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Sunday Morning Book Thread 08-16-2020

ben mcnally books toronto 01.jpg
Ben McNally Books, Toronto, Ontario


Good morning to all you 'rons, 'ettes, lurkers, and lurkettes, wine moms, frat bros, crétins sans pantalon (who are technically breaking the rules), and the rest of you outlaws, inlaws, breaklaws, scofflaws, and those of you for whom the law is the only thing holding you back from going out and whupping on the first noodle-armed Antifa scum you can find. Welcome once again to the stately, prestigious, internationally acclaimed and high-class Sunday Morning Book Thread, a weekly compendium of reviews, observations, snark, witty repartee, hilarious bon mots, and a continuing conversation on books, reading, spending way too much money on books, writing books, and publishing books by escaped oafs and oafettes who follow words with their fingers and whose lips move as they read. Unlike other AoSHQ comment threads, the Sunday Morning Book Thread is so hoity-toity, pants are required. Even if it's these pants which I can't imagine wearing outside where this photo was taken, because you'd have to spend hours afterwards picking out all of the burrs, stickers, foxtails, and whatever opportunistic seed pods have managed to hitch a ride on your butt.



Pic Note:

I very much like the Ben McNally Books motto:

On the internet you can find what you're looking for; in our store you can find what you are not looking for.

Exactly. That's the fun of going into a brick-and-mortar bookstore. You'll discover all sorts of books you never knew you wanted.



It Pays To Increase Your Word Power®

I did not know this:

20200816 book pic 01.jpg




20200816 book pic 03.jpg
(click to enlarge)



Mass Hysteria

Has our country gone mad? Well, maybe. But what we're seeing right now is not unprecedented. Not so much burning cities, but mass hysteria about other things, namely, children. I'm talking about the daycare child abuse panic that started in the late 1980s.

"There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of law and in the name of justice."
--Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, 1742

No Crueler Tyrannies: Accusation, False Witness, and Other Terrors of Our Times by Dorothy Rabinowitz discusses some of these miscarriages of justice, such as the ones involving the Wee Care Nursery School (Kelly Michaels) and the Fell Acres Day Cay Center in Malden, Massachusetts (Amirault Family). Also the one involving

...Grant Snowden, the North Miami policeman sentenced to five consecutive life terms after being prosecuted by then Dade County State Attorney Janet Reno...who spent eleven years killing rats in various Florida prisons before a new trial affirmed his innocence.

Yes, that's right, the same Janet Reno, appointed Attorney General by Bill Clinton and who was ultimately responsible for the government-instigated massacre at Waco.

In those days, even the merest accusation of child abuse could get you a show trial and stiff jail sentence. For the children! And some of the materials used by the the child protection service officers who interrogated the suspects said things like (I'm paraphrasing) "If a suspect denies being a child abuser, that should be considered proof of his guilt since that exactly is what a child abuser would say." Of course, that is what an innocent party would say, too, but that wasn't mentioned.

And, according to another book on the subject, We Believe the Children: A Moral Panic in the 1980s by Richard Beck,

It would take years for people to realize what the defendants had said all along -- that these prosecutions were the product of a decade-long outbreak of collective hysteria on par with the Salem witch trials. Social workers and detectives employed coercive interviewing techniques that led children to tell them what they wanted to hear. Local and national journalists fanned the flames by promoting the stories' salacious aspects, while aggressive prosecutors sought to make their careers by unearthing an unspeakable evil where parents feared it most.

One can only wonder how worse it could have gotten if America of the 1980s had the extensive social media it has now.

But it could be worse. At we're not going through anything like The Great Singapore Penis Panic of 1967.



Who Dis:

who dis 20200816
(click to enlarge)

(Last week's 'who dis' was Gary Cooper.




Moron Recommendations

A lurkette e-mailed in a recommendation for Dream of the Walled City, an historical novel set during the last years of pre-Revolution China, 1900-1949. The story is told by Jade Virtue Liang, who is

...the privileged and sheltered daughter of a high-ranking imperial official, Jade Virtue spends her childhood enclosed by the towering walls of her family's sprawling mansion, never glimpsing the desperate struggle of China's ancient society, as the old ways are challenged and the twentieth century -- fast, fearsome, and tumultuous -- rushes in. But when her father mysteriously dies, young Jade Virtue is suddenly thrust into poverty, and experiences firsthand a traditional culture falling apart under the onslaught of growing rebellion against the Emperor, rapid social changes, and the mounting aggression of Japan and the West.

This novel is also available in hardcover and paperback.

___________

57 The wife is reading "I'll Be Gone in the Dark" by Michelle McNamara, about the Golden State Killer. She's enjoying it but says if you've seen the recent HBO documentary you won't need to read the book.

Posted by: BignJames at August 09, 2020 09:22 AM (X/Pw5)

California does seem to have its share of serial murderers: Zodiac, the Manson Family cult, Zebra, the Grim Sleeper, The Night Stalker, and etc.

And then there's the
I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer, which details the efforts of Michelle McNamara to track down this serial killer before her untimely death.

Michelle pored over police reports, interviewed victims, and embedded herself in the online communities that were as obsessed with the case as she was.

I’ll Be Gone in the Dark—the masterpiece McNamara was writing at the time of her sudden death—offers an atmospheric snapshot of a moment in American history and a chilling account of a criminal mastermind and the wreckage he left behind. It is also a portrait of a woman’s obsession and her unflagging pursuit of the truth. Utterly original and compelling, it has been hailed as a modern true crime classic—one which fulfilled Michelle's dream: helping unmask the Golden State Killer.

She was married to comedian Patton Oswalt, so, according to MP4, if you want to buy the dead tree edition of this book, you'll have to look at his ugly mug. Maybe even in the Kindle version, too, for all I know. If you can get past that, the Kindle edition is $11.99. The hardcover edition is north of $25.

___________




20200816 book pic 05.jpg



Failure to Perform?

There's apparently a concept in book publishing called "failure to perform" which is what happens when the publisher pays a big advance to an author to write a book, and he doesn't come through. Penguin Random House reportedly paid the Obamas $65 million dollars for two books, one for each of them. The deadline was back in 2018. Michelle came through, but Barack... failed to perform. So far, anyway.

And not for the first time:

Barack Obama, in fact, has a history of failing to perform. A 2006 article by publisher Peter Osnos shed some unflattering light on Obama’s deadline problems. As Osnos related, a 1990 New York Times profile on the Harvard Law Review’s first black president caught the eye of hustling young literary agent Jane Dystel. Dystel persuaded Obama to put a book proposal together, and she submitted it. Poseidon, a small imprint of Simon & Schuster, signed on and authorized a roughly $125,000 advance in November 1990 for Obama’s proposed book.

And, ultimately, even after multiple deadline extensions, Obama failed to produce the required book and Simon & Schuster lost the entire advance.

So none of what's happening now should surprise anybody. But $65 million is a lot of dough and I can't imagine Penguin Random House would just blow it off.

But "failure to perform" is, in many ways, the story of Obama's entire presidency.

One last thing. The Spectator article quoted her is written by Jack Cashill, whom some of you might know wrote that book about TWA 800. I notice that he's got a new one coming out, Unmasking Obama: The Fight to Tell the True Story of a Failed Presidency, the story of "how an American “samizdat” of bloggers, online journals, and citizen journalists challenged the Left — and, occasionally, the more respectable Right — for control of the Obama narrative." This book will be released on Tuesday, Aug. 18th.

(h/t to 'pep' for tipping me to this story in last week's book thread)




20200816 book pic 04.jpg



Books By Morons

'Ette author Celia Hayes has just published the 9th in her Luna City series, Luna City: Number 9, Number 9 Number 9. Here's what's been going on in that town lately:

Welcome to Luna City, Karnes County, Texas … Population 2,457, give or take! Fugitive former celebrity chef Richard Astor-Hall faces a new challenge in this new Luna City chapter; celebrating Christmas with Kate Heisel’s extended family, while Jess and Joe Vaughn cope with a pending addition to their family, Xavier Gunnison-Penn the world’s most unsuccessful professional treasure-hunter finally finds a treasure and true love … and Miss Letty McAllister, the oldest inhabitant of Luna City reveals what happened half a century before, when bootlegger and former bandit, Charley Mills was nearly lynched by outraged citizens from the biggest oak tree in Town Square. More folklore, home folks and gentle comedy abound in this ninth outing to the most perfect small town in Texas.

The Kindle edition is only $3.99.

___________

Author Declan Finn, one of my Twitter peeps, pinged me about his inclusion in a new fantasy offering, Supernatural Streets, an anthology which

...brings together 14 Urban Fantasy authors to explore mysteries with a touch of Magic. The collection includes stories of psychic FBI agents, werewolf detectives, monster hunters, and an ordinary cop just trying to survive when the ritual daggers come out.

The anthology includes work by Dragon Award Finalist Declan Finn, Hugo Award nominated author Cedar Sanderson, best-selling authors Ryk E. Spoor and Julie Frost, and other fan-favorites and rising stars.

Only $4.99 on Kindle.

___________

Moron commenter and author Stephen Price Blair has just published a novel, The Dream of Poor Bazin, which, he tells me is "a satire inspired by the question, “What if the Three Musketeers were journalists in Washington, DC? What if journalists were the swashbuckling, swaggering, hard-drinking warriors of truth they pretend to be?”"

Yeah, I know, I know, the idea that the crowd of DC press corp twinks, wimps, petunias, pansies, and low-T soy boys could actually be swashbuckling warriors of truth simply beggars belief. You just have to remember that this is a satire, not real life:

“All for One and One for All.” When Stephen Price Blair’s letter of introduction to White House Press Secretary Bobby Trevor is stolen by a mysterious Senator, he vows revenge against the most powerful people in DC. He risks his life, and his reputation as a journalist, to protect the President and Vice President from the plots of House Speaker Janet Richardson, and duels the Speaker’s journalists to advance the cause of beltway bipartisanship. He adventures to Rochelle (Louisiana), evades the Klan, and interviews an apocalyptic cult in an armed standoff with Postal agents—and also takes down that rural state’s malicious governor.

Available for $4.99 on Kindle and $12.99 in paperback.

___________

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.



20200816 book pic 02.jpg

Posted by: OregonMuse at 08:55 AM




Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1

Posted by: Zoltan at August 16, 2020 08:56 AM (vWLM+)

2 Mornin, still waiting on dog labs.

Posted by: CN at August 16, 2020 08:56 AM (ONvIw)

3 Still re-reading John Ringo and Eric Flint's 1632 series. On Book 5 now. Its actaully the 10th book in the series but it is the one that picks back up with the original people in the series. I will pick up something else after this one.

