy and probably the real problem. However many people hold on to their college years as if they were golden, and believe the "youth is truth" lie. I'm sure you can see this among later generations, and earlier for that matter.

Posted by: CN at March 31, 2019 11:34 AM (U7k5w)

317 I don't know about this. In the early days of the internet, I used to chat with this conservative guy who knew her back in the day (I guess he do some kind of legal work in Arkansas), and he said she was one of the most smartest people he'd ever met.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 11:21 AM (htV9h)


Some people see what they want to see. Maybe she impressed him on something esoteric and he extrapolated it to everything. Or maybe he's right although she flunked the bar exam, which I realize lots of people do but it's still a point against her.

Posted by: Captain Hate at March 31, 2019 11:35 AM (y7DUB)

318 Doyle is now primarily remembered ONLY for Sherlock Holmes (and his biographer, Dr. John Watson).

Its a shame, because his other books are even better, especially stuff like The White Company and Tragedy of the Korosko. The Lost World is kind of pulpy but its as fun and interesting as the Holmes books as well. He wrote a bunch of Professor Challenger stories but they never were as popular as Holmes.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 31, 2019 11:35 AM (39g3+)

319 277
People change over time. I know, shocker!

Plus, being high IQ does not preclude also being delusional or having terrible judgement.

I've known more than a few people who were smart and totally squared away in their youth who turned into useless tools by middle age.

Maybe they weren't as smart as I thought after all?
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 11:23 AM (cfSRQ)
_____

One trouble with the way people change over time is that often their faults - or some of them - can take over their natures, completely. So the "person" left isn't much of a person at all, but mostly the fault. You can see this in some of the Never Trumpers. (And hat tip to CSL on this point, too.)

Also, I lucked onto the early insight that a lot of high-IQ brainpower seems wasted on not actually thinking. Also in recognizing that smart people are never so smart as they think. (I thank Socrates for that one.) It took longer to realize that applied to me, as well, I confess.

Posted by: Eeyore at March 31, 2019 11:35 AM (VaN/j)

320 Yes to all this.

I found his lectures on literature, Russian and otherwise, fascinating. He absolutely hated Dostoyevsky which had to be at least in part class based since Fydor was kind of a lowlife who would often write quickly to pay off gambling debts. Plus Nabokov's uncle was in charge of a prison camp where they acted like they were going to execute Dostoyevsky until they used blanks or some such mind fuck. He considered his work pseudo Freudian claptrap which misses the point badly imo.

Likewise he had a low opinion of Conrad's work, for whatever reason, but doted on Robert Louis Stevenson. There's no explaining taste other than it differs for each person (I have more than a few guilty pleasures).
Posted by: Captain Hate at March 31, 2019 11:28 AM (y7DUB)


Not addressing the question of taste, mine or Nabakov's, but the story of Dostoevsky's near execution.

The game was, put the guy on the line, blindfold him (I believe), have the firing squad at the ready, and essentially do the whole thing, up to the "ready... aim...." and at that point, have the guy say "hold it! We got a reprieve from the governor (or whomever)."

Take the guy back to his cell, and pretend like nothing happened.

That's some high quality mindf*ck right there.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 31, 2019 11:36 AM (cY3LT)

321 Chomp!!

Posted by: Quadratic equation at March 31, 2019 11:36 AM (PkVlr)

322 I've always felt somewhat ambivalent about Gandhi. Disinterested at best.

Posted by: Newest Nic at March 31, 2019 11:33 AM (jYje5)


I am also disinterested in Gandhi as a 3rd rate thinker, but as a figure of influence on history he was of great importance to that region and time period.

Posted by: I like cookies at March 31, 2019 11:36 AM (xxAFD)

323 It's been awhile since I read any of her books, but IIRC, the warp weighted loom was common in the northern cultures and ground loom in the southern (guessing mostly due to weather). Hallstat ran from 12-8 centuries BC, plaids are actually quite old. The scrap she had was actually a six color pattern.

Posted by: Lirio100 at March 31, 2019 11:37 AM (JK7Jw)

324 OW!!! Something bit me on the ass! What the hell IS that?

Posted by: Insomniac at March 31, 2019 11:37 AM (NWiLs)

325 Well, the Coasties book you recommended seems to be Kindle only.

Posted by: Eeyore at March 31, 2019 11:27 AM (VaN/j)

---
For some strange reason, it shows up as two entries.
Try this one:https://tinyurl.com/y4cfmqmcNot sure why that happened, but this is the first book I've done since Amazon combined the paperback/kindle platform.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 11:37 AM (cfSRQ)

326 I see from the date of his writings at that time he had no knowledge of the gas chambers to come.

Well the problem isn't that he underestimated the ways in which Jews would die, but rather that he overestimated human nature. He thought that everyone was a British colonizer without realizing some are Nazi high command. There is no "one size fits all" approach to evil or injustice. You choose the right approach for each situation. Gandhi thought he had come up with the one perfect way to deal with everything, so he wanted everyone to follow it.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 31, 2019 11:38 AM (39g3+)

327 You can draw a straight line from Doyle's Lost World to King Kong to Jurassic Park, no?

Posted by: Ignoramus at March 31, 2019 11:39 AM (1UZdv)

328 293: Gandhi was quite preposterous, and had not the slightest idea of what Hitler wanted to do.

Posted by: CN at March 31, 2019 11:39 AM (U7k5w)

329 OK, I have a Ghandi joke.

He walked everywhere barefoot, which made his feet like leather. His vegetarian diet made him frail. And the spices and his hygiene gave him horrid breath.

He was a super-calloused fragile mystic vexed by halitosis.

Posted by: Bandersnatch, fish brag pics welcome at e-mail in nic at March 31, 2019 11:39 AM (fuK7c)

330 Posted by: BurtTC at March 31, 2019 11:36 AM (cY3LT)

I think you got it right; I wasn't quite sure and too lazy to look it up so I gave a maybe summary.

Posted by: Captain Hate at March 31, 2019 11:40 AM (y7DUB)

331 For real? I can't find this on the internet.

////


The wording has been sensationalized, but basically correct in content.

https://tinyurl.com/y926etgv

Posted by: I like cookies at March 31, 2019 11:26 AM

Okay, in effect. Thanks. I worry sometimes about the internet scrubbing that goes on. I see from the date of his writings at that time he had no knowledge of the gas chambers to come.

I've always felt somewhat ambivalent about Gandhi. Disinterested at best.
Posted by: Newest Nic at March 31, 2019 11:33 AM (jYje5)


Gandhi writes like a lawyer, because he was a lawyer.

He knew damn well the difference between "passive resistance" with the British and trying it with the Germans.

Such fancy words, which add up to "go die."

Not the same message the Arabs of the Middle East were given, because the Arabs were dealing with Brits and then eventually, Israeli Jews. Not the same message his Hindus were dealing with at home.

It's a cold, hard, cruel message to tell the Jews "Yeah, just tell Hilter you're not going to cooperate. Don't try any of this war business, no fighting, no forming a resistance movement. Just go die."

What a hateful little man he was.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 31, 2019 11:40 AM (cY3LT)

332 Morning Horde!


Coffee on the deck.

That damn woodpecker is going down!

Posted by: Nurse ratched at March 31, 2019 11:40 AM (PkVlr)

333 Posted by: Bob the Bilderberg at March 31, 2019 11:33 AM (qc+VF)

Valley of Fear was a fascinating look at a time of union-inspired terror that has been completely erased from US knowledge. The high level of political violence in the late 19th/early 20th century was something not even whispered of at school 30+ years and it hasn't gotten better since.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at March 31, 2019 11:41 AM (uquGJ)

334 The parallel fiber craft discussion here is fascinating, even if - or probably because - I understand about 1/5 of what's going on.

Posted by: hogmartin at March 31, 2019 11:41 AM (t+qrx)

335 Likewise he had a low opinion of Conrad's work, for
whatever reason, but doted on Robert Louis Stevenson. There's no
explaining taste other than it differs for each person (I have more than
a few guilty pleasures).

