Sunday Morning Book Thread 05-12-2019

Good morning to all you 'rons, 'ettes, lurkers, and lurkettes, wine moms, frat bros, dimwits, halfwits, crétins sans pantalon, muggers, buggerers, bull dykes, bushwhackers, hornswogglers, a**-kickers, sh*t-kickers and Methodists. 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 are nothing but a walking OSHA violation.

(Note: I'm not really here. Mrs. Muse and I went to the PNW MoMe yesterday and we won't be back until probably late Sunday night. My thanks to CBD who agreed to publish my weekend threads for me.)

Pic Note

This is the main reading room of the 'old' Bapst Library, and you should click on to see just how yuuuge, classy, and luxurious it is.

(h/t Publius Redux)

It Pays To Increase Your Word Power®

A HOGGLER is someone who collects donations by going door to door.

Usage: Bill-n-Hillary's "2019 Hogglers on Ice" tour was not a very big success. In fact, it was buried along with its name. Nobody came.

Good Books Should Be Shared

2019 Pulitzers

Yawn.

Announcing the 2019 Pulitzer Prizes at Columbia University’s School of Journalism, Pulitzer Administrator Dana Canedy yesterday demonstrated tremendous urgency by proclaiming of journalism that “our profession is mandated by the Constitution” and of arts and letters that award recipients “include Pulitzer Prize Administrator Dana Canedybooks, music and drama that inform, uplift, and at times anger us about some of the most pressing social, political, and cultural issues of the day.”

And this is why journalismists are a bunch of puffed-up blowhards. The constitution does not *mandate* a free press. A "mandate" implies that the government has to create something in order for it to exist. But that's not the case at all. The 1st Amendment merely acknowledges a free press that exists prior to, and outside of, the federal government, and that this federal government has no right to interfere with ("abridge") it. Of course, this is the error that progressives typically make. That is, that "rights" are things that don't exist unless government gives them to you. They have a hard time imagining the existence of any human activity or capacity outside the almighty State, which, in the progressive mind, is all in all.

By that logic, I can claim that the 2nd Amendment "mandates" that every American citizen should own (and know how to use) a firearm. I wonder why you never hear our crack journalismists like Jim Acosta and Shep Smith making this argument?

But, what books won this year? Let's find out:

Thus, Richard Powers’s fiction winner, The Overstory (Norton), focuses on the environment, particularly trees and their symbiotic relationship to the world, even as it clarifies the relationships among nine unrelated characters to demonstrate human unity. Fiction finalist Rebecca Makkai (The Great Believers, Viking) explores the long-term consequences of AIDS, while Tommy Orange’s multi-award-winning There, There summates the experience of urban Native Americans.

So, in other words, this year's Pulitzers are a hot mess of SJW stoopid. Which it is pretty much every year. I suppose we shouldn't be surprised, since the Pulitzer Committee has been hollowed out and taken over by progressive parasites years ago.

Moron Recommendations

I did come across an iteresting book: "An Universal Dictionary of the Marine" by William Falconer. He was both a poet and an experienced sailor in the Royal Navy of the 1700s. This is another compendium of terms written for the time that also helps with all those O'Brian and other books. It's a fun read and the older terminology and writing style is delightful.

Posted by: JTB at May 05, 2019 09:37 AM (bmdz3)

It's available as a 99 cent Kindle book and free from the Gutenburg Project.

___________

163 In the spirit of Wednesdays Mid-Morning Open Thread and the feature of Caspar David Friedrich and the depiction of the tomb of Arminian; I am reading a recommending The Battle That Stopped Rome by Peter S. Wells. A very readable narrative of the Battle of the Teutoberg Forest in 9AD. Tying together archeology and classical sources the author builds a picture of the Rome, Roman outposts, the Legions and the Germanic tribes that humanizes the stratified events of two millennia ago. So far a great read!

Posted by: Dread0 at May 05, 2019 10:05 AM (Bptbo)

The Battle That Stopped Rome: Emperor Augustus, Arminius, and the Slaughter of the Legions in the Teutoburg Forest details the body blow suffered by the Roman Empire from this one battle:

In AD 9, a Roman traitor led an army of barbarians who trapped and then slaughtered three entire Roman legions: 20,000 men, half the Roman army in Europe. If not for this battle, the Roman Empire would surely have expanded to the Elbe River, and probably eastward into present-day Russia. But after this defeat, the shocked Romans ended all efforts to expand beyond the Rhine, which became the fixed border between Rome and Germania for the next 400 years, and which remains the cultural border between Latin western Europe and Germanic central and eastern Europe today.

___________

Also read The Quantum Supremacy: An Entertainment by David Goldman (AKA Spengler).

Lots of exposition in service to a strong plot. Yet the exposition is home truths well delivered. The protagonist appeals. And I think the internecine ways of the DC Intel community is well told.

Basically this is a parable on loyalty, trade-craft, and cryptology.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at May 05, 2019 10:14 AM (u82oZ)

A deadly duel of wits has begun pitting China's Ministry of State Security against the Central Intelligence Agency. At stake is quantum supremacy, the leap into a new world of computing power that will define technological dominance for the next century. A young CIA operative is caught in the middle and takes matters into his own hands.

The Quantum Supremacy: An Entertainment is available on Kindle for $6.99.

Since 2001, Goldman, under the nom de plume Spengler, has written on international affairs for the Asia Times, which is also publishing his novel in installments. Here is Part 1, and here is Part 2.

Goldman is also the author of How Civilizations Die: (And Why Islam Is Dying Too):

Thanks to collapsing birthrates, much of Europe is on a path of willed self-extinction. The untold story is that birthrates in Muslim nations are declining faster than anywhere else at a rate never before documented. Europe, even in its decline, may have the resources to support an aging population, if at a terrible economic and cultural cost. But in the impoverished Islamic world, an aging population means a civilization on the brink of total collapse - something Islamic terrorists know and fear. Muslim decline poses new threats to America, challenges we cannot even understand, much less face effectively, without a wholly new kind of political analysis that explains how desperate peoples and nations behave. In How Civilizations Die, David P. Goldman, author of the celebrated Spengler column read by intelligence organizations world wide, reveals how, almost unnoticed, massive shifts in global power are remaking our future.

Huh. I had not heard that birthrates in Muslim countries have been falling. I thought it was just the opposite.

___________

Books By Morons

Moronette author Libby Malin e-mailed:

I have a series of three sweet romances coming out that should make for pleasant beach reads. The first is Reese's Summer of Promise

Each book is set along the Dlaware coast, an area my family really enjoys.

Here is the blurb for Reese's Summer of Promise:

Reese Newhouse and Zack Davies both received "Dear John/Dear Jane" letters from their fiances and have sworn off relationships. When they meet in her hometown of Bethany Beach, Delaware, they decide to have a sweet summer fling and stay in the friend zone. As the summer languidly passes, their friendship deepens and both of them deal with personal challenges. He's finishing physical therapy for a battle injury; she's dealing with her still-grieving recently widowed father. When they learn Zack faces another deployment, they have to decide if they're wiling to take a chance on promises both have seen broken in the past.

___________

Moron author zeera has a new book:

Mom died, Dad lied. Nathan MacDonald lost his mother to a drunk driver and was uprooted to distant Minnesota and a father he never knew. One of his few new friends moves to Vegas and she sends the teen a one way ticket. Angus MacDonald intercepts his son's mail but denies it, triggering an unexpected road trip in a stolen family car. Nate rescues two runaway sisters at a Nebraska truck-stop and the three head West with Angus soon in pursuit. Our travelers encounter handcuffs and handguns, break-ins and breakdowns as the crazy weekend unfolds. The cross country circus converges on a lonely spot in the Rocky Mountains, ground zero in a raging blizzard.

Chasing Nate is available for pre-order on Kindle for $2.99 and will be auto-delivered to your device on May 21st.

Some People Have Very Low Standards:

___________

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 08:55 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Reading Nick Spalding. British humor writer. I think he has 8 books out and I am on number 4. Pretty funny. Also have the new McCullugh book.

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 12, 2019 08:56 AM (JFO2v)

2
AltonJackson!

Posted by: First! at May 12, 2019 08:57 AM (KCxzN)

3
curses, foiled again

Posted by: AltonJackson (click here for June MiMoMe details) at May 12, 2019 08:57 AM (KCxzN)

4 Good morning fellow Book Threadists and Happy Mother's Day. Hope everyone had a great week of reading. This morning is dreary, cool, and raining. A perfect day for reading, sipping beverages, and taking advantage of one of the greatest inventions of mankind: the recliner!

Posted by: JTB at May 12, 2019 08:59 AM (bmdz3)

5 Thumbs up on any photo that shows beautiful Boston College.

Posted by: Forheremenaremen at May 12, 2019 08:59 AM (RLiOt)

6 he experience of urban Native Americans.

WTF does that even mean?

Trying to kill a buffalo at the zoo?

Setting up a teepee on Main St?

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 12, 2019 09:00 AM (JFO2v)

7 I'd hate to see the heating bill for that library in winter.

Posted by: Weasel at May 12, 2019 09:00 AM (MVjcR)

8 Read a 5 book bundle of Sackets by Louis L'Amour . First LL book I ever read which was boring. Now reading Overload by Arthur Hailey for a change in venue.

Posted by: Vic at May 12, 2019 09:01 AM (mpXpK)

9 our profession is mandated by the Constitution"

Hmmm.

So why should anyone believe anything else said "journalist" babbles?

Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 12, 2019 09:01 AM (6qErC)

10 Are you kidding me?

I casually stroll through the post, get to the end, and there's no comments.

That's okay, I'm too old to play childish "first" games anymore. Unless I get "first," of course. Then it's mature.

Posted by: mindful webworker - click for short-storiesh thing at May 12, 2019 09:01 AM (VQjKe)

11 Took me 10 min to get that ;last post in. Pixy kept underlining it and then not taking it.

Posted by: Vic at May 12, 2019 09:02 AM (mpXpK)

12 Wasn't "Dreams from my Father" ghostwritten?

Sheesh.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 09:02 AM (cfSRQ)

13 Ahoy bookies!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 12, 2019 09:02 AM (kQs4Y)

14 I read The Birth of the Modern World Society 1815-1830 by Paul Johnson. The book is best described in Johnson's own words, "The age abounded in great personalities; warriors, statesmen and tyrants; outstanding inventors and technologists; and writers, artists and musicians of the highest genius; women as well as men. I have brought them to the fore but I have also sought to paint a background, showing how ordinary men and women - and children - lived, suffered, and died, ate and drank, work and played and traveled."

Although interesting, it was still a slog for me to read a thousand pages of detailed history. I'm ready for something lighter.

Posted by: Zoltan at May 12, 2019 09:03 AM (Zgezk)

15 Wasn't "Dreams from my Father" ghostwritten?
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 09:02 AM (cfSRQ)

It had a composite author.

Posted by: hogmartin invites you to the Summer MIMoMe (link: nick) at May 12, 2019 09:04 AM (RHDdi)

16 Morning, all.

I've been worming my way through 'Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds', by Charles Mackay. It was published in the 1850s, and the subject matter is right there on the tin.

He covers two large stock bubbles in England and France, the Tulipomania and a whole grab bag of other fads and mass movements-- witch mania, magnetism, alchemy and a bunch of other subjects. It's very interesting reading. I downloaded it from Gutenberg.

Posted by: Vanya at May 12, 2019 09:04 AM (U7voe)

17 6
he experience of urban Native Americans.

WTF does that even mean?

Trying to kill a buffalo at the zoo?

Setting up a teepee on Main St?

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 12, 2019 09:00 AM (JFO2v)

---
The cultural left has a strange belief in "blood and soil" myths. For example, they believe that American Indians are - by virtue of their DNA - somehow more in tune with nature and likewise more alienated in an urban environment.

Strangely, they can hold this belief while also maintaining that people are a blank slate and the only reason men are stronger than women is that the Patriarchy teaches it this way.

This inherent contradiction centered on identity politics is what is destroying them.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 09:05 AM (cfSRQ)

18 Many thanks to JTB for last week's recommendation of Philip R. Craig's Martha's Vineyard Mystery Series.

I finished the first book in the series, A Beautiful Place to Die, and it was a pleasant read. I enjoyed the nostalgia of the setting, the late 1980s, and chuckled at the protagonist's worries about his long distance phone bill. I've got the next book queued up in Kindle.

I've also picked up the first book in the other mystery series that JTB recommended, Dog On It, a Chet and Bernie Mystery by Spencer Quinn.

Looking forward to another good week of reading!

Posted by: Elinor, Who Usually Looks Lurkily at May 12, 2019 09:06 AM (NqQAS)

19 Finally finished "GULAG, A History" by Anne Applebaum.

So the whole Soviet apparatus was built on lies, fabrication, incompetence and corruption.

The prisoners made up their work tallies when not trying to shirk, the wardens made up shit they sent up to Moscow, Moscow made up grand tales of production and goals met and all of it was 100% BS.

The only thing the Gulag was good for was death, pain and misery.

Typical commies.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 12, 2019 09:06 AM (Z+IKu)

20 It had a composite author.

Posted by: hogmartin invites you to the Summer MIMoMe (link: nick) at May 12, 2019 09:04 AM (RHDdi)

---
Ah, so it was the "greatest work of literature ever *attributed* to a US president."

Which is actually really insulting if you think about it.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 09:07 AM (cfSRQ)

21 9
Finally finished "GULAG, A History" by Anne Applebaum.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 12, 2019 09:06 AM (Z+IKu)

---
I used to read her stuff but IIRC, she want full-on NeverTrump.

Which is strange, because Hillary wold be absolutely fine with creating another Gulag. Indeed, our tech overlords are building "virtual" ones as we speak.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 09:08 AM (cfSRQ)

22 Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 12, 2019 09:06 AM (Z+IKu)

If you haven't read the Archipelago and Alexander Dolgun's An American in the Gulag, you might want to consider doing so. Nothing quite like getting it from the horse's mouth.

Posted by: Vanya at May 12, 2019 09:08 AM (U7voe)

23 Which is actually really insulting if you think about it.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 09:07 AM (cfSRQ)

Hey, it worked for me.

Posted by: Zombie Kim Il Sung at May 12, 2019 09:09 AM (U7voe)

24 Hiya

Posted by: JT at May 12, 2019 09:10 AM (qIAv/)

25 Nothing much this week - energy taken up with a massive project to sort out the garage, which is Fibber McGee's closet writ large. We have taken so many car-loads to the local Goodwill that we may soon be on a first-name basis with the people who do the unloading.

I did finish a Longmire adventure - The Western Star, which was kind of disappointing. Didn't wrap up satisfactorily, just led into the next one. Which as they are all in e-book at $10 or so a pop, I think I'll pass. I did order some Flavia de Luce mysteries, used and in print for a reasonable amount, so I turned to reading those.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at May 12, 2019 09:10 AM (xnmPy)

26 Suetonius gets down and dirty with the chapter on Nero.

"Not content with seducing freeborn boys and married women, Nero:

- Raped the Vestal Virgin Rubria
- Castrated the boy Sporus, dressed him as a girl, and "married" him
- Supposedly committed incest with his mother Agrippina
- Dressed in animal skins and sexually attacked people bound to stakes

I must express envy for his architectural excesses, though:

"The entrance-hall was large enough to contain a huge statue of himself, 120 foot high... An enormous pool, like a sea, was surrounded by buildings made to resemble cities, and by a landscaped garden consisting of ploughed fields, vineyards, pastures, and woodlands -- where every variety of domestic and wild animal roamed about. Parts of the house were overlaid with gold and studded with precious stones and mother-of-pearl. All the dining rooms had ceilings of fretted ivory, the panels of which could slide back and let a rain of flowers, or perfume from hidden sprinklers, shower upon his guests. The main dining room was circular, and its roof revolved in time with the sky. ... When the palace ha been decorated throughout in this lavish style, Nero dedicated it and condescended to remark: 'Good, now I can at last begin to live like a human being!'"

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 12, 2019 09:12 AM (kQs4Y)

27 If you haven't read the Archipelago and Alexander Dolgun's An American in the Gulag, you might want to consider doing so. Nothing quite like getting it from the horse's mouth.
Posted by: Vanya at May 12, 2019 09:08 AM (U7voe)

I sure will. But they have to turn up in the used book stores in my AO as I refuse to buy new books nowadays.

But I will keep my eyes peeled in my travels, which is half the fun anyways.

Thanks Vanya!

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

28 Everyone should read MacKay's "Extraordinary Popular Delusions . . . " Among other things, you discover that there's nothing new about Internet memes. There was a time in the Georgian era when you could crack up everybody in the pub by saying "What a shocking bad hat!" Someday all the allegedly comical stuff on Facebook will be as mystifyingly unfunny.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 12, 2019 09:13 AM (wbNJr)

29 So in reading news...

I finally finished Volume IV of "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire."

I was feeling good about this, but then peeked ahead into Book V and found the first chapter was a summary of all the theological debates to that point.

Basically, Gibbon being a know-it-all jackass. Again.

So I skipped ahead. The next chapter outlines the course of the work to come and he explains how he's going to move more quickly because it would take too much time and effort to write as well as read. Nice to see that even he can't put up with himself.

The funny thing is that he talks of the remorseless "decline and fall" of the Eastern Empire as lasting 800 years! Uh, that's actually a really, really long run. In fact, his insistence that the entirety of the Byzantine Empire is a bunch of scheming losers slowly dying pretty much destroys his credibility.

I'm thinking I might take another break.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 09:13 AM (cfSRQ)

30 The latest David McCullough book is "The Pioneers" about the settlement of the old Northwest territories following the American Revolution. This is a part of US history that has always interested me. He provides context for the settlement and the personalities involved, some well known like Ben Franklin and others introduced in the book, in getting matters started and the type of people who moved to the area. And, as usual, he does this in a narrative more than an academic style. McCullough provides a lengthy bibliography at the end but doesn't clutter up the book with constant footnotes, which makes for more enjoyable reading. It reminds me of Shelby Foote's approach to his Civil War books.This is a good thing.

Just in the first couple of chapters the reader gets a feels for travel times and distances in the 1780s, the social customs in cities, the political wrangling (depressingly similar to today's BS), and the supplies pioneers were expected to have available. (You could write a book just on this last item. What pioneers of that period chose, why those items and how they were used is fascinating and revealing.) All this without slowing the narrative. So far it's a page turner.

I know there are plenty of biographies of George Washington but I wish McCullough had written one.

Posted by: JTB at May 12, 2019 09:13 AM (bmdz3)

31 Tolle Lege
Finished Omaha Beach by Joseph Bolkoski, it weaved eye witness reports and accounts of the Omaha Beach assault on D-Day and exclusively stayed on that area and day though did start on preparation. There are lots of detailed maps showing company landing points and that's what are me get it.
Been looking for any more information of this assault as my FiL was a vet of that invasion as a enlisted 149th engineer bn and found it was in the E-1 draw they were involved.

Posted by: Skip at May 12, 2019 09:13 AM (BbGew)

32 The constitution does not *mandate* a free press. A "mandate" implies that the government has to create something in order for it to exist. But that's not the case at all. The 1st Amendment merely acknowledges a free press that exists prior to, and outside of, the federal government, and that this federal government has no right to interfere with ("abridge") it.
---
I have had to explain this to law students.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 12, 2019 09:14 AM (kQs4Y)

33 Just back from the supermarket.

I had to take my pants off because they are wet.

Posted by: JT at May 12, 2019 09:15 AM (qIAv/)

34 I always discount about 90 percent of Suetonius's breathless accounts of sexual misbehavior by the Julio-Claudian emperors and their families (see the Steele Dossier for comparable modern gossip).

But that description of the Golden House . . . ! Other people saw it, so Suetonius couldn't have been making it all up. No wonder the Senate damned Nero's memory!

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 12, 2019 09:16 AM (wbNJr)

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

You'll have to find An American in the Gulag online; AFAIK it hasn't been printed in decades. Try alibris.com.

Posted by: Zombie Kim Il Sung at May 12, 2019 09:16 AM (U7voe)

36 birthrates in Muslim nations are declining"

It's a bit of confusion between numbers and rates, and figures can be misleading (shocking, I know, huh?)
Sure, some birthrates have "fallen" - but they're still higher than the "replacement" rate, which still puts them above non mo' birthrates, while others are left out of the common calculations - such as Indonesia, which is largely mo'hammsandwich and has a high birthrate.

Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 12, 2019 09:16 AM (6qErC)

37 Amazing that Obama writes two stellar books, but has never written another thing in his life other than some laughable poetry.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at May 12, 2019 09:16 AM (oVJmc)

38 Off Nork sock

Posted by: Vanya at May 12, 2019 09:16 AM (U7voe)

39 33 JT
you might think about rewording that comment!

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 12, 2019 09:16 AM (JFO2v)

40 29 Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 09:13 AM (cfSRQ)

I tired to read Gibbon once. He blamed the church for every bad thing. I quit after a few chapters.

Posted by: Vic at May 12, 2019 09:16 AM (mpXpK)

41 I had to take my pants off because they are wet."

So, will they let you back in said store????

Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 12, 2019 09:17 AM (6qErC)

42 37 Amazing that Obama writes two stellar books, but has never written another thing in his life other than some laughable poetry.
Posted by: Mr. Peebles at May 12, 2019 09:16 AM (oVJmc)

Bhussein wrote poetry?