Posted by: Vic at August 16, 2020 08:56 AM (mpXpK)

4 Wow, early this week!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 08:57 AM (cfSRQ)

5 Those pants are fine. I would wear them to howl at the moon from my back yard.

Posted by: the Wolfxan at August 16, 2020 08:57 AM (Tnijr)

6 Deanna as a blonde

Posted by: CN at August 16, 2020 08:58 AM (ONvIw)

7 Dirty screen
Tolle Lege
Finished Dennis Prager's Rational Bible Exodus and well into Lloyd's book Long Live Death, pretty good so far

Posted by: Skip at August 16, 2020 08:58 AM (OjZpE)

8 I finished the Natchez Burning trilogy by reading Mississippi Burning by Greg Isles. This book is mainly a court procedure novel which brings the story to a satisfactory conclusion. One of the best trilogies that I have read.

Posted by: Zoltan at August 16, 2020 08:59 AM (vWLM+)

9 I can confirm the Harold Bluetooth story. I kept telling him to floss, but did he listen to me?

Posted by: Harold Bluetooth's Royal Dentist at August 16, 2020 08:59 AM (PiwSw)

10 Truth about Harald. "The Bluetooth wireless specification design was named after the king in 1997, based on an analogy that the technology would unite devices the way Harald Bluetooth united the tribes of Denmark into a single kingdom. The Bluetooth logo consists of a Younger futhark bindrune for his initials"

Posted by: runner at August 16, 2020 09:00 AM (zr5Kq)

11 Harold Bluetooth's name wasn't chosen at random; the technology was developed in Denmark, and Harold Bluetooth is considered to be Denmark's Founding Father. He was the first to unify all the local warring tribes.

Posted by: Tom Servo at August 16, 2020 09:00 AM (V2Yro)

12 I knew about the Bluetooth thing. When it first came out I wondered " wtf another wireless standard that didn't go as far as WiFi?" Boy was I wrong.

Posted by: freaked at August 16, 2020 09:00 AM (Tnijr)

13 I used to be fluent in futhark bindrune as a child, but forgot it entirely...

Posted by: runner at August 16, 2020 09:01 AM (zr5Kq)

14 Hey

Posted by: PUE 206 at August 16, 2020 09:01 AM (D/SYi)

15
Who Dis is riding that train, high on cocaine.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at August 16, 2020 09:02 AM (pNxlR)

16 ' used to be fluent in futhark bindrune as a child, but forgot it entirely...
Posted by: runner'


You got some of your letters mixed up.

Posted by: freaked at August 16, 2020 09:03 AM (Tnijr)

17 Negative Book Review: This doesn't pertain to the book per se, but the edition.

I've notice Amazon is carrying reprints that are basically unedited scans. I feel for this once before, with a copy of Orwell's Homage to Catalonia. In that case, I bought a used hardcover and accepted the loss.

However, last week my order of Parade's End arrived and after reading four pages packed with oddball characters that were clearly the result of a flawed conversion/optical scans I sent it back and gave it a nasty review.

I kind of like Parade's End the first time I read it and want to take another look. I find that if I liked a book the first time, the second time I usually get even more out of it since I'm not reading to find out what happens but rather to enjoy the ride. I may not even remember the details of the plot, but I'm more patient.

The first few pages I enjoyed and was looking forward to the re-read but the text was just garbage.

So now I'm hunting down used copies which is tricky because he's chiefly known for The Good Soldier, which I didn't like. Tons of reprints for that, which is annoying.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 09:03 AM (cfSRQ)

18 The mystery guest lady, darned if I know her name, but the book I think is one of the Perry Mason series. So I suspect she was a featured player in one of them in the '40s.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 16, 2020 09:03 AM (rpbg1)

19 I'm not sure why Obama doesn't just hire Bill Ayers again to finish his book. He can clearly afford it.

Posted by: Ordinary American at August 16, 2020 09:03 AM (H8QX8)

20 Nice Book Store!

Those pants look soft. Very soft.

The Who Dis is Hillary Rodham Clinton while she was still a Goldwater Girl.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at August 16, 2020 09:04 AM (Z+IKu)

21 BTW, lol on any kid enjoying The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

I guess if it was abridged to a single slender volume and only had the juicy bits that would work.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 09:05 AM (cfSRQ)

22 Nope, I was wrong: The book, The Case of the Headless Bride, has the title pattern of Gardner's Perry Masons, but is by someone named Wayne Morgan.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 16, 2020 09:05 AM (rpbg1)

23 "Barack Obama, in fact, has a history of failing to perform."


"Dreams Of My Failures" is taking quite a while to compile.

Posted by: freaked at August 16, 2020 09:05 AM (Tnijr)

24 I used to be fluent in futhark bindrune as a child, but forgot it entirely...

Clearly that skill set has more market value than a Humanities degree.

Posted by: 🐧 at August 16, 2020 09:06 AM (C+evo)

25 Just wondering, does the barrel have a light for reading, or should I bring my Kindle?

Posted by: Zoltan at August 16, 2020 09:06 AM (vWLM+)

26 Hi. Guess I missed the fun EMT post. Now it's just the dead trees study.

That Mrs. Sasquatch really needs to shave her legs.

Posted by: mindful webworker
radically inclined webworks
at August 16, 2020 09:06 AM (wKcYr)

27 Those pants look soft. Very soft.



The Who Dis is Hillary Rodham Clinton while she was still a Goldwater Girl.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at August 16, 2020 09:04 AM (Z+IKu)

---
Movie viewing this week included Magnum Force, in which Dirty Harry takes on dirty cops, who have been assassinating criminals.

The fashions of the era were...unique.

The best part was the actual pimp in his pimp ride, which was outright amazing, with giant pipes sticking out of the engine, animal-skin top and the entire interior (including dashboard!) lined with white fur.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 09:07 AM (cfSRQ)

28 I read A.H. Lloyd's book on the Spanish Civil War. It was interesting and I enjoyed it. I didn't know much about the conflict. It is a definite recommend and buy.


One complaint, it really needs some editing to correct some typos and one section that gets repeated. I say this as someone who lives with two grammar Nazis.

Posted by: WOPR - Clown World Timeline Thinks This Timeline is Insane at August 16, 2020 09:08 AM (J70i0)

29 I started reading "Long Live Death" this week, the biggest surprise to me so far was how massively the French supported the communists. Makes me feel like they deserved what they got later.

Posted by: Tom Servo at August 16, 2020 09:08 AM (V2Yro)

30 I don't know who did lady but she sure is good looking.

Posted by: Vic at August 16, 2020 09:08 AM (mpXpK)

31 Many thanks for the link, OM! - I know that many of the fans of Luna City were begging for the next installment.

I've been burning up the research, on the Malayan campaign, and the fall of Singapore in WWII for the next book, which is going so fast that I might have it out around the end of the year. So - not much for pleasure reading this week. Although I am dipping into M.K. Wren's Phoenix Trilogy, which is good old fashioned science fiction generational drama.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at August 16, 2020 09:08 AM (xnmPy)

32 I am reading "Mr, Jones, Meet the Master" the prayers and sermons of Peter Marshall-not the game show host. The man who was born in Scotland and became a Presbyterian Minister at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church-back in the days when you could be evangelical and Presbyterian. Marshall died in the 40's. His wife, Catherine Marshall was an author of a number of books including "A Man called Peter". Marshall was also the chaplain of the U.S. Senate. His sermons gives us wonderful images of Jesus and his disciples and the value of the life of faith. He was also a man who loved his adopted country, America as evidenced in his prayers.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 16, 2020 09:09 AM (WkPC9)

33 19 I'm not sure why Obama doesn't just hire Bill Ayers again to finish his book. He can clearly afford it.
Posted by: Ordinary American at August 16, 2020 09:03 AM (H8QX


His ego won't let him share the credit. He's the Anointed One, don't ya know.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at August 16, 2020 09:09 AM (PiwSw)

34 Just wondering, does the barrel have a light for reading, or should I bring my Kindle?


Posted by: Zoltan at August 16, 2020 09:06 AM (vWLM+)

You take nothing to the barrel but your fears. You leave the barrel with nothing but the haunting memories.

Posted by: WOPR - Clown World Timeline Thinks This Timeline is Insane at August 16, 2020 09:09 AM (J70i0)

35 in book news this morning, a dem shill hyping the dem convention on fox and friends this morning touted michelle obama, closing speaker monday night, as the author of "literally the #1 book ever sold". not kidding.

Posted by: Anachronda at August 16, 2020 09:09 AM (kf5Ci)

36 The best part was the actual pimp in his pimp ride, which was outright amazing, with giant pipes sticking out of the engine, animal-skin top and the entire interior (including dashboard!) lined with white fur.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020


*
*

Only in San Fran would that work. In Da Swamp, the fur would be soaked in sweat before the morning was out.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 16, 2020 09:10 AM (rpbg1)

37 That sort of looks like Deanna Durbin.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 16, 2020 09:10 AM (2JVJo)

38 26 But those dead trees leave stories to tell if you know where to listen

Posted by: Skip at August 16, 2020 09:10 AM (OjZpE)

39 Nice gams on that broad.

Posted by: fly at August 16, 2020 09:10 AM (2M/TV)

40 Carol Burnett Show rerun on this morning just showed a sketch about a sketch being rehearsed where things keep being changed/taken out because someone is offended. This is probably 1972, almost 50 years ago...cancel culture has been growing for a long, long time.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at August 16, 2020 09:10 AM (oVJmc)

41 However, last week my order of Parade's End arrived and after reading four pages packed with oddball characters that were clearly the result of a flawed conversion/optical scans I sent it back and gave it a nasty review.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 09:03 AM (cfSRQ)


One of the Midway books is like this, the Kindle version of either Shattered Sword or the Symonds one. It's not too bad, but it has some glaring examples of bad OCR on IJN ship names and will spell one three different ways on the same page.

Posted by: hogmartin at August 16, 2020 09:10 AM (t+qrx)

42 I started reading "Long Live Death" this week, the
biggest surprise to me so far was how massively the French supported the
communists. Makes me feel like they deserved what they got later.

Posted by: Tom Servo at August 16, 2020 09:08 AM (V2Yro)

I didn't know that either. But, it reinforces Taylor's book on the causes of WWII that it mainly was a repeat of failed European politics.

Posted by: WOPR - Clown World Timeline Thinks This Timeline is Insane at August 16, 2020 09:12 AM (J70i0)

43 I'm reading a novel by Arturo Perez-Reverte, _The Nautical Chart_. APR is Spanish, and the best way to describe him is "like Dan Brown, if Dan Brown could actually write and knew something about history." His best-known book was The Club Dumas, which I think was made into a film.

I expect the guy's probably a lefty, but it doesn't seep into the work.

This one's about searching for sunken treasure off the Spanish coast, with a historical mystery about the Jesuits. Good stuff.