Posted by: Captain Hate at March 31, 2019 11:28 AM (y7DUB)

---
Conrad was a Polish emigre, which is reason enough for any Russian to hate him.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 11:41 AM (cfSRQ)

336 318 Doyle is now primarily remembered ONLY for Sherlock Holmes (and his biographer, Dr. John Watson).

Its a shame, because his other books are even better, especially stuff like The White Company and Tragedy of the Korosko. The Lost World is kind of pulpy but its as fun and interesting as the Holmes books as well. He wrote a bunch of Professor Challenger stories but they never were as popular as Holmes.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 31, 2019 11:35 AM (39g3+)
_____

IMO, The Lost World itself is at the Holmes level, and Challenger is almost as good as Sherlock. But none of the others struck me as quite so good. Also liked The White Company, but couldn't get into the sequal (Sir Nigel?).

It is not true that, as some have said, Holmes was NEVER as good after The Final Problem. Many were written for the money, true. But there were some which had the old magic; after all, Silver Blaze is one of the best, with one of the best lines of all.

Posted by: Eeyore at March 31, 2019 11:42 AM (VaN/j)

337 328 293: Gandhi was quite preposterous, and had not the slightest idea of what Hitler wanted to do.
Posted by: CN at March 31, 2019 11:39 AM (U7k5w)


Yes he did.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 31, 2019 11:42 AM (cY3LT)

338 You can draw a straight line from Doyle's Lost World to King Kong to Jurassic Park, no?

Yeah kind of. Although Crichton was less interested in dinosaurs than he was examining the potential consequences of genetic tinkering. The dinosaur theme park was just a really interesting way to present it.

I say I don't read much sci fi but I have read almost all of Crichton's work, and its all hard sci fi disguised as thrillers.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 31, 2019 11:42 AM (39g3+)

339 He might get Pulitzer for cheesy
Posted by: freaked



*********

I really had ought to know better
Than to pose as a real man of letters
But with puns I'm adept
So I'm proud to accept
This Pulitzer Prize made of cheddar

Posted by: Muldoon, resuming the horizontal position at March 31, 2019 11:43 AM (m45I2)

340 @A H Lloyd: Went to your site, later today I intend to read your GoT/Claudius piece. Didn't we discuss that here?

Posted by: Eeyore at March 31, 2019 11:43 AM (VaN/j)

341 "How could we let such a glorious inheritance go? Why did our elites
and a growing portion of the populace come to despise it all?"

mostly it was foreign funded covert infiltration ... Naked Communist, 1984, we relaxed after militarily "defeating foreign enemies", but the domestic enemy culture (war) we treated as groovy "avant garde"... or fascinating, just kids acting out as they are wont to do. It was not .. it was covert enemy action.

Posted by: illiniwek at March 31, 2019 11:43 AM (Cus5s)

342 OW!!! Something bit me on the ass! What the hell IS that?

Posted by: Insomniac at March 31, 2019 11:37 AM (NWiLs)

The Quadratic Mastication.

Posted by: I like cookies at March 31, 2019 11:44 AM (xxAFD)

343 IIRC, Gandhi and the Holocaust is mentioned by Orwell in his essay. That is surely on the net.

Posted by: Eeyore at March 31, 2019 11:44 AM (VaN/j)

344 249 Anyone remember the Long Island Lolita? I love New York tabloids.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 11:08 AM (cfSRQ)

and the inimitable "Headless Body Foind in Topless Bar" from about the same vintage.

Posted by: Fox2! at March 31, 2019 11:45 AM (MwFQu)

345 Mentioned on the movie thread last night.

Most of Crichton's books have been made into movies and TV. One notable exception is State of Fear (2004), his prescient novel about eco-terrorists. It even has an appendix refuting Global Warming.

Posted by: Ignoramus at March 31, 2019 11:46 AM (1UZdv)

346 Gandhi was quite preposterous, and had not the slightest idea of what Hitler wanted to do.

Posted by: CN at March 31, 2019 11:39 AM (U7k5w)


Ghandi:


But the German persecution of the Jews seems to have no parallel in
history. The tyrants of old never went so mad as Hitler seems to have
gone. And he is doing it with religious zeal. For he is propounding a
new religion of exclusive and militant nationalism in the name of which
any inhumanity becomes an act of humanity to be rewarded here and
hereafter. The crime of an obviously mad but intrepid youth is being
visited upon his whole race with unbelievable ferocity. If there ever
could be a justifiable war in the name of and for humanity, a war
against Germany, to prevent the wanton persecution of a whole race,
would be completely justified.





But I do not believe in any war...

Posted by: I like cookies at March 31, 2019 11:46 AM (xxAFD)

347 340
@A H Lloyd: Went to your site, later today I intend to read your GoT/Claudius piece. Didn't we discuss that here?

Posted by: Eeyore at March 31, 2019 11:43 AM (VaN/j)

---
Yeah. I'm trying to be like Mark Steyn (without the lawsuits) and get content on multiple platforms.

So I fully reserve the right to refine discussions here and use them as the basis for a column somewhere else.

Besides, Jonah Goldberg proved that everything here is public domain anyway. I'm thinking of pilfering Ace's Greatest Hitjobs to fill in some upcoming assignment space.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 11:46 AM (cfSRQ)

348 It is not true that, as some have said, Holmes was NEVER as good after The Final Problem. Many were written for the money, true. But there were some which had the old magic; after all, Silver Blaze is one of the best, with one of the best lines of all.

Some of the best Holmes stories came after his return, but there was an overall general decline in quality. Although the very last, final Holmes story set around WWI was pretty damned great as a spy story. You aren't even aware Holmes is in it most of the story.

There's a kind of sad tyranny that can set in with writers, where fans and publishers demand more of a certain kind of content and the author may just not have any more of those stories in them. So they just get lamer and worse until people get sick of it and angry at the author who was just trying to give them what they wanted.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 31, 2019 11:46 AM (39g3+)

349 I see from the date of his writings at that time he had no knowledge of the gas chambers to come.
--------------------------------------------------------
Well the problem isn't that he underestimated the ways in which Jews would die, but rather that he overestimated human nature. He thought that everyone was a British colonizer without realizing some are Nazi high command. There is no "one size fits all" approach to evil or injustice. You choose the right approach for each situation. Gandhi thought he had come up with the one perfect way to deal with everything, so he wanted everyone to follow it.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 31, 2019 11:38 AM (39g3+)


No, you're confusing Gandhi with some of the non-violence preaching Christian thinkers of the time. Who were having a heated debate about just what obligations (and rights) humans had, to resist evil.

Gandhi was interested in the British Empire dying everywhere it was, including Palestine, so he didn't care for the idea of Jews fleeing Europe, and going to Israel, where they would (in his view) perpetuate the British empire.

He was all about the geopolitics, and used the mystical, spiritual non-violence schtick as a means to an end.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 31, 2019 11:46 AM (cY3LT)

350 Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 31, 2019 11:35 AM (39g3+)

Didn't care for The White Company. I liked Lost World, but wasn't impressed with the other Challenger stories, especially the last one that was all about psychic phenomena (enough so that I didn't finish it, which is rare for me). I'm not familiar with the Korosko story.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at March 31, 2019 11:47 AM (uquGJ)

351 Conrad was a Polish emigre, which is reason enough for any Russian to hate him.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 11:41 AM (cfSRQ)


I strongly suspected that. One thing reading Vlad's biography points out is just how many Russian emigres there were in Paris, London and Berlin in the 1920s. And how many agents were after them.

Posted by: Captain Hate at March 31, 2019 11:48 AM (y7DUB)

352 346: I don't think he knew the full ferocity that was to come as this was written in 1938.

Posted by: CN at March 31, 2019 11:48 AM (U7k5w)

353 Well, can tie history to textiles, maybe. I have just started a book The Golden Thread: How Fabric Changed History! Don't know yet how the author does this, but at least one later chapter is on the new materials developed for Olympic sports.