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 12, 2019 09:17 AM (JFO2v)

43 Still recovering from the cheerful orgy that was the PNW MoMe. I wish to report OregonMuse was indeed present and even more erudite in person than in pixels. Everyone wore pants, and there were books! The six hours of driving was totally worth it to meet wonderful Morons in meatspace.
We did not meet the Yakima police chief. The *fire* chief, on the other hand, was becoming a distinct possibility so I left.

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at May 12, 2019 09:17 AM (iwoyh)

44 Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 12, 2019 09:12 AM (kQs4Y)

You missed Tiberius and Caligula to comment on Nero?

Posted by: Vanya at May 12, 2019 09:17 AM (U7voe)

45 33 JT
you might think about rewording that comment!
Posted by: rhennigantx at May 12, 2019 09:16 AM (JFO2v)

Seems grammatically correct.

Posted by: hogmartin invites you to the Summer MIMoMe (link: nick) at May 12, 2019 09:17 AM (RHDdi)

46 Hey, all,

I don't normally pop in the the HQ on weekends, but today I'm at a coffee shop waiting for some flooded areas in town to de-flood. I'm reading the sequel to Kings Row, which I gather was some sort of pre-Peyton Place novel about a small town that really made a stir in suggesting that small towns had big secrets just like everywhere else. Reagan appeared in the movie, playing the town dweller who loses his legs in an accident ("Where's the rest of me?").

The book is odd, sort of long-winded in some places and swift in others, partly because it was co-written after the author's death by his wife. The title is Parris Mitchell of Kings Row. Title character is a psychiatrist, and it's set in 1916 and onward. But the people seem to have 1940s kind of values and attitudes. I'm not sure I'll finish it, or that I would recommend it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 12, 2019 09:18 AM (QUz7/)

47 Bhussein wrote poetry?
Posted by: rhennigantx at May 12, 2019 09:17 AM (JFO2v)

Oh, it is so awful.

Posted by: hogmartin invites you to the Summer MIMoMe (link: nick) at May 12, 2019 09:18 AM (RHDdi)

48 Bhussein wrote poetry?
Posted by: rhennigantx at May 12, 2019 09:17 AM (JFO2v)

MULDOON!

We need some sockpuppeted BHO doggerel, STAT!

Posted by: Vanya at May 12, 2019 09:18 AM (U7voe)

49 Bhussein wrote poetry?

"Mooch, with lips like wine

Your penis is bigger than mine !"

Posted by: JT at May 12, 2019 09:19 AM (qIAv/)

50 Also, I second the recommendation for The Birth of the Modern, by Paul Johnson. Great book -- and not at all dry or a slog to read.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 12, 2019 09:19 AM (wbNJr)

51 6
he experience of urban Native Americans.

WTF does that even mean?

Trying to kill a buffalo at the zoo?

Setting up a teepee on Main St?

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 12, 2019

*
*
If Whitley Strieber's Wolfen is to be trusted, apparently a lot of
Amerinds found work in the construction trade, including working on high-rise buildings, partly because they had much less fear of heights than white workers. Don't know if that's really true.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 12, 2019 09:21 AM (QUz7/)

52 Apes. Crunchy figs. Etc.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at May 12, 2019 09:21 AM (oVJmc)

53 Morning horde. A week until I get my birthday books (I hope, most are coming from Britain.)

I was looking for I, Claudius, but instead found Graves's Count Belisarius. I think I'll give that another run. IIRC, it was also very good. (Goldberged from Procopius, rather than Suetonius.) That and some Ronald Knox I came across.

The one new thing, right now, is Aristotle's Revenge by Feser. A bit heavier going, but oddly more accessible to me than Scholastic Metaphysics. I'd have expected the reverse.

Posted by: Eeyore at May 12, 2019 09:21 AM (VaN/j)

54 On a more esoteric note, last week I purchased The Hidden Origins of Islam, edited by Karl-Heinz Ohlig and Gerd-R. Puin.

I intended to finish Gibbon first, but as written above, I'm getting tired of his shit, so I took a look.

Whoa.

This thing is seriously heavy reading.

It's basically and extremely dry look at the archeological origins of Islam and is built around the notion that Islam is actually a Syrian-Christian heresy built around Nestorianism.

There never was a Mohammed. He was created after the fact as an examplar of the Imperial Cult created by the Caliphs.

Like I said, heavy. I'm inching my way through it.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 09:21 AM (cfSRQ)

55 I'm thinking I might take another break."

It requires many, and I can't find much to disagree in his overall arc. Details change (historians of today know things their predecessors didn't, and some of it is actually true...)

As to "blaming" the "church", my .02 is that a hardcore Anglican has no love for Catholics. Meh. That I can overlook.

Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 12, 2019 09:22 AM (6qErC)

56 Found an interesting book the other day. Napolean's Troublesome Americans about US-French relations during the early 1800s. We came within two votes of declaring war on France. While England was seizing our sailors, France was seizing our ships.

Posted by: Vashta Nerada at May 12, 2019 09:22 AM (/VBEQ)

57 My book group started I, Claudius which I'm thoroughly enjoying for a bunch of different reasons but one thing I have to keep reminding myself is that this takes place in a pre Christian time where pagan gods were still in place, like at the very beginning when Claudius consults an Oracle or her predecessor's mummified remains. This dovetails nicely into Camille Paglia's Sexual Personae where she's discussing how the sexual ambiguity of Apollo and Artemis marked a break from the Cthonian earth mother representation to higher concepts. Also in Herodotus Darius is about to attack the Scythians who consult tribal people further out about what they'll do if the Persians come after them; some commit to helping out and others take a more wait and see attitude. Since this is Balkans and Crimea territory I'm thinking that maybe things don't change that much through time.

Posted by: Captain Hate at May 12, 2019 09:22 AM (y7DUB)

58 Happy other's Day to all of the Mom 'Ettes !

Posted by: JT at May 12, 2019 09:22 AM (qIAv/)

59 Mother's Day !

Duh !

Posted by: JT at May 12, 2019 09:22 AM (qIAv/)

60 Starting Huckleberry Finn this week after finishing the Battle that Stoped Rome. There is a documentary I think on amazon prime video that updates the archeological record of the Book. Essentially proposing the legions survived the initial day of battle, made fortified camp, then march out to be wiped out.

Posted by: Dread0 at May 12, 2019 09:23 AM (Bptbo)

61 Posted by: Trimegistus at May 12, 2019 09:16 AM (wbNJr)

Yeah, Suetonius is a gossip-monger and I take most of it with a grain of salt. It tickles my os ridiculam that this was assigned reading (it's my old college copy).

It's trash, but historical, so, edifying.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 12, 2019 09:23 AM (kQs4Y)

62 The Obama poem about apes crunching figs in the grotto was described as "not very good" by Vogon Poetry Aficionado magazine.

Posted by: hogmartin invites you to the Summer MIMoMe (link: nick) at May 12, 2019 09:23 AM (RHDdi)

63 I splurged on a hardback copy of "Churchill: Walking With Destiny" by Andrew Roberts published last year. I know there are a bunch of biographies of Churchill but Roberts brings new insight, or at least material, to the effort. He was the first to get permission from Queen Elizabeth to use her father's wartime diaries, a lot of which covered his dealings with the Prime Minister. He also got access to other sources. I just got it yesterday and am only a couple of chapters in but the writing style is excellent and, like McCullough above, reveals a lot of information without breaking the stride of the narrative. This is a thousand page book so it will take a while to finish but so far looks to be worth it.

Posted by: JTB at May 12, 2019 09:24 AM (bmdz3)

64 37
Amazing that Obama writes two stellar books, but has never written another thing in his life other than some laughable poetry.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at May 12, 2019 09:16 AM (oVJmc)

---
Of course he didn't write either book and they weren't stellar.

It's kind of like JFK's magnum opus which everyone now knows he didn't write.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 09:24 AM (cfSRQ)

65 FIRST!!!!!

Posted by: Sponge at May 12, 2019 09:24 AM (Zz0t1)

66 You'll have to find An American in the Gulag online; AFAIK it hasn't been printed in decades. Try alibris.com.
Posted by: Zombie Kim Il Sung at May 12, 2019 09:16 AM (U7voe)

Cool! Thanks Zombie Chairman!

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 12, 2019 09:24 AM (Z+IKu)

67 31 cont ( race started so was distracted)
Some years ago in searching the web found a site with information from some other member of my FiL's company, it had a hand drawn map showing a road built to get off the beach and some pictures of guys. But the site disappeared fairly quickly after I saw it.
In the book there is a account of the 37th Eng Bn on a road building and it's possible the combined companies worked on this though that is a guess.
I have a small book about size of a old Readers Digest on events right after D-Day I have had as a kid, might read it again next until something else.

Posted by: Skip at May 12, 2019 09:25 AM (BbGew)

68 Ayers probably wrote Dreams.
Favreau wrote most of Audacity which was a bunch of political speeches chapertized.

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 12, 2019 09:25 AM (JFO2v)

69 Amazing that Obama writes two stellar books"

Recall the fun'n'games when a lit teacher/prof/iforgetwhich posted a portion as being written by Ms Palin, and internets commentary was, well, less than complimentary - and then dropped that segment was from Teh Won...

Which also proved that said "journalists" and "supporters" hadn't read the book either.

Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 12, 2019 09:25 AM (6qErC)

70 Baroke Owebama was and will always be a stuttering clusterfuck of a miserable failure and I hope the hammer falls upon him and his entire staff for what they did to the incoming, duly elected President of the United States.

Posted by: Sponge at May 12, 2019 09:25 AM (Zz0t1)

71 55 I'm thinking I might take another break."

It requires many, and I can't find much to disagree in his overall arc. Details change (historians of today know things their predecessors didn't, and some of it is actually true...)

As to "blaming" the "church", my .02 is that a hardcore Anglican has no love for Catholics. Meh. That I can overlook.
Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 12, 2019 09:22 AM (6qErC)
_________

Was Gibbon a "hardcore Anglican"? Not that I can see. Johnson was, and he was far less hostile to the RCs.

Posted by: Eeyore at May 12, 2019 09:25 AM (VaN/j)

72 @49 TFF

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 12, 2019 09:25 AM (JFO2v)

73 You missed Tiberius and Caligula to comment on Nero?
Posted by: Vanya at May 12, 2019 09:17 AM (U7voe)
---
I covered Caligula (erg) in a previous Book Thread.

Heck, I started with Gaius.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 12, 2019 09:25 AM (kQs4Y)

74 Writing continues. slogging my way through, as the source material accumulates. Just wait 'til The Bulge actually starts, and i'll have about a couple hundred books to potentially use for sourcing. ugh.

meanwhile, reading Michael Caine's third autobiography, i believe: "Blowing the Bloody Doors Off". He's as charming in print as he is on screen. don't care about his politics, he was a child evacuee during the Blitz, so that's going to colo(u)r everything, rightfully so. it's a fun book.

Posted by: goatexchange at May 12, 2019 09:26 AM (iBmJc)

75 It tickles my os ridiculam

Kitchy coo !

Posted by: JT at May 12, 2019 09:26 AM (qIAv/)

76 I love that picture of the two kittens sharing books. Adorable is always appropriate.

Posted by: JTB at May 12, 2019 09:26 AM (bmdz3)

77 they believe that American Indians are - by virtue of their DNA - somehow more in tune with nature and likewise more alienated in an urban environment.

-
John Redcorn.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at May 12, 2019 09:26 AM (+y/Ru)

78 Yeah, Suetonius is a gossip-monger and I take most of it with a grain of salt. It tickles my os ridiculam that this was assigned reading (it's my old college copy).

It's trash, but historical, so, edifying.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 12, 2019 09:23 AM (kQs4Y)

---
Suetonius is a gossip but an honest one. He reports both sides and his accounts of the Caesar/Pompey and Octavian/Antony insult contests are a hoot.

I loved the bit about Caesar being mocked as "the Queen of Bithynia." Quality insult there.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 09:26 AM (cfSRQ)

79 While England was seizing our sailors, France was seizing our ships."

At least they weren't pouncing. Like Republicans do to AOC...

Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 12, 2019 09:27 AM (6qErC)

80 This week I read Out of the Dark, by Gregg Hurwitz, an Orphan X novel. For my money, Hurwitz is right up there with Vince Flynn. There is a pursuit scene set in Washington DC, that had me on the edge of the couch. Highly recommended.

Posted by: SandyCheeks at May 12, 2019 09:27 AM (psNl2)

81 Like I said, heavy. I'm inching my way through it.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 09:21 AM (cfSRQ)

My own personal Combination Heavy Reading And Total Letdown: I bought Bernard Lewis' 'The Assassins: A Radical Sect In Islam', expecting some sweet ninja stories.

Boy, was I wrong. The focus of the book is on the religious factionalism within Shia Islam that gave rise to the sect, and 'heresy' in Islam. Most of their targets were other Muslim leaders who they saw as threats. They were basically the medieval IRA with a death wish.

A very good book, just... Not what I was expecting.

Posted by: Vanya at May 12, 2019 09:27 AM (U7voe)

82 Re: "Dreams etc."
In the BHO official mythology, he wrote every word, and the spaces between the words. Even the words left out were personally hand-picked.

Posted by: Burger Chef at May 12, 2019 09:27 AM (RuIsu)

83 I've been reading some of Tolkein's "Unfinished Tales" edited by his son. They're pretty good. Some of them get a little buried in Tolkeinian imaginary place names and personal names, but there's some good stuff in all of them.

I don't know what the terms were of his sale of film rights, because I worry that his fantasy creations are gradually getting turned into derivative versions of the inferior ripoffs of Tolkein's original work. (Kind of the way some of the Roger Moore Bond movies wound up looking like parodies of Bond parodies.)

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 12, 2019 09:28 AM (wbNJr)

84 The battle of Tuetoberg Forest documentary is called the battle that stopped Rome and is available free on amazon prime.

Posted by: Dread0 at May 12, 2019 09:29 AM (Bptbo)

85 57
My book group started I, Claudius which I'm thoroughly enjoying for a
bunch of different reasons but one thing I have to keep reminding myself
is that this takes place in a pre Christian time where pagan gods were
still in place, like at the very beginning when Claudius consults an
Oracle or her predecessor's mummified remains. . . .

Posted by: Captain Hate at May 12, 2019

*
*

Claudius was emperor during the very early years of the Christian era, right after Jesus was crucified but before all the apostles passed on. (Peter was supposed to have died in Rome under Claudius's successor, the notorious Nero.) I recall a note that Claudius expelled some Jews from Rome for arguing about "Chrestus."

But you're right, at this point Christianity had a long way to go before it became the dominant religion.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 12, 2019 09:29 AM (QUz7/)

86 I was looking for I, Claudius, but instead found
Graves's Count Belisarius. I think I'll give that another run. IIRC, it
was also very good. (Goldberged from Procopius, rather than Suetonius.)
That and some Ronald Knox I came across.

The one new thing, right now, is Aristotle's Revenge by Feser. A bit
heavier going, but oddly more accessible to me than Scholastic
Metaphysics. I'd have expected the reverse.

Posted by: Eeyore at May 12, 2019 09:21 AM (VaN/j)

---
Count Belisarius is good, but the end is wrong. Belisarius wasn't blinded.

Not sure why he put that in there, even Gibbon says it didn't happen.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 09:29 AM (cfSRQ)

87 A book about how Amerindians have culturally adapted to urban life could be really interesting.

But, since it was nominated for a Pulitzer, it's a safe bet that it's just a different form factor for packaging toilet paper.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at May 12, 2019 09:30 AM (5aX2M)

88 54: Sounds fascinating. All this hellacious behavior over a hoax, the Caliphs must be ancestors of Comey and Mueller

Posted by: CN at May 12, 2019 09:30 AM (U7k5w)

89 I loved the bit about Caesar being mocked as "the Queen of Bithynia." Quality insult there.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019

*
*

His detractors said he was every woman's husband and every man's wife.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 12, 2019 09:31 AM (QUz7/)

90 56 Found an interesting book the other day. Napolean's Troublesome Americans about US-French relations during the early 1800s. We came within two votes of declaring war on France. While England was seizing our sailors, France was seizing our ships.
Posted by: Vashta Nerada at May 12, 2019 09:22 AM (/VBEQ)
_______

The whole question of impressment and neutral ships was more complicated that most US accounts usually present them. One American book that is more balanced is Teddy Roosevelt's. IIRC, he was a future president, and in fact DID write the book (like Grant, and unlike Kennedy; I guess it's a Republican thing.). Not, of course, that we can put him on the Obama Level.

Posted by: Eeyore at May 12, 2019 09:31 AM (VaN/j)

91 That photo of the BC library reading room is great. Beautiful architecture and workmanship.

And one of those tables would make an excellent reloading bench. They are clearly sturdy, it would be easy to attach various presses around the perimeter, and there is plenty of room for tools and components. Better than wasting such resources on SJW type arihead students in Massachewshits. The chairs look comfortable, too.

Posted by: JTB at May 12, 2019 09:32 AM (bmdz3)

92 The battle of Tuetoberg Forest documentary is called the battle that stopped Rome and is available free on amazon prime.
Posted by: Dread0 at May 12, 2019 09:29 AM (Bptbo)

https://stoatnet.org/giveemback.jpg

Posted by: hogmartin invites you to the Summer MIMoMe (link: nick) at May 12, 2019 09:32 AM (RHDdi)

93 What I'd like to see is a good, honest, and non-PC look at modern American Indian life. What's it like to live on the reservation? How do the ones who leave and the ones who stay get along? How has the influx of casino money and mafiosi changed things? How do they feel about being turned into Lorax mascots by white liberals?

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 12, 2019 09:32 AM (wbNJr)

94 54 On a more esoteric note, last week I purchased The Hidden Origins of Islam, edited by Karl-Heinz Ohlig and Gerd-R. Puin

That book is mentioned in the footnotes of Spencers Did Mohamed Exist. Which was a quick read. I suspect the difficulty of translating German academic writing to English and their long windedness could be a factor in the slow pace?

Posted by: Dread0 at May 12, 2019 09:33 AM (Bptbo)

95 28
Everyone should read MacKay's "Extraordinary Popular Delusions . . . "
Among other things, you discover that there's nothing new about Internet
memes. There was a time in the Georgian era when you could crack up
everybody in the pub by saying "What a shocking bad hat!" Someday all
the allegedly comical stuff on Facebook will be as mystifyingly unfunny.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 12, 2019 09:13 AM (wbNJr)
That is one of my favorite classic works! And even his chapters which are more like random essays are enthralling - he has one chapter on the Crusades, I recall, which puts forth a remarkably clear and believable explanation as to what was going on with them. (European society was overburdened with heavily armed troublemakers, so why not invent a reason to send them all to go make trouble in someone else's country?) Witch Trials could have been written about the SJW's today, and a chapter on the Length of Men's Hair is hilarious, and (even though this was written int th 1830's) demonstrated that the Long Hair fight in the 1960's was one of the milder outbreaks of this fight which has lasted for millenia.I always loved the phrase, "and after (some ecumenical counsel), men could be as Hairy as Bears if they pleased, at least so far as the council was concerned."

Posted by: Tom Servo at May 12, 2019 09:33 AM (KS7KL)

96 Just finished Debbie Does Dallas for the 1093rd time. There's no amount of tissue to cover the emotions I feel every time I read it.

Posted by: Sooner at May 12, 2019 09:33 AM (Fs5vw)

97 NERDS!!!

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 09:33 AM (NWiLs)

98 But you're right, at this point Christianity had a long way to go before it became the dominant religion.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 12, 2019 09:29 AM (QUz7/)

Yes, thanks for understanding what I was talking about even though the time period was contemporary with the life of Jesus.

Posted by: Captain Hate at May 12, 2019 09:34 AM (y7DUB)

99 The latest chapter of Larry Correia's "Monster Hunter International" opus is now available as an eARc at Baen books.

"Monster Hunter Guardian" co-authored by Sara Hoyt, it's a worthy chapter of the HMHI saga

Link to Larry's website:

http://monsterhunternation.com/

Posted by: TANSTAAFL at May 12, 2019 09:34 AM (T09ml)

100 Was Gibbon a "hardcore Anglican"? Not that I can see. Johnson was, and he was far less hostile to the RCs.

Posted by: Eeyore at May 12, 2019 09:25 AM (VaN/j)

---
Gibbon was very hostile to Christianity, and blamed its rise for the fall of the Roman Empire. He's much more comfortable with the "virtuous pagans" because all they did was expose infants and practice human sacrifice, etc.

He denounces the Church for being full of "superstition" but leaves out the rank insanity of armies moving on the authority of a healthy goat liver or whether or not the "sacred chickens" are hungry.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 09:34 AM (cfSRQ)

101 The idea that Muhammad was made up later by the Caliphs is about as silly as the idea that Jesus was invented by the early Popes.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 12, 2019 09:34 AM (wbNJr)

102 68 Ayers probably wrote Dreams.
Favreau wrote most of Audacity which was a bunch of political speeches chapertized.
Posted by: rhennigantx at May 12, 2019 09:25 AM (JFO2v)
______

That must be what's wrong with them. He let Favreau do it, instead of doing it himself, despite knowing he was much the better writer.

Posted by: Eeyore at May 12, 2019 09:35 AM (VaN/j)

103 "and after (some ecumenical counsel), men could be as Hairy as Bears if they pleased, at least so far as the council was concerned."
Posted by: Tom Servo at May 12, 2019 09:33 AM (KS7KL)

In one of the stock bubble chapters, he notes that some people were "Served with a superabundance of gullibility." The man could definitely turn a phrase.

Posted by: Vanya at May 12, 2019 09:35 AM (U7voe)

104 Was Gibbon a "hardcore Anglican"?

IIRC, he started out with the family's organized religion, then converted to Catholicism while at Oxford, but "reconverted" to Protestantism with a bit of a vengeance...

Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 12, 2019 09:35 AM (6qErC)

105 83
I've been reading some of Tolkein's "Unfinished Tales" edited by his
son. They're pretty good. Some of them get a little buried in Tolkeinian
imaginary place names and personal names, but there's some good stuff
in all of them.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 12, 2019 09:28 AM (wbNJr)
---
This is one of my favorite books when I want some light reading. The short stories are nice and crisp and perfect for when you don't want to start a book but need something relaxing to read.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 09:36 AM (cfSRQ)

106 Henry Harrison, "The Stainless Steel Rat" and "The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge". I liked the first one: a fine adventure-tale about a thief working in an advanced spacefaring human civilisation.

The second one went hard Male Feminist Ally though. I blame the late '60s. The good news is, the women take back their planet and strip men of their rights again. Yay!

I suppose those'll be the last two Harrison books I read.

Posted by: boulder t'hobo at May 12, 2019 09:36 AM (ykYG2)

107 37 Amazing that Obama writes two stellar books, but has never written another thing in his life other than some laughable poetry.
Posted by: Mr. Peebles at May 12, 2019 09:16 AM (oVJmc)
----------------------

*sigh*

Barack is poetry in motion.

*swoon*

Posted by: Lawrence O'Donnell - the other oneeeee at May 12, 2019 09:36 AM (WEBkv)

108 18 ... Elinor, I'm so glad you are enjoying the Martha's Vineyard books the Chet and Bernie series. I find them delightful the first time around and just as much on re-reading.

BTW, Philip Craig and his wife wrote a cookbook, "Delish! The J.W. Jackson Recipes; A Martha's Vineyard Cookbook" which is excellent. The recipes become a regular feature as the series goes along. And they work.

Posted by: JTB at May 12, 2019 09:38 AM (bmdz3)

109 Just finished Debbie Does Dallas for the 1093rd time. There's no amount of tissue to cover the emotions I feel every time I read it.

It always leaves me drained.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at May 12, 2019 09:38 AM (oVJmc)

110 Mig Pilot: The Final Escape of Lt. Belenko by John Barron is an insightful book portraying the realities of 1960s and 1970s life in the Soviet Union from the perspective of an elite pilot near the top of the Communist Party hierarchy.

Just finished "The Young Engineers in Arizona Laying Tracks on the Man-killer Quicksand," by H. Irving (Harrie Irving) Hancock. Superb, public domain pulp fiction that captures the spirit of the pre-WWI era in America. On to "The Young Engineers in Nevada Or, Seeking Fortune on the Turn of a Pick.

Also, my novel, The Brave and the Bold, is available through midnight tonight for only $0.99.

Posted by: Hans G. Schantz at May 12, 2019 09:38 AM (FXjhj)

111 I also read Spengler's Quantum Supremacy. The plot is a throwaway but it's a vehicle to make people whose eyes glaze over at science talk see what's happening vis a vis China and their push for tech supremacy. It's short, but well worth the read.
I also read The Three Body Problem. It's Chinese SF, but also quite good, with lots of discussion of Chinese political problems during the Cultural Revolution. It's part of a trilogy, but I've only read the first one so fare. I was unaware that different factions of the Red Guards fought what was essentially a civil war.

Posted by: pep at May 12, 2019 09:39 AM (T6t7i)

112 56 Found an interesting book the other day. Napolean's Troublesome Americans about US-French relations during the early 1800s. We came within two votes of declaring war on France. While England was seizing our sailors, France was seizing our ships.
Posted by: Vashta Nerada at May 12, 2019 09:22 AM (/VBEQ)

It's interesting to note that we had just concluded the "Quasi-War" with republican France prior to Napoleon's takeover.

Posted by: josephistan at May 12, 2019 09:40 AM (Izzlo)

113 "I had not heard that birthrates in Muslim countries have been falling. I thought it was just the opposite."

Are they higher among Muslim refugees in Europe? Given the free public welfare.

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 12, 2019 09:40 AM (1UZdv)

114 93
What I'd like to see is a good, honest, and non-PC look at modern
American Indian life. What's it like to live on the reservation? How do
the ones who leave and the ones who stay get along? How has the influx
of casino money and mafiosi changed things? How do they feel about being
turned into Lorax mascots by white liberals?

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 12, 2019 09:32 AM (wbNJr)

My SIL who lives in AZ is a teacher at an Indian reservation in AZ. She can tell you some stories that make your ass want to spit.

Posted by: Vic at May 12, 2019 09:40 AM (mpXpK)

115 It stands as the most fictional account ever authored by Bill Ayers about Frank Marshall Davis. Jr..

Every word is a lie, including "Dreams" "From" "My" and "Father".

Expecting the Rev. Butt-Edge 2.0 version soon, though. A homosexual Communist groomed for tyranny--just like the last one.

Posted by: The Gipper Lives at May 12, 2019 09:40 AM (Ndje9)

116 On Karl-Heinz Ohlig and Gerd-R. Puin, they were / are compiling scholarship, and a lot of that scholarship is very speculative. You're better off reading science fiction.

(Ohlig's own essay at the end was pretty good, as was the De Premaire essay. And there was some stuff about manuscripts and alphabets in there that bored me as silly as it bored you, so don't feel bad.)

Spencer would have been better off reading near anything else, when writing "Did Muhammad Exist".

Posted by: boulder t'hobo at May 12, 2019 09:41 AM (ykYG2)

117 Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 12, 2019 09:12 AM (kQs4Y)

Sounds like Seutonius believed Nero would be exactly the sort of person to let Rome burn so as to be rebuilt to his grand plan.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at May 12, 2019 09:41 AM (uquGJ)

118 Gibbon was very hostile to Christianity"

Hmm. YMMV. I took it as hostility to the organized Catholic hierarchy, and as such, has a point - the "Church" had become another "State" (but not a Westphalian nation/state), with all of the associated impacts on surrounding states.

Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 12, 2019 09:41 AM (6qErC)

119 Another damned thick square book, eh, Mr. Gibbon? Always scribble, scribble, scribble, eh, Mr. Gibbon?

Posted by: Frederick, Duke of Gloucester at May 12, 2019 09:41 AM (wbNJr)

120 She can tell you some stories that make your ass want to spit.

Ew.

Posted by: JT at May 12, 2019 09:42 AM (qIAv/)

121 I sometimes masturbate with a sardine.

Posted by: Larry O'Donnell at May 12, 2019 09:42 AM (LuPts)

122 101
The idea that Muhammad was made up later by the Caliphs is about as
silly as the idea that Jesus was invented by the early Popes.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 12, 2019 09:34 AM (wbNJr)

---
Not really the same at all, as I'm starting to discover.

The historical figure of Jesus is extensively documented, not just by Christians but by the Jews and Romans. There's more proof of the historical Jesus than there is of Julius Caesar. I'm not just talking written accounts but archeology.

Muhammad doesn't have anything like that record. The part I've read so far does a deep dive into coinage and the fact that early "Islamic period" coins consistently show Christian icons and symbols. John the Baptist is frequently referenced because he's hugely important to the Nestorian conception of the Christ (far more important than Mary).

Another interesting point is that while we know the Gospels were written later, the Koran was supposed to be present "at the inception" of the faith, yet no copies exist that were written less than 200 years after the fact. Really odd considering this is THE sacred book of the faith.

Anyhow, I'm not sold on the concept, but this is fascinating (and factually dense) reading.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 09:43 AM (cfSRQ)

123 107 37 Amazing that Obama writes two stellar books, but has never written another thing in his life other than some laughable poetry.
Posted by: Mr. Peebles at May 12, 2019 09:16 AM (oVJmc)
----------------------

*sigh*

Barack is poetry in motion.

*swoon*
Posted by: Lawrence O'Donnell - the other oneeeee at May 12, 2019 09:36 AM (WEBkv)
________

He wrote an essay on T S Eliot which was clearly plagiarized by Cliff Notes. (Yes, that's the word order I intended.)

If you wish to understand the deep racist underbelly of America, consider that he has never won the lottery. And none of the major sports has named him MVP. In any decent society he would have done so several times.

Posted by: Eeyore at May 12, 2019 09:44 AM (VaN/j)

124 Although interesting, it was still a slog for me to read a thousand pages of detailed history. I'm ready for something lighter.
Posted by: Zoltan at May 12, 2019 09:03 AM (Zgezk)

Pick up his much smaller work, "Intellectuals." It's a red meat roasting of some of history's great scoundrels and frauds.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 12, 2019 09:44 AM (cY3LT)

125 But that description of the Golden House . . . ! Other people saw it, so Suetonius couldn't have been making it all up.

It would have been hard to miss. As would its absence.

I'm just sorry the monasteries didn't see fit to copy "The Lives Of Famous Ho's". Was it something he said?

Posted by: boulder t'hobo at May 12, 2019 09:44 AM (ykYG2)

126 My SIL who lives in AZ is a teacher at an Indian reservation in AZ. She can tell you some stories that make your ass want to spit.
Posted by: Vic at May 12, 2019 09:40 AM (mpXpK)

I work with a guy from northern Alaska. He said you had to lock the gas caps on all your equipment because the natives would steal it for huffing.

Posted by: Vanya at May 12, 2019 09:44 AM (U7voe)

127 I finished Frank Herbert's "Dune Messiah," the second book in the series. The first half or so is really dull, with lots of secret communication (finger gestures, body language, etc) covering up what the characters are actually saying. Plots and plans and foreseeing and such. Around the time of the "stone burner" incident it picks up a bit, but it's the sort of book that could have been summarized in one of the numerous epigrams of another book.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at May 12, 2019 09:44 AM (l9m7l)

128 His detractors said he was every woman's husband and every man's wife.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 12, 2019 09:31 AM (QUz7/)

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

figures soi-boys aren't a new phenomena.

Posted by: Blake - used vacation salesman at May 12, 2019 09:46 AM (WEBkv)

129 Are they higher among Muslim refugees in Europe? "

Someone (Vic perhaps??? Can't recall. Been a couple of years or so here) posted a survey by an NGO that showed "what ifs" - if all "refugee migration" stopped then, France would still go from roughly 8 percent mo'hammed to around double that by around 25 years...

Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 12, 2019 09:46 AM (6qErC)

130 I know there are plenty of biographies of George Washington but I wish McCullough had written one.

I started a couple of McCullough books and didn't get anywhere with them. It may have been my mood at the time and not him.

Right now I'm reading the TR book "Mornings on Horseback" and loving it. I'm not too deep into it, I think we're about to go off to college, but the world he was raised in is unimaginable and his response to it is amazing.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at May 12, 2019 09:46 AM (fuK7c)

131 Pep, do you speak Chinese?

Posted by: Jean at May 12, 2019 09:46 AM (25Dt7)

132 Her father caught some gas in The Big One and never was quite the same. Her mother outlasted him and a 2nd husband. Both long gone now. Grew up "poor" farm gal.

She married and had her first, a son, during the War, pre-baby-boomer. Second child, a daughter, after the war. Third child a son, then a fourth, me. Then a miscarriage. Then my little sister.

Divorced dad, leading to abandonment by all her "friends," re-married and moved from town to the City. Finished raising us two younger kids. Husband got cancer, beats the cancer, expires from the treatments.

She's outlived her oldest brother (died in his young teens, after swimming hole accident, just before antibiotics), and her younger sister, and a niece. Still has her "baby" brother.

She outlived her eldest son, who was living with cancer but died from malpractice. Her second son has been estranged for decades. That leaves me and my sisters. Ten grandkids. Seven great-grandkids so far, counting my new granddaughter.

She had some skin cancer scraped off her ear this week, and didn't go to her exercise class or church meeting because she couldn't wear her wig over the bandages. Heh. Looks and gets around pretty good for about-to-turn ninety-nine.

Happy Mother's Day.

(Looks at thread topic.) Um.. I'd write a book about her life if it weren't like pulling teeth to get stories out of her. "Oh, nobody wants to know about that old stuff." And she has all her own teeth.

Posted by: mindful webworker - click for short-storiesh thing at May 12, 2019 09:47 AM (VQjKe)

133 Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at May 12, 2019 09:21 AM (QUz7/)

One of the "Five Nation" tribes is immune to vertigo. Last I heard no one knows why.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at May 12, 2019 09:47 AM (uquGJ)

134 I sometimes masturbate with a sardine.
Posted by: Larry O'Donnell at May 12, 2019 09:42 AM (LuPts)

How sad for the sardine. I bet he doesn't enjoy it nearly as much as Larry does, and probably rarely, if ever, gets off.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 12, 2019 09:47 AM (cY3LT)

135 Those pants are fine. I would wear them to barbeque in my backyard, and to mop the floor.

Posted by: AOS janitor at May 12, 2019 09:48 AM (0yz8p)

136 126 I work with a guy from northern Alaska. He said you
had to lock the gas caps on all your equipment because the natives
would steal it for huffing.

Posted by: Vanya at May 12, 2019 09:44 AM (U7voe)

She has told me of young children in her class (pre-teen) who could not learn because they were always high on drugs.

Posted by: Vic at May 12, 2019 09:49 AM (mpXpK)

137 I was feeling good about this, but then peeked ahead into Book V and found the first chapter was a summary of all the theological debates to that point.

Basically, Gibbon being a know-it-all jackass. Again.

The end of Book V is the best part when you get to what ass kickers the Normans were. I don't think John Julius Norwich's three part Byzantium covered a lot of it because most of it happened to the west of Constantinople, specifically how they sent the rock worshippers packing from Sicily. Norwich's work is highly readable and entertaining. I consulted him frequently to figure out just WTF Eddie was yammering about in Books V and VI.

Posted by: Captain Hate at May 12, 2019 09:49 AM (y7DUB)

138 figures soi-boys aren't a new phenomena.

Kinda of different definition of "soi-boy" if Gaius Julius Caesar counts as one.

Posted by: Grey Fox at May 12, 2019 09:49 AM (bZ7mE)

139
Someone (Vic perhaps??? Can't recall. Been a couple of years or so here) posted a survey by an NGO that showed "what ifs" - if all "refugee migration" stopped then, France would still go from roughly 8 percent mo'hammed to around double that by around 25 years...
Posted by: Anon a mouse

Bet they didn't study throwing them out.

Posted by: Jean at May 12, 2019 09:49 AM (25Dt7)

140 wrong thread

Posted by: Vic at May 12, 2019 09:50 AM (mpXpK)

141 I'm just doubtful about all of the "mythical founder" revisionist histories. Here's why: neither Jesus nor Muhammad is the sort of person one would invent if one was making up the founder of your religion.

First of all, the mythical founder would absolutely be the ancestor of whoever the big boss was who commissioned the made-up history. Instead of the built-in legitimacy crisis and succession dispute of the Ummayad vs. Alid factions of early Islam (which turned into Sunni and Shi'ites and persists to this day), Imaginary Muhammad would be the Caliph Umar's grandfather, full stop.

Second, how the heck does the religion exist before its founder? SOMEONE had to start the beliefs and write the Suras. I've never heard of a religion based on "What would the imaginary guy we're all going to pretend started this religion have said?"

Nope, not buying it. But then, I'm an unbeliever who thinks the "Jesus never existed" atheists are a pack of idiots.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 12, 2019 09:50 AM (wbNJr)

142 I bet he doesn't enjoy it nearly as much as Larry does, and probably rarely, if ever, gets off."

What does the ficus think of all that...jazz?

Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 12, 2019 09:50 AM (6qErC)

143 Reading "Blood on the Tracks," set in Denver, and the central character is a a 27-year old woman, a Marine vet out of 2 Iraq tours, now a railroad cop.

PTSD bleeds all over every page in this tense murder mystery with a war-crime coverup as its motive.

Her work sidekick is Clyde, a Malenoix war dog she got to adopt and bring home. Clyde's been all stressed out too, as he was partnered up over in Iraq with the woman's Marine lover, blown to bits by an IED.

Interesting insights on the lives of railroad hoboes.

Posted by: Les Kinetic at May 12, 2019 09:51 AM (5+4v7)

144 The Norman's were basically organized Vikings with more horses

Posted by: Jean at May 12, 2019 09:51 AM (25Dt7)

145 116
On Karl-Heinz Ohlig and Gerd-R. Puin, they were / are compiling
scholarship, and a lot of that scholarship is very speculative. You're
better off reading science fiction.

(Ohlig's own essay at the end was pretty good, as was the De
Premaire essay. And there was some stuff about manuscripts and alphabets
in there that bored me as silly as it bored you, so don't feel bad.)

Spencer would have been better off reading near anything else, when writing "Did Muhammad Exist".

Posted by: boulder t'hobo at May 12, 2019 09:41 AM (ykYG2)

---
I'm not sold, but this is what real scholarship is - challenging the status quo.

Sometimes it goes sideways, but the process of testing what we think is true against an alternative explanation is often how we find the truth - either by vindicating the existing version or overturning it.

I remember when the whole "Dinosaurs died out gradually" thing was *proven science.* I even have some books from when I was a kid explaining this.

I'm intrigued by the claim that none of the Islam's early enemies knew who they were fighting or wrote anything about it. That is a big question mark for me. The Byzantine Orthodox/Persian Zoroastrian clash is well documented with lots of commentary. How is it that Mohammad gets left out? Where is the near-contemporaneous Greek account of his life and times. Seems like they'd write quite a bit about the guy who was kicking their butt out of the Near East and Africa.

If it's out there, I'd like to see it.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 09:51 AM (cfSRQ)

146 not wrong thread after all

Posted by: Vic at May 12, 2019 09:51 AM (mpXpK)

147 The Norman's were basically organized Vikings with more horses"

The Merle Normans looked fabulous...

Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 12, 2019 09:52 AM (6qErC)

148 Meow!

Physical characteristics of Nero:

Height: Average
Body: Pustular and malodorous
Hair: Light blond
Features: Pretty, rather than handsome
Eyes: Blue and rather weak
Neck: Squat
Belly: Protuberant
Legs: Spindling

Here's a Daily Mail article on the discovery of his rotating dining room:

https://tinyurl.com/yxpypuea

It has a picture of a bust of Nero, but alas (or thankfully) , no pert apple bums.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 12, 2019 09:52 AM (kQs4Y)

149 "I had not heard that birthrates in Muslim countries have been falling. I thought it was just the opposite."
---------------------------
Are they higher among Muslim refugees in Europe? Given the free public welfare.
Posted by: Ignoramus at May 12, 2019 09:40 AM (1UZdv)

That's what I'm wondering. History has told us that third world shitholes tend to have high birth rates, because the backward assed locals tend to see more children as more security for their own worthless selves as they age.

It's been shown over and over in history.

However, I suppose, although I don't know, when countries experience great migrations out of their lands, it must be many of the younger folk leaving, and therefore, birth rates would be assumed to slow down in the native lands, while swelling in the new lands.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 12, 2019 09:54 AM (cY3LT)

150 Second, how the heck does the religion exist before its founder? SOMEONE had to start the beliefs and write the Suras. I've never heard of a religion based on "What would the imaginary guy we're all going to pretend started this religion have said?"

Big chunks of Islam were cribbed from Jewish, Christian, and Zoroastrian writings - then they blended in the stuff the Arab bandit Kings liked

Posted by: Jean at May 12, 2019 09:54 AM (25Dt7)

151 Islam is a made up religion by copying elements of other faiths and then bullshitting the rest.

People love bullshit.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 12, 2019 09:54 AM (Z+IKu)

152 Posted by: Trimegistus at May 12, 2019 09:50 AM (wbNJr)

Mohammed was a nobody and probably illiterate, as undoubtedly most of the people around him were. As far as the 'Koran existed from the beginning' stuff, well... Islam, you know? To give themselves legitimacy they'd claim that OF COURSE ALL OF THIS IS FROM THE PROPHET'S OWN LIPS.

Posted by: Vanya at May 12, 2019 09:55 AM (U7voe)

153 All awards now are for left wing SJW orthodoxy.

Posted by: steevy at May 12, 2019 09:56 AM (AjVAj)

154 Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 12, 2019 09:52 AM (kQs4Y)

Nero was Baron Harkkonen?

Posted by: Vanya at May 12, 2019 09:57 AM (U7voe)

155 148 Here's a Daily Mail article on the discovery of his rotating dining room:

https://tinyurl.com/yxpypuea

It has a picture of a bust of Nero, but alas (or thankfully) , no pert apple bums.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 12, 2019 09:52 AM (kQs4Y)

Nero gets a lot of bad press, but at least that article doesn't blame him for the fire that destroyed Rome. The old saying Nero fiddled while Rome burned was never true. He wasn't even there when Rome burned.

Posted by: Vic at May 12, 2019 09:57 AM (mpXpK)

156 Any fans of V. S. Pritchett here? I knew his short stories were well regarded by old farts before I became one and picked up a mammoth collection of all of them that some old bookstore, probably Borders, severely marked down and stuck it in a shelf forever. Anyway I've started sporadically reading them and, yes, they're pretty fucking good.

Posted by: Captain Hate at May 12, 2019 09:59 AM (y7DUB)

157 My SIL who lives in AZ is a teacher at an Indian reservation in AZ. She can tell you some stories that make your ass want to spit.
Posted by: Vic at May 12, 2019 09:40 AM (mpXpK)
---
My half-sister worked and taught at a NM Indian reservation and she feared for her life because of the combination of anger and alcoholism. She had to quit.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 12, 2019 09:59 AM (kQs4Y)

158 I bet he doesn't enjoy it nearly as much as Larry does, and probably rarely, if ever, gets off."
-------------------------
What does the ficus think of all that...jazz?
Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 12, 2019 09:50 AM (6qErC)

Old joke, new spin:

Two country boys go into town, run into Larry O'Donnell, who invites them over for tea. They don't know what tea is, but he seems nice. So they go.