Posted by: Trimegistus at August 16, 2020 09:12 AM (ekOv+)

44 One complaint, it really needs some editing to
correct some typos and one section that gets repeated. I say this as
someone who lives with two grammar Nazis.


Posted by: WOPR - Clown World Timeline Thinks This Timeline is Insane at August 16, 2020 09:08 AM (J70i0)

---
Yes, the editing sucks. I've had two people go through it, but stuff gets by. If you want to sent me what you found, I'll fix it.

I've already corrected a bunch that other readers have found and uploaded a cleaner file. I don't know if Kindle updates it automatically, but if it does, it should be better now.

If you have a paperback, you now own a rare first edition!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 09:12 AM (cfSRQ)

45 The dancer in "The Cabinet of Curiosities" painting has a beautifully defined instep.

There is a short story called "Back There in the Grass" by one Gouveneur Morris which features a miniature woman like the one in the painting. Drawback: She has snake fangs, and is venomous. . . .

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 16, 2020 09:12 AM (rpbg1)

46 Reading a couple of books on childhood trauma. Still looking for answers and solutions.

Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at August 16, 2020 09:13 AM (NWiLs)

47 I hate Bluetooth

I get it working and then all the sudden its decides not to play thru my kindle so I can listen to a book. Or it synch to my phone and de synchs from my tablet.

Posted by: rhennigantx at August 16, 2020 09:13 AM (JFO2v)

48 If you have a paperback, you now own a rare first edition!
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 09:12 AM (cfSRQ)

It'll be like those stamps with the upside down airplane.

Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at August 16, 2020 09:14 AM (NWiLs)

49 19 I'm not sure why Obama doesn't just hire Bill Ayers again to finish his book. He can clearly afford it.
Posted by: Ordinary American at August 16, 2020 09:03 AM (H8QX

$65 million does not go as far as it used to!

Posted by: rhennigantx at August 16, 2020 09:14 AM (JFO2v)

50 One of the Midway books is like this, the Kindle version of either Shattered Sword or the Symonds one. It's not too bad, but it has some glaring examples of bad OCR on IJN ship names and will spell one three different ways on the same page.

Posted by: hogmartin at August 16, 2020 09:10 AM (t+qrx)

---
It's particularly tough in a novel where the author is using some unique turns of phrase and somewhat experimental for its time.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 09:14 AM (cfSRQ)

51 $65 million does not go as far as it used to!
Posted by: rhennigantx at August 16, 2020 09:14 AM (JFO2v)

True but it can still go pretty damn far.

Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at August 16, 2020 09:14 AM (NWiLs)

52 Yes, the editing sucks. I've had two people go
through it, but stuff gets by. If you want to sent me what you found,
I'll fix it.

I've already corrected a bunch that other readers
have found and uploaded a cleaner file. I don't know if Kindle updates
it automatically, but if it does, it should be better now.

If you have a paperback, you now own a rare first edition!


Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 09:12 AM (cfSRQ)

I've had books update before. They will probably get caught then. Thanks for the book.

Posted by: WOPR - Clown World Timeline Thinks This Timeline is Insane at August 16, 2020 09:15 AM (J70i0)

53 I remember pimped-out cars like that. The hilarious thing was that they were all fake. A guy in my neighborhood had some kind of customized Caddy back in the Seventies, with chrome supercharger lines coming out of the hood. Only they were actually vacuum-cleaner hoses painted silver. Under the hood it was a regular underpowered Seventies Cadillac.

Posted by: Trimegistus at August 16, 2020 09:15 AM (ekOv+)

54 Seeing that Mandalorian cover reminds me that there are a ton of "Planet Stories" magazine stories free on Gutenberg, each with usually a hot babe, handsome hero, and ugly space monster on the cover, like this one:

https://tinyurl.com/y62ne2yx

and

https://tinyurl.com/y3xycfwh

Posted by: freaked at August 16, 2020 09:15 AM (Tnijr)

55 Before I talk about other things I read I want to thank NaCly Dog for his recommendation late in last week's thread (I always go back and check for late comments after the Horde has nooded away) of VDH's A War Like No Other. I've already learned more in 10 pages of why things happened and why Thucydides reported things the way he did. Ironically VDH wrote an intro to the Landmark Thucydides that for some reason I found irritating although I was surely chomping to get to the main text.

My experience pre VDH also illustrates some of the problems Gibbon faced by being such an all encompassing autodidact: if you start reading ancient accounts you can often be misled and end up looking like an idiot, which Eddie did many many times to the delight of people writing footnotes.

Again the Horde proves to be a superior source of book recommendations.

Posted by: Captain Hate at August 16, 2020 09:15 AM (y7DUB)

56 11 Harold Bluetooth's name wasn't chosen at random; the technology was developed in Denmark, and Harold Bluetooth is considered to be Denmark's Founding Father. He was the first to unify all the local warring tribes.
Posted by: Tom Servo at August 16, 2020 09:00 AM (V2Yro)

---

You know what this means?

Woke folks can't use Bluetooth anymore, since it's a white patriarchy symbol.

And if they do use it, well, they're appropriating white culture.

Can't get much whiter than Denmark.

Posted by: SMH at August 16, 2020 09:15 AM (RU4sa)

57 those pants would be OK if you were going to the P.A.G.A.N. rally but didn't want to wear the heavy goatskin chaps.

Posted by: Kindltot at August 16, 2020 09:15 AM (WyVLE)

58 Reading a couple of books on childhood trauma. Still looking for answers and solutions.

Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at August 16, 2020 09:13 AM (NWiLs)

---
I'll save you some time: the answer is 42.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 09:15 AM (cfSRQ)

59 It'll be like those stamps with the upside down airplane.
Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at August 16, 2020 09:14 AM (NWiLs)

Since there's an airplane on the cover, this suggests a design for the limited edition!

Posted by: Tom Servo at August 16, 2020 09:16 AM (V2Yro)

60 Fell Acres Day Cay Center in Malden, Massachusetts (Amirault Family).

Fells
Acres, actually, but no matter.

Here in MA, we had a tax crusader named Barbara Anderson (may she rest in peace), who, during the last years of her life, was on a mission to get Gerald Amirault out of prison (he had been railroaded by a corrupt prosecutor, IMO, in 1986).

In 2000, the governor's board voted to release Amirault. Fat slob bitch governor Jane Swift refused.
Amirault was not released until 2004.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 16, 2020 09:16 AM (2JVJo)

61 Re-reading Larry McMurtry's Streets of Laredo, the sequel to Lonesome Dove. McMurtry comes up with the most vivid criminals of any Western writer I've run across, with the possible exception of Loren D. Estleman. There's Mox Mox the manburner -- he likes to set his victims on fire, whether they're man, woman, or child; and Joey Garza the Mexican boy taken by Apaches who has no interest in women as women, but stores objects he steals and finds fascinating in a cave, and plans to murder his brother and sister to teach his mother a lesson about being a whore.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 16, 2020 09:17 AM (rpbg1)

62 On AMC, The Bronx Tale beating is about to happen.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at August 16, 2020 09:17 AM (fIHXk)

63 Hi book people. I was on the front porch enjoying the rain and thunder.

Finished David Wong’s (Jason Pargin’s) “Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits”. I liked it, and will definitely read the follow-on, “Zoey Punches the Future in the Dick”.

Part of the awfulness of Tabula Ra$a, and life in general in this near-futuristic hyper-Vegas, is that everyone is wired with Blink and every cool/beautiful/horrific thing that happens is witnessed by everyone jacked into the web. I thought it was a parody device but Amazon is pimping the Blink Mini.

A good companion read with Austin Grossman’s “Soon I Will Be Invincible”.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at August 16, 2020 09:18 AM (Dc2NZ)

64 I thought to get the paperback to be able to pass along, but I wanted to get The Rational Bible Exodus in hard back and twice failed that attempt.

Posted by: Skip at August 16, 2020 09:19 AM (OjZpE)

65 Anyway, the "who dis" chick has legs to die for, and I am not normally a leg man.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 16, 2020 09:19 AM (2JVJo)

66 Here's a neat little memoir about the end of the war in the Pacific, from Quillette:

https://preview.tinyurl.com/y2k6n6up

Very interesting, sad, hilarious, and touching all at once.

Posted by: Trimegistus at August 16, 2020 09:20 AM (ekOv+)

67 Fell Acres does sound like a location in a horror novel.

Posted by: Trimegistus at August 16, 2020 09:21 AM (ekOv+)

68 Morning, everyone. I'll renew my plea for someone to post the procedure for cutting and pasting from a Word file to this here site. IIRC, it involves Notepad.

Posted by: pep at August 16, 2020 09:21 AM (v16oJ)

69 >>On AMC, The Bronx Tale beating is about to happen.

Now youse can't leave.

Someone alert James Madison.

Posted by: JackStraw at August 16, 2020 09:22 AM (ZLI7S)

70
Anyway, the "who dis" chick has legs to die for, and I am not normally a leg man.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 16, 2020 09:19 AM (2JVJo)

---
It's interesting how the fashions of that period were more discrete up top, but all about the legs.

Of course, sweaters were also a thing.

But go back a bit, and women had extensive cleavage visible, but their legs were completely shrouded.

Someone could write a book on that.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 09:22 AM (cfSRQ)

71 57 those pants would be OK if you were going to the P.A.G.A.N. rally but didn't want to wear the heavy goatskin chaps.
Posted by: Kindltot at August 16, 2020 09:15 AM (WyVLE)

Why would anyone not want to wear the goatskin chaps

Posted by: PUE 206 at August 16, 2020 09:22 AM (D/SYi)

72 Good morning fellow Book Threadists. I hope everyone had a great week of reading.

Posted by: JTB at August 16, 2020 09:22 AM (7EjX1)

73 One of the authors opens with a discussion of just how badly the application of "honor your father and mother" and "obey your parents" can mind-fuck kids when their parents are abusers. It's an interesting insight and one that I can say from personal experience is accurate.

Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at August 16, 2020 09:22 AM (NWiLs)

74 Penguin Random House reportedly paid the Obamas $65 million dollars for two books,



Publishing is one of the biggest money laundering scams outside of government.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at August 16, 2020 09:22 AM (oVJmc)

75 Reading a couple of books on childhood trauma. Still looking for answers and solutions.

Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at August 16, 2020 09:13 AM (NWiLs)

You will consider this snarky. and it isn't and I know I'm not your favorite person right now-but consider hypnotherapy. This guy advertises on the conservative radio (Wor 710) Dr. Errol Gluck. Apparently trauma is something he deals with. You don't have to be physically present to do this. And no, I don't know Mr Gluck and don't get a kickback for recommending him. It just sounds like therapy and books haven't worked for you. Maybe this will.