Posted by: Lirio100 at March 31, 2019 11:49 AM (JK7Jw)

354 Ghandi:


But the German persecution of the Jews seems to have no parallel in
history. The tyrants of old never went so mad as Hitler seems to have
gone. And he is doing it with religious zeal. For he is propounding a
new religion of exclusive and militant nationalism in the name of which
any inhumanity becomes an act of humanity to be rewarded here and
hereafter. The crime of an obviously mad but intrepid youth is being
visited upon his whole race with unbelievable ferocity. If there ever
could be a justifiable war in the name of and for humanity, a war
against Germany, to prevent the wanton persecution of a whole race,
would be completely justified.





But I do not believe in any war...
Posted by: I like cookies at March 31, 2019 11:46 AM (xxAFD)


Yep. That's the point.

He acknowledges just how evil the Germans were. And told the Jews to stay where they are, and take it.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 31, 2019 11:49 AM (cY3LT)

355 One notable exception is State of Fear (2004), his prescient novel about eco-terrorists. It even has an appendix refuting Global Warming.

Yeah that was the one that enraged the elites and made him no longer filmable. Maybe in a decade or two when people have calmed down they may make remakes or some of his unfilmed books but he really pissed off Hollywood by showing the bad science and bad faith of climate change hysteria.

Their biggest problem is that they cannot refute what he wrote. But from that point on, despite being a regular source of film material, they suddenly won't make his books into films.

Which is why, I think, Looker has never been remade despite being painfully modern and timely.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 31, 2019 11:49 AM (39g3+)

356 Still trying to generate some generate some momentum in the first 100 pages of Retreat of the Wehrmacht, by Robert Citino. It covers the period from late 1942/early 1943 onwards, eastern front and North Africa.


He writes well and is interesting, it's just that it has been more of a series of extended asides and background digressions on German military culture and personal reinterpretations (Manstein) than a straight analysis. I expect to pick up speed and enjoy the whole.


Recommend his book on the previous period of the war, eastern front, Death of the Wehrmacht, which covers the over-extension and ultimate failure of Operation Blue in the south in 1942.


He has a book on German military doctrine and tradition, but I think he puts enough of this into both these books that one gets the key points ("Bewegungskrieg" or war of movement, "Auftragstaktik" or mission-orientation and autonomy of subordinate commanders, etc).






Posted by: rhomboid at March 31, 2019 11:49 AM (QDnY+)

357 Posted by: I like cookies at March 31, 2019 11:46 AM (xxAFD)

Thanks for your help. I replied to you on the morning thread. I need more help, apparently.

Posted by: rickl at March 31, 2019 11:50 AM (sdi6R)

358 She talks about the warp weighted (and orther style looms) in the book and does a good explanation about weaves.

I had a friend that worked in a museum. He talked about setting up a warp weighted loom and weaving on it. He said it was exhausting to use. You beat upwards, instead of downwards. I know that's the loom that the Scandinavian countries used.

She also talks about the piece that was plaited strips sewn together. Then she explains why it would be easier to plait strips while herding, versus using a loom.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at March 31, 2019 11:50 AM (Lqy/e)

359 No, you're confusing Gandhi with some of the non-violence preaching Christian thinkers of the time. Who were having a heated debate about just what obligations (and rights) humans had, to resist evil.

Its possible. I do know that when he was in South Africa he didn't give a damn about anyone but Indians, and fought for their rights while ignoring blacks.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 31, 2019 11:50 AM (39g3+)

360 If you strip Gandhi of his hypocrisy, nothing remains.

He was very pure.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at March 31, 2019 11:51 AM (z+Vno)

361 337 328 293: Gandhi was quite preposterous, and had not the slightest idea of what Hitler wanted to do.

Posted by: CN at March 31, 2019 11:39 AM (U7k5w)
Yes he did.
Posted by: BurtTC at March 31, 2019 11:42 AM (cY3LT)


You know what Gandhi had a very good sense of?

Enemas.

And poop.

Poop and enemas.

Most of his letters deal with one or both of those subjects.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 11:51 AM (htV9h)

362 While I really enjoyed the Gandhi film, it was a pretty blatant piece of hagiography, rewriting history to remove the unpleasant bits to portray the guy as being some perfected saint who lived above all the rest of us.

In an era where every biopic has to be about the worst of everyone, they whitewashed him like a tomb.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 31, 2019 11:53 AM (39g3+)

363 There's a kind of sad tyranny that can set in with
writers, where fans and publishers demand more of a certain kind of
content and the author may just not have any more of those stories in
them. So they just get lamer and worse until people get sick of it and
angry at the author who was just trying to give them what they wanted.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 31, 2019 11:46 AM (39g3+)

---
Robert E. Howard did that with Conan. He had some good stuff, and then realized he could get cover space (which meant extra dough) by doing bodice-ripper type crap before he finally got serious again.

And then he burned out the Cimmerian and took to writing Westerns.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 11:53 AM (cfSRQ)

364 I found another bookon the mummies and am tempted to
get it. These are from a Caucausian culture in China. They were herders
and nomads. And some were found with plaid fabric. There seems to be a
connection to the Celts.
Posted by: Notsothoreau at March 31, 2019 11:00 AM (Lqy/e)


I think you are talking about the Tocharian culture, which appears to be an Indo-European speaking group, and part of the whole bronze/horse/wheel culture that came out of the Western Steppes. I didn't realize they had plaid too.

Posted by: Kindltot at March 31, 2019 11:53 AM (mUa7G)

365 As I recall, Ghandi gave up passive resistance in Ghandi II.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at March 31, 2019 11:53 AM (oVJmc)

366 333 Posted by: Bob the Bilderberg at March 31, 2019 11:33 AM (qc+VF)

Valley of Fear was a fascinating look at a time of union-inspired terror that has been completely erased from US knowledge. The high level of political violence in the late 19th/early 20th century was something not even whispered of at school 30+ years and it hasn't gotten better since.
Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at March 31, 2019 11:41 AM (uquGJ)
______

That's a good point. And one of the advantages of older books. Doyle was not a very deep thinker, perhaps, and in many ways a standard-issue Victorian Liberal. But that in itself entailed combinations of attitudes which are not common today. Personally, I found the Scowrers flashback delightful. But then, the same is true of Study in Scarlet.

BTW, I have sometime seen Stephenson's Dynamiters attacked along with Doyle as anti-Mormon propaganda. It's not. The whole section involved is flat out lie told by the heroine. I used to think it a parody of Study, but it seems it came out first. It's clearly parodying other Victorian melodramas.

Even if it wasn't the intend (because of time), New Arabian Nights:Study in Scarlet::Northanger Abbey:Otranto.

Posted by: Eeyore at March 31, 2019 11:55 AM (VaN/j)

367 "It takes a lot of money to keep Gandhi living in poverty."

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 11:56 AM (htV9h)

368 Was this an 'oops' or is he throwing Obama under the bus?

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: The 2017 assessment that the President says he now agrees with, that was done while you and then NCI Director John Brennan were still in office. So, how can we reconcile the President attacking you, but apparently after a very long time finally, allegedly saying — or saying he allegedly agrees with the product of the intelligence community that you, yourself oversaw?

JAMES CLAPPER: Yes, well, this is — yes, as we’ve come to know the President, he is not a stalwart for a consistency or coherence. So it’s very hard to explain that. One point I’d like to make, Anderson, that I don’t think has come up very much before, and I’m alluding now to the President’s criticism of President Obama for all that he did or didn’t do before he left office with respect to the Russian meddling. If it weren’t for President Obama, we might not have done the intelligence community assessment that we did that set off a whole sequence of events which are still unfolding today, notably, special counsel Mueller’s investigation.

President Obama is responsible for that, and it was he who tasked us to do that intelligence community assessment in the first place. I think it’s an important point when it comes to critiquing President Obama.

Video of the interview:

https://tinyurl.com/yyvhjd4s

Posted by: Tami at March 31, 2019 11:56 AM (cF8AT)

369 Gandhi hoped to achieve a higher plane of consciousness by having aa root canal without an anesthetic. He had decided to transcend dental medication.