As they're sitting there enjoying their warm beverage and biscuits, Larry is busy rearranging these odd looking plants.

One boy turns to the other and asks, "wuts that feller doin?"

The other, more suffistikated boy says "he's rearrangin da ficus."

First boy: "Bofus?"

Posted by: BurtTC at May 12, 2019 10:00 AM (cY3LT)

159 156 Any fans of V. S. Pritchett here? I knew his short stories were well regarded by old farts before I became one and picked up a mammoth collection of all of them that some old bookstore, probably Borders, severely marked down and stuck it in a shelf forever. Anyway I've started sporadically reading them and, yes, they're pretty fucking good.
Posted by: Captain Hate at May 12, 2019 09:59 AM (y7DUB)
---------------

I really like that kind of thing. Like finding a hidden treasure. Books set aside, forgotten about, rediscovered and explored.

Posted by: Blake - used vacation salesman at May 12, 2019 10:00 AM (WEBkv)

160 Discussion started on Twitter recently as to whether character growth was necessary in a protagonist. I'm just observing from the sidelines, but it seems like the answer is "It depends on the story you're telling."

Someone on the "No" side brought up Lensmen and that the protagonist was Iconic, changing his world rather than being changed by it. It's been a long time, and I notice that I do get different things out of books read now than I did when reading them as a kid, but it seems to me that these things go in cycles since I remember there being a lot of "Iconic Hero" style stories in early sci-fi.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at May 12, 2019 10:00 AM (uquGJ)

161 I had a good book week. I finally got a shipment of used books in the mail yesterday ( I ordered them back in April):

Cauldron, by Larry Bond. A thriller in the tradition of Tom Clancy, it imagines a modern war between France & Germany on the one side and Poland & the US on the other. I had read it before a long time ago & enjoyed it so much I wanted to pick it up for my library.

The Mammoth Book of Short Horror Novels: I mainly picked this up because it contains "Nadelman's God" by T.E.D. Klein (a good Lovecraftian writer), which was only available elsewhere in his hard to find collection "Dark Gods"

Based on Moron recommendations, I also got a couple of books on WWII in the Pacific:

Pacific Alamo: The Battle for Wake Island by John Wukovits

Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of The Battle of Midway by Jonathan Parshall & Anthony Tully

And while at the Dollar Tree yesterday, I found a copy of "The 15:17 to Paris" by the three Americans who stopped that terrorist attack. For a buck, why not?

Posted by: josephistan at May 12, 2019 10:00 AM (Izzlo)

162 I read "How Civilizations Die" when it came out. Oh yeah. You teach those Muslim women to read and nope, no large families anymore. Iran is really big trouble.

Posted by: JAS at May 12, 2019 10:01 AM (KOCKb)

163 The old saying Nero fiddled while Rome burned was never true. He wasn't even there when Rome burned.
Posted by: Vic at May 12, 2019 09:57 AM (mpXpK)
---

Timed incendiary device.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 12, 2019 10:01 AM (kQs4Y)

164 141
I'm just doubtful about all of the "mythical founder" revisionist
histories. Here's why: neither Jesus nor Muhammad is the sort of person
one would invent if one was making up the founder of your religion.

First of all, the mythical founder would absolutely be the ancestor
of whoever the big boss was who commissioned the made-up history.
Instead of the built-in legitimacy crisis and succession dispute of the
Ummayad vs. Alid factions of early Islam (which turned into Sunni and
Shi'ites and persists to this day), Imaginary Muhammad would be the
Caliph Umar's grandfather, full stop.

Second, how the heck does the religion exist before its founder?
SOMEONE had to start the beliefs and write the Suras. I've never heard
of a religion based on "What would the imaginary guy we're all going to
pretend started this religion have said?"

Nope, not buying it. But then, I'm an unbeliever who thinks the "Jesus never existed" atheists are a pack of idiots.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 12, 2019 09:50 AM (wbNJr)

---
Lots of people have a mythical founder. The Kings of Sparta are direct descendants of Heracles. Perseus founded Persia. Japan's Empror *still* claims divine descent. It's pretty much par for the course in the ancient world: when you win the throne, your courtiers begin building your pedigree to assert your divine right to rule.

The theory is that the Arabs rose up against both Persia and Byzantium and carved out an empire which rapidly expanded but then became mired in succession disputes. The winner then set out the "true history" and included an illustrious ancestor who - alas - had no true, obvious heir, which is why your guy doesn't have a crystal clear line.

What gives me pause (to repeat) is the lack of contemporary information about Muhammad. The Greeks and Romans didn't like the early Christians and had plenty of nasty things to say about them.

Given the thrashing Islam was inflicting on them, where is the corresponding slander of Muhammad?

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 10:01 AM (cfSRQ)

165 "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.

Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."

- Groucho Marx

Posted by: BackwardsBoy says #PurgeProgressivismBAMN at May 12, 2019 10:01 AM (HaL55)

166 I haven't read Dreams of My Father and never will. I don't have the time or money to waste. But is there anything to Lawrence what's his name's opinion other than fellating his precious?
Leaving aside the question of whether or not Obama had the talent to write the book could somebody fairly call it a good book.

Posted by: Northernlurker at May 12, 2019 10:01 AM (JgA4k)

167 165 "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.

Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."

- Groucho Marx
Posted by: BackwardsBoy says #PurgeProgressivismBAMN at May 12, 2019 10:01 AM (HaL55)

Hey Backwards, how you doin' today?

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 10:02 AM (NWiLs)

168 muhammadism is not a religion, it is a death cult.

Posted by: Vic at May 12, 2019 10:02 AM (mpXpK)

169 Book nerds.

Posted by: JackStraw at May 12, 2019 10:03 AM (/tuJf)

170 169
Book nerds.

Posted by: JackStraw at May 12, 2019 10:03 AM (/tuJf)

---
Dope fiend.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 10:04 AM (cfSRQ)

171 Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of The Battle of Midway by Jonathan Parshall & Anthony Tully
Posted by: josephistan at May 12, 2019 10:00 AM (Izzlo)

I liked this one quite a bit. I'd be interested to know if some of the typesetting errors in the Kindle version are present in the print version.

Posted by: hogmartin invites you to the Summer MIMoMe (link: nick) at May 12, 2019 10:04 AM (RHDdi)

172 121 I sometimes masturbate with a sardine.
Posted by: Larry O'Donnell at May 12, 2019 09:42 AM (LuPts)

THIS GUY IS NUCKING FUTS!

Posted by: MUMR at May 12, 2019 10:05 AM (Izzlo)

173 120 She can tell you some stories that make your ass want to spit.

Ew.
Posted by: JT at May 12, 2019 09:42 AM (qIAv/)

Says the person who came home from the grocery store with wet pants.

Posted by: Jordan61, PNW MoMe Survivor & Awesome Mug Winner! at May 12, 2019 10:05 AM (0ly5J)

174 "Nero was Baron Harkonnen?"

No, ol' Vlad was a capable Machiavellian mastermind (until he wasn't). Nero pandered to the crowd in Rome and didn't know what he was doing.

For the Emperor Most Like Harkonnen you'd have to go with a schemer who didn't get anywhere. Basiliscus perhaps.

Posted by: boulder t'hobo at May 12, 2019 10:06 AM (ykYG2)

175 157 My SIL who lives in AZ is a teacher at an Indian reservation in AZ. She can tell you some stories that make your ass want to spit.
Posted by: Vic at May 12, 2019 09:40 AM (mpXpK)
---
My half-sister worked and taught at a NM Indian reservation and she feared for her life because of the combination of anger and alcoholism. She had to quit.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 12, 2019 09:59 AM (kQs4Y)

By all accounts I've seen or heard, reservations are miserable places of desperation, crime, poverty and substance abuse.

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 10:06 AM (NWiLs)

176 Happy Mothers day to all ette moms and grandmoms!

Posted by: Jewells45 at May 12, 2019 10:06 AM (dUJdY)

177 Sorry, let's change one word, might work better:

Old joke, new spin:

Two country boys go into town, run into Larry O'Donnell, who invites them over for tea. They don't know what tea is, but he seems nice. So they go.

As they're sitting there enjoying their warm beverage and biscuits, Larry is busy rearranging these odd looking plants.

One boy turns to the other and asks, "wuts that feller doin?"

The other, more suffistikated boy says "he's fixin da ficus."

First boy: "Bofus?"

Posted by: BurtTC at May 12, 2019 10:06 AM (cY3LT)

178 It was a shame the Wake island defense didn't go all out as it turned out surrender wasn't the safe option it often is. But they didn't know it was a fight that it turned out to be.

Posted by: Skip at May 12, 2019 10:07 AM (BbGew)

179 Another damned thick square book, eh, Mr. Gibbon?

Oh, it just poked my memory in a way that makes me need to quote this in its entirety. Did anyone eventually take credit for this?

"Suck It, Julia Child
December 7, 2017
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Since I have only seen a picture of the book in the Amazon listing and have not yet actually bought one, I will review the picture.

I find the shape of the book, with its saucy rectangularity, to be a refreshing departure from books that aren't rectangular. You know, like those kids' books that are shaped like animals and balloons and trains and crap like that. Its rectangular shape signals not a reactionary return to the stifled confines of traditional book shapes, but rather a lively and confident rejection of the avant-gardist frippery, dare I say outright popinjayism, that yielded such non-rectangular book shapes in the first place. Hurrah for the unabashed bow to conventionalism!

The gingham pattern of the cover suggests a picnic table or possibly the apron of the comely kitchen wench who might prepare some of the dishes featured in the book. (One might even imagine that kitchen wench wearing only the apron, with nothing but flesh and goosebumps underneath -- heh.) As such, it corresponds to the cookbook milieu much more effectively than alternative possible background choices, like say, a Rothko painting or a picture of a donkey. Also, the choice of the red color may be seen as a sly wink to the conservative cuisinier who will no doubt comprise the main audience for the tome, while remaining subtle enough not to forfeit possible sales to trannies, feminists, mutants, convicts and communist swine.

And finally, what can one say about a skull imposed on cutlery? Clearly, the book designer had Sargon of Akkad firmly in mind. Sargon's habit of drinking wine from goblets made from the skulls of his enemies surely prefigured the skull and cutlery motif here. I really can find nothing negative to say about the masterful synthesis of shape, color and symbolism that the book's cover designer has achieved, at least from what I can see in that lousy picture in the listing.

I can honestly say that the outward appearance of this book gives me hope for the future of America."

Posted by: Bandersnatch at May 12, 2019 10:07 AM (fuK7c)

180 That ODonnell quote is so ridiculous that it's actually funny.

Like a Michael Scott quote from The Office.

Posted by: Can't resist temptation at May 12, 2019 10:08 AM (2DOZq)

181 Oh, I forgot a book - I had a nice coupon for B&N and picked up the new release "Honorable Exit" by Thurston Clarke about America's last days in Vietnam.

Posted by: josephistan at May 12, 2019 10:08 AM (Izzlo)

182
Islam is a made up religion by copying elements of other faiths and then bullshitting the rest.

People love bullshit.

Ain't that the truth. Some imbecile thought, "Hey, I'll create a parody of the stuff those Christians believe by turning all of it around bass-ackwards. Instead of goodness and mercy, I'll worship death and destruction. Then I'll see who's stupid enough to believe it.

Hmm, you know what? I bet I can even get rich off it! This could work..."

Posted by: BackwardsBoy says #PurgeProgressivismBAMN at May 12, 2019 10:08 AM (HaL55)

183 By all accounts I've seen or heard, reservations are miserable places of desperation, crime, poverty and substance abuse.
Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 10:06 AM (NWiLs)
-----------------

Are we talking reservations or Chicago?

Posted by: Blake - used vacation salesman at May 12, 2019 10:08 AM (WEBkv)

184 What gives me pause (to repeat) is the lack of contemporary information about Muhammad. The Greeks and Romans didn't like the early Christians and had plenty of nasty things to say about them.

Given the thrashing Islam was inflicting on them, where is the corresponding slander of Muhammad?
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 10:01 AM (cfSRQ)

Christianity started as this weird heretical Jewish cult within the Roman Empire. Contemporaries had the time and security to research it and find out about-- and given that the Apostles were going around and preaching, it's not like they couldn't find out about the faith.

The Byzantines found out about Islam when it came out of the desert and started beating them like a drum. The followers were death seeking lunatics who don't seem to have been much for conferences. That, and the fact that they were mostly illiterate and the Koran didn't exist yet, would make gathering information on them much more difficult.

Also, when it comes to things like that. I think, and this is just my two cents, that you talk smack when you think you're in a position of at least equality. When you're getting your teeth kicked in, you appeal to patriotism and duty to country.

Posted by: Vanya at May 12, 2019 10:08 AM (U7voe)

185 Re: 168
Thank you Mr. Vic. That is the most important fact of modern life that nobody seems to know. Ask around, after you get ready to leave town.

Posted by: Burger Chef at May 12, 2019 10:09 AM (RuIsu)

186 In A People's Tragedy, Lenin has just dissolved the Assembly and made it clear that he and the Bolsheviks are running the whole shit show despite being a distinct minority voice in what the mass of the country wanted. Figes makes it clear that a bunch of armchair revolutionaries were really good at writing and thinking about things but when in a position where they had to do something went into the bump on a log mode. So much of what Lenin achieved was through dumb luck, particularly that nobody well armed didn't put a bullet into his fevered dome. But that didn't happen and millions got fucked. It's a fascinating and frustrating history.

Posted by: Captain Hate at May 12, 2019 10:10 AM (y7DUB)

187 183 By all accounts I've seen or heard, reservations are miserable places of desperation, crime, poverty and substance abuse.
Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 10:06 AM (NWiLs)
-----------------

Are we talking reservations or Chicago?
Posted by: Blake - used vacation salesman at May 12, 2019 10:08 AM (WEBkv)

Yes. And Detroit. Ghettos all, when you think about it.

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 10:10 AM (NWiLs)

188 Given the thrashing Islam was inflicting on them, where is the corresponding slander of Muhammad?

In the first century AH everyone except the arabs were entering a dark age, thanks to the arabs. But it wasn't just them; the Monothelete and Iconoclast debates ensued in a lot of Greek primary material getting burned.

There ARE some Byzantine slanders against Muhammad, probably by Trajan the Patrician, quoted in Theophanes the Confessor. Pseudo-Sebeos over in Armenia provided a capsule biography too, probably writing late 650s AD.

The manuscript evidence is piss-poor starting 630s AD and doesn't get much better until the late 700s.

Posted by: boulder t'hobo at May 12, 2019 10:10 AM (ykYG2)

189 Discussion started on Twitter recently as to whether character growth was necessary in a protagonist. I'm just observing from the sidelines, but it seems like the answer is "It depends on the story you're telling."

Someone on the "No" side brought up Lensmen and that the protagonist was Iconic, changing his world rather than being changed by it. It's been a long time, and I notice that I do get different things out of books read now than I did when reading them as a kid, but it seems to me that these things go in cycles since I remember there being a lot of "Iconic Hero" style stories in early sci-fi.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at May 12, 2019 10:00 AM (uquGJ)

Yeah, seems like a false dichotomy. And I would imagine there are nearly countless examples of book series, where protagonists do some growing in some volumes, and not in others.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 12, 2019 10:11 AM (cY3LT)

190
108

BTW, Philip Craig and his wife wrote a cookbook, "Delish! The J.W. Jackson Recipes; A Martha's Vineyard Cookbook" which is excellent. The recipes become a regular feature as the series goes along. And they work.

Posted by: JTB at May 12, 2019 09:38 AM (bmdz3)

*****

I've put that on my Wish List! Thanks!

Posted by: Elinor, Who Usually Looks Lurkily at May 12, 2019 10:12 AM (NqQAS)

191 Yeah, seems like a false dichotomy. And I would imagine there are nearly countless examples of book series, where protagonists do some growing in some volumes, and not in others.
Posted by: BurtTC at May 12, 2019 10:11 AM (cY3LT)
-----------

There's always the possibility the author got better at what they were trying to do and this was reflected by the "growth" of the characters.

Posted by: Blake - used vacation salesman at May 12, 2019 10:12 AM (WEBkv)

192 It was a shame the Wake island defense didn't go all out as it turned out surrender wasn't the safe option it often is. But they didn't know it was a fight that it turned out to be.
Posted by: Skip at May 12, 2019 10:07 AM (BbGew)

"Given Up For Dead" by Bill Sloan was one I read about Wake - I hadn't realized how many of the defenders were civilian contractors from Pan AM.

Posted by: hogmartin invites you to the Summer MIMoMe (link: nick) at May 12, 2019 10:12 AM (RHDdi)

193 184 That, and the fact that they were mostly illiterate and the Koran didn't
exist yet, would make gathering information on them much more
difficult.

Posted by: Vanya at May 12, 2019 10:08 AM (U7voe)

The Koran actually says you are not supposed to "print" it. It is supposed to be spread by word of mouth from the imams.

Posted by: Vic at May 12, 2019 10:13 AM (mpXpK)

194 The Fremen in Dune being Bedouin conquering the galaxy is interesting.

Posted by: davidt at May 12, 2019 10:13 AM (w/wKz)

195 Hi Insom! Doin' great, drinking covfefe on the back porch whilst watching the various critters scamper about the small yet palacious back yard of Casa Backwardio.

How you doin'? Well, I hope and looking forward to your guest, I'll wager.

Posted by: BackwardsBoy says #PurgeProgressivismBAMN at May 12, 2019 10:13 AM (HaL55)

196 threads like this are why I wish Robert Hoyland's "Seeing Islam As Others Saw It" (which I got in 2004ish) was still in print. But *wink* you might be *wink* able to read it by other means

Posted by: boulder t'hobo at May 12, 2019 10:13 AM (ykYG2)

197 I just accept that Islam is part of the prophecies and don't try to figure out the how and whys.

Posted by: Can't resist temptation at May 12, 2019 10:13 AM (2DOZq)

198 By all accounts I've seen or heard, reservations are miserable places of desperation, crime, poverty and substance abuse.
Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 10:06 AM (NWiLs)
-----------------

Are we talking reservations or Chicago?
Posted by: Blake - used vacation salesman at May 12, 2019 10:08 AM (WEBkv)

Yes. And Detroit. Ghettos all, when you think about it.
Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 10:10 AM (NWiLs)

Cause and effect are funny things.

Lots of folks are stuck in the blame game, which of course does not change where we are. If... and that is a big fat IF, we as a society want to change our more desperately downtrodden areas, we're going to have to figure out what needs to be done NOW, not point fingers at who did what.

Blame doesn't help. Never. The old saying, every time you point the finger of blame at someone else, there are four fingers pointing back at you, is apt.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 12, 2019 10:14 AM (cY3LT)

199 185
Re: 168

Thank you Mr. Vic. That is the most important fact of modern life
that nobody seems to know. Ask around, after you get ready to leave
town.

Posted by: Burger Chef at May 12, 2019 10:09 AM (RuIsu)

I don't think I need to worry about too many muzzies in small town SC.

Posted by: Vic at May 12, 2019 10:15 AM (mpXpK)

200 The Fremen in Dune being Bedouin conquering the galaxy is interesting.
Posted by: davidt at May 12, 2019 10:13 AM (w/wKz)

The Iraqi Bedouin kids always had lung infections from breathing dry powdered sheep and goat shit.

Don't get conquered by Bedouin.

Posted by: Vanya at May 12, 2019 10:15 AM (U7voe)

201 151
Islam is a made up religion by copying elements of other faiths and then bullshitting the rest.

People love bullshit.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 12, 2019 09:54 AM (Z+IKu)

---
Yes. See Scientology and Mormonism for examples.

So far, the case (as I understand it) is that Nestorian Christianity teaches that Christ had a dual nature and that the Man was merely a vessel for the Spirit, which entered into him.

This means that Mary was unimportant since she gave birth to a man like any other until the Spirit arrived.

This also means that the Crucifixion isn't as significant since the Spirit left the Man to die.

In this construct, John the Baptist becomes super important because *he* was the one who allowed the Spirit to enter the Man. This is why early "Islamic era" coins push John the Baptist so much. Also John is a prophet, and so we see the origin of the whole importance of God's Prophet.

I may be getting some of the details wrong, but the point is - as others here have noted - the Caliph didn't just "make it up."

By the way, Mormonism is very much like this, starting with "new revelations" and ending up with an entirely different conception of God, Christ and the universe. Oh, and plural marriage. Strange.

Oh, and an official (though low-key) denunciation of Catholicism.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 10:15 AM (cfSRQ)

202 Yeah, seems like a false dichotomy. And I would imagine there are nearly countless examples of book series, where protagonists do some growing in some volumes, and not in others.
Posted by: BurtTC at May 12, 2019 10:11 AM (cY3LT)
-----------

There's always the possibility the author got better at what they were trying to do and this was reflected by the "growth" of the characters.
Posted by: Blake - used vacation salesman at May 12, 2019 10:12 AM (WEBkv)

That too.

I'm not really into book series. I've tried some, and when I do I get bored with the characters pretty quickly. I can't imagine how the author does not get bored with them too. Maybe all that cash coming in helps.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 12, 2019 10:16 AM (cY3LT)

203 Says the person who came home from the grocery store with wet pants.
Posted by: Jordan61,

Have you seen the price of groceries ?