And I have to go so you can get annoyed at me sometime else on the board.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 16, 2020 09:23 AM (WkPC9)

76 6 Deanna as a blonde
Posted by: CN at August 16, 2020 08:58 AM (ONvIw)


You are correct, ma'am!

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 16, 2020 09:23 AM (Zpa+Q)

77 But go back a bit, and women had extensive cleavage visible, but their legs were completely shrouded.

Someone could write a book on that.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 09:22 AM (cfSRQ)

Picture book, ideally.

Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at August 16, 2020 09:23 AM (NWiLs)

78 So, book news:

I am reading Strange Cults and Secret Societies of Modern London, a book from 1936 by the journalist Elliott O'Donnell (Wolfus, shoot me an e-mail through my nic!). It has chapters on various, as O'Donnell says, cults and secret societies flourishing in London at the time, such as the Hell-Fire Club, the Mafia and so on.

He also has chapters which, in line with his reputation, are frankly fake, such as the death-scenting "Grey Sisters," the revenge-minded "Black Brothers" and a truly repellent vampire cult in the West End.

It's an entertaining book, if you don't take it too seriously, and it has given me a couple of scene ideas for a new Theda Bara short supernatural story.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 16, 2020 09:23 AM (2JVJo)

79 I'm reading a couple of really old-school science fiction books. It's an Ace double with Robert Calvert McClary's 3 Thousand Years on one side and Margaret St. Clair's Green Queen on the other.

McClary's is a thirties-era story about a scientist who literally kills over a billion people in his scheme to enact a cashless economy where everything is provided for free.

He's still one of the heroes. His main flaw in the story is not that he wants to rule the world and remake it in his own image but that he should be doing so in cooperation with the other main hero, the iron-handed industrialist.

Very strange look into an all-too common philosophy.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at August 16, 2020 09:25 AM (2lndx)

80 Hmmm... CherryPy rejecting me

Posted by: Truman North, Moron Emeritus at August 16, 2020 09:26 AM (2YIWJ)

81 You will consider this snarky. and it isn't and I know I'm not your favorite person right now-but consider hypnotherapy. This guy advertises on the conservative radio (Wor 710) Dr. Errol Gluck. Apparently trauma is something he deals with. You don't have to be physically present to do this. And no, I don't know Mr Gluck and don't get a kickback for recommending him. It just sounds like therapy and books haven't worked for you. Maybe this will.

And I have to go so you can get annoyed at me sometime else on the board.
Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 16, 2020 09:23 AM (WkPC9)

I've considered hypnotherapy before, so thanks for the information. I'm not sure why you're assuming animosity from me toward you individually.

Apropos of nothing, the Bing home page has a really cool picture of a burrowing owl.

Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at August 16, 2020 09:26 AM (NWiLs)

82 hiya

Posted by: JT at August 16, 2020 09:26 AM (arJlL)

83 68 Morning, everyone. I'll renew my plea for someone to post the procedure for cutting and pasting from a Word file to this here site. IIRC, it involves Notepad.
Posted by: pep at August 16, 2020 09:21 AM (v16oJ)

open word doc

open notepad

cut from word

paste to notepad

files save as .txt

then cut

and paste to AoSHQ for comments, general debasement, and raging.

Posted by: rhennigantx at August 16, 2020 09:27 AM (JFO2v)

84 runner #10: ...The Bluetooth logo consists of a Younger futhark bindrune for his initials

futhark bindrune - okay, now you're just stringing random syllables together. Like the announcers on classical music programs.

Posted by: mindful webworker
radically inclined webworks
at August 16, 2020 09:27 AM (wKcYr)

85 Fell Acres Day Cay Center in Malden, Massachusetts (Amirault Family).

Fells Acres, actually, but no matter.

Here in MA, we had a tax crusader named Barbara Anderson (may she rest in peace), who, during the last years of her life, was on a mission to get Gerald Amirault out of prison (he had been railroaded by a corrupt prosecutor, IMO, in 1986).

In 2000, the governor's board voted to release Amirault. Fat slob bitch governor Jane Swift refused.
Amirault was not released until 2004.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 16, 2020 09:16 AM (2JVJo)


There's a blog, Just One Minute, where one of the commenters was a prison guard where Amirault was incarcerated. Although he's a hardened screw he's also a nice guy and something about Amirault made him think he was innocent.

Martha Coakley, the stupid slut who lost to Scotty Centerfold, dragged her fat ass on releasing Amirault. Dorothy Rabinowitz for the WSJ did a prize winning series on what a fucking travesty the whole trial was with recovered memory horseshit overcoming no physical evidence that anything happened. The jurors must be in a Retard Protection program.

Posted by: Captain Hate at August 16, 2020 09:27 AM (y7DUB)

86 Deanna as a blonde.

So I was right!

Durbin's life was interesting. She was Universal's answer to Judy Garland and made a lot of films showcasing her soprano range. As she got older, however, her box-office receipts began to decline (she wanted serious films; her fans wanted her to continue to be, as she put it, the singing Little Miss Fixit), so she quit and moved to France, where she lived for the rest of her life.

I don't believe that, after her retirement, she ever gave an interview. She was very jealous of her privacy.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 16, 2020 09:27 AM (2JVJo)

87 @83
Thanks. That's what I did and I got the wall of red text. Apparently it doesn't like my writing style.

Posted by: pep at August 16, 2020 09:28 AM (v16oJ)

88 37 That sort of looks like Deanna Durbin.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 16, 2020 09:10 AM (2JVJo)


And there's a good reason for that!

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 16, 2020 09:28 AM (Zpa+Q)

89 I think the "either legs or cleavage" thing is for the same reason face make-up emphasizes the eyes or the mouth, but not both.
don't want to look too slutty.

Posted by: artemis at August 16, 2020 09:28 AM (AwPyG)

90 If you're interested in London secret societies, check out "A History of Secret Societies" by (pseudonym alert!) "Arkon Daraul." It was written in the Sixties and includes some contemporary groups as well as historical ones.

Posted by: Trimegistus at August 16, 2020 09:28 AM (ekOv+)

91 Hello friends, new and old.

It's been years since Ace was my local. I spend my beer money at InstaPundit now. Don't hold it against me.

I'm so excited to tell you about my second novel, Lions Red and Gold, which is now available on dead tree and Kindle only on Amazon!

lions red and gold

It's the story of several people, some historical and some imagined, from the Three Estates, who are swept to war on the eve of the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

You were so kind to me last year when 40 of you took a chance on my debut novel, Western Terminus. I dearly hope you will take another chance with Lions Red and Gold.

Posted by: Truman North, Moron Emeritus at August 16, 2020 09:29 AM (2YIWJ)

92 Reading a couple of books on childhood trauma. Still looking for answers and solutions.

Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at August 16, 2020 09:13 AM (NWiLs)

Childhood trauma can make you feel pretty unlovable and fearful of people. I know we discussed our wretched clildhoods before, but for me the answer was accepting that my mom, in particular, was hateful and willing to assign blame to her kids, largely me as the older.

I recall being hypersuspicious of people who were nice to me as if they just didn't know that I didn't deserve it and looked for people who would give me the criticism I believed I deserved (because we seek the familiar more often than the better...habits are hard)

Posted by: CN at August 16, 2020 09:29 AM (ONvIw)

93 After seeing the cool trebuchet scenes in "The King" I checked out a couple medieval siege warfare books from the library.

For the New Dark Ages.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at August 16, 2020 09:30 AM (Dc2NZ)

94 An idea for a Who Dis.

With California burning, try the film Ring of Fire starring The Fugitive and a young hottie.

Posted by: MachiasPrivateer at August 16, 2020 09:31 AM (EMi53)

95 Apparently the comment system doesn't pick up hyperlinks. Please note:

Lions Red and Gold

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08CP92PXR?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860

And Western Terminus

https://www.amazon.com/Western-Terminus-Eli-Tucker-Thriller/dp/1795358289

Posted by: Truman North, Moron Emeritus at August 16, 2020 09:31 AM (2YIWJ)

96 57 those pants would be OK if you were going to the P.A.G.A.N. rally but didn't want to wear the heavy goatskin chaps.
Posted by: Kindltot at August 16, 2020 09:15 AM (WyVLE)

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

People Against Goodness And Normalcy?

Posted by: No One of Consequence at August 16, 2020 09:31 AM (CAJOC)

97 Oh wow, just looked at the pants link. Fluffy acrylic, looks like just the thing for Bal des ardents reenactors.

Posted by: hogmartin at August 16, 2020 09:31 AM (t+qrx)

98 82 hiya
Posted by: JT at August 16, 2020 09:26 AM (arJlL)

HIYA!!!

Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at August 16, 2020 09:31 AM (NWiLs)

99 "Christendom Destroyed: Europe 1517-1648," by Mark Greengrass:

A tough slog.

It takes a holistic view of everything happening during those years, so... LOTS of science, quite a bit of ;philosophy, too.

The Thirty Years War stopped a lot of promising trends in their tracks, somewhat like WW I did.

From today's perspective, it's a pity the counter-reformed Church didn't follow up on Vienna & Lepanto. Also that the Hapsburgs wasted all that New World gold trying to make the Dutch into good Catholics.

Posted by: mnw at August 16, 2020 09:31 AM (Cssks)

100 If you're interested in London secret societies, check out "A History of Secret Societies" by (pseudonym alert!) "Arkon Daraul." It was written in the Sixties and includes some contemporary groups as well as historical ones.
Posted by: Trimegistus at August 16, 2020 09:28 AM (ekOv+)


Thanks! I'll check that out.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 16, 2020 09:31 AM (2JVJo)

101 A.H. Lloyd: I missed your response to me last week as I had things to do and didn't get back to the thread until late that afternoon.

I didn't know MSU was considering renaming JMC. Doesn't surprise me. New president Stanley comes across as a flaming libtard, which isn't surprising considering most college presidents are. (His knee jerk response to the "controversy" at the Wharton Center gift shop several months ago was disgusting and I blasted him with an email for it, telling him I will never again donate to MSU while he is president).

Posted by: fly at August 16, 2020 09:31 AM (2M/TV)

102 Does anyone know of any good alternative history novels where the point of diversion is that Frederick Barbarossa didn't drown on his way to the Third Crusade?

Posted by: Colorado Alex In Exile at August 16, 2020 09:32 AM (SgjGX)

103 Had a pleasant surprise this week. On a whim I downloaded the ebook edition of "Telefon" (the source for the Charles Bronson movie). Author is Walter Wager. It's good.

Book was published in 1975 and tells the story of a rogue Stalinist agent who escapes to the US with a codebook containing info for activating a large group of undercover Russian agents, who have been brainwashed into believing they're actually Americans and have been living under cover for more than a decade. The book contains their phone numbers and the code phrase that activates them to commit various acts of sabotage against the military and government.