Posted by: Muldoon, resuming the horizontal position at March 31, 2019 11:56 AM (m45I2)

370 In an era where every biopic has to be about the worst of everyone, they whitewashed him like a tomb.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 31, 2019 11:53 AM (39g3+)

----

That is being generous... that movie is basically fiction.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at March 31, 2019 11:57 AM (5aX2M)

371 The English language is mad
And my efforts to teach it are bad
For I'm getting paid
For plans that I've made
But I just can't explain why it's "plaid"

Posted by: Bandersnatch, fish brag pics welcome at e-mail in nic at March 31, 2019 11:57 AM (fuK7c)

372 352 346: I don't think he knew the full ferocity that was to come as this was written in 1938.
Posted by: CN at March 31, 2019 11:48 AM (U7k5w)


That's like saying I'm watching a man walk down a dark alley, and he doesn't see them, but I notice a gang of villains lurking in the shadows. I pretty much know they're going to rough him up and take his money.

Turns out they also rape him and slit his throat. As he bleeds out, I say "well, I certainly didn't realize the full ferocity that was to come."

Maybe not. And I'm not liable for the murder yourself, but you wouldn't think much of me afterwards, as I'm trying to excuse myself for not offering anything more than passivity in the face of the danger.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 31, 2019 11:58 AM (cY3LT)

373 s I recall, Ghandi gave up passive resistance in Ghandi II.
Posted by: Mr. Peebles at March 31, 2019 11:53 AM (oVJmc)

Yup.....I liked "Ghandi II: Bovine Boogaloo" better.

Ghandi gets violent, takes a bath and eats a porterhouse while drinking a beer.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at March 31, 2019 11:58 AM (Z+IKu)

374 Shit, that was supposed to be "plans that I've laid"

Posted by: Bandersnatch, fish brag pics welcome at e-mail in nic at March 31, 2019 11:58 AM (fuK7c)

375 That damn woodpecker is going down!

Gamo makes a suppressed pellet rifle. Not actually recommending anything of course because to quote a famous politician, "that would be wrong."

Posted by: Bob the Bilderberg at March 31, 2019 11:58 AM (qc+VF)

376 Actually, Gandhi believed that the Jews should have committed mass suicide like at Masada after he recognized that millions died. In 1938, he said he "imagined" a massacre, but I don't believe he truly knew what was in store any more than I believe that the Jews of Europe followed his ideas or even knew much about him. I was always grateful that my family largely left Europe before the 30s.

I wonder if his fan club understands how naïve and delusional he was with regard to Hitler.

Posted by: CN at March 31, 2019 11:58 AM (U7k5w)

377 I ruined my sight gag.

Posted by: Bandersnatch, fish brag pics welcome at e-mail in nic at March 31, 2019 11:59 AM (fuK7c)

378 365
As I recall, Ghandi gave up passive resistance in Ghandi II.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at March 31, 2019 11:53 AM (oVJmc)

---
The scene with the steak is classic.

That whole movie is fun, if a little dated.

Who wants to drink from the fire hose?

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 12:00 PM (cfSRQ)

379 /adjust sock

Posted by: Muldoon at March 31, 2019 12:00 PM (m45I2)

380 Mummies of Urumchi actually gives a draft and colors for one of the fabrics from those mummies, and I tried it, although it wasn't perfect since I couldn't weave twill on a rigid heddle. Was a little weird using a 3,000 or so year old pattern.

The strips were probably tablet woven, Scandinavians had a nifty method for using those. They'd do the tablet weaving but pull out the weft on on side. When they were done they had a warp ready with a tablet woven edge on one side.

Posted by: Lirio100 at March 31, 2019 12:01 PM (JK7Jw)

381 Reading Spencer's History of Jihad he goes into detail what Muslims did in India, Gandhi should have know about that history so not sure I wou I'd give him a pass.

Posted by: Skip at March 31, 2019 12:02 PM (BbGew)

382 IIRC, Gandhi and the Holocaust is mentioned by Orwell in his essay. That is surely on the net.
Posted by: Eeyore at March 31, 2019 11:44 AM

Yes it is.
George Orwell: Reflections on Gandhi
https://tinyurl.com/y9oltt9

Posted by: Jake Holenhead at March 31, 2019 12:02 PM (TDyHc)

383 As I recall, Ghandi gave up passive resistance in Ghandi II.
Posted by: Mr. Peebles at March 31, 2019 11:53 AM (oVJmc)


I especially enjoyed how, after the fight, he totally converted Clubber Lang to his side, and they both lectured the Russian politburo about evils of the war in Afghanistan.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 31, 2019 12:02 PM (cY3LT)

384 I wonder if his fan club understands how naive and delusional he was with regard to Hitler."

He was naive and delusional with respect to any power that ever existed except for the British, who had already become bored with the task of having to administer an empire.

It's been said the Brits are the only People ever who gained an Empire in a fit of absentmindedness. And then they lost it the same way.

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 31, 2019 12:03 PM (V2Yro)

385
JAMES CLAPPER:... President Obama is responsible for that, and it was he who tasked us to do that intelligence community assessment in the first place. I think it's an important point when it comes to critiquing President Obama.

Posted by: Tami at March 31, 2019 11:56 AM


That's huge. He went out of his way to make that point, too. The smoking gun is now directly in Obama's hands.

Our disinterested media will have field day ignoring this.

Posted by: Newest Nic at March 31, 2019 12:03 PM (jYje5)

386 "Gandhi II: The Enema of My Enema Is My Friend."

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 12:03 PM (htV9h)

387 This limerick thing is inspired
I don't think we'll ever get tired
But one thing is true
If you try it too
Check your spelling before it backfires

Posted by: freaked at March 31, 2019 12:03 PM (UdKB7)

388 It is Tocharian culture. She shows a language tree, with Celts basically on the left side and the Tocharians falling on the right. They did find plaids in some of the older tombs.

She has an interesting discussion on how cultures borrow words from a different culture. It seems to show that the Tocharians were the experts in weaving and metal, so their terms were accepted into use for those skills.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at March 31, 2019 12:05 PM (Lqy/e)

389 Maybe not. And I'm not liable for the murder
yourself, but you wouldn't think much of me afterwards, as I'm trying to
excuse myself for not offering anything more than passivity in the face
of the danger.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 31, 2019 11:58 AM (cY3LT)

----
I don't like Gandhi that much, but you're laying it on a little thick.

The Holocaust was without precedent. Yes, people had killed other people before, but it was usually local massacres or expelling people across the border.

The whole industrial process used and the amount of wartime resources, which actually *accelerated* when the war went badly, consuming dwindling resources, defies logic or expectations.

Nobody ever did that. Who would want to? If your economy is staggering along, why waste trains and fuel that are desperately needed to move troops and food simply to kill more Jews?

It's insane and the Allies had to be scratching their heads wondering what they were missing.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 12:05 PM (cfSRQ)

390 *OVAL OFFICE*
The president stands at the window, looking out at the Rose Garden
President: I never thought it would come to this. Initiate the H.E.D.D.L.E. Protocol.
Aide: Mr. President?!
President: Do it.

*DOORSTEP*
An 'ette opens the door, eyes immediately narrowing
Colonel: You know the drill. We need someone who has your... skills. Your country needs you.
'ette: You've got a lot of nerve coming here, Colonel. What makes you think I'd work for you again, after that stunt you pulled?
Colonel: producing a scrap of plaid fabric What can you tell us about this?
'ette: snatches fabric, eyes wide They did it. Those crazy bastards actually went and did it.