Posted by: JT at May 12, 2019 10:17 AM (qIAv/)

204 "When they meet in her hometown of Bethany Beach, Delaware..."

Good thing they didn't meet up in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Few truthful folks meet up there. Or so I hear...

Posted by: Ray Van Dune at May 12, 2019 10:17 AM (bwLap)

205 Looks at thread topic.) Um.. I'd write a book about her life if it weren't like pulling teeth to get stories out of her. "Oh, nobody wants to know about that old stuff." And she has all her own teeth.
Posted by: mindful webworker - click for short-storiesh thing at May 12, 2019 09

Wonderful! When my mom turned 90, I took my laptop and sat with her asked her to retell me stories I had heard growing up. We just talked, and I typed along. Im so grateful to have my mini book to remind me of her triumphs and struggles and family history . I also learned and understood so much more about her. I sincerely recommend giving it a try.

Posted by: LASue at May 12, 2019 10:17 AM (XROPS)

206 I've really enjoyed every book I've read by Dan Simmons, but right now I'm reading Ilium and it is absolutely fantastic. It's kinda sorta a science-fiction retelling of the Iliad -- the sequel, Olympus, I assume does something similar with the Odyssey, but I could be wrong -- and there are a lot of references to Shakespeare and Proust. I'm not sophisticated enough to have read these, but it's just a wonderful book so far.

Posted by: Jim S. at May 12, 2019 10:17 AM (ynUnH)

207 198 Blame doesn't help. Never. The old saying, every
time you point the finger of blame at someone else, there are four
fingers pointing back at you, is apt.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 12, 2019 10:14 AM (cY3LT)

The problem is the free lunch. Any place that has a lot of the FSA is always a massive failure. That goes for an Indian reservation or a heavy blue run city.

Posted by: Vic at May 12, 2019 10:18 AM (mpXpK)

208 CNN chose today to run a story on how the founder of Mother's Day came to hate it. If it's an American tradition, CNN will take any opportunity to try to tear it down.

Posted by: AOS janitor at May 12, 2019 10:18 AM (0yz8p)

209 The Norman's were basically organized Vikings with more horses

Posted by: Jean at May 12, 2019 09:51 AM (25Dt7)

Isn't that *exactly* what they were? Resettled Vikings who made the most of the war resources of their new area?

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at May 12, 2019 10:19 AM (uquGJ)

210 2020 Florida Democratic Primary:

Biden 39%
Sanders 16%
Warren 5%
Harris 5%
Buttigieg 3%
O'Rourke 1%
Booker 1%
Klobuchar 1%

Posted by: HA at May 12, 2019 10:19 AM (MAstk)

211 Posted by: BurtTC at May 12, 2019 10:14 AM (cY3LT)

Those that leave the reservation seem to do well. It's the structure of a reservation that causes the issues. Both literally and figuratively if you include African-Americans.

Posted by: Can't resist temptation at May 12, 2019 10:19 AM (2DOZq)

212 Thanks for the plug OM, much appreciated!

Posted by: zeera with a new book, link in nic at May 12, 2019 10:19 AM (GuGrG)

213 By the way, Mormonism is very much like this, starting with "new revelations" and ending up with an entirely different conception of God, Christ and the universe. Oh, and plural marriage. Strange.

Oh, and an official (though low-key) denunciation of Catholicism.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 10:15 AM (cfSRQ)

Also, early Mormons, like early (and late) Muslims, were very good at murder. Bloody bloody murder.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 12, 2019 10:19 AM (cY3LT)

214 Lots of folks are stuck in the blame game, which of course does not change where we are. If... and that is a big fat IF, we as a society want to change our more desperately downtrodden areas, we're going to have to figure out what needs to be done NOW, not point fingers at who did what.

Blame doesn't help. Never. The old saying, every time you point the finger of blame at someone else, there are four fingers pointing back at you, is apt.
Posted by: BurtTC at May 12, 2019 10:14 AM (cY3LT)
-----------------

I don't think it's a matter of the blame game so much as people seem to think continuing to do the same thing over and over will lead to different results.

The policy prescriptions that will take care of the problems are pretty self-evident, but no one is interested in taking the drastic steps needed to solve the problems.

so, the can keeps being kicked down the road and, once the debt bubble bursts, all of the issues people are currently fretting about will take care of themselves.

And no, it won't be pretty.

Posted by: Blake - used vacation salesman at May 12, 2019 10:20 AM (WEBkv)

215 Posted by: HA at May 12, 2019 10:19 AM (MAstk)

Sniff all the things!

Posted by: Vanya at May 12, 2019 10:21 AM (U7voe)

216 195 Hi Insom! Doin' great, drinking covfefe on the back porch whilst watching the various critters scamper about the small yet palacious back yard of Casa Backwardio.

How you doin'? Well, I hope and looking forward to your guest, I'll wager.
Posted by: BackwardsBoy says #PurgeProgressivismBAMN at May 12, 2019 10:13 AM (HaL55)

Ah, sounds like a lovely morning at your well-appointed estate!

Very much looking forward to my lovely and charming guest. Can't get here soon enough. Otherwise just trying to get my shit together. I've started casting about for another work situation again, and still trying to change my entire mindset about things.

Today being Mother's Day is a helluva mixed emotional bag. She's become a totally different person, a much better person by several orders of magnitude who's become helpful and supportive. At the same time she was the single most destructive force in my life. Some degree of inner turmoil is to be expected...

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 10:21 AM (NWiLs)

217 Blame doesn't help. Never. The old saying, every
time you point the finger of blame at someone else, there are four
fingers pointing back at you, is apt.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 12, 2019 10:14 AM (cY3LT)

The problem is the free lunch. Any place that has a lot of the FSA is always a massive failure. That goes for an Indian reservation or a heavy blue run city.
Posted by: Vic at May 12, 2019 10:18 AM (mpXpK)

Well, uprooting people from their natural habitats doesn't help either.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 12, 2019 10:21 AM (cY3LT)

218 I'm not really into book series. I've tried some, and when I do I get bored with the characters pretty quickly. I can't imagine how the author does not get bored with them too. Maybe all that cash coming in helps.
Posted by: BurtTC at May 12, 2019 10:16 AM (cY3LT)
---------------

usually, it's possible to tell when an author is just mailing it in in order to keep receiving the checks.

Posted by: Blake - used vacation salesman at May 12, 2019 10:21 AM (WEBkv)

219 Also, early Mormons, like early (and late) Muslims, were very good at murder. Bloody bloody murder.
Posted by: BurtTC at May 12, 2019 10:19 AM (cY3LT)

That's a mischaracterization and an illogical comparison.

Posted by: Can't resist temptation at May 12, 2019 10:22 AM (2DOZq)

220 I skimmed the Gutenberg Press online version of An Universal Dictionary of the Marine. Saved it to read later. What a wonderful writing style, clear, precise yet poetic, as befits the author.

I'm pretty sure that Jim, SND, Galveston would be interested because naval. Hope he sees it.

Posted by: BackwardsBoy says #PurgeProgressivismBAMN at May 12, 2019 10:22 AM (HaL55)

221 Very much looking forward to my lovely and charming guest. Can't get here soon enough. Otherwise just trying to get my shit together. I've started casting about for another work situation again, and still trying to change my entire mindset about things.

Today being Mother's Day is a helluva mixed emotional bag. She's become a totally different person, a much better person by several orders of magnitude who's become helpful and supportive. At the same time she was the single most destructive force in my life. Some degree of inner turmoil is to be expected...
Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 10:21 AM (NWiLs)

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

Insomniac, it seems like you are doubly blessed. How cool is it you've got someone in your life like Nurse and, a mother that has changed that much?

That really sounds great.

Posted by: Blake - used vacation salesman at May 12, 2019 10:23 AM (WEBkv)

222 215 Posted by: HA at May 12, 2019 10:19 AM (MAstk)

Sniff all the things!
Posted by: Vanya at May 12, 2019 10:21 AM (U7voe)

Eat all the paste!

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 10:24 AM (NWiLs)

223 Posted by: BurtTC at May 12, 2019 10:14 AM (cY3LT)

Those that leave the reservation seem to do well. It's the structure of a reservation that causes the issues. Both literally and figuratively if you include African-Americans.
Posted by: Can't resist temptation at May 12, 2019 10:19 AM (2DOZq)

Yep. Which ought to help clarify for those who still need it clarified, it ain't about who has the capacity for what.

Humans are all pretty much the same. Culture and environment have profound effects on outcomes. Pretty much every little baby conceived has the capacity for great things, good and bad.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 12, 2019 10:24 AM (cY3LT)

224 Well, time to wander.

Church beckons.

And coffee.

But mostly church.

And coffee.

Posted by: Blake - used vacation salesman at May 12, 2019 10:25 AM (WEBkv)

225 That, and the fact that they were mostly illiterate
and the Koran didn't exist yet, would make gathering information on them
much more difficult.

Also, when it comes to things like that. I think, and this is just
my two cents, that you talk smack when you think you're in a position of
at least equality. When you're getting your teeth kicked in, you
appeal to patriotism and duty to country.

Posted by: Vanya at May 12, 2019 10:08 AM (U7voe)

---
But Muhammad wrote the Koran! Dictation from God, right?

That's what these guys are arguing - it was all put together later and the various generals and warlords were synthasized into a mythical founder.

I disagree about defeat - the Greeks were fascinated by Strong Men (ahem) and loved to document them. But you can't write about a guy who isn't there.

By the way, the Nestorian theory of dual nature would also create fanatics willing to die for God - especially if they can overturn one of the seats of the hated Orthodox Christianity which was oppressing their co-religionists.

Fights against heresy usually run pretty hot, which would explain a lot of Islam's early fury, no?

Also, the fact that once you join, the only way out is death.

Hmmm, I'm starting to convince myself, here.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 10:25 AM (cfSRQ)

226 Have you seen the price of groceries ?
Posted by: JT at May 12, 2019 10:17 AM (qIAv/)

Heh, you got me there.

Staying on topic, I'm currently reading the complete collection of Sherlock Holmes. Which I somehow made it to my late 40s without reading.

Posted by: Jordan61, PNW MoMe Survivor & Awesome Mug Winner! at May 12, 2019 10:26 AM (0ly5J)

227 Insomniac, it seems like you are doubly blessed. How cool is it you've got someone in your life like Nurse and, a mother that has changed that much?

That really sounds great.
Posted by: Blake - used vacation salesman at May 12, 2019 10:23 AM (WEBkv)

It is, actually. But goddang if I didn't go through hell first.

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 10:26 AM (NWiLs)

228 Also, early Mormons, like early (and late) Muslims, were very good at murder. Bloody bloody murder.
Posted by: BurtTC at May 12, 2019 10:19 AM (cY3LT)

That's a mischaracterization and an illogical comparison.
Posted by: Can't resist temptation at May 12, 2019 10:22 AM (2DOZq)

I'm not comparing.

One death does not equal a million, but if you murder one and not a million, you are still a murderer.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 12, 2019 10:26 AM (cY3LT)

229 224 Well, time to wander.

Church beckons.

And coffee.

But mostly church.

And coffee.
Posted by: Blake - used vacation salesman at May 12, 2019 10:25 AM (WEBkv)

No donuts?

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 10:27 AM (NWiLs)

230 Also, the fact that once you join, the only way out is death.

Like the AB.

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 10:28 AM (NWiLs)

231 The followers were death seeking lunatics who don't seem to have been much for conferences.

Posted by: Vanya at May 12, 2019 10:08 AM (U7voe)

That made me laugh because, come to think of it, Christians really *have* been big on conferences from the very beginning.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at May 12, 2019 10:28 AM (uquGJ)

232 When you consider how historically corrupt these literary awards are it's nothing short of a miracle that Walker Percy's underdog "The Moviegoer" beat out Joseph Heller's "Catch 22" for the National Book Award in 1962.

Posted by: Dan Smoot's Apprentice at May 12, 2019 10:29 AM (H8QX8)

233 Insom, sounds like you're getting a better handle on things. Very glad to see that. And I hope your employment situation improves soon. I've heard that "money" thingy is good to have.

I'm looking forward to seeing you two at a gig when nurse rached gets here. These MicroMoMees are fun. I'd like for you both to meet B'Gal too. Maybe we can do lunch if you feel like trekking over to this end of town. Hopefully, when she gets her other eye cataract surgery done, she can peek in here and cavort with the Horde a little.

Posted by: BackwardsBoy says #PurgeProgressivismBAMN at May 12, 2019 10:29 AM (HaL55)

234 Good morning to all you 'rons, 'ettes, lurkers, and lurkettes, wine moms, frat bros, dimwits, halfwits, cr�tins sans pantalon, muggers, buggerers, bull dykes, bushwhackers, hornswogglers, a**-kickers, sh*t-kickers and Methodists

Well, with the inclusion of one of those groups, this Thread is firmly on the road to perdition. Sad.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at May 12, 2019 10:30 AM (+TdX0)

235 I may take a look at the Churchill bio; really enjoyed 'The Darkest Hour' movie but it spanned such a short period and I know his wartime exploits include so many other remarkable stories.

Posted by: zeera with a new book, link in nic at May 12, 2019 10:31 AM (GuGrG)

236 Staying on topic, I'm currently reading the complete collection of Sherlock Holmes. Which I somehow made it to my late 40s without reading.
Posted by: Jordan61, PNW MoMe Survivor & Awesome Mug Winner

Enjoy !

Happy Mother's Day !

Posted by: JT at May 12, 2019 10:31 AM (qIAv/)

237 Lots of folks are stuck in the blame game, which of course does not change where we are. If... and that is a big fat IF, we as a society want to change our more desperately downtrodden areas, we're going to have to figure out what needs to be done NOW, not point fingers at who did what.

Blame doesn't help. Never. The old saying, every time you point the finger of blame at someone else, there are four fingers pointing back at you, is apt.
Posted by: BurtTC at May 12, 2019 10:14 AM (cY3LT)
-----------------

I don't think it's a matter of the blame game so much as people seem to think continuing to do the same thing over and over will lead to different results.

The policy prescriptions that will take care of the problems are pretty self-evident, but no one is interested in taking the drastic steps needed to solve the problems.

so, the can keeps being kicked down the road and, once the debt bubble bursts, all of the issues people are currently fretting about will take care of themselves.

And no, it won't be pretty.
Posted by: Blake - used vacation salesman at May 12, 2019 10:20 AM (WEBkv)

You're talking about the recipe we have now, for black people. I'm not sure about red people. I know a lot more about the former than the latter.

Blame is very much front and center. The reason my life is shit is because of YOU.

The perpetuation of the situation is a sad combination of massive ignorance on the part of the recipients of modern American black culture, and the abject evil that is leftist Democrat political fiefdoms.

Both preach the same thing. Blame others. And until that stops, no progress will be made. I don't expect it to stop on its own either, likely you are right. A reckoning will happen when things collapse, and it will be terrible before anything good can come.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 12, 2019 10:32 AM (cY3LT)

238 Posted by: BackwardsBoy says #PurgeProgressivismBAMN at May 12, 2019 10:29 AM (HaL55)

It'll take time and there will be rough spots but it's way overdue.

We totally want to get out to a gig if we can. Flight timing may be an issue. But lunch with you and B'Gal would be great! Lets try to get that set up in the coming weeks.

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 10:35 AM (NWiLs)

239 Islam was not founded by Mohammed, but by another Arab with the same name.

I thought everyone knew that.

Posted by: Eeyore at May 12, 2019 10:36 AM (VaN/j)

240 Well, with the inclusion of one of those groups, this Thread is firmly on the road to perdition. Sad."

Hm. "Wine moms" aren't that bad, are they?

Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 12, 2019 10:36 AM (6qErC)

241 Still working on a lengthy, scholarly bio of Toulouse-Lautrec. Fascinating man.

He painted major works on ... cardboard, and.... crumbling plaster walls in low dives. Posterity wasn't of much concern.

His very early death was due to 3 things: dwarfism*, alcoholism & le syph.

*dwarfism & giantism correlate to shorter than normal life expectancy. Andre the Giant said, "Big or small, they don't live long."

Posted by: mnw at May 12, 2019 10:37 AM (Cssks)

242 While reading the books mentioned above about the Old Northwest Territories and Churchill, I've been coming across lines and descriptions worth remembering. I've never been one to highlight text in a book or write in the margins. And I hate having Post-It notes sticking out of the pages.

The solution: Book Darts. Long ago I got from Leveingers some bronze page markers, like small arrown heads, that could slip onto the page and point to the text referenced. They were so thin and light they didn't hurt the book or damage the page. Levengers doesn't offer them anymore but a similar item is called Book Darts, which I found on Amazon. They work the same way and seem as well made. Just ordered several more tins of them.

BTW, Levengers no longer offers a lot of these small but useful items which is disappointing. The Page Points mentioned above, good erasers, bronze paper clips shaped so they won't damage the paper, and other things are gone from their catalog. Too bad.

Posted by: JTB at May 12, 2019 10:37 AM (bmdz3)

243 240 Well, with the inclusion of one of those groups, this Thread is firmly on the road to perdition. Sad."

Hm. "Wine moms" aren't that bad, are they?
Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 12, 2019 10:36 AM (6qErC)

For their kids, yes.

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 10:37 AM (NWiLs)

244 240 Well, with the inclusion of one of those groups, this Thread is firmly on the road to perdition. Sad."

Hm. "Wine moms" aren't that bad, are they?
Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 12, 2019 10:36 AM (6qErC)
______

Don't ask me. Ask the pool boy.

Posted by: Eeyore at May 12, 2019 10:37 AM (VaN/j)

245 235
I may take a look at the Churchill bio; really enjoyed 'The Darkest
Hour' movie but it spanned such a short period and I know his wartime
exploits include so many other remarkable stories.

Posted by: zeera with a new book, link in nic at May 12, 2019 10:31 AM (GuGrG)

---
I wanted to like that movie, but it's use of worn-out Hollywood tropes set my teeth on edge. No desire to see it again.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 10:37 AM (cfSRQ)

246 Don't ask me. Ask the pool boy."

Paolo?

Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 12, 2019 10:38 AM (6qErC)

247 This week I started reading "Mutiny" by Boris Gindin & David Hagberg, the true story about the mutiny on the Soviet ASW ship Storozhevoy, which inspired Tom Clancy to write "The Hunt For Red October." Haven't gotten to the mutiny yet, so far it's been a bio of Gindin (one of the officers about the ship) and a history of the Russian Navy and life in the Soviet navy at the time.

Posted by: josephistan at May 12, 2019 10:38 AM (Izzlo)

248 I disliked "Darkest Hour" (but not so much as I disliked "Dunkirk"). I would recommend some of the just-deceased John Lucaks's books. My personal favorite is The Last European War, but he wrote several on Churchill and Hitler. The bottom line is that Churchill understood Hitler much better than Hitler understood Churchill (Lucaks's words).

Posted by: Eeyore at May 12, 2019 10:40 AM (VaN/j)

249 Also, the fact that once you join, the only way out is death.
-----------------
Like the AB.
Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 10:28 AM (NWiLs)

AB?

Anheuser Busch?
American Bar?
U of Alabama-Birmingham?

Posted by: BurtTC at May 12, 2019 10:40 AM (cY3LT)

250 Spengler
Fertility, Faith, and the Decline of Islam: Strategic Implications
https://tinyurl.com/y3hb5jf3

Posted by: Off the reservation at May 12, 2019 10:41 AM (vWMNq)

251 Got's to go. Maybe bakson, maybe not.

Posted by: Eeyore at May 12, 2019 10:41 AM (VaN/j)

252 249 Also, the fact that once you join, the only way out is death.
-----------------
Like the AB.
Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 10:28 AM (NWiLs)

AB?

Anheuser Busch?
American Bar?
U of Alabama-Birmingham?
Posted by: BurtTC at May 12, 2019 10:40 AM (cY3LT)

Aryan Brotherhood.

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 10:41 AM (NWiLs)

253 I picked up MFK Fisher's The Art of Eating collection. I've read bits and pieces through the years but never set out to read it as a whole. She's hilarious and not afraid of risque double entendres. I'm on the third of the five books and enjoying the hell out of it.

Posted by: Ben Sears at May 12, 2019 10:41 AM (V5Nqj)

254
Don't ask me. Ask the pool boy.
Posted by: Eeyore at May 12, 2019 10:37 AM (VaN/j)
---
"Fulgencio, are wine moms bad?"

"No, Signorina Eris, they are things of beauty and wonder."
*refreshes glass of pinot grigio*

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 12, 2019 10:42 AM (kQs4Y)

255 Enjoy !

Happy Mother's Day !
Posted by: JT at May 12, 2019 10:31 AM (qIAv/)

Thanks JT, Happy Mother's Day to you. And I hope your pants dry out soon!

Posted by: Jordan61, PNW MoMe Survivor & Awesome Mug Winner! at May 12, 2019 10:42 AM (0ly5J)

256 Re "...the Pulitzer Committee has been hollowed out and taken over by progressive parasites years ago."

Once you let one of the progs in for the sake of "diversity", they will never reciprocate, sponsoring only more of their own, until finally ONLY they can get in. They will only pontificate about "diversity" until it no longer serves their real objectives, and then will switch to solidarity, exclusivity, and their own "safety". Same everywhere, not just in the Pulitzers, not just in literature.

Posted by: Ray Van Dune at May 12, 2019 10:42 AM (bwLap)

257 Wine moms who go out drinking and partying with their friends and post their girls gone wild antics on Facebook and whatnot are a shame to their children and a disgrace to their families.