Today of course it's a bit dated but reads very well. The Russians are portrayed mostly as hardworking guys who are trying to stop this nutcase, and the Americans are puzzled by the sabotage targets - because 15 years later, many of them have closed/moved. Plus the weaponry used to commit the acts is also outdated. It's all very intriguing and well written.

Posted by: Dr Alice at August 16, 2020 09:32 AM (zjvTi)

104 The best part was the actual pimp in his pimp ride, which was outright amazing, with giant pipes sticking out of the engine, animal-skin top and the entire interior (including dashboard!) lined with white fur.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 09:07 AM (cfSRQ)


I actually saw a car pretty much like that when some friends and I were driving to a concert in Oakland, right across SF Bay from SF back in 1976. Driven by a black guy wearing a big floppy hat. Big exhaust pipes, furry steering wheel, the whole nine yards. I thought I must've been in a movie.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 16, 2020 09:32 AM (Zpa+Q)

105 I've considered hypnotherapy before, so thanks for
the information. I'm not sure why you're assuming animosity from me
toward you individually.



Apropos of nothing, the Bing home page has a really cool picture of a burrowing owl.

Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at August 16, 2020 09:26 AM (NWiLs)
----
My wife did a little of it and it triggered a memory of our children running around Beale Garden when they were very little and she was just overcome with joy. Smiling and crying thinking of how happy and wonderful that moment was. She gets misty thinking about it even now. She had forgotten that in her depression but it came back with such power that it really brightened her up.

One way I've kept my sanity is through my habit of holding on to those moments, basically creating stepping stones across a raging river of despair.

I cling to those moments and try to ignore everything else.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 09:32 AM (cfSRQ)

106 I think the "either legs or cleavage" thing is for the same reason face make-up emphasizes the eyes or the mouth, but not both.
don't want to look too slutty.
Posted by: artemis at August 16, 2020


*
*

"They say that opposites attract,
But I don't agree --
I want a woman just as trashy as me!"
-- Confederate Railroad

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 16, 2020 09:32 AM (rpbg1)

107 87 @83
Thanks. That's what I did and I got the wall of red text. Apparently it doesn't like my writing style.
Posted by: pep at August 16, 2020 09:28 AM (v16oJ)

on File Save As see encoding Select ANSI.

Posted by: rhennigantx at August 16, 2020 09:33 AM (JFO2v)

108 >>There's a blog, Just One Minute, where one of the commenters was a prison guard where Amirault was incarcerated. Although he's a hardened screw he's also a nice guy and something about Amirault made him think he was innocent.

Many of us who lived in MA during that period and weren't colossally stupid knew the whole thing was a farce from day 1.

Leftwing scare mobs are difficult to control.

Posted by: JackStraw at August 16, 2020 09:33 AM (ZLI7S)

109 I'm continuing with Count of Monte Cristo and it continues to be a fun read. However, at over 1,300 pages it is going to take a while so just assume I'm still reading it for the near future. It does seem odd to tackle such a long book these days for a first time read. Haven't done that in ages.

Posted by: JTB at August 16, 2020 09:33 AM (7EjX1)

110 Currently listening to "Black Rednecks and White Liberals" by Thomas Sowell. Facinating stuff. Can't go wrong with Sowell.

Posted by: Darth Randall at August 16, 2020 09:33 AM (iWCRg)

111 However, last week my order of Parade's End arrived and after reading four pages packed with oddball characters that were clearly the result of a flawed conversion/optical scans I sent it back and gave it a nasty review.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 09:03 AM (cfSRQ)

One of the Midway books is like this, the Kindle version of either Shattered Sword or the Symonds one. It's not too bad, but it has some glaring examples of bad OCR on IJN ship names and will spell one three different ways on the same page.
Posted by: hogmartin

Maybe nondiscrimination laws force them to hire the illiterate to proofread.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at August 16, 2020 09:33 AM (+y/Ru)

112 83 68 Morning, everyone. I'll renew my plea for someone to post the procedure for cutting and pasting from a Word file to this here site. IIRC, it involves Notepad.
Posted by: pep at August 16, 2020 09:21 AM (v16oJ)

open word doc

open notepad

cut from word

paste to notepad

files save as .txt

then cut

and paste to AoSHQ for comments, general debasement, and raging.
Posted by: rhennigantx at August 16, 2020 09:27 AM (JFO2v)

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

Not sure how well this works anymore. I copied something from a web page, pasted into Notepad, and the damn smart quotes were still there!

Posted by: No One of Consequence at August 16, 2020 09:33 AM (CAJOC)

113 Personal book news:

You might remember that last Sunday I was debating whether or not to visit a friend who offered to help me break my writer's block. I ended up going, and it was a good thing - she helped spark a few good ideas, showed me where to cut a lot of dead wood and helped me straighten out the plotline to something which, if not totally convincing, at least moves in a straight line.

So after I leave here today, I am going to take the ms. out to the porch and do some editing.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 16, 2020 09:33 AM (2JVJo)

114 I actually saw a car pretty much like that when some friends and I were driving to a concert in Oakland, right across SF Bay from SF back in 1976. Driven by a black guy wearing a big floppy hat. Big exhaust pipes, furry steering wheel, the whole nine yards. I thought I must've been in a movie.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 16, 2020 09:32 AM (Zpa+Q)

a la Live and Let Die??

Posted by: rhennigantx at August 16, 2020 09:34 AM (JFO2v)

115 "Yeah, and I like my women just a little on the trashy side.
When they wear their clothes too tight and their hair is dyed.
Too much lipstick and, ah, too much rouge
Gets me excited, leaves me feeling confused. . ."

Posted by: artemis at August 16, 2020 09:34 AM (AwPyG)

116 A great Sunday to all!

I recommend Eric James Stone's Unforgettable. A quantum mechanical fluke makes Nat Morgan utterly forgettable. No one can remember he exists for more than a minute after he's gone - a useful ability for his career as a CIA agent. A clever gimmick and a solid story.

Also, I just started on The Lawdog Files - [mis]adventures of a small-town Texas lawman. Possibly the funniest thing I've ever read.

Posted by: Hans G. Schantz at August 16, 2020 09:34 AM (FXjhj)

117 Not sure how well this works anymore. I copied something from a web page, pasted into Notepad, and the damn smart quotes were still there!
Posted by: No One of Consequence at August 16, 2020 09:33 AM (CAJOC)


encoding should be ANSI

Posted by: rhennigantx at August 16, 2020 09:34 AM (JFO2v)

118 90 If you're interested in London secret societies, check out "A History of Secret Societies" by (pseudonym alert!) "Arkon Daraul." It was written in the Sixties and includes some contemporary groups as well as historical ones.
Posted by: Trimegistus at August 16, 2020 09:28 AM (ekOv+)
--

I have that! Thanks for reminding me.

Tongs of Terror would be a good band name. They could lead in for The Great Singapore Penis Panic at Lollapalooza.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at August 16, 2020 09:35 AM (Dc2NZ)

119 That sort of looks like Deanna Durbin.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 16, 2020 09:10 AM (2JVJo)

And there's a good reason for that!


Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor Social Distancing Professional at August 16, 2020 09:28 AM (Zpa+Q)


She's the world's famous Deanna Durbin look a like

Posted by: TheQuietMan at August 16, 2020 09:35 AM (ekmlY)

120 You were so kind to me last year when 40 of you took a chance on my debut novel, Western Terminus. I dearly hope you will take another chance with Lions Red and Gold.
Posted by: Truman North, Moron Emeritus at August 16, 2020 09:29 AM (2YIWJ)


Nice to see you again. You should've e-mailed me. I would've included a shout out in the thread content.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 16, 2020 09:35 AM (Zpa+Q)

121 on File Save As see encoding Select ANSI.

Posted by: rhennigantx


Yup, did that as well. It just doesn't like me.

Posted by: pep at August 16, 2020 09:35 AM (v16oJ)

122 Good morning all
OT but I was sitting under my pergola the other evening and a bat flew under it and landed on the wall next to me and was sitting there looking at me for for a few minutes before it took off again.
Thought it was funny since all the quarantine cafes have involved bats lately
Btw it was still light outside so probably rabid

Posted by: Harley at August 16, 2020 09:35 AM (pJaW6)

123 People Against Goodness And Normalcy?


Sounds like the 'mainstream' Democrats.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at August 16, 2020 09:36 AM (oVJmc)

124 84 runner #10: ...The Bluetooth logo consists of a Younger futhark bindrune for his initials

futhark bindrune - okay, now you're just stringing random syllables together. Like the announcers on classical music programs.
Posted by: mindful webworker
radically inclined webworks
at August 16, 2020 09:27 AM (wKcYr)

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

Or like any number of Scandinavian languages.

Posted by: No One of Consequence at August 16, 2020 09:36 AM (CAJOC)

125 futhark bindrune - okay, now you're just stringing random syllables together. Like the announcers on classical music programs.
Posted by: mindful webworker
at August 16, 2020 09:27 AM (wKcYr)


"futhark bindrune" is an anagram for "hand-fruit bunker".

Posted by: hogmartin at August 16, 2020 09:36 AM (t+qrx)

126 Deanna as a blonde
Posted by: CN at August 16, 2020 08:58 AM (ONvIw)

You are correct, ma'am!
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional

What's in the box next to her ?

Posted by: JT at August 16, 2020 09:36 AM (arJlL)

127 Childhood trauma can make you feel pretty unlovable and fearful of people. I know we discussed our wretched clildhoods before, but for me the answer was accepting that my mom, in particular, was hateful and willing to assign blame to her kids, largely me as the older.

I recall being hypersuspicious of people who were nice to me as if they just didn't know that I didn't deserve it and looked for people who would give me the criticism I believed I deserved (because we seek the familiar more often than the better...habits are hard)
Posted by: CN at August 16, 2020 09:29 AM (ONvIw)

Feel unlovable? Check.
Fearful of people? Check.
Hypersuspicious? Check.
Seeking the familiar even when the familiar is horrible? Check.

Yes, that is an extremely hard habit to break, especially since it's frequently unconscious. The acceptance of who and what my parents were is easier to address than undoing to notion that I deserved it - and that every time someone shits on me I deserve it because I'm bad. That's some tough programming to break. I'm working on it, but it's rough going after decades of an almost religious belief that was true.

Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at August 16, 2020 09:36 AM (NWiLs)

128 113 Personal book news:

You might remember that last Sunday I was debating whether or not to visit a friend who offered to help me break my writer's block. I ended up going, and it was a good thing - she helped spark a few good ideas, showed me where to cut a lot of dead wood and helped me straighten out the plotline to something which, if not totally convincing, at least moves in a straight line.

So after I leave here today, I am going to take the ms. out to the porch and do some editing.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 16, 2020 09:33 AM (2JVJo)

That's great!

Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at August 16, 2020 09:37 AM (NWiLs)

129 85 Hate

Yes to all that.