Posted by: hogmartin at March 31, 2019 12:05 PM (t+qrx)

391 "Gandhi II: The Enema of My Enema Is My Friend."
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 12:03 PM (htV9h)


Gandhi III: Missing In Action... Gandhi singlehandedly rescues American MIA still being held in Vietnam.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 31, 2019 12:06 PM (cY3LT)

392 Anyone feel like reading a super long movie review?

This pretty well describes how full of shit Gandhi, and that movie, really were:

https://tinyurl.com/k8swqaj

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at March 31, 2019 12:07 PM (5aX2M)

393 Gamo makes a suppressed pellet rifle. Not actually recommending anything of course because to quote a famous politician, "that would be wrong."
Posted by: Bob the Bilderberg at March 31, 2019 11:58 AM (qc+VF


Those look really cool. Unfortunately, due to my shoulder injury, I can no longer shoot.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 12:07 PM (htV9h)

394 Posted by: Bandersnatch, fish brag pics welcome at e-mail in nic at March 31, 2019 11:57 AM (fuK7c)


********

After all of man's plans have been laid
And everyone's dues have been paid
English is weird
And as I've often feared
I have a feeling we all have been 'plaid'.

Posted by: Muldoon at March 31, 2019 12:07 PM (m45I2)

395 372: I still don't think that in 1938 most leaders could have predicted Auschwitz and the death camps. In 1944, the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem still believed these were labor camps, and Ben Gurion believed that more lives would be lost through bombing than through the treatment by the Germans.

Posted by: CN at March 31, 2019 12:07 PM (U7k5w)

396 This pretty well describes how full of shit Gandhi, and that movie, really were:
https://tinyurl.com/k8swqaj
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at March 31, 2019 12:07 PM (5aX2M)


That's the piece I linked to upthread. It's a masterpiece.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 12:08 PM (htV9h)

397 348 It is not true that, as some have said, Holmes was NEVER as good after The Final Problem. Many were written for the money, true. But there were some which had the old magic; after all, Silver Blaze is one of the best, with one of the best lines of all.

Some of the best Holmes stories came after his return, but there was an overall general decline in quality."

Holmes never recovered from the introduction of Jar Jar Binks.

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 31, 2019 12:08 PM (V2Yro)

398 I have a feeling we all have been 'plaid'.

Posted by: Bandersnatch, fish brag pics welcome at e-mail in nic at March 31, 2019 12:08 PM (fuK7c)

399
Gamo makes a suppressed pellet rifle. Not actually recommending anything of course because to quote a famous politician, "that would be wrong."

Posted by: Bob the Bilderberg at March 31, 2019 11:58 AM


I have an unsuppressed Gamo. I'm not sayin' who did it but someone I know shot at a woodpecker recently, and barely missed it. The fvcker flew away and never returned. The unsuppressed Gamo makes a hell of a racket.

There's something to said for the intimidation factor of sound. But there's a balance between neighbors and other stuff, I know.

Posted by: Newest Nic at March 31, 2019 12:09 PM (jYje5)

400 One tidbit from the Daltrey book: they were in a 98% tax rate at one point. He said they were one of the few bands that stayed in England during that time.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at March 31, 2019 12:09 PM (Lqy/e)

401 385
JAMES CLAPPER:... President Obama is responsible for that, and it was he who tasked us to do that intelligence community assessment in the first place. I think it's an important point when it comes to critiquing President Obama.

Posted by: Tami at March 31, 2019 11:56 AM

That's huge. He went out of his way to make that point, too. The smoking gun is now directly in Obama's hands.

Our disinterested media will have field day ignoring this.
Posted by: Newest Nic at March 31, 2019 12:03 PM (jYje5)
_____

If there is one thing they are masters at, it's ignoring malfeasance by The Lightwalker. They won't even have to take practice swings; they had eight years developing that skill. Or rather, twelve years.

Posted by: Eeyore at March 31, 2019 12:09 PM (VaN/j)

402 389: I agree with you. Gandhi made a lot of outrageous statements, but until after the war he did not know about the death camps. With the benefit of hindsight, it's easy to say that leaders "should" have been able to foresee this. Ben Gurion didn't.

Posted by: CN at March 31, 2019 12:11 PM (U7k5w)

403 You know what Gandhi had a very good sense of?

Enemas.

And poop.

Poop and enemas.

Most of his letters deal with one or both of those subjects.
Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 11:51 AM (htV9h)

And sleeping with nude girls to "prove" his commitment to his vow of chastity made after his father died while he and his wife were otherwise engaged in the next room.

I wonder if Indira was one of his test subjects?

Posted by: Fox2! at March 31, 2019 12:11 PM (MwFQu)

404 That's the piece I linked to upthread. It's a masterpiece.

------

Ah. I see you beat me to the punch

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at March 31, 2019 12:11 PM (5aX2M)

405 Maybe not. And I'm not liable for the murder
yourself, but you wouldn't think much of me afterwards, as I'm trying to
excuse myself for not offering anything more than passivity in the face
of the danger.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 31, 2019 11:58 AM (cY3LT)

----
I don't like Gandhi that much, but you're laying it on a little thick.

The Holocaust was without precedent. Yes, people had killed other people before, but it was usually local massacres or expelling people across the border.

The whole industrial process used and the amount of wartime resources, which actually *accelerated* when the war went badly, consuming dwindling resources, defies logic or expectations.

Nobody ever did that. Who would want to? If your economy is staggering along, why waste trains and fuel that are desperately needed to move troops and food simply to kill more Jews?

It's insane and the Allies had to be scratching their heads wondering what they were missing.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 12:05 PM (cfSRQ)


Yeah, except I'm not. You're saying the same thing, you're just having a hard time letting your mind "go there."

He told the Jews to stay put. He didn't want them going to Palestine. By 1938, everyone... and I mean EVERYONE knew the Germans were evil, and had bad intentions for the Jews in Europe. They didn't know they would soon have access to all the Jews OUTSIDE Germany, but those in Hitler's grasp, no one will be able to say with any sort of honesty that they didn't believe he was going to be as harsh and inhuman as possible.

Arguing that they were much more efficient and widespread than expected is kinda sorta missing the point.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 31, 2019 12:12 PM (cY3LT)

406 I have a feeling we all have been 'plaid'.
=====

Laughing too hard at myself. No doubt the New Madras Fault will demonstrate our weakness.

Posted by: mustbequantum at March 31, 2019 12:12 PM (MIKMs)

407 I wonder if Indira was one of his test subjects?


I think Ghandi is sort of like Smith in India and Indira was no relation.

Posted by: Bandersnatch, fish brag pics welcome at e-mail in nic at March 31, 2019 12:13 PM (fuK7c)

408 This pretty well describes how full of shit Gandhi, and that movie, really were:
https://tinyurl.com/k8swqaj
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice

Even after all of the enemas.

Posted by: JT at March 31, 2019 12:13 PM (icuj/)

409 From Orwell:

According to Mr. Fischer, Gandhi's view was that the German Jews ought to commit collective suicide, which "would have aroused the world and the people of Germany to Hitler's violence." After the war he justified himself: the Jews had been killed anyway, and might as well have died significantly. One has the impression that this attitude staggered even so warm an admirer as Mr. Fischer, but Gandhi was merely being honest. If you are not prepared to take life, you must often be prepared for lives to be lost in some other way.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 31, 2019 12:13 PM (39g3+)

410
The media can ignore the Clapper quote all they want. Lindsey Graham ought to haul his ass post-haste into the Senate and get it on record. Then get collaborating testimony. We'll see how long the media stays disinterested.

Posted by: Newest Nic at March 31, 2019 12:14 PM (jYje5)

411 @368

The most enraging thing about this all is that the whole lot of them act as if they were somehow detached from what all was goin on and the media is none too interested in questioning about any of it.

I mean CNN litterally has on their payroll a central player in all of this and doesn't question or press and simply lets him dissemble, while he's not libeling and slandering Trump.

Posted by: Kreplach at March 31, 2019 12:14 PM (ZfO0W)

412 405: There is no evidence to suggest that the Jews followed Gandhi's advice, were aware of his advice, or gave a fuck about Gandhi. It's unlikely at best.

Posted by: CN at March 31, 2019 12:14 PM (U7k5w)

413 And sleeping with nude girls to "prove" his commitment to his vow of chastity made after his father died while he and his wife were otherwise engaged in the next room.