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 10:43 AM (NWiLs)

258 Regarding the mention of Pulitzer winners, Powers's early books are very good until the stench of SJW started permeating the pages. My tolerance for that horseshit is very finite and I quickly reached the Shemp Smith NOT ON MY WATCH status.

See also: Stross, Charles

Posted by: Captain Hate at May 12, 2019 10:44 AM (y7DUB)

259 I disliked "Darkest Hour" (but not so much as I disliked "Dunkirk"). I would recommend some of the just-deceased John Lucaks's books. My personal favorite is The Last European War, but he wrote several on Churchill and Hitler. The bottom line is that Churchill understood Hitler much better than Hitler understood Churchill (Lucaks's words).
Posted by: Eeyore at May 12, 2019 10:40 AM (VaN/j)

Haven't seen either of the films. I think I understand Churchill fairly well, from many books, including his own.

The only reason I can imagine wanting to watch the films is if the fireworks are spectacular. I've seen bits and pieces of the actors' impersonations. Don't care for them. Don't have any desire to watch 2 hours (or more) of it. There's enough video and audio of Churchill around, if one wants to watch him, why not watch the real damned thing.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 12, 2019 10:45 AM (cY3LT)

260 Biden is the plurality front runner in a D party that is majority Commie/Aggrieved. A house divided cannot stand, said some guy.

I hope he gets the nod, so that Trump can club him like a baby seal.

More likely, Biden has a senior moment during a D debate and wonders off stage to find his car keys.

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 12, 2019 10:46 AM (1UZdv)

261 I think it takes a special shape of collar to call Arminius a "traitor."

Sure hope the Mormon hate doesn't carry over into the gun thread. Could spoil everything.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at May 12, 2019 10:47 AM (8ZmvG)

262 256
Re "...the Pulitzer Committee has been hollowed out and taken over by progressive parasites years ago."

Once you let one of the progs in for the sake of "diversity", they
will never reciprocate, sponsoring only more of their own, until finally
ONLY they can get in. They will only pontificate about "diversity"
until it no longer serves their real objectives, and then will switch to
solidarity, exclusivity, and their own "safety". Same everywhere, not
just in the Pulitzers, not just in literature.

Posted by: Ray Van Dune at May 12, 2019 10:42 AM (bwLap)

---
There was an article this week that the Pulitzer Prize is really just an industry attaboy that board members give to themselves.

They did a study noting that membership on the board that gives them is the single biggest factor on a paper getting one.

So, fake.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 10:48 AM (cfSRQ)

263 AB?

Anheuser Busch?
American Bar?
U of Alabama-Birmingham?
Posted by: BurtTC at May 12, 2019 10:40 AM (cY3LT)

Aryan Brotherhood.
Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 10:41 AM (NWiLs)

That's what I thought.

I don't know anything about them either, really.

I do know plenty about red/blue black gang members. That's how it is there. If you want out, your life is more at risk from your own family than it is from anyone else.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 12, 2019 10:48 AM (cY3LT)

264 Insom, is there no thread you can't drag down with your personal issues?

Go tell it to a professional therapist, who will be paid to listen.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 12, 2019 10:49 AM (kQs4Y)

265 "CNN chose today to run a story on how the founder of Mother's Day came to hate it. If it's an American tradition, CNN will take any opportunity to try to tear it down."

Anna Jarvis, the founder of Mother's Day, came to hate it because she believed it had become too commercialized (in the 1940s) by greeting card sellers, florists and other merchants. She wanted it to be purely an honorary or memorial kind of day -- kind of like the people who today object to Memorial Day sales, cookouts, etc. on the grounds that it detracts from remembering those who gave their lives in war. She once wrote that "A printed card means nothing except that you are too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone in the world." (I can only imagine what she'd think of people who just send e-mails or post Facebook memes in honor of their mothers.) I kinda get where she came from but she does seem to have been a bit of a control freak....

Posted by: Secret Square at May 12, 2019 10:50 AM (9WuX0)

266 Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 12, 2019 10:49 AM (kQs4Y)

I haven't brought anything down. If you don't like something I or anyone else says, I'm certain the scroll wheel on your mouse works just fine.

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 10:50 AM (NWiLs)

267 Insom, is there no thread you can't drag down with your personal issues?

Go tell it to a professional therapist, who will be paid to listen.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes

I think very highly of both of you.

Posted by: JT at May 12, 2019 10:51 AM (qIAv/)

268 The Wire's last season did a great expose of Pulitzers. The winner is for a hoax story.

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 12, 2019 10:51 AM (1UZdv)

269 "Fulgencio, are wine moms bad?"

"No, Signorina Eris, they are things of beauty and wonder."

*refreshes glass of pinot grigio*

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 12, 2019 10:42 AM (kQs4Y)

---
I thought this was funny. I'm laughing again, re-reading it. Lighten up, folks!

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 10:52 AM (cfSRQ)

270 Pennsylvania area Morons should note that this coming Saturday May 18th the Army War College in Carlisle PA is holding their Army Heritage Day. In addition to their top shelf museum, visitors can see tank & AFV demonstrations, re-enactors from American wars from the 17th century to Vietnam, and they will be a having a used history book sale. I picked up a yuuuuuge amount of books the last time I went.

Posted by: josephistan at May 12, 2019 10:52 AM (Izzlo)

271 One good thing about tuna salad sandwiches is kittehs get drained tuna juice from can.

Posted by: Vic at May 12, 2019 10:52 AM (mpXpK)

272 Some imbecile thought, "Hey, I'll create a parody of the stuff those Christians believe by turning all of it around bass-ackwards. Instead of goodness and mercy, I'll worship death and destruction. Then I'll see who's stupid enough to believe it.

Who you callin' an imbecile, "backwards boy"? This wasn't some cheesy Scientology racket. Moohoomood is my masterwork, my counterpoint to... that other guy whose name burns my tongue.

Posted by: That Old Deceiver, still walkin' the planet at May 12, 2019 10:53 AM (VQjKe)

273 Thought Darkest Hour was brilliantly acted but hate inserting made up content.
I liked Dunkirk, could have been better but thought it was good.

Posted by: Skip at May 12, 2019 10:53 AM (BbGew)

274 Well Friday was Confederate Memorial Day. I guess a lot of you morons missed it.

Posted by: Vic at May 12, 2019 10:54 AM (mpXpK)

275 270: I should go. Plus my grandparents are buried near there.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at May 12, 2019 10:54 AM (89T5c)

276 274 Well Friday was Confederate Memorial Day. I guess a lot of you morons missed it.
Posted by: Vic at May 12, 2019 10:54 AM (mpXpK)

I did in fact. Even mentioning it these days is probably some sort of hate crime.

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 10:55 AM (NWiLs)

277 Wine moms who go out drinking and partying with their friends and post their girls gone wild antics on Facebook and whatnot are a shame to their children and a disgrace to their families.
Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 10:43 AM (NWiLs)

We used to call these women "whores".

But even whores knew to keep it on the down low.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 12, 2019 10:55 AM (Z+IKu)

278 On the early history of Islam tom Holland (the other one) gives significant perspective in the shadow of the crescent) this agitated BBC correspondents much more than that innocent of muslims flick that looked like something from the asylum.

In other historical fiction, Marguerite George seems on a quest to rehabilitate nero.

Posted by: Admiral marcus at May 12, 2019 10:55 AM (Oizs/)

279 While on vacay, I've been reading The Power Makers: Steam, Electricity, and the Men Who Invented Modern America by Maury Klein. It's a good read about some of the personalities like Edison, Westinghouse, Tesla and company and the engineering problems they were dealing with.

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at May 12, 2019 10:55 AM (FN+R2)

280 We used to call these women "whores".

But even whores knew to keep it on the down low.
Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 12, 2019 10:55 AM (Z+IKu)

"Discretion" used to be a thing.

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 10:55 AM (NWiLs)

281 279 While on vacay, I've been reading The Power Makers: Steam, Electricity, and the Men Who Invented Modern America by Maury Klein. It's a good read about some of the personalities like Edison, Westinghouse, Tesla and company and the engineering problems they were dealing with.
Posted by: RedMindBlueState at May 12, 2019 10:55 AM (FN+R2)

That's all fascinating stuff. I've read a couple of books about Tesla and if he even pulled off half the crap he supposedly did, no wonder the powers that be wanted his work suppressed.

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 10:57 AM (NWiLs)

282 "CNN chose today to run a story on how the founder of Mother's Day came to hate it. If it's an American tradition, CNN will take any opportunity to try to tear it down."

Anna Jarvis, the founder of Mother's Day, came to hate it because she believed it had become too commercialized (in the 1940s) by greeting card sellers, florists and other merchants. She wanted it to be purely an honorary or memorial kind of day -- kind of like the people who today object to Memorial Day sales, cookouts, etc. on the grounds that it detracts from remembering those who gave their lives in war. She once wrote that "A printed card means nothing except that you are too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone in the world." (I can only imagine what she'd think of people who just send e-mails or post Facebook memes in honor of their mothers.) I kinda get where she came from but she does seem to have been a bit of a control freak....
Posted by: Secret Square at May 12, 2019 10:50 AM (9WuX0)

I tend to listen to my own mother about such things, and not CNNNNNNN.

Mom says she doesn't care, and doesn't want to do anything today. I have siblings who will drag her here or there. I'll see her tomorrow. This week will be no different from any other week, and she's fine with that.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 12, 2019 10:57 AM (cY3LT)

283 261
I think it takes a special shape of collar to call Arminius a "traitor."

Sure hope the Mormon hate doesn't carry over into the gun thread. Could spoil everything.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at May 12, 2019 10:47 AM (8ZmvG)

---
As with all things, it depends on one's perspective, no?

I guy pretending to serve as a loyal ally to an imperial power who lures that power into a trap is indeed a traitor to that side.

But he's a patriot to the other side. So, I shrug.

As to Mormonism, I don't think it's hateful to look into its origins and similarities (and differences!) with other religions. Both Islam and Mormonism claim a prophet as their founder. Interestingly, we knew Joseph Smith was a real guy. Advantage: Mormons.

I do object to people projecting things, such as the remarks the other day about "most Catholics don't care about priestly abuse," or that "Catholics who continue to attend mass aren't taking the problem seriously," because that simply is not true.

People respond to challenges in different ways.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 10:58 AM (cfSRQ)

284 276 I did in fact. Even mentioning it these days is probably some sort of hate crime.

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 10:55 AM (NWiLs)

It is an official State holiday in SC but is only so in three States. Did you know that Confederate Memorial Day was founded two years before the US Memorial Day?

Posted by: Vic at May 12, 2019 10:58 AM (mpXpK)

285 'We used to call these women "whores". '

They are now called "influencers".

Posted by: AOS janitor at May 12, 2019 10:59 AM (0yz8p)

286 Did it cover Edison's dirty tricks against AC power. Getting it used for capital punishment. Executing an elephant.

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 12, 2019 10:59 AM (1UZdv)

287 In other news I was investigating Tomlinson he was the one time mi 6 asset who burned Steele along with 150 other operatives. He got a bad performance review so naturally he burned everyone he ever knew, fled to France and Italy, was published in Russia of course but after a time they took him back, among the details he did note was an assassination plot against Qaddafi that would be carried out by al queda operatives

Posted by: Admiral marcus at May 12, 2019 10:59 AM (Oizs/)

288 It is an official State holiday in SC but is only so in three States. Did you know that Confederate Memorial Day was founded two years before the US Memorial Day?
Posted by: Vic at May 12, 2019 10:58 AM (mpXpK)

I did not. But now I know a little more than I did before!

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 11:00 AM (NWiLs)

289 Happy Mother's Day to all the lovely 'ettes!

Fancy hotel tea yesterday and a barbeque today...perfect weekend (except for the crummy weather)!

Lemon curd, clotted cream and hot links. :-D

Off to mass - I hope everyone has a great day.

Posted by: Gem at May 12, 2019 11:00 AM (XoAz8)

290 285 'We used to call these women "whores". '

They are now called "influencers".
Posted by: AOS janitor at May 12, 2019 10:59 AM (0yz8p)

*snort*

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 11:00 AM (NWiLs)

291 279 While on vacay, I've been reading The Power Makers: Steam, Electricity, and the Men Who Invented Modern America by Maury Klein. It's a good read about some of the personalities like Edison, Westinghouse, Tesla and company and the engineering problems they were dealing with.
Posted by: RedMindBlueState at May 12, 2019 10:55 AM (FN+R2)
------
Man that sounds good. Just ordered it. Thanks!

Posted by: Weasel at May 12, 2019 11:00 AM (MVjcR)

292 Happy Mother's Day Gem !

Posted by: JT at May 12, 2019 11:00 AM (qIAv/)

293 Executing an elephant.
Posted by: Ignoramus at May 12, 2019 10:59 AM (1UZdv)

Topsy. Her name was Topsy.

#elephantsneverforget

Posted by: hogmartin invites you to the Summer MIMoMe (link: nick) at May 12, 2019 11:01 AM (RHDdi)

294 OT but think the Horde might enjoy these items from the Babylon Bee:

Alyssa Milano calls for strike on starring in any noteworthy film projects:

https://tinyurl.com/y3bf4qht

Star Wars fans vow sex strike until Disney disavows 'The Last Jedi':

https://tinyurl.com/yykaftty

Posted by: Secret Square at May 12, 2019 11:01 AM (9WuX0)

295 Mothers' Day isn't a happy occasion for many people. Too many.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at May 12, 2019 11:03 AM (EZebt)

296 We used to call these women "whores".

But even whores knew to keep it on the down low.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 12, 2019 10:55 AM (Z+IKu)

---
It's really sad how motherhood has been denigrated in our society. The natural assumption is that if you stay at home you are either a dull slave or a borderline alcoholic.

What about taking time to give your kids a good start and supporting your husband?

I constantly remind my wife that we're a team - one flesh. I don't write books - WE write books. She gives me the time, space and inspiration to get the job done.

Number of books I wrote before I met her: 0

Number of books I wrote after: 7 novels, 1 game.

We have to counter-program our daughters to understand that there is no other job in the world more important than being a mother.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 11:03 AM (cfSRQ)

297 I'm sorry I wasted all that time reading, the "Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant" when ghost written pulp was so readily available.

Posted by: STW at May 12, 2019 11:04 AM (/Rqse)

298 Executing an elephant.

After ya blindfold it, d'ya stick the cigarette in the end of his trunk ?

Posted by: JT at May 12, 2019 11:04 AM (qIAv/)

299 @293 LOL

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 12, 2019 11:05 AM (1UZdv)

300 Am I the only one who thinks book titles have become too long and colon-infested?

Operation Saintly Bunny: The Untold Story of the Six Armenians, Two Georgians and One French Poodle Who Brought Down The Axis Command In The Caucasus Mountains

I Can't Love You Anymore: One Woman's Journey Through Addiction, Self-Harm, Scientology and Bingo Halls

Beelzebub's Accounting Department: How Fossil Fuels and Their False Support of Renewable Energy is Undermining the American Way of Life, Part I

Posted by: Vanya at May 12, 2019 11:05 AM (U7voe)

301 It is an official State holiday in SC but is only so
in three States. Did you know that Confederate Memorial Day was founded
two years before the US Memorial Day?

Posted by: Vic at May 12, 2019 10:58 AM (mpXpK)

---
Not surprising. The Confederates lost far more than the Union.

Yes, the Union had more military losses, but portions of the Old South were made into a desert. Hard to get over that level of grief, but public commemorations I'm sure helped.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 11:06 AM (cfSRQ)

302 I recently ordered a couple of books on the Toyota Land Cruiser. I'm thinking of getting a restored FJ40 model from the late 60s or early 70s when my current lease is up next year. The books are a history sort of a collectors guide for the various models.

Posted by: Weasel at May 12, 2019 11:06 AM (MVjcR)

303 I Can't Love You Anymore: One Woman's Journey Through Addiction, Self-Harm, Scientology and Bingo Halls

I read that as Bingo Balls.

Posted by: JT at May 12, 2019 11:07 AM (qIAv/)

304 The experience of urban Native Americans.

You can find many of them in the alley behind the quicky mart of Gordon, Nebraska, drinking Scope and Coke, Rubbing Alcohol and Frozen Juice, and/or doing shoe-polish on bread...

Posted by: M K Ultra at May 12, 2019 11:07 AM (UFLLM)

305 295 Mothers' Day isn't a happy occasion for many people. Too many.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at May 12, 2019 11:03 AM (EZebt)

It's sad, really. Mothers are often in a unique position to be either the single most uplifting and beneficial or single most destructive person in their child's life. Some choose...poorly. Bless all the moms out there who built their kids up, showed love and compassion, and helped them become confident, self-assured people who believed themselves deserving of love and other good things of this world. Those of you who had that growing up, be very very grateful and thank your mom if she's still around.

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 11:07 AM (NWiLs)

306 298 Executing an elephant.

After ya blindfold it, d'ya stick the cigarette in the end of his trunk ?
Posted by: JT at May 12, 2019 11:04 AM (qIAv/)

That would have to be one big damn blindfold.

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 11:09 AM (NWiLs)

307

... when they aren't beating their pregnant 'girlfriends' to make them abort, leaving their elders locked in the trunk of a junk car so they can collect the benefit checks, and/or raping entire Kindergarten classes.

All true stories BTW...

Posted by: M K Ultra at May 12, 2019 11:09 AM (UFLLM)

308 304 The experience of urban Native Americans.

You can find many of them in the alley behind the quicky mart of Gordon, Nebraska, drinking Scope and Coke, Rubbing Alcohol and Frozen Juice, and/or doing shoe-polish on bread...
Posted by: M K Ultra at May 12, 2019 11:07 AM (UFLLM)

Drinking the propellant out of spray cans.

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 11:09 AM (NWiLs)

309 Posted by: RedMindBlueState at May 12, 2019 10:55 AM (FN+R2)

Don't forget Steinmetz!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at May 12, 2019 11:09 AM (wYseH)

310 Good Morning Insomniac!
You were much missed by the 'rons and 'ettes at the MoMe yesterday.
The video of Nurse dragging you into the brush would be a best seller.
All kidding aside, it was grand to meet everyone. Good times, good food, good drink were had by all.
OM and his charming spouse are great folks. Mark and Nurse did an amazing job of putting this together.
Contrary to reports, the Yakima PD did not respond. The park shelter did not suffer much damag. The park police were curious but stayed away.
However, the mystery black SUV, with tinted windows, which parked nearby, left the motor and a/c running for several hours did make us wave at Bob from NSA.
Which, by the way, does have a presence on the Yakima Training Center, north of town.

Posted by: Winston a dreg of society at May 12, 2019 11:10 AM (5U303)

311 "I tend to listen to my own mother about such things, and not CNNNNNNN. Mom says she doesn't care, and doesn't want to do anything today."

The same "debate" has gone on since, probably at least the 19th century, about other holidays such as Christmas and Thanksgiving.... how people are allegedly forgetting the "true meaning" of those occasions by focusing too much on shopping, eating, partying and otherwise having a good time. Or how advertisers attempt to leverage the meaning of the holiday to try to get you to buy stuff you can't afford and that your mom or whomever doesn't really need.

Ultimately, however people decide to celebrate or not celebrate a particular holiday in their own homes among their own families is no one's business but theirs, but there will always be busybodies who try to make it their business, I suppose

Posted by: Secret Square at May 12, 2019 11:10 AM (9WuX0)

312 Don't forget Steinmetz!

The piano guy ?

Posted by: JT at May 12, 2019 11:10 AM (qIAv/)

313 Man that sounds good. Just ordered it. Thanks!

I'll check that out too. Tesla was an interesting fellow and his plan to harvest electricity from the "ether" just by the way the receptors were shaped has piqued my interest for a long time.

And yeah, fricasseed Dumbo was a nasty demonstration by Edison. Competition is usually a good thing, but when fortunes are involved, the "friendly" part usually goes out the window, sadly. Making the public fear new technology isn't cool, IMO.

Yeah, concentrated energy in any form can be dangerous, but can be harnessed and handled safely. That should've been the lesson.

Posted by: BackwardsBoy says #PurgeProgressivismBAMN at May 12, 2019 11:12 AM (HaL55)

314 "I tend to listen to my own mother about such things, and not CNNNNNNN. Mom says she doesn't care, and doesn't want to do anything today."

Conversely, on Father's Day, it seems the last thing I get to do is anything *I* want to do, because of everybody else feeling there are obligations to fulfill.

Give me a few bucks and push me out the door and I'll spend the day the way I want to, m'kay?

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at May 12, 2019 11:13 AM (oVJmc)

315 Ultimately, however people decide to celebrate or not celebrate a particular holiday in their own homes among their own families is no one's business but theirs, but there will always be busybodies who try to make it their business, I suppose
Posted by: Secret Square at May 12, 2019 11:10 AM (9WuX0)

Yeah, I guess it used to annoy me too. I'd ask mom, "so what did you end up doing yesterday." She'd tell me how one of my sisters dragged her here or there, got her flowers that will now just die (she has a house and garden full of living plants), gave her candy she doesn't want, and I would get mad about it.

I've learned to let that go too. Mom is an adult. If she wants to tell my sisters to knock it off, she can. If she doesn't, that's fine too.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 12, 2019 11:13 AM (cY3LT)

316 Insomniac: "Discretion" used to be a thing.

Back in the quaint old days when folks were still concerned that "actions" could have "consequences."