I spent 37 years as a prosecutor, & I can't believe some od the bizarre shit the outliers got into, & are still doing, e.g.. City os St. Louis; Portland.

Rabinowitz was the last real investigative JOURNALIST I can think of.

Posted by: mnw at August 16, 2020 09:37 AM (Cssks)

130 "The trouble with writing a book about yourself is that you can't
fool around. If you write about someone else, you can stretch the truth
from here to Finland. If you write about yourself the slightest
deviation makes you realize instantly that there may be honor among
thieves, but you are just a dirty liar."


- Groucho Marx, honest man with principles

Posted by: BackwardsBoy - Mask Rebel at August 16, 2020 09:38 AM (HaL55)

131 I'm not sure where I saw the reference but I just got a copy of "The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue". This might be the ultimate bathroom reading since you can open to any page, read a few entries, and go back to it the next time. I'm the type that reads dictionaries for fun so this seems normal. The only reading material that equals it is Muldoon's book of limericks.

I can say that England had a LOT of ways of talking about hookers.

Posted by: JTB at August 16, 2020 09:38 AM (7EjX1)

132 A.H. Lloyd - thanks for leaving the review on the OCR garbage. I get caught by that sometimes, too, and I appreciate folks leaving warnings.

I haven't read Arturo Perez-Reverte's The Nautical Chart, but many of his other books have been excellent.

Deanna Durbin! Loved her in It All Started with Eve opposite Charles Laughton.

Posted by: Hans G. Schantz at August 16, 2020 09:38 AM (FXjhj)

133 Currently listening to "Black Rednecks and White Liberals" by Thomas Sowell. Facinating stuff. Can't go wrong with Sowell.

No, and that's a fascinating one. I'm a huge fan of history books that focus on a single event or tightly-defined topic. His chapter on "Are Jews Generic", in my opinion, ought to be required reading. This particular line stood out; the Portland riots had just started when I read it:

Because the middleman is essential to the overlords, these rulers may protect him when necessary from overt violence. On the other hand, during periods when resentments reach the point where the governing powers themselves are at some risk, nothing is easier than to throw the middleman minority to the wolves and not only withdraw protection but even incite the mobs in order to direct anger away from the overlords.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at August 16, 2020 09:38 AM (2lndx)

134 I recognized the "who dis" immediately because I've seen the movie several times. It's a Christmastime move called "Lady on a Train." It was an effort to make Deanna, a child star, into an adult actress--hence the emphasis on her legs.

The author of the book she's reading, Wayne Morgan, is a character in the movie, not a real author.

Deanna witnesses a murder from a passing train. When she tries to report it, no one believes her and no one can find evidence of the murder. If this sounds a lot like Agatha Christie's "The 4:50 from Paddington," it is. But the movie came first.

Posted by: Art Rondelet of Malmsey at August 16, 2020 09:39 AM (fTtFy)

135 The pants lady needs a 55 gallon drum of Nair !

Posted by: JT at August 16, 2020 09:39 AM (arJlL)

136 AH Lloyd
Amazon just notified me this morning that I should receive your dead tree book tomorrow.
Now that it's a valued first edition it will be residing, once I've read it, in an honored place on the book shelf.

Posted by: Winston, dreg of society at August 16, 2020 09:39 AM (d9Irc)

137 I have an old bio of W.C. Fields by Robert L. Taylor, and Deanna Durbin makes a brief appearance. Apparently for a while she lived next door to Fields in Hollywood. He was consumed by fear that she would start singing in the yard and installed a massive P.A. system to drown out any unwanted musical numbers.

Posted by: Trimegistus at August 16, 2020 09:39 AM (ekOv+)

138 Nice to see you again. You should've e-mailed me. I would've included a shout out in the thread content.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 16, 2020 09:35 AM (Zpa+Q)

Yes, quite

If I have my act together I will solicit a shout out next week.

Posted by: Truman North, Moron Emeritus at August 16, 2020 09:39 AM (2YIWJ)

139 117 Not sure how well this works anymore. I copied something from a web page, pasted into Notepad, and the damn smart quotes were still there!
Posted by: No One of Consequence at August 16, 2020 09:33 AM (CAJOC)


encoding should be ANSI
Posted by: rhennigantx at August 16, 2020 09:34 AM (JFO2v)

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

Is that a setting somewhere? Couldn't find anything in what little settings Notepad has. I did notice some of the menu options in Notepad seem to have changed. I don't remember a hotkey for inserting date/time, but it's there. I suspect Microsoft updated Notepad.

Posted by: No One of Consequence at August 16, 2020 09:39 AM (CAJOC)

140 hiya
Posted by: JT at August 16, 2020 09:26 AM (arJlL)

HIYA!!!
Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo

LOL !!!

Posted by: JT at August 16, 2020 09:40 AM (arJlL)

141 Not sure how well this works anymore. I copied something from a web page, pasted into Notepad, and the damn smart quotes were still there!
Posted by: No One of Consequence at August 16, 2020 09:33 AM (CAJOC)


Here's the link that I, an AoSHQ professional, use to detect characters that pixy doesn't like:

https://www.charset.org/html-special-characters

Just paste your text into the top half, and in the bottom half, it will have converted all of the 'problematic' characters. You can then copy and paste and edit the hinky characters. Works great.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 16, 2020 09:40 AM (Zpa+Q)

142 Many of us who lived in MA during that period and weren't colossally stupid knew the whole thing was a farce from day 1.


I never understood why Tookie did about ten more years than his mother and sister. I couldn't even figure out the corruption or whom it would benefit.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at August 16, 2020 09:40 AM (q2K0j)

143 Well, it may be "Inspector Queen's Own Case," but he's recruited several other NYPD retirees, mostly for surveillance and tailing, in his quest to find the killer of a two-month-old boy. These guys, all just marking time for the rest of their lives, are enthusiastic for this project. I get the feeling that the authors are criticizing the idea of mandatory retirement. The retirement age, 63, sure seems young to me as I course through the last of my 50s. (Book is from the late 1950s.)

Richard Queen's romance with the baby's nurse, the first person to suspect homicide in the case, is developing well, so much that I'm worried that something will happen to damage it.

Queen is skating on the edge of the law here, both in his continuing to use his badge as a cudgel with those involved in the case and his withholding of information from the department -- because if he tells all, "it's no longer my case." He knows it, too, as he's tried to cut loose his buddies to spare them legal jeopardy. To a man, they've refused to bow out, threats to their pensions be damned.

If anything has put my nose out of joint, it's the authors' repeated use of "the old man" to describe Queen. It conflicts with the portrayal of him as energetic and competent despite his age.

*******

I've also started the first collection of "Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos." I've read only the first issue, but I can tell this is going to be a hoot. Stan Lee had a way with dialogue! However, I'll bet real veterans of WWII wouldn't have liked it if they'd seen their boys reading this. The war was not yet 20 years in the past.

A "Family Circus" panel puts this well: The sons ask: "Did you have fun in the war, Daddy?" They think of the war toys and games they have. HE remembers being a sentry in a downpour at night.

Posted by: Weak Geek at August 16, 2020 09:40 AM (u/nim)

144 And now, since I have two layovers on my way to and from the NoVa MoMe, I am trying to decide on a book to take with me for the down time.

I've been considering a novel that I've had for several years, but never read, The Midnight Band of Mercy, by Michael Blaine. It's about a newspaperman in 1893 New York who, while looking for a story, comes across dead cats in the street, all arranged neatly, as if by ritual. Then it proceeds from dead cats to dead people.

The time period is one of my faves and the jacket copy compares it to The Alienist, so I'm pretty sure I will enjoy it. The only difficulty I see is the reason I really don't read much fiction - the author will be so good that I will get depressed, put my own writing away and not get back to it for months. That has happened before.

Anyway, I still have a couple of weeks to decide between that or a history book.

https://tinyurl.com/y3299jnf

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 16, 2020 09:40 AM (2JVJo)

145 Yeah, and I like my women just a little on the trashy side.
When they wear their clothes too tight and their hair is dyed.
Too much lipstick and, ah, too much rouge
Gets me excited, leaves me feeling confused. . ."
Posted by: artemis at August 16, 2020


*
*

My favorite verse:

"You shoulda seen the looks on the faces of my Dad and Mom
When I showed up at the door with a date to the senior prom!
They said, 'Well, pardon us, son, she ain't no kid --
That's a cocktail waitress in a Dolly Parton wig!'
I said, 'I know, Dad! Ain't she cool? That's the kind I dig!' "

(And I imagine that Dad whispered to him, "Any chance she has a friend, son . . .?")

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 16, 2020 09:40 AM (rpbg1)

146 17 I've notice Amazon is carrying reprints that are basically unedited scans.

I ordered one without realizing it was an unedited scan, but it'sapparently the only way to get the book in question, "Our Southern Highlanders" by Horace Kephart (the "Father of Modern Camping" and inventer of the Kephart knife.)

It's a mess. Random blurry (barely readable) pages, horribly scanned photos, and the pages were not re-sized for the size of the book, leading to parts of pictures being cut off. In an almost funny attempt to make the text fit in the number of alloted pages per chapter, they just blew up or shrunk random pages, apparently on a cheap copier.

But, it's a genuine American classic. The first real documentation of the "hillbillies" written by one who lived among them and was trusted by them. Kephart's documentation of their highly-unusual dialect alone has been noted as historically priceless, but the descriptions of the clothing, the customs, the mores and the legal system, such as it was, add even more to the historical importance.

All told with the same plain, folksy, backwoods style as Kephart's classic "Camping & Woodcraft." And, of course, as one might expect, there's plenty on the 'shine industry. Because he was known and trusted, Kephart was given rare access for an outsider, and his documentation of the moonshining process, the people who made it, and the economic realities that made it a must, are the very first known on the subject.

So, not sorry I bought it and I enjoyed it a great deal, though I was let down by cruddy unedited scan.

Posted by: Guy Smiley at August 16, 2020 09:40 AM (FtO5h)

147
Its logo is a combination of his runic initials.



Do you know who else used runic letters?!?!?!

Posted by: TheQuietMan at August 16, 2020 09:41 AM (ekmlY)

148 Barky's performance art was accepting the money.

Posted by: klaftern at August 16, 2020 09:41 AM (RuIsu)

149 If there are any Dune fanatics out there, I've been looking at YouTube videos by Quinn Howard ("Quinn's Ideas") that give in-depth takes on the history of the Dune-iverse.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at August 16, 2020 09:42 AM (Dc2NZ)

150 Arturo Perez-Reverte wrote a really good series set in the 17th century about Captain Alatriste.
It's translated from Spanish, and sometimes you can tell, but it's very readable and not too history-heavy

Posted by: artemis at August 16, 2020 09:42 AM (AwPyG)

151 My wife did a little of it and it triggered a memory of our children running around Beale Garden when they were very little and she was just overcome with joy. Smiling and crying thinking of how happy and wonderful that moment was. She gets misty thinking about it even now. She had forgotten that in her depression but it came back with such power that it really brightened her up.