YOUNG girls.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 31, 2019 12:14 PM (39g3+)

414 *DOORSTEP*
An 'ette opens the door, eyes immediately narrowing
Colonel: You know the drill. We need someone who has your... skills. Your country needs you.
'ette: You've got a lot of nerve coming here, Colonel. What makes you think I'd work for you again, after that stunt you pulled?
Colonel: producing a scrap of plaid fabric What can you tell us about this?
'ette: snatches fabric, eyes wide They did it. Those crazy bastards actually went and did it.
Posted by: hogmartin at March 31, 2019 12:05 PM (t+qrx)

Sounds "kinda" like Jack O'Neil in the first episode of Stargate: SG-1.

Posted by: Fox2! at March 31, 2019 12:15 PM (MwFQu)

415 Those look really cool. Unfortunately, due to my shoulder injury, I can no longer shoot.

Maybe a better topic for the gun thread, but have you tried teaching yourself to shoot from the other shoulder? My son was able to do it because he is cross-dominant -- right handed and left eyed. Would be more awkward if you're not cross-dominant but probably doable with a scope.

Posted by: Bob the Bilderberg at March 31, 2019 12:16 PM (qc+VF)

416 Indira was Nehru's daughter and her husband adopted the name. He was a Feradoon, by birth

Posted by: CN at March 31, 2019 12:16 PM (U7k5w)

417 Nood, research (now with extra bits of science)

Posted by: hogmartin at March 31, 2019 12:16 PM (t+qrx)

418 Late in life Gandhi took up gardening, and developed several new strains of ferns, with luxurious leaves. He was heard to remark, "With fronds like this, who needs enemas?"

Posted by: Muldoon at March 31, 2019 12:17 PM (m45I2)

419 Gamo makes a suppressed pellet rifle. Not actually recommending anything of course because to quote a famous politician, "that would be wrong."
Posted by: Bob the Bilderberg at March 31, 2019 11:58 AM (qc+VF

Those look really cool. Unfortunately, due to my shoulder injury, I can no longer shoot.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 12:07 PM


Two questions: Got any wood siding? If yes, address?

Posted by: Woodrew Woodpecker & Associates at March 31, 2019 12:18 PM (jYje5)

420 Yeah, except I'm not. You're saying the same thing, you're just having a hard time letting your mind "go there."



He told the Jews to stay put. He didn't want them going to
Palestine. By 1938, everyone... and I mean EVERYONE knew the Germans
were evil, and had bad intentions for the Jews in Europe. They didn't
know they would soon have access to all the Jews OUTSIDE Germany, but
those in Hitler's grasp, no one will be able to say with any sort of
honesty that they didn't believe he was going to be as harsh and inhuman
as possible.



Arguing that they were much more efficient and widespread than expected is kinda sorta missing the point.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 31, 2019 12:12 PM (cY3LT)

---
Anti-Jewish pograms were far from unique.

the expectation of everyone involved (including the Jews) was that *as had always happened before* after a time, the fury would subside and things would go back to normal.

This is what happened many many times.

That the Nazis would waste massive amounts of time and energy at a time when the war hung in the balance was simply inconceivable.

Ironically, we're now in a place where it seems the ONLY thing anyone can imagine is another Holocaust. Every time a Republican opens his mouth, it's HITLER ALL OVER AGAIN.

So I guess we have that, which is nice.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 12:18 PM (cfSRQ)

421 He might get Pulitzer for cheesy
Posted by: freaked



*********

I really had ought to know better
Than to pose as a real man of letters
But with puns I'm adept
So I'm proud to accept
This Pulitzer Prize made of cheddar

-
I'm watching Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit because shuddup that's why and I noticed some jokes I'd never noticed before. Wallace hides his emergency cheese in books entitled Swiss Cheese Family Robinson, Brie Encounter, East of Edam, Grated Expectations, Fromage to Eternity and the like.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 31, 2019 12:18 PM (+y/Ru)

422 Well, now that we've been noodled I want to thank all the librists for a lovely book thread.

I'd never heard of the Tocharians and now I'm privy to their weaving techniques.

Posted by: Bandersnatch, fish brag pics welcome at e-mail in nic at March 31, 2019 12:18 PM (fuK7c)

423 NOOD MATH

Posted by: Jukin the Deplorable and Profoundly Unserious at March 31, 2019 12:19 PM (pw+jk)

424 I'm always amazed at how credulous people can be...

The only reason I know about the real Gandhi is that by the time I was a teenager, I said to myself "if my teachers are uniformly, universally, uncritically worshipping this guy, he must be a complete asshole."

So I looked it up, and sure enough...

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at March 31, 2019 12:19 PM (5aX2M)

425 Posted by: hogmartin at March 31, 2019 12:05 PM (t+qrx)

That made me giggle.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at March 31, 2019 12:19 PM (uquGJ)

426 407 I wonder if Indira was one of his test subjects?


I think Ghandi is sort of like Smith in India and Indira was no relation.
Posted by: Bandersnatch, fish brag pics welcome at e-mail in nic at March 31, 2019 12:13 PM (fuK7c)

Indira Ghanaian was the daughter of Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. And a support of Ghanaian, who frequently hosted Ghandi while Indira was in her mid to late teens. Just the age for Ghandi to invite her to help him test his commitment to chastity.

Posted by: Fox2! at March 31, 2019 12:20 PM (MwFQu)

427 Ghanaian = Ghandi.

I hate autocomplete.

Posted by: Fox2! at March 31, 2019 12:21 PM (MwFQu)

428 books entitled Swiss Cheese Family Robinson, Brie Encounter, East of Edam, Grated Expectations, Fromage to Eternity and the like.

******


Nice!

Posted by: Muldoon at March 31, 2019 12:21 PM (m45I2)

429 NOOD MATH

First its the Hilldawg's pants and now math !

The Cobs are punishing us !

Posted by: JT at March 31, 2019 12:21 PM (icuj/)

430 imo smart people often underestimate the power of wicked guile, and get caught up in Utopian dreaming. A Republic, if you can keep it ... and we have drifted along thinking raw power (against local/federal internal enemies) was not necessary to keep , only a pledge of allegiance, or PC like-mindedness, would sustain us.


Mafia thugs ... or DC Cartel ... or communism in general ... Islamist countries ... raw power can feed off of smart "capitalist producers". That can be true in social circles as well .. local gangs, or Dem run cities. The smart engineer does OK, but the ruthless El Chapo can do much better, or various political grifters.

Posted by: illiniwek at March 31, 2019 12:21 PM (Cus5s)

431
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 12:18 PM (cfSRQ)


Except that's not what Ghandi thought. He recognized it as having "no parallel in history."

Posted by: I like cookies at March 31, 2019 12:22 PM (xxAFD)

432 Effectively -- but not officially -- finished "Ice Station Zebra." That means that I skimmed through the last four chapters. I was partially correct in my prediction of events. I recommend it despite an overreliance (IMO) on last-minute revelations. Now to go back and read the last chapters properly.

With that finished, back to "Flashman."

I'm making a list of books I own and want to read. The goal is to cut the TBR backlog by 10 this year.

Posted by: Weak Geek at March 31, 2019 12:22 PM (PWPy3)

433 420: Well said. My husband's family lost relatives to the death camps. His father said they stayed as they though the insanity would pass and that the Germans would get rid of Hitler. Tsarist Russia abetted pogroms, and killings took place. I suspect that was what was expected by the Jews who stayed.

Posted by: CN at March 31, 2019 12:23 PM (U7k5w)

434 431: It doesn't mean that he could have predicted the death camps.

Posted by: CN at March 31, 2019 12:25 PM (U7k5w)

435 Maybe a better topic for the gun thread, but have you tried teaching yourself to shoot from the other shoulder? My son was able to do it because he is cross-dominant -- right handed and left eyed. Would be more awkward if you're not cross-dominant but probably doable with a scope.
Posted by: Bob the Bilderberg at March 31, 2019 12:16 PM (qc+VF)


I'm actually a cross-dominant like your son, and I shoot left-handed (but right-handed in everything else), but it still doesn't work, because my right arm does not have the range of motion required to reach over and support the rifle nestled up against my left shoulder.