Posted by: That Old Deceiver, still walkin' the planet at May 12, 2019 11:14 AM (VQjKe)

317 Well, Edison was a massive douchecanoe, so no surprise there...

Posted by: Vanya at May 12, 2019 11:14 AM (U7voe)

318 Posted by: Winston a dreg of society at May 12, 2019 11:10 AM (5U303)

Hey Winston! I hear a grand time was had by all, libations, laughs and games abounded, and there was plenty of bail money to go around! I would have LOVED to have been there amongst y'all PNW morons and ettes. Hopefully the next time around I can make it happen!

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 11:14 AM (NWiLs)

319 OK bought all the food for Mothers Day and the family coming over..Around 750$. They better eat it, smile, and then go home.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 12, 2019 11:15 AM (Y+V3r)

320 Okay, sock fail whoops. Sending that diabolical sock to the eternal rubbish heap.

Posted by: mindful webworker - click for vids at May 12, 2019 11:15 AM (VQjKe)

321 Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 12, 2019 11:15 AM (Y+V3r)

next year buy chicken salad...not smoked salmon!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at May 12, 2019 11:16 AM (wYseH)

322
319 OK bought all the food for Mothers Day and the family coming over..Around 750$. They better eat it, smile, and then go home.
Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 12, 2019 11:15 AM (Y+V3r)
-----
$750?!

Posted by: Weasel at May 12, 2019 11:16 AM (6n6h9)

323 320 Okay, sock fail whoops. Sending that diabolical sock to the eternal rubbish heap.
Posted by: mindful webworker - click for vids at May 12, 2019 11:15 AM (VQjKe)

I'm partial to "Old Scratch" myself.

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 11:16 AM (NWiLs)

324 One of the best books written by a president that I've read is "Crusade in Europe" by Dwight D Eisenhower.

Not that I am a huge fan, but Jimmy Carter is a very prolific writer. There are a few books like on faith, etc.

Obama's book it toilet paper compared to those.

Posted by: Marcus T at May 12, 2019 11:16 AM (VkWRL)

325 I just preordered Reese's Summer of Promise listed above.

I'm not a huge fan of romance novels, but the east coast of Delaware is my second home, a place where I spent all of my summers as a kid and it's where my parents live now. So, I couldn't resist.

Posted by: DangerGirl (without my sanityprod) at May 12, 2019 11:16 AM (SRarZ)

326 Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 12, 2019 11:15 AM (Y+V3r)

next year buy chicken salad...not smoked salmon!
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at May 12, 2019 11:16 AM (wYseH)

I bought both. The guys at Harolds was very nice to me. LOL

Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 12, 2019 11:16 AM (Y+V3r)

327 319 OK bought all the food for Mothers Day and the family coming over..Around 750$. They better eat it, smile, and then go home.
Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 12, 2019 11:15 AM (Y+V3r)

$750? Good God, man. How big is your family? And have you not heard of ramen?

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 11:17 AM (NWiLs)

328 If you ever wondered whether Larry O'Donnell was really a dipshit, that quote about Dreams From My Father answers the question--he's a dipshit squared.

I'm not certain that Obama actually wrote the book. I do know that U.S. Grant penned his Memoirs, and that that book is an infinitely better one than Obozo's paltry effort.

Posted by: Comanche Voter at May 12, 2019 11:17 AM (WRSbt)

329 $750?!
Posted by: Weasel at May 12, 2019 11:16 AM (6n6h9)

Lox, Herring, Whitefish, Pastrami and other things don't come cheap at the local Kosher Deli.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 12, 2019 11:18 AM (Y+V3r)

330 329 $750?!
Posted by: Weasel at May 12, 2019 11:16 AM (6n6h9)

Lox, Herring, Whitefish, Pastrami and other things don't come cheap at the local Kosher Deli.
Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 12, 2019 11:18 AM (Y+V3r)

And you paid full retail? What kind of Joo are you anyway?

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 11:18 AM (NWiLs)

331 $750? Good God, man. How big is your family? And have you not heard of ramen?
Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 11:17 AM (NWiLs)

About 15-17 freeloaders, urh, I mean family

Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 12, 2019 11:18 AM (Y+V3r)

332 I'm thinking of getting a restored FJ40 model from the late 60s or early 70s when my current lease is up next year.
==================
Oh man, I lust after one of those. I had an (entitled) friend back in the day who had one of those. Coolest feature: a bubble level embedded in the dash, to indicate lateral lean.

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at May 12, 2019 11:19 AM (ty7RM)

333 $750?!

Posted by: Weasel at May 12, 2019 11:16 AM (6n6h9)

His cats eat well!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at May 12, 2019 11:19 AM (wYseH)

334 His cats eat well!
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at May 12, 2019 11:19 AM (wYseH)

Well down to one now, but yes, yes de does. LOL

Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 12, 2019 11:19 AM (Y+V3r)

335 329 $750?!
Posted by: Weasel at May 12, 2019 11:16 AM (6n6h9)

Lox, Herring, Whitefish, Pastrami and other things don't come cheap at the local Kosher Deli.
Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 12, 2019 11:18 AM (Y+V3r)
------
Evidently they don't!
I sent Mom some flowers and I'll call her later. Tragically, I'll be posting the Gun Thread about the time WeaselWoman is getting together with her family.

Posted by: Weasel at May 12, 2019 11:20 AM (MVjcR)

336 331 $750? Good God, man. How big is your family? And have you not heard of ramen?
Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 11:17 AM (NWiLs)

About 15-17 freeloaders, urh, I mean family
Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 12, 2019 11:18 AM (Y+V3r)

At 17 people that's $44.11 apiece! Holy hell, $44.11 is my grocery bill for a whole week!

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 11:21 AM (NWiLs)

337 And you paid full retail? What kind of Joo are you anyway?
Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 11:18 AM (NWiLs)

They've kept the weather machine on rent for the last two months

Posted by: Vanya at May 12, 2019 11:21 AM (U7voe)

338 Contrary to reports, the Yakima PD did not respond. The park shelter did
not suffer much damag. The park police were curious but stayed away.

I am disappoint.

Posted by: BackwardsBoy says #PurgeProgressivismBAMN at May 12, 2019 11:21 AM (HaL55)

339 Jimmy Carter is a very prolific writer.

Thru a family connection, I have most of Carter's books. Autographed even. I might have read 10 pages total. Boring.

I place much more value on the painting I own of Billy Carter's horse, which hangs proudly in our upstairs hallway.

Posted by: freaked at May 12, 2019 11:22 AM (0yz8p)

340 338 Contrary to reports, the Yakima PD did not respond. The park shelter did
not suffer much damag. The park police were curious but stayed away.

I am disappoint.
Posted by: BackwardsBoy says #PurgeProgressivismBAMN at May 12, 2019 11:21 AM (HaL55)

The shelter was made of fire-resistant lumber and asbestos. The park police were too afeared to get too close.

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 11:22 AM (NWiLs)

341 About 15-17 freeloaders, urh, I mean family

Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 12, 2019 11:18 AM (Y+V3r)

At 17 people that's $44.11 apiece! Holy hell, $44.11 is my grocery bill for a whole week!

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 11:21 AM (NWiLs)

---
Hey now, that could include the liquor budget.

In my family, *every* holiday is a drinking holiday.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 11:22 AM (cfSRQ)

342 Posted by: freaked at May 12, 2019 11:22 AM (0yz8p)

I understand that also doubled as his brewery

Posted by: Vanya at May 12, 2019 11:23 AM (U7voe)

343 So older daughter, who spend 4 years at URI, is making the Bloody mary's asked which Vodka to use. The Stoli or the store brand from the exchange in the rubber bottle. So I had to teach her a life lesson:

Use the Store Brand to make it, but leave out the Stoli Bottle to impress them.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 12, 2019 11:23 AM (Y+V3r)

344 341 About 15-17 freeloaders, urh, I mean family

Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 12, 2019 11:18 AM (Y+V3r)

At 17 people that's $44.11 apiece! Holy hell, $44.11 is my grocery bill for a whole week!

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 11:21 AM (NWiLs)

---
Hey now, that could include the liquor budget.

In my family, *every* holiday is a drinking holiday.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 11:22 AM (cfSRQ)

Tis a fair point, but Val-U-Rite is cheap!

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 11:23 AM (NWiLs)

345 343 So older daughter, who spend 4 years at URI, is making the Bloody mary's asked which Vodka to use. The Stoli or the store brand from the exchange in the rubber bottle. So I had to teach her a life lesson:

Use the Store Brand to make it, but leave out the Stoli Bottle to impress them.
Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 12, 2019 11:23 AM (Y+V3r)

Ooo, crafty. I like it.

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 11:24 AM (NWiLs)

346 there is no other job in the world more important than being a mother.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 11:03 AM (cfSRQ)

Absolutely correct! The SJW's love them some nature except when it comes to what is natural to all of us.

Happy Mother's Day to all Mom's everywhere!

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 12, 2019 11:24 AM (Z+IKu)

347 there is no other job in the world more important than being a mother.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 11:03 AM (cfSRQ)

Amen

Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 12, 2019 11:25 AM (Y+V3r)

348 BackwardsBoy
Well, too many civilians around for much gunplay.
Seriously good time and fun to put faces with names finally. When she's coherent ask Nurse about the flavored water I brought. We had a toast to Ace and several seconds all around. She took teh bottle home.

Posted by: Winston a dreg of society at May 12, 2019 11:25 AM (5U303)

349 346 there is no other job in the world more important than being a mother.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 11:03 AM (cfSRQ)

Absolutely correct! The SJW's love them some nature except when it comes to what is natural to all of us.

Happy Mother's Day to all Mom's everywhere!

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 12, 2019 11:24 AM (Z+IKu)

I'm sure that's sexist and transphobic somehow.

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 11:25 AM (NWiLs)

350 'I understand that also doubled as his brewery'

His horse? Wow! The painting just doubled in value!

Posted by: freaked at May 12, 2019 11:25 AM (0yz8p)

351 347 there is no other job in the world more important than being a mother.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 11:03 AM (cfSRQ)

Amen
Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 12, 2019 11:25 AM (Y+V3r)

Not even dentistry?

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 11:26 AM (NWiLs)

352 339
Jimmy Carter is a very prolific writer.

Thru a family connection, I have most of Carter's books. Autographed even. I might have read 10 pages total. Boring.

I place much more value on the painting I own of Billy Carter's horse, which hangs proudly in our upstairs hallway.

Posted by: freaked at May 12, 2019 11:22 AM (0yz8p)

---
The problem with Carter is that he's an idiot and so his writings are simply more idiocy.

That's why I think it's hard to argue that U.S. Grant wrote the best - and most important - book of any ex-president. His memoirs are well-written but also strip away a lot of the myths.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 11:26 AM (cfSRQ)

353 In my family, *every* holiday is a drinking holiday.

In some families that includes the days in between holidays.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at May 12, 2019 11:26 AM (fuK7c)

354 OK bought all the food for Mothers Day and the family coming over..Around 750$. They better eat it, smile, and then go home.
Posted by: Nevergiveup

!

Jeepers Doc, how big is your family ?

Posted by: JT at May 12, 2019 11:26 AM (qIAv/)

355 Drinking helps make family more tolerable.

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 11:27 AM (NWiLs)

356 Not even dentistry?

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 11:26 AM (NWiLs)

---
Unless dentists are capable of asexual reproduction, no.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 11:27 AM (cfSRQ)

357 Smirnoff's was once a top shelf brand. Today, it's the best liquor value out there.

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 12, 2019 11:28 AM (1UZdv)

358 Did it cover Edison's dirty tricks against AC power. Getting it used for capital punishment. Executing an elephant.
Posted by: Ignoramus at May 12, 2019 10:59 AM

It did. The author was not kind to Edison. Of course, given what a dick he seems to ha e been, isn't hard.

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at May 12, 2019 11:29 AM (GSPwC)

359 356 Not even dentistry?

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 11:26 AM (NWiLs)

---
Unless dentists are capable of asexual reproduction, no.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 11:27 AM (cfSRQ)

Scientific breakthroughs occur every day. You never know.

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 11:29 AM (NWiLs)

360
Here's to all the Mothers and Motherfuckers.

Posted by: M K Ultra at May 12, 2019 11:29 AM (UFLLM)

361 I'm sure that's sexist and transphobic somehow.
Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 11:25 AM (NWiLs)

True. Everyone knows trans galz only get about 70% as many flowers as real wimminz do on this day.

And that just ain't fair.

We must fix this.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 12, 2019 11:29 AM (cY3LT)

362 Unless dentists are capable of asexual reproduction, no.

They must be. We keep getting dentists.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at May 12, 2019 11:29 AM (fuK7c)

363 Well off to cut the bagels
Later

Posted by: Nevergiveup at May 12, 2019 11:30 AM (Y+V3r)

364 Well off to cut the bagels
Later
Posted by: Nevergiveup

-----

Is that what the kids are calling it these days? Interesting.

Posted by: Tonypete at May 12, 2019 11:30 AM (Y4EXg)

365 348 BackwardsBoy
Well, too many civilians around for much gunplay.
Seriously good time and fun to put faces with names finally. When she's coherent ask Nurse about the flavored water I brought. We had a toast to Ace and several seconds all around. She took teh bottle home.
Posted by: Winston a dreg of society at May 12, 2019 11:25 AM (5U303)

That stuff was FANTASTIC! Thanks for bringing it Winston!

Posted by: Jordan61, PNW MoMe Survivor & Awesome Mug Winner! at May 12, 2019 11:31 AM (0ly5J)

366 Tis a fair point, but Val-U-Rite is cheap!

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 11:23 AM (NWiLs)

---
Hey, he's rolling out the good stuff for the family.

Val-U-Rite is for the day-to-day grind. This is a special occasion, so it's all boxed wine and Military Special gin.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 11:31 AM (cfSRQ)

367 Grant's memoirs are by far the best written by president. I love his writing style. Clear and succinct. All that wartime order writing clearly influenced his style.

Posted by: Thanatopsis at May 12, 2019 11:31 AM (Hr0XF)

368 'The problem with Carter is that he's an idiot and so his writings are simply more idiocy.'

I can't believe he's still around. The last time I saw him in person, probably 10 years ago, he looked like he had shelled his last peanut. He has got to be in sad shape now.

Posted by: freaked at May 12, 2019 11:31 AM (0yz8p)

369 364 Well off to cut the bagels
Later
Posted by: Nevergiveup

-----

Is that what the kids are calling it these days? Interesting.
Posted by: Tonypete at May 12, 2019 11:30 AM (Y4EXg)

I thought it was "shmear the bagel."

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 11:31 AM (NWiLs)

370 Val-U-Rite is for the day-to-day grind. This is a special occasion, so it's all boxed wine and Military Special gin.
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 11:31 AM (cfSRQ)

Friggin' one-preventers...

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 11:32 AM (NWiLs)

371 That's one-percenters! Damn you, autocucumber!

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 11:33 AM (NWiLs)

372 I wanted to recommend a young author who is apparently crushing it in the digital fiction world: Jonathan Yanez.

He describes his series as "Jason Bourne in space"

I'm not a sci fi reader but he was very impressive in person.

Posted by: artemis at May 12, 2019 11:34 AM (AwPyG)

373 Jordan61
Glad you liked it. It was very nice. Probably the makers used a new radiator and fresh loaf of bread to strain it through.

Posted by: Winston a dreg of society at May 12, 2019 11:34 AM (5U303)

374 Friggin' one-preventers...
Posted by: Insomniac

---

I have no idea what an "one-preventer" is but still, I LMAO.

Posted by: Tonypete at May 12, 2019 11:34 AM (Y4EXg)

375 Insom: Mothers are often in a unique position to be either the single most uplifting and beneficial or single most destructive person in their child's life.

"Or." Sometimes "and."

Many ways and reasons my mom... could have done better. Decades later, we get along. Nice she lived so long. Dad died before I got the chance to fight with him as my older brothers did.

The Seraphic Post-Resurrection Family Reconciliations Counselors would be very busy with surviving souls from our world.

Posted by: mindful webworker - click for vids at May 12, 2019 11:34 AM (VQjKe)

376 Lawrence once confided in me that Dreams From My Commie Father gave him a micro-woody lasting more than four hours. I suggested he contact Bob Dole.

Posted by: Baracky O'Cracky at May 12, 2019 11:36 AM (EgshT)

377 375 Insom: Mothers are often in a unique position to be either the single most uplifting and beneficial or single most destructive person in their child's life.

"Or." Sometimes "and."

Many ways and reasons my mom... could have done better. Decades later, we get along. Nice she lived so long. Dad died before I got the chance to fight with him as my older brothers did.

The Seraphic Post-Resurrection Family Reconciliations Counselors would be very busy with surviving souls from our world.
Posted by: mindful webworker - click for vids at May 12, 2019 11:34 AM (VQjKe)

Sounds hard. And complicated. I'm glad there was a chance for reconciliation with your mom.

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 11:36 AM (NWiLs)

378 So now I'm confined to the beach house because of thunderstorms. I guess I'll have to forgo the bike rides and walks on the beach. Dang.

Posted by: freaked at May 12, 2019 11:38 AM (0yz8p)

379 This week I finished A Clean Kill in Tokyo by Barry Eisler. It's an assassin/spy thriller type of book. The assassin tries to make his kills look like natural deaths. I liked it and will read more from Eisler in the future. A lot of his books are available on Kindle Unlimited right now. Off to church, now. Will check back later.

Posted by: Violet at May 12, 2019 11:38 AM (pxpp+)

380 132. beautiful tribute to your dear mother

Posted by: kallsto at May 12, 2019 11:38 AM (C+R83)

381
Grant's memoirs?

Eisenhower's "Crusade in Europe"?

Teddy Roosevelt's books?

Wilson's "Congressional Government"?

James Garfield was quite the scholar, too.

Calvin Coolidge translated Dante's Inferno in his spare time.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at May 12, 2019 11:39 AM (X3lUd)

382 It did. The author was not kind to Edison. Of course, given what a dick he seems to ha e been, isn't hard.

His winter home down here has the kitchen in another building. The guide told us he couldn't tolerate the smell of cooking food. It would appear that he danced across the fine line that separates genius and insanity a fair bit. That's not normal. At. All.

OK Hordelings, B'Gal's up. Gotta go help her achieve operational status.

Y'all try to behave.

Posted by: BackwardsBoy says #PurgeProgressivismBAMN at May 12, 2019 11:39 AM (HaL55)

383 Has anybody ever written an honest review of Dreams of My Father. Have any Morons taken a bullet and read it?

Posted by: Northernlurker at May 12, 2019 11:40 AM (JgA4k)

384 378 So now I'm confined to the beach house because of thunderstorms. I guess I'll have to forgo the bike rides and walks on the beach. Dang.
Posted by: freaked at May 12, 2019 11:38 AM (0yz8p)

LOL

Posted by: Jordan61, PNW MoMe Survivor & Awesome Mug Winner! at May 12, 2019 11:40 AM (0ly5J)

385 That's one-percenters! Damn you, autocucumber!

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 11:33 AM (NWiLs)

That god damn thing causes more typos on its own than the person typing.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at May 12, 2019 11:40 AM (9Om/r)

386 383 Has anybody ever written an honest review of Dreams of My Father. Have any Morons taken a bullet and read it?
Posted by: Northernlurker at May 12, 2019 11:40 AM (JgA4k)

That is one for the team I will not take.

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 11:40 AM (NWiLs)

387 Sounds hard. And complicated. I'm glad there was a chance for reconciliation with your mom.

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 11:36 AM (NWiLs)

---
I just have this mental image of you as Leon in Blade Runner.

"Tell me how you feel about your mother."

"My mother?"

"Yes."

BLAM! BLAM!

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 11:42 AM (cfSRQ)

388 When I was a kid,we used to spend a week at the beach most Summers with family, aunts, uncles, cousins. When it rained we would play card games, like Spoons. Now everyone plays with their phones. At least that doesn't start any fights.

Posted by: freaked at May 12, 2019 11:43 AM (0yz8p)

389 This morning, just started The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton. My brother is training to be a Catholic Deacon and this is on his reading list and Bro insisted I pick it up. I must have 20-25 other Merton books but somehow missed this one.

The older I get, the more I have become aware of my human failings. Brother has said to me "learn to know the Christ of the burnt men." meaning, of course, me and all others.

Paradoxes abound all around us.

Posted by: Tonypete at May 12, 2019 11:43 AM (Y4EXg)

390 383
Has anybody ever written an honest review of Dreams of My Father. Have any Morons taken a bullet and read it?

Posted by: Northernlurker at May 12, 2019 11:40 AM (JgA4k)

---
Pretty sure they are out there. I bet you some are by NeverTrumpers who had not yet dropped the mask.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 11:44 AM (cfSRQ)

391 I read a Mickey Spillane western this week. He started writing or plotted out a bunch of books and when he was old he started collaborating with Max Collins to finish them. Now Collins works with the Spillane family to continue this work and the Caleb York novels are part of that work.

Collins is a capable author on his own and has put out a lot of novels, including CSI books based on the TV series.

The Legend of Caleb York wasn't very fresh in terms of plot, and it felt a lot like a Louis L'Amour book but not very much like something Spillane would write. But it was all right.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 12, 2019 11:44 AM (39g3+)

392 Thanatopsis, I think that clarity and brevity in communications were, in fact, considered to be an attribute of effective commanders back then, including Grant, when means of communication were simpler. Of course it's always valuable, but if courier and telegraph are all you've got, it's critical.

There was at least once back in the early days post-9/11 that I had to mildly edumucate someone trying to make a glib point about how using the word "crusade" was problematic, given its history. I pointed out the title of Ike's book - about the largest war in history, the largest part of it conducted between ..... all Christian nations. You know, words evolve and sometimes take on broader meanings.