One way I've kept my sanity is through my habit of holding on to those moments, basically creating stepping stones across a raging river of despair.

I cling to those moments and try to ignore everything else.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 09:32 AM (cfSRQ)

That's a good idea. Legit hypnotherapists can be hard to find though. I looked up that Gluck fellow and a couple of consumer fraud sites popped up with quite a few reports of him being a charlatan and a conman. So one always has to be careful.

Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at August 16, 2020 09:42 AM (NWiLs)

152

futhark bindrune - okay, now you're just stringing random syllables together. Like the announcers on classical music programs.
Posted by: mindful webworker
radically inclined webworks
at August 16, 2020 09:27 AM (wKcYr)

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

Or like any number of Scandinavian languages.
Posted by: No One of Consequence at August 16, 2020 09:36 AM (CAJOC)

Arinni kennir illur raedari !

Posted by: runner at August 16, 2020 09:42 AM (zr5Kq)

153 It's all coming back !

Posted by: runner at August 16, 2020 09:43 AM (zr5Kq)

154 Barack Obama reportedly said: 'Don't underestimate Joe's ability to f... things up'


"And you know who really doesn't have it? Joe Biden," he reportedly said.




There was a reason that this was "leaked".

Posted by: TheQuietMan at August 16, 2020 09:43 AM (ekmlY)

155 Orrustu timi! Bloth og dauthi!

Posted by: runner at August 16, 2020 09:43 AM (zr5Kq)

156 I recall being hypersuspicious of people who were nice to me as if they just didn't know that I didn't deserve it and looked for people who would give me the criticism I believed I deserved (because we seek the familiar more often than the better...habits are hard)
Posted by: CN at August 16, 2020 09:29 AM (ONvIw)


My childhood was OK - what I can remember of it between alcohol-induced amnesia and deliberate repression - but I am very uncomfortable with people saying how nice it is to see me or talk to me, or in any way express real pleasure at having been with me. I don't like myself, so I wonder about people who do.

I find it so much easier to hide behind a keyboard, where I can imagine what you look like and you can imagine me without the instant disappointing flicker of "oh, that's what you look like."

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 16, 2020 09:44 AM (2JVJo)

157 If there are any Dune fanatics out there, I've been
looking at YouTube videos by Quinn Howard ("Quinn's Ideas") that give
in-depth takes on the history of the Dune-iverse.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at August 16, 2020 09:42 AM (Dc2NZ)

---
Isn't the story behind Dune that Herbert wrote it as a one-off after reading a book about desertification, and spice is really oil?

Then it sold better than expected, so he stretched out the story, called it quits after 2 more books, decided he needed more money and then strip-mined the thing.

And his kid is now refining the tailings.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 09:44 AM (cfSRQ)

158 Yes, that is an extremely hard habit to break, especially since it's frequently unconscious. The acceptance of who and what my parents were is easier to address than undoing to notion that I deserved it - and that every time someone shits on me I deserve it because I'm bad. That's some tough programming to break. I'm working on it, but it's rough going after decades of an almost religious belief that was true.
Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at August 16, 2020 09:36 AM (NWiLs)

I agree and I relapse from time to time. Ultimately I cut bait entirely from my mother (daddy dearest is deceased) and removed that blaming monster from my life. But it does show up still. Other than sort of a focus on the now gestalt thing, I've had to keep reminding myself to shut down the negative thoughts and shut out negative people. But, an attraction to a negative "comfort level" is hard to break. I do understand.

Posted by: CN at August 16, 2020 09:44 AM (ONvIw)

159 This is a test of the EWok Broadcasting System. This is only a test. In the event of a real emergency, we wouldn't tell you, because really, what good would it do?

Posted by: pep at August 16, 2020 09:44 AM (v16oJ)

160 Wunderbar. Thanks, OM.

Posted by: pep at August 16, 2020 09:44 AM (v16oJ)

161 Do you know who else used runic letters?!?!?!
Posted by: TheQuietMan at August 16, 2020 09:41 AM (ekmlY)


Harald the viking ?

Posted by: runner at August 16, 2020 09:45 AM (zr5Kq)

162 That's great!
Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at August 16, 2020 09:37 AM (NWiLs)


It is. We went through the whole book, front to back, and I've got a lot of notes scribbled down. She is very helpful, and I repaid her by giving her grandmother a cameo role in the story.

I just need to get my ass in gear and write. Pity today's weather is so dank and slimy.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 16, 2020 09:45 AM (2JVJo)

163 Deanna Durbin & Judy Garland:

The public never accepted Shirley Temple as an adult performer, either. She was a very beautiful young woman, & that made Shirley's original fans uncomfortable somehow. Hollywood never figured out how to market has as an ingenue.

Posted by: mnw at August 16, 2020 09:46 AM (Cssks)

164 There's an every-second-year conference in America put on by the Historical Novel Society and about 90% of it is authors arguing about how "accurate" they should be.
It's interesting to hear the different opinions--it runs the gambit.
2021 it's in San Antonio, if the history people here are interested. summertime, I think.

Posted by: artemis at August 16, 2020 09:46 AM (AwPyG)

165 By reading The Overcoat I've now read every fucking work of fiction by Nikolay Gogol as part and parcel of reading Nabokov's book on him. Ironically I bought a two volume collection of all his tales, except Dead Souls, years ago and put it in my bookshelf to read one of these days when I would be old and retired, like now. Nabokov's book was typically entertaining and let you know exactly what appealed to him and why. Ironically he talks about how in The Overcoat it ends with a plot device circling back on itself. In some of Nabokov's earlier fiction, one in particular, he uses that device himself and I wonder if anyone ever asked him about it.

Anyway that was the first book Vlad wrote after moving to the US. I'm back to his biography and read a subsequent short story he wrote about an imaginary movie about White Russian figures from the civil war who had immigrated. When Nabokov relocated to different European countries his early fiction dealt with emigres so this was something he felt comfortable writing about.

Posted by: Captain Hate at August 16, 2020 09:46 AM (y7DUB)

166 Reading a book about the Massachusetts Federalist Fisher Ames. So far a very good read..

Posted by: dacama at August 16, 2020 09:46 AM (/YPPs)

167 Oh wow, just looked at the pants link. Fluffy acrylic, looks like just the thing for Bal des ardents reenactors.

Those pants look like they're made out of that fur they wrap microphones in to dampen noise. Great for wabbit hunting.

Posted by: BackwardsBoy - Mask Rebel at August 16, 2020 09:47 AM (HaL55)

168 pep hope you figure it out, and sounds to be much more difficult than my tablet. But if you do get it make sure to update it so it changes everything you learned and tosses it into the trash.

Posted by: Skip at August 16, 2020 09:47 AM (OjZpE)

169 I finished Ron Chernow's 2004 biography of Hamilton; yes, the one on which the play is allegedly based. While the book is long, it was very engaging. Chernow is an excellent writer with a keen eye for both historical sweep and interesting details. I now have a vastly better understanding of the most brilliant and underrated of the Founding Fathers. Hamilton laid the foundation for the American economy, and with Madison, was responsible for the Constitution our political class so studiously ignores. The only person more important to the founding of the United States was George Washington, who viewed Hamilton as his most trusted advisor and go-to man. The revolution thus had two indispensable men, who providentially complemented each other. Hamilton was clearly the brilliant thinker, but Washington had the wisdom and experience to restrain Hamilton when his ideas outran reality. Washington was a father figure for his orphaned, foreign-born, and illegitimate protege.

Surprisingly, Aaron Burr, he was not the biggest villain in the book; that honor goes to Thomas Jefferson. I'll admit that I was no fan of Jefferson before reading this book, but the book is full of historical examples of his backstabbing, cowardice, duplicity, hypocrisy, profligacy, and vanity. Sure, he could write, but that doesn't balance out what he did otherwise. For example, he conducted a behind the scenes campaign to besmirch Washington while serving as his SoS, mostly because he was envious of Hamilton for actually doing his job, which Jefferson did not. His vendetta against Hamilton was much more open. He hated Hamilton's endorsement of a strong central government, and thought America should consist of sturdy, independent, yeoman farmers, (the antithesis of the life Jefferson lived on his slave-driving plantation). By contrast, Hamilton envisioned America as a world-leading nation with a strong industrial economy. Jefferson also thought the French Revolution was an unadulterated good. America exists today because Hamilton defeated Jefferson's vision during the Washington administration, after which Jefferson spent the next few years sulking on his plantation, parasitizing and screwing his slaves, and reinventing himself as a 'man of the people'. Please.

Madison was one of my childhood heroes, but he also comes off poorly after the Constitutional Convention. He was Jefferson's ally, and did everything he could to smear Hamilton, largely to prevent the abolition of the slavery which financed his lifestyle. John Adams was a vain, insecure, and small man, who could have been great, but let his jealousy of Hamilton and others with more talent destroy his presidency. In many ways, he reminds me of Joe Biden, although Biden and greatness have never been on the same continent.

Chernow's other work includes a recent bio of Grant, and the book I'm most interested in reading, The House of Morgan, a 1990 bio of J.P. Morgan. The new hardcover price is an inexplicable $155, and even used copies are quite expensive, so I may have to go with the Kindle version. Regardless, I'm pleased to have discovered such a talented author.



Posted by: pep at August 16, 2020 09:47 AM (v16oJ)

170 Well, it may be "Inspector Queen's Own Case," but he's recruited several other NYPD retirees, mostly for surveillance and tailing, in his quest to find the killer of a two-month-old boy. These guys, all just marking time for the rest of their lives, are enthusiastic for this project. I get the feeling that the authors are criticizing the idea of mandatory retirement. The retirement age, 63, sure seems young to me as I course through the last of my 50s. (Book is from the late 1950s.)

Richard Queen's romance with the baby's nurse, the first person to suspect homicide in the case, is developing well, so much that I'm worried that something will happen to damage it.

Queen is skating on the edge of the law here, both in his continuing to use his badge as a cudgel with those involved in the case and his withholding of information from the department -- because if he tells all, "it's no longer my case." He knows it, too, as he's tried to cut loose his buddies to spare them legal jeopardy. To a man, they've refused to bow out, threats to their pensions be damned.

If anything has put my nose out of joint, it's the authors' repeated use of "the old man" to describe Queen. It conflicts with the portrayal of him as energetic and competent despite his age.
. . .
Posted by: Weak Geek at August 16, 2020


*
*

The Queen cousins were only a little younger than that 1958 -- I think they were born around 1905 themselves. So it wasn't like a 30-year-old author using the term "the old man" pejoratively.