It sucks to be me sometimes.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 12:25 PM (htV9h)

436 ...I suspect that was what was expected by the Jews who stayed.

Posted by: CN at March 31, 2019 12:23 PM (U7k5w)


I suspect you're correct about that. But Ghandi, on the other hand, thought Jews should go into "joyful sleep".

Posted by: I like cookies at March 31, 2019 12:25 PM (xxAFD)

437 Well compare amritsar which is briefly mentioned in mc com0at3ed to the hetero massacre in Namibia which covers a chapter or so in pynchon's gravitiies rainbow

Posted by: Admiral marcus at March 31, 2019 12:26 PM (0eLmk)

438 431: It doesn't mean that he could have predicted the death camps.

Posted by: CN at March 31, 2019 12:25 PM (U7k5w)


"But if the Jewish mind could be prepared for voluntary suffering, even the massacre I have imagined ..."

Posted by: I like cookies at March 31, 2019 12:27 PM (xxAFD)

439 I bought two books this weekend, one is The Survivors' Club, by Ben Sherwood, which is a review of people who managed to survive situtation that kill a lot of other people. I read it years ago and loaned it to a friend who probably still has it . . . somewhere.

It is a lot of interviews and discussions of the elements that came together to allow someone to survive a life threatening situation. The elements include attitude (bastards seem to survive), goals (in it for the long run, but taking each minute as it comes), training or experience in dealing with problems, being in decent shape, and luck.

I read this book back when it came out, and I admit it colored a lot of my thinking when I wound up in a couple of tight situations, and may have helped a bit in digging my way out.



Currently I am reading So Noble a Captain, a biography of Ferdinand Magellan.

Let's see a show of hands, how many people were aware that Magellan was Portuguese?

Posted by: Kindltot at March 31, 2019 12:28 PM (mUa7G)

440
I think I read in the documentation that the Gamo requires 30 foot pounds of pressure to load. That's a bit much for someone who is in less then very good shape.

Posted by: Newest Nic at March 31, 2019 12:28 PM (jYje5)

441 But Ghandi, on the other hand, thought Jews should go into "joyful sleep".
Posted by: I like cookies at March 31, 2019 12:25 PM (xxAFD)


Gandhi can kiss my ass.

Posted by: the entire country of Israel at March 31, 2019 12:28 PM (htV9h)

442 As Orwell notes, people are going to die in any conflict, he just figured it should be piles of victims until the oppressors became overcome with grief and regret.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 31, 2019 12:29 PM (39g3+)

443 Let's see a show of hands, how many people were aware that Magellan was Portuguese?

Posted by: Kindltot at March 31, 2019 12:28 PM (mUa7G)


( *starts to raise hand* )

( *thinks* )

( *lowers hand, looks the other way nonchalantly while whistling tunelessly* )

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 12:30 PM (htV9h)

444 As I recall, Ghandi gave up passive resistance in Ghandi II.
Posted by: Mr. Peebles at March 31, 2019 11:53 AM (oVJmc)


Is that the one with the quote, "No, he is not the Palak-Paneer, he is what we used to EAT the Palak-Paneer"

They should have left his chapatti alone.

Posted by: Kindltot at March 31, 2019 12:31 PM (mUa7G)

445 409 From Orwell:

According to Mr. Fischer, Gandhi's view was that the German Jews ought to commit collective suicide, which "would have aroused the world and the people of Germany to Hitler's violence." After the war he justified himself: the Jews had been killed anyway, and might as well have died significantly. One has the impression that this attitude staggered even so warm an admirer as Mr. Fischer, but Gandhi was merely being honest.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 31, 2019 12:13 PM (39g3+)


I guess the Jews didn't think that was the hill to die on.

/s

Posted by: rickl at March 31, 2019 12:31 PM (sdi6R)

446 "But if the Jewish mind could be prepared for voluntary suffering, even the massacre I have imagined ..."

Posted by: I like cookies at March 31, 2019 12:27 PM (xxAFD)

---
But that makes my point. He's imagining a "massacre," not industrial extermination.

A massacre means "troops with swords/guns physically killing lots and lots of people."

That takes time, energy, and effort. It had happened before, but the assumption (by everyone, including Jews) was that after a few scenes of slaughter, people would come to their senses and the killing would stop. Germany was a civilized country and the slaughter of women and children would cool the Nazi-stoked rage.

It's terrible advice, but you can't bring the Holocaust into it because it was unique.


Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 12:32 PM (cfSRQ)

447 395
372: I still don't think that in 1938 most leaders could have predicted
Auschwitz and the death camps. In 1944, the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem
still believed these were labor camps, and Ben Gurion believed that more
lives would be lost through bombing than through the treatment by the
Germans.

Posted by: CN at March 31, 2019 12:07 PM (U7k5w)

FDR knew they were death camps but he figured the best way to end them was invade.

Posted by: Vic at March 31, 2019 12:32 PM (mpXpK)

448 sorry for not participating much - it's a weather change headache day for me

Posted by: votermom certified russian matryoshka bot at March 31, 2019 12:35 PM (dm05u)

449 438: And what was the extent of this massacre? Like the Tsarists? A bit bigger? To assume that he should have predicted industrialized slaughter is giving him a bigger crystal ball than anyone else possessed in 1938. Even in 1944, Ben-Gurion (who was more grounded in concern for Jews than Gandhi could have been) believed Auschwitz was a slave labor camp, and did not want it bombed. It's a mistake to judge historical figures by today's knowledge whether it is the Founding Fathers or faqir, Gandhi.

Posted by: CN at March 31, 2019 12:36 PM (U7k5w)

450 230 Northwest

Thanks for the info. I was going to see what else Lee Hogan had written and try a few more books, but I'll start with Enemies then.

Posted by: Charlotte at March 31, 2019 12:37 PM (W4LFA)

451 447: Again, nobody could predict the future, and FDR may have been right. The Allies did not bomb the death camps and we'll never know which outcome would have been "better".

Posted by: CN at March 31, 2019 12:38 PM (U7k5w)

452 Again, nobody could predict the future, and FDR may
have been right. The Allies did not bomb the death camps and we'll never
know which outcome would have been "better".

Posted by: CN at March 31, 2019 12:38 PM (U7k5w)

---
Bombing the camps would have killed everyone in them.

US "precision daylight" raids were laughably inaccurate by today's standards. The notion that there was some surgical way to end the Holocaust is after-the-fact revisionism.

The Allied bomber offensive was already trying to cripple Germany's transportation infrastructure. It's hard to think of what could have been done without physically going in there and liberating the places.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 12:41 PM (cfSRQ)

453 As a Jew, I believe we should stop fighting the 1930s and look at the current threats. Instead of standing up to Islamists, too many believe they can be loved into compliance with a multicultural paradise. Again we refuse to imagine the possibilities that our enemies mean what they say.

Posted by: CN at March 31, 2019 12:42 PM (U7k5w)

454 Hoping OM is still lingering...

I'm actually a cross-dominant like your son, and I shoot left-handed (but right-handed in everything else), but it still doesn't work, because my right arm does not have the range of motion required to reach over and support the rifle nestled up against my left shoulder.

Ah, gotcha. Just brainstorming here, but maybe you could rig up a Freeland style palm rest with some kind of funky custom offset linkage that would let you keep your right elbow against the hip. I tried to link to one but championshooters.com is a thoroughly 1990s compliant website and their URL handling sucks. Go to their main page and search for "Freeland palm rest" to see an example.

Posted by: Bob the Bilderberg at March 31, 2019 12:42 PM (qc+VF)

455 452: But some believe that it would have prevented more Jews and other targeted groups from ever entering the camps. This may have just ended in Germans lining up victims and shooting them or putting them in buildings and burning them alive. Nobody had the prognostic powers we'd have liked them to have.

Posted by: CN at March 31, 2019 12:47 PM (U7k5w)

456 452
The notion that there was some surgical way to end the Holocaust is after-the-fact revisionism.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 12:41 PM (cfSRQ)


Get. Out. Are you suggesting that the Japanese would not have surrendered immediately if we had dropped a demonstration A-bomb on an uninhabited island?