Situation and target were not suitable for the full edumucation, regarding the actual history of the crusades, etc., but the Ike memoir thing worked nicely anyway.

Posted by: rhomboid at May 12, 2019 11:44 AM (QDnY+)

393 80
This week I read Out of the Dark, by Gregg Hurwitz, an Orphan X novel.
For my money, Hurwitz is right up there with Vince Flynn. There is a
pursuit scene set in Washington DC, that had me on the edge of the
couch. Highly recommended.

Posted by: SandyCheeks at May 12, 2019 09:27 AM (psNl2)

Orphan X novels are fun, but some of the things he does defy physics, but you gotta suspend disbelief sometimes.
There was one book where the guy was so close to an explosion that he would have been a sack of jelly after the shock wave passed. I laughed, but they are fun fast paced reads, and the characters (good and bad guys) show resourcefulness and ingenuity.

Posted by: Cuthbert the Witless at May 12, 2019 11:44 AM (9dzlp)

394 I sometimes masturbate with a sardine.

Posted by: Larry O'Donnell at May 12, 2019 09:42 AM (LuPts)

I do believe this is one of the top ten funniest things I've read here. lol

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at May 12, 2019 11:45 AM (9Om/r)

395 It was investigative reporter Jack Cashill who broke that all signs pointed to Bill Ayers being the author of Dreams from My Father, including because of literary style.

Cashill also persuasively argues that TWA 800 was a cover-up

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 12, 2019 11:47 AM (1UZdv)

396 I wonder if the reservation schools established by St. Katharine Drexel are still in operation? IIRC Clarence Thomas was educated at one of her schools in the Deep South.

Posted by: kallisto at May 12, 2019 11:47 AM (C+R83)

397 Is that a pic of Sunday mass at the Vatican with commie pope facing mecca records?

Posted by: saf at May 12, 2019 11:47 AM (5IHGB)

398 Yeah I forgot about Grant's memoirs. That's probably at the top of presidential books.

It did indeed dispel many myths about Grant put forth by his opponents and confederate supporters. I truly believe that Grant is as one of the most thoughtful presidents of that period, below Lincoln.

Posted by: Marcus T at May 12, 2019 11:48 AM (VkWRL)

399 294
OT but think the Horde might enjoy these items from the Babylon Bee:

Alyssa Milano calls for strike on starring in any noteworthy film projects:

https://tinyurl.com/y3bf4qht

Star Wars fans vow sex strike until Disney disavows 'The Last Jedi':

https://tinyurl.com/yykaftty

Posted by: Secret Square at May 12, 2019 11:01 AM (9WuX0)

Milano goes on a sex strike in the exact year she hits the wall. Conkinydink?

Posted by: Cuthbert the Witless at May 12, 2019 11:49 AM (9dzlp)

400 Just started memoir of Marshal Rokossovsky, one of the more storied Soviet generals of WWII (Great Patriotic War). He was purged, spent several years in prison, according to some was even subjected to mock execution more than once - before being released and returning to duty just in time for the festivities.

The book was published in 197O. From memory, his total commentary on the topic: "In the late 1930s, it's true that serious blunders were made, affecting even the regular army and its officers. It could not but have had an impact on their readiness for the war." (very close to that)

Posted by: rhomboid at May 12, 2019 11:49 AM (QDnY+)

401 Currently I'm reading The Narnian: The Life and Imagination of C.S. Lewis by Alan Jacobs. Its not a very smooth read, in fact its something I skim most of and read passages that catch my attention because its ridiculously wordy and excessively long for the concept.

Basically its a biography of Lewis, but its focused not on his life so much as the things that shaped his philosophy and worldview and how it developed. The thesis of the book is that everything Lewis believed in and thought, he explained and laid out in allegory and symbol in the Narnia series.

I don't know how true that is but some of the parts are pretty interesting.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 12, 2019 11:50 AM (39g3+)

402 Wow the Pulitzers are much like the Hugos. Dead skins of prestige being worn by the barbarians.

Posted by: Anna Puma at May 12, 2019 11:50 AM (LqbDl)

403 Happy Madre's Day to all the Madres in the Horde!

Posted by: Muad'dib at May 12, 2019 11:50 AM (28Ao6)

404 Northernlurker #383:
Has anybody ever written an honest review of Dreams of My Father. Have any Morons taken a bullet and read it?

I've heard the audio of SCoaMF talking about eating dog. Quite a flat delivery, as if saying bacon and eggs and toast. Teleprompter reader in chief.

Obama Jokes About Eating Dog: "A Pitbull is Delicious"
https://youtu.be/iikaqAsCKno

Posted by: mindful webworker - click for vids at May 12, 2019 11:51 AM (VQjKe)

405 . . .
Calvin Coolidge translated Dante's Inferno in his spare time.
=====

Lou Hoover translated something about metals (De Re Metallica?) from Latin and was published at a time when most of the Western world could read Latin. Herb Hoover was an engineer and I think she was a chemist (?).

Posted by: mustbequantum at May 12, 2019 11:51 AM (MIKMs)

406 Cashill also persuasively argues that TWA 800 was a cover-up
Posted by: Ignoramus at May 12, 2019 11:47 AM (1UZdv)

Of what?

Posted by: Vanya at May 12, 2019 11:52 AM (U7voe)

407 >Posted by: Jordan61, PNW MoMe Survivor Awesome Mug Winner! at May 12, 2019 11:40 AM (0ly5J)

Are you the sole survivor?

Posted by: Muad'dib at May 12, 2019 11:52 AM (28Ao6)

408 The Teutoburgwald book sounds interesting. Rome had lost legions, plural, before to the likes of Hannibal or the Parthians. But the loss in 9AD stopped them cold and allowed the Germanic tribes to remain unassimilated.

Posted by: Anna Puma at May 12, 2019 11:52 AM (LqbDl)

409 Wonder if I can make it to NGU's place in time for brunch?

Posted by: kallisto at May 12, 2019 11:53 AM (C+R83)

410 Oh, I watched End Game a few days ago and its, okay. Some great scenes, a bunch of bad plotting or horrendous contradictory stuff created by time travel. The first third of the movie was super slow and talky, but not clever talky rather grim and depressed talky. They tried to resolve all the previous conflicts and storylines but did so pretty poorly in my opinion. The Time Caper part was pretty entertaining and some of it was done deliberately to set up future storylines (and the Loki TV series). The last third felt tacked on and obligatory, like they felt they had to have a big epic battle and beat Thanos, so they contrived a way for him to somehow be there to battle once more.

It was a better film than the last Avengers, but still doesn't reach the excellence and charm of the first one. Overlong, and it managed to make me not like Captain America any longer, which I wonder might not have been deliberate.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 12, 2019 11:54 AM (39g3+)

411 Has anybody ever written an honest review of Dreams of My Father. Have any Morons taken a bullet and read it?

I managed to choke it down, against my better judgement. I found much of the narrative thoroughly alien to my sensibilities, such as they are.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at May 12, 2019 11:55 AM (EgshT)

412 Ignoramus: Cashill also persuasively argues that TWA 800 was a cover-up

Everybody knows that.

Just like everybody knows Moochelle is a trannie.

Posted by: Joan Rivers - on her way in to a simple surgery at May 12, 2019 11:56 AM (VQjKe)

413 111 I also enjoyed The Three Body Problem. In addition to the interesting thread on the Cultural Revolution, the author correctly identifies environmentalists as the most "reactionary" element of society, holding back the progress the world needs.

Unfortunately the author publishes with Tor, and in the War of the Sad Puppies came down on the side of the SJW-fascists.

Posted by: motionview at May 12, 2019 11:56 AM (pYQR/)

414 I think when you realize what Obama's fathers dreams were, who he hung around with, then take into account his sons resulting psychosis and thirst for retribution, which he took out on us, you want to throat punch his father.

Posted by: Marcus T at May 12, 2019 11:57 AM (VkWRL)

415 It was just announced within the past two weeks that Obama's post-Presidential memoir has been delayed until next year. Apparently Billy Ayers is over-committed.

Posted by: motionview at May 12, 2019 11:57 AM (pYQR/)

416 I think the best value offered from Dreams of My Father is as a drinking game: turn to any page at random and damn, you need a drink.

Posted by: WitchDoktor, as if you give a damn at May 12, 2019 11:59 AM (IfYaq)

417 "Obama's post-Presidential memoir has been delayed until next year."

All of his time is taken up by "golfing".

Posted by: freaked at May 12, 2019 11:59 AM (0yz8p)

418 Those Obama memoirs oughta be even more interesting as the story of his maladministration, um, continues to unfold, in certain respects.

Much of which may occur in court rooms.

Heh.

Posted by: rhomboid at May 12, 2019 12:00 PM (QDnY+)

419 I lived in a mostly Jew - inhabited midrise for a while. They thought I was a MoT. It was that time in my life when I was attentive to my grooming and stylish clothing. My nails were always did. But nowadays, I don't think I could pass.

Posted by: kallisto at May 12, 2019 12:01 PM (C+R83)

420 I lived in a mostly Jew - inhabited midrise for a while. They thought I was a MoT.

OK, I'll bite.

What's a MoT ?

Posted by: JT at May 12, 2019 12:04 PM (qIAv/)

421 Are you the sole survivor?
Posted by: Muad'dib at May 12, 2019 11:52 AM (28Ao6)

I think a few of us made it out, despite Mark trying to burn the place down.

Posted by: Jordan61, PNW MoMe Survivor & Awesome Mug Winner! at May 12, 2019 12:04 PM (0ly5J)

422
"Obama's post-Presidential memoir has been delayed until next year."

=====

Needs time for the lawyers to judgement-proof the profits.

Posted by: mustbequantum at May 12, 2019 12:04 PM (MIKMs)

423 where do we find the Hardcore Anglican stuff Oh Vicar
denounce me one more time and do me at the faire and maypole dancing class..................there always be an england but never a safe blowjob....BRITISH DENTAL ASSOCIATION GAP INSURANCE CO.

Posted by: saf at May 12, 2019 12:04 PM (5IHGB)

424 Does anyone still argue the jug-eared one was the smartest president ever?

Posted by: Northernlurker at May 12, 2019 12:04 PM (JgA4k)

425 Are you the sole survivor?
Posted by: Muad'dib at May 12, 2019 11:52 AM (28Ao6)

I think a few of us made it out, despite Mark trying to burn the place down.
Posted by: Jordan61, PNW MoMe Survivor & Awesome Mug Winner! at May 12, 2019 12:04 PM (0ly5J)
-------
Mug winner? Lucky!!

Posted by: Weasel at May 12, 2019 12:05 PM (MVjcR)

426 What's a MoT ?"

Ministry of Transportation. Duh.

*member of the tribe*

Posted by: Anon a mouse at May 12, 2019 12:05 PM (6qErC)

427 "Dreams From My Father Figure."

Posted by: Semi-Literate Thug at May 12, 2019 12:05 PM (t5m5e)

428 >>Mug winner? Lucky!!

How are you holding up without your coffee mug?

Posted by: JackStraw at May 12, 2019 12:06 PM (/tuJf)

429 "Does anyone still argue the jug-eared one was the smartest president ever?"

Absalutely!

Posted by: Joe Biteum at May 12, 2019 12:06 PM (0yz8p)

430 re: Gaylord's new book and Billy Ayers...

*cue up Monty Python*

The writing was going swimmingly until quite suddenly the author keeled over from unknown causes. Then Gaylord had to write his own story and even Healthy Holly gagged on what resulted.

Posted by: Anna Puma at May 12, 2019 12:07 PM (LqbDl)

431 428 >>Mug winner? Lucky!!

How are you holding up without your coffee mug?
Posted by: JackStraw at May 12, 2019 12:06 PM (/tuJf)
------
Why thank you for asking. Frankly, it's been a struggle all weekend, but I'm trying to be strong. As with any tragedy, there are ups and downs, but the uncontrollable sobbing has, for the most part, subsided.

Posted by: Weasel at May 12, 2019 12:08 PM (MVjcR)

432 Lots of irregularities in the TWA 800 investigation,including the suppression of dozens of eyewitness accounts that they saw something shooting UP from the water, which is inconsistent with spontaneous internal combustion, which has never happened before or since in modern commercial aircraft.

Cashill goes with evidence that it was a Navy exercise gone bad.

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 12, 2019 12:09 PM (1UZdv)

433 >>Why thank you for asking. Frankly, it's been a struggle all weekend, but I'm trying to be strong. As with any tragedy, there are ups and downs, but the uncontrollable sobbing has, for the most part, subsided.

My God, you are an inspiration.

#StayStrong

Posted by: JackStraw at May 12, 2019 12:09 PM (/tuJf)

434 Why thank you for asking. Frankly, it's been a struggle all weekend, but I'm trying to be strong. As with any tragedy, there are ups and downs, but the uncontrollable sobbing has, for the most part, subsided.
Posted by: Weasel at May 12, 2019 12:08 PM (MVjcR)

Well I thank you for your sacrifice. I was more excited about that mug than I probably should have been.

Posted by: Jordan61, PNW MoMe Survivor & Awesome Mug Winner! at May 12, 2019 12:10 PM (0ly5J)

435 The only thing I want to read about Barack Mugabe is his obit.

Even that will be full of BS.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 12, 2019 12:11 PM (Z+IKu)

436 Mr. Straw--have you seen that Jeff Carlson has been interacting with Leshchenko on Twitter?

Posted by: IrishEi at May 12, 2019 12:12 PM (NtglE)

437 And since the crash of TWA800, not a single deck ape has ever come forward to say so...

Posted by: Anna Puma at May 12, 2019 12:12 PM (LqbDl)

438 Wow the Pulitzers are much like the Hugos. Dead skins of prestige being worn by the barbarians.

Anna, I've just finished the second of Jemison's Stone Earth trilogy, all three of which won Hugo's. A very good story, although the omnicient narrator's voice is annoyingly coy. I view that as a minor flaw, though.

I thought another recent winner, Ancillary Justice, was quite good, also. I looked forward to the sequels, but the author's plot threads became too tangled.

There's been better stuff out there than either, imo, but from what I've read of recent winners they're not junk.

One good thing I did for my boys was to raise them all as sci-fi junkies. Particularly nice now since it's always an easy gift to give or receive, and we all swap them all back and forth.

Posted by: Democratic Central Planning, Dept. 666 at May 12, 2019 12:13 PM (hu22E)

439
Well I thank you for your sacrifice. I was more excited about that mug than I probably should have been.
Posted by: Jordan61, PNW MoMe Survivor & Awesome Mug Winner! at May 12, 2019 12:10 PM (0ly5J)
------
Oh, it's not your mug that I was referring to! I left my favorite coffee mug at the office when I left on Friday. Congratulations in the win! Those are valuable collectors items, you know! Which one did you get?

Posted by: Weasel at May 12, 2019 12:13 PM (MVjcR)

440 " But the loss in 9AD stopped them cold and allowed the Germanic tribes to remain unassimilated. "

Sowing seeds for WWI and WWII?

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 12, 2019 12:13 PM (1UZdv)

441 I'm almost finished with Dreams From My Mud Hut.

Posted by: Brother O'Cracky at May 12, 2019 12:14 PM (EgshT)

442 The problem I have with book awards is that these days there are tons of great books out there which never even get noticed by award committees.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at May 12, 2019 12:14 PM (39g3+)

443 Little Adam Schitt is pushing for $25,000 per day personal fines against Barr and other non-cooperators.

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 12, 2019 12:15 PM (1UZdv)

444 And since the crash of TWA800, not a single deck ape has ever come forward to say so...

Posted by: Anna Puma at May 12, 2019 12:12 PM (LqbDl)

Amazing security!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at May 12, 2019 12:15 PM (wYseH)

445 9AD could be argued that to be that seed. But a more relevant factor would be the system of government Bismarck engineered that worked as long as he was there and Wilheim's father was Kaiser. Once both were removed, the fuse started to sizzle.

Posted by: Anna Puma at May 12, 2019 12:16 PM (LqbDl)

446 124 BurtTC

I can second the recommendation of Paul Johnson's Intellectuals.

Excellent book I am currently reading. Extremely good, and the data in the short biographies should be basic knowledge for all.

Highly recommended.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at May 12, 2019 12:16 PM (u82oZ)

447 Amazing security!

Just like the security and secrecy surrounding how FDR knew the Japs would hit Pearl Harbor.

Posted by: Anna Puma at May 12, 2019 12:17 PM (LqbDl)

448 Which one did you get?
Posted by: Weasel at May 12, 2019 12:13 PM (MVjcR)

The one that says NOOD at the bottom. And no I'm not calling nood, don't get excited.

Posted by: Jordan61, PNW MoMe Survivor & Awesome Mug Winner! at May 12, 2019 12:17 PM (0ly5J)

449 I just have this mental image of you as Leon in Blade Runner.

"Tell me how you feel about your mother."

"My mother?"

"Yes."

BLAM! BLAM!
Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 11:42 AM (cfSRQ)

LOL. At least I know what a friggin tortoise is!

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 12:18 PM (NWiLs)

450 448 Which one did you get?
Posted by: Weasel at May 12, 2019 12:13 PM (MVjcR)

The one that says NOOD at the bottom. And no I'm not calling nood, don't get excited.
Posted by: Jordan61, PNW MoMe Survivor & Awesome Mug Winner! at May 12, 2019 12:17 PM (0ly5J)
--------
Nice! I believe you have our friend Ben Had to thank for those. Congratulations!

Posted by: Weasel at May 12, 2019 12:19 PM (6n6h9)

451 Benghazi was well buried, wasn't it, despite lots of effort to expose it.

What got buried was that arms were getting taking out of Libya to arm Baby ISIS, a truly Holy Shit Headline

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 12, 2019 12:19 PM (1UZdv)

452 NOOD. By anti-Semites about anti-Semites.

Posted by: Insomniac at May 12, 2019 12:20 PM (NWiLs)

453
2019 Hogglers on Ice

* snort *

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at May 12, 2019 12:22 PM (QHIPb)

454 440
" But the loss in 9AD stopped them cold and allowed the Germanic tribes to remain unassimilated. "

Sowing seeds for WWI and WWII?

Posted by: Ignoramus at May 12, 2019 12:13 PM (1UZdv)

---
That's a bit of a stretch.

People can read too much into this stuff.

Posted by: A.H. Lloyd at May 12, 2019 12:22 PM (cfSRQ)

455 Posted by: Anna Puma at May 12, 2019 12:17 PM (LqbDl)

I'd have to check with my dad, grandpa's in the hospital for what may be the last time so I can't ask him directly, but I'm pretty sure grandpa told me one of his brothers was in the room when they caught the radar (?) of the incoming Japanese. Like I said, I'll have to check because if it was his brother I would be inclined to believe whereas if it was a case of 'My brother was told by a friend who was the one actually there' I would be much more sceptical.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at May 12, 2019 12:24 PM (phT8I)

456 I guess that would be 'Incoming Japanese on radar'. I know he's always sworn FDR knew and that he knew people there. So, at the very least, the rumor started pretty much immediately.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at May 12, 2019 12:28 PM (phT8I)

457 >>Mr. Straw--have you seen that Jeff Carlson has been interacting with Leshchenko on Twitter?

Yes ma'am. Waiting to see if there is more.

Posted by: JackStraw at May 12, 2019 12:31 PM (/tuJf)

458 "I think it's hard to argue that U.S. Grant wrote the best - and most important - book of any ex-president. His memoirs are well-written but also strip away a lot of the myths."

There's also the Mark Twain connection: Twain, who had become a friend of Grant and his family, agreed to publish the memoirs and there have been persistent claims that Twain ghostwrote or at least edited portions of Grant's manuscript. The current scholarly consenusus seems to be that he didn't -- the writing style of the memoirs doesn't really resemble Twain's style -- but even if he did, I would think it would only enhance the literary value of the book.

Posted by: Secret Square at May 12, 2019 12:32 PM (9WuX0)

459 Yes what happened with l8bya in 1996, prefigured what would happen in Syria 15 years later, where Islamist militias were enlisted to topple Qaddafi as well as Assad but Bashir already read that book.

Posted by: Admiral marcus at May 12, 2019 01:04 PM (XIRmd)

460 Since we have seen a lifetime of Jug Ears being a total layabout it's very likely he never wrote anything.

Posted by: Skip at May 12, 2019 01:11 PM (BbGew)

461 Well, it is done. My manuscript is in the slush bucket at Baen. In just a few short months, I should have my first rejection!

Posted by: Vanya at May 12, 2019 01:16 PM (U7voe)

462 Finally getting a break after months of 7-day work weeks. So romance novels have been on the agenda lately, the equivalent of comfort food. Recommended -
Julie Anne Long - To Love a Thief, How the Marquess Was Won
Meredith Duran - Fool Me Twice

Posted by: MMcK at May 12, 2019 02:34 PM (xHxJf)

463 18
Many thanks to JTB for last week's recommendation of Philip R. Craig's Martha's Vineyard Mystery Series.

I finished the first book in the series, A Beautiful Place to Die,
and it was a pleasant read. I enjoyed the nostalgia of the setting, the
late 1980s, and chuckled at the protagonist's worries about his long
distance phone bill. I've got the next book queued up in Kindle.

Agree with Elinor. It was a fun read and looking to pick up a few more of Craig's mysteries.

Posted by: Charlotte at May 12, 2019 04:04 PM (iDRg8)

464 Not a lot of books in that library......
(Not compared to most of the pics we get.)

Posted by: GWB at May 12, 2019 09:10 PM (PpL0X)

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