/s, in case it's not obvious

Posted by: rickl at March 31, 2019 12:50 PM (sdi6R)

457 Posted by: rickl at March 31, 2019 12:50 PM (sdi6R)

One thing I got out of the book Unbroken, about Louis Zamporinni (sp?), was that the Japanese weren't astounded at a city being destroyed, because many of their cities had been destroyed, but because it only took *one* bomb to cause the destruction.

My grandpa was on Io Shima and the day before the bomb was dropped the rumor went around that *the Japanese* had a nuclear weapon and were going to test it on the nearest Allied-held island, which would have been Io Shima. No idea how the rumor got started.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at March 31, 2019 12:58 PM (uquGJ)

458 Bombing the camps would have killed everyone in them.

US "precision daylight" raids were laughably inaccurate by today's standards. The notion that there was some surgical way to end the Holocaust is after-the-fact revisionism.


I'm incredulous that everybody doesn't believe this. Every time I've seen historians present bombing the camps as an option that shamefully wasn't taken I've wanted to tell them they don't understand a fucking thing. Even when Slick led NATO in Bosnia and Kosovo with high altitude bombings I thought it was a terrible way to liberate people in camps, assuming we weren't being lied to about them. As it was a "smart missile" blew up the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, producing a major international incident.

Posted by: Captain Hate at March 31, 2019 01:12 PM (y7DUB)

459 Ah, gotcha. Just brainstorming here, but maybe you could rig up a Freeland style palm rest with some kind of funky custom offset linkage that would let you keep your right elbow against the hip. I tried to link to one but championshooters.com is a thoroughly 1990s compliant website and their URL handling sucks. Go to their main page and search for "Freeland palm rest" to see an example.
Posted by: Bob the Bilderberg at March 31, 2019 12:42 PM (qc+VF)


Thanks, maybe I will look into this.

Posted by: OregonMuse. AoSHQ Thought Leader & Pants Monitor at March 31, 2019 01:15 PM (htV9h)

460
I'm incredulous that everybody doesn't believe
this. Every time I've seen historians present bombing the camps as an
option that shamefully wasn't taken I've wanted to tell them they don't
understand a fucking thing. Even when Slick led NATO in Bosnia and
Kosovo with high altitude bombings I thought it was a terrible way to
liberate people in camps, assuming we weren't being lied to about them.
As it was a "smart missile" blew up the Chinese embassy in Belgrade,
producing a major international incident.

Posted by: Captain Hate at March 31, 2019 01:12 PM (y7DUB)

---
I'm going from memory, but the high-tech Norden bombsight could get something like 50 percent accuracy in a 1,000 yard circle.

Which means half of your bombs will be OUTSIDE an area a mile across.

If you're trying to bomb a factory complex or oil refinery, that's pretty good.

But if you think you can hit the guard towers and leave the prisoner quarters undamaged, you're insane.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at March 31, 2019 01:19 PM (cfSRQ)

461 Because the holocaust is such a massive thing, winik 1944 gives you enough a precis like the darkest real life horror tale.

Posted by: Admiral marcus at March 31, 2019 01:25 PM (0eLmk)

462 Think of it like thanos snap half of all Jews on the continent were wiped out.

Posted by: Admiral marcus at March 31, 2019 01:26 PM (0eLmk)

463 73
OregonMuse: Thanks for posting these photos of libraries. They are always a pleasure to see.


Posted by: pst314 at March 31, 2019 09:43 AM (iRbDn)
=======================================================
Yes. Thank you, Mr. Muse.I showed that picture to my visiting daughter as my new inspiration piece for my personal library in our renovation (of a 1899, 3-story brick former-hotel). She said it looked "familiar" and asked where it was.
Two summers ago she attended a church liturgical music conference on Long Island. Since air fare was paid, she added three days in NYC to the end of her trip. A fellow participant at the conference and was also a member of the University Club took her to lunch there. Lunch included a tour, which included the library. Said fellow participant and her husband had an apartment in NYC, a summer home in the hamptons, and a get-away somewhere undisclosed. Needless to say, we have encouraged our daughter to stay friends with her.

Posted by: Three and One at March 31, 2019 01:38 PM (Nvcvx)

464 @ Vivi
Thornton Wilder struggled with the question "why" his whole life: why am I here, why did so-n-so die, etc. The Bridge of San Luis Rey is his best known novel, but in the end --after it is read-- found unsatisfying. It is too pat, we all know people or examples that don't fit so nicely. Wilder never found the answer; who has?

But Thornton Wilder's quest was best laid out in The Eighth Day. https://amzn.to/2FN5fPG Spanning two generations, two continents, and two families; it's a murder mystery, a personal and philosophical quest. It is by any standard --including Wilder's own-- his very best work. Of course it can't give you a definitive answer either, but perhaps realize the question is the wrong one to ask.

"The Eighth Day is Wilder's one real novel" and "untidily, self-delightingly, it brims with wonder and wisdom, and aspires to prophecy. We marvel at a novel of such spiritual ambition and benign flamboyance." --John Updike, 1968

Posted by: hooodathunkit at March 31, 2019 01:50 PM (drNY0)

465 Woke up this morning to a mention here of my book "The Compleat Martian Invasion" and am already seeing an impressive sales bump. Y'all are great.

Have read about 100 of the comments and am about to dive back in for more. The Pants discussion is cracking me up.

Posted by: John Taloni at March 31, 2019 02:22 PM (Tl/hV)

466 As for limericks, thought I'd share my fave. Written by George Vaill and won a contest judged by Isaac Asimov.

The bustard's an excellent fowl,
With minimal reason to growl.
He escapes what would be
Illegitimacy
By the grace of a fortunate vowel

Posted by: John Taloni at March 31, 2019 03:51 PM (Tl/hV)

467 Greetings:

I'm currently reading "Leonardo Da Vinci" by Walter Issacson. It is a most uncomfortable book to read. It's printed on a matte coated, way-white paper, I guess to help the printed artworks along, but, at 500+ pages, it is so heavy in the hand that it stops me from reading as much as I would like or usually do. And the way-white paper pretty much precludes any reading while I'm working on my sunburn which is already way behind schedule because of this year's Cali monsoon and, being descended from the people of the Great Northern Forest, I only have about another month of tolerable sunshine to acquire my ersatz person of color.

Is this a topic suitable for a blog of this seriousness ???

Posted by: 11B40 at March 31, 2019 04:28 PM (evgyj)

468 Thanks for the shout-out!

Posted by: Yakov Merkin at March 31, 2019 05:33 PM (Cduiq)

469 96 Oh and Happy Birthday to anyone else who isn't having a birthday today.
Posted by: JT at March 31, 2019 09:53 AM (icuj/)

Happy b-day to you AND me, JT! Just got back from Texas de Brazil.

Posted by: SandyCheeks at March 31, 2019 07:01 PM (tGSHk)

470 I finished The Paper Magician. A strange book. Not sure I liked it.

Posted by: Vic at March 31, 2019 08:26 PM (mpXpK)

471 Continuing along listening to Trollope's Phineas Finn and enjoying it (though not as much as Can You Forgive Her?).

Also reading Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport and The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson. I'm a little disappointed in Newport's book. Doesn't seem like there's enough *there* there. But it's an idea worth thinking about. Am enjoying (as much as one CAN enjoy a book about psychopaths) the Ronson book, but I think it's really a series of essays rather than a coherent book. But there is some fascinating stuff in there. My book club is slightly worried about me because I've largely been watching documentaries about terrible people and reading about psychopaths.

AND I'm a day late, but so what?

Posted by: SummaMamaT at April 01, 2019 02:59 PM (G/l6G)

472 I continue to suffer loss of sleep, ED, and dyspepsia from exposure to the Hillary! pants picture on this Thread.

That picture needs to be declared a Superfund site.

Posted by: J. Random Book Thread Reader at April 14, 2019 10:16 AM (9Dn/j)

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