I have that one, and need to reread it. Since it didn't feature Ellery, in my first period of discovery of the EQ canon, I wasn't too interested. Now I would be.

Oh -- I just watched an Alfred Hitchcock Hour on YouTube from 1963, "Terror at Northfield." The script by Leigh (Empire Strikes Back) Brackett is based on a non-Ellery novelette by EQ. This TV version is short on detection but long on suspense, and the essential clue echoes one EQ used more than once. Any EQ fan should watch it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 16, 2020 09:47 AM (rpbg1)

171 Reading a couple of books on childhood trauma. Still looking for answers and solutions.

Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo

Oh, cry me a fookin' river !

You KNOW your schtick has turned you into a chick magnet ...(in a mimicking voice.... "Oh Insomniac, you're so cute...Oh Insomniac you're so funny.....")

And NOW you've got HAWT 'ETTES lining up at Momees so you can autograph their bras !

And I hope your pen runs out of ink, or barring that I hope you get a hand cramp so debilitating that your hand becomes permanently disfigured and then people call you The CRAW !

Bah ! Humbug !

Posted by: JT at August 16, 2020 09:47 AM (arJlL)

172 Protestors clashed with Chicago police Saturday evening after an intense afternoonof prolonged demonstrations. The peaceful demonstration led by Rabbi Michael Ben Yosef ended at Roosevelt and Michigan.



It wasn't until later in the afternoon during a separate protest that agitators hijacked the peaceful protest and began throwing projectiles at police officers.




It's amazing how all of these "peaceful" protests keep getting hijacked by agitators. I'm surprised the MFM didn't say it was white supremacists who did the hijacking

Posted by: TheQuietMan at August 16, 2020 09:47 AM (ekmlY)

173
So after I leave here today, I am going to take the ms. out to the porch and do some editing.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 16, 2020 09:33 AM (2JVJo)

Happy news

Posted by: CN at August 16, 2020 09:47 AM (ONvIw)

174 @162
MPPP Have you tried writing a chapter that is completely unrelated to your story? that may help to unclog things.
Think of a prompt: two people fall down a well. Go!

Posted by: artemis at August 16, 2020 09:48 AM (AwPyG)

175 There's an old LA Times Book Review article by somebody named Will Collins which posits that Dune drew heavily on a historical work by a British woman about the conquest of the Chechens by Russia in the 19th Century. https://preview.tinyurl.com/yyoqb2ne

Posted by: Trimegistus at August 16, 2020 09:48 AM (ekOv+)

176 Hello all, I just started reading "Crossings" by Alex Landragin. It's set up as a 'found' collection of three manuscripts that tell independent but intertwined stories of a mysterious couple through the years. Not only that, but the book is structured so that you can read the book in a different order - the preface gives the alternate order - and it becomes an entirely different novel. I'm already loving the straight-through version - I can wait to read the second one.

Posted by: CarolinaGirl at August 16, 2020 09:48 AM (Kh9rg)

177 >>I never understood why Tookie did about ten more years than his mother and sister. I couldn't even figure out the corruption or whom it would benefit.

I think it was pure ass covering by those who insisted for years that he was the worst of the offenders when in fact he had done nothing wrong. They built the hysteria and hate to such a high level they couldn't admit they were wrong.

Sort of like the Russia hoaxers still insisting to this day it was real when it's beyond obvious what really happened.

Posted by: JackStraw at August 16, 2020 09:49 AM (ZLI7S)

178 But, an attraction to a negative "comfort level" is hard to break. I do understand.
Posted by: CN at August 16, 2020 09:44 AM (ONvIw)

It really is. There's comfort in the familiar, even if the familiar is horrible. I'm trying break out of that, difficult as it is.

It's also interesting to see who shits on you when you're hurting and struggling but trying to improve yourself.

Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at August 16, 2020 09:49 AM (NWiLs)

179 I never understood why Tookie did about ten more years than his mother and sister. I couldn't even figure out the corruption or whom it would benefit.
Posted by: Bandersnatch at August 16, 2020 09:40 AM (q2K0j)


My opinion, for the little it's worth, is that since the opposition to him came mainly from the loathsome Martha Coakley and slob Jane Swift, it was a combination of -

- female instinct to "protect the kids;"
- a desire not to look soft on pedos in front of the voters;
- a fright of admitting the whole thing was a fake from the word go;
- sheer female foot-stamping bitchery.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 16, 2020 09:49 AM (2JVJo)

180 My childhood was OK - what I can remember of it between alcohol-induced amnesia and deliberate repression - but I am very uncomfortable with people saying how nice it is to see me or talk to me, or in any way express real pleasure at having been with me. I don't like myself, so I wonder about people who do.

I find it so much easier to hide behind a keyboard, where I can imagine what you look like and you can imagine me without the instant disappointing flicker of "oh, that's what you look like."
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 16, 2020


*
*

I'm no fan of humans in the mass myself. But I have learned that when more than one person, unconnected and not trying to sell you something, gives you a compliment, you do well to simply say "Thank you" and move on. They can't all be in a giant conspiracy to make you think you're better than you are!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 16, 2020 09:50 AM (rpbg1)

181 osted by: pep at August 16, 2020 09:47 AM (v16oJ)



Very interesting. He has a bio of Washington as well.

Posted by: runner at August 16, 2020 09:50 AM (zr5Kq)

182 Isn't the story behind Dune that Herbert wrote it as a one-off after reading a book about desertification, and spice is really oil?

Then it sold better than expected, so he stretched out the story, called it quits after 2 more books, decided he needed more money and then strip-mined the thing.

And his kid is now refining the tailings.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 09:44 AM (cfSRQ)
----
Could be! I read the first three ages ago, and slogged through "God Emperor of Dune" recently-ish. I may pick up the deep dives on Ix and the Sisterhood just for the histories rather than literary merit.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at August 16, 2020 09:50 AM (Dc2NZ)

183 Still reading the Bellisarius series by David drake and Eric Flint
Really good reads
Still can't remember who recommended it here but it was worthwhile

Posted by: Harley at August 16, 2020 09:51 AM (pJaW6)

184 Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 16, 2020 09:40 AM (rpbg1)

Wolfus, in case you didn't see it upthread, e-mail me through my nic, and I'll send you that "The Grey Sisters" story.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 16, 2020 09:52 AM (2JVJo)

185 I read "Dishonored Promises" this past week and found it to be a good addition to the Brendan O'Brian series.

"The Queen's Gambit" turned out to be quite the page turner.

Michael Connelly's "City of Bones" was a huge "meh." The writing was bleak, which, I expect, was the point, as the book itself was dreary.

"City of Bones" is sort of an "All Quiet on the Western Front" only, without the humanity.

"Who Dis" is obviously a classy dame.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing
at August 16, 2020 09:52 AM (WEBkv)

186
But, an attraction to a negative "comfort level" is hard to break. I do understand.
Posted by: CN at August 16, 2020 09:44 AM (ONvIw)

It really is. There's comfort in the familiar, even if the familiar is horrible. I'm trying break out of that, difficult as it is....


Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at August 16, 2020 09:49 AM (NWiLs)
===


I wonder if that is where one's attraction to a "type" comes from.

Posted by: runner at August 16, 2020 09:52 AM (zr5Kq)

187 Here's a neat little memoir about the end of the war in the Pacific, from Quillette:

https://preview.tinyurl.com/y2k6n6up

Very interesting, sad, hilarious, and touching all at once.
Posted by: Trimegistus

+1

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at August 16, 2020 09:53 AM (+y/Ru)

188 Bah ! Humbug !
Posted by: JT at August 16, 2020 09:47 AM (arJlL)

You're funny.

Behind this suave facade *pffffft* HAAHAHAHAHAAA - sorry, couldn't keep a straight face on that one - is a tormented soul looking for some peace. And bras to sign.

Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at August 16, 2020 09:53 AM (NWiLs)

189 Just finished "Some Danger Involved" by Will Thomas, about an "Enquiry Agent" and his young Welsh assistant in 1880s London investigating the crucifixion murder of a Jewish rabbinical student who bears a striking resemblance to the popular image of Jesus Christ. Good plot, great characters and atmosphere. This one was free with Kindle Unlimited, but the rest of the books in the series (13 in all) are in the $12.95 to $13.95 range. Unfortunately for me, I got hooked and bought the next book in the series, "To Kingdom Come" in which Barker and Llewelyn infiltrate an Irish Republican Brotherhood faction conducting a bombing campaign.

Posted by: That Deplorable SOB Van Owen at August 16, 2020 09:53 AM (bAe71)

190 Deanna witnesses a murder from a passing train. When she tries to report it, no one believes her and no one can find evidence of the murder. If this sounds a lot like Agatha Christie's "The 4:50 from Paddington," it is. But the movie came first.
Posted by: Art Rondelet of Malmsey at August 16, 2020


*
*

That was one of the few Agatha Christies that I actually liked. She had me actually liking the murderer before he/she was revealed. A good job.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 16, 2020 09:53 AM (rpbg1)

191 I agree and I relapse from time to time. Ultimately I
cut bait entirely from my mother (daddy dearest is deceased) and
removed that blaming monster from my life. But it does show up still.
Other than sort of a focus on the now gestalt thing, I've had to keep
reminding myself to shut down the negative thoughts and shut out
negative people. But, an attraction to a negative "comfort level" is
hard to break. I do understand.

Posted by: CN at August 16, 2020 09:44 AM (ONvIw)

---
Being happy is a deliberate choice. It doesn't just happen. On any given day you can finish it by counting each and every lousing thing that happened or you can shrug them off and make it seem great by focusing on something as simple as a pretty cloud formation.

It's weird.

Something that helps is not even trying to track the grievances and just focusing on stacking up all the good stuff. It's sort of like re-writing a book.

A life story that was one of lamentations and ill fortune now morphs into a triumphant tale of stubborn defiance and ultimately victory.

It's also interesting how you can turn your most embarrassing and humiliating moments into absolutely gut-busting stories. People honestly like those better than hearing about how awesome you are.

I used to be ashamed of how I almost flunked 5th grade, now I brag about it (see what I did there?).

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 09:54 AM (cfSRQ)

192 Last week there was discussion about wood and trees. I got a copy of "Norwegian Wood: Chopping, Stacking, and Drying Wood the Scandinavian Way" by Lars Mytting. It goes into the historical and current importance of wood in northern Europe, especially birch, for an endless number of uses. The practical matters aside, the chapters on the culture is interesting. And the writing is lively, not academic. I knew some of it because of an interest in wood carving. So far the book is a delight.

It reminded me of a couple of other books I have. "Celebrating Birch" which deals with the many uses of the tree from pre-Columbian times to the present. It gives several projects for people to try from basket weaving to making birch tar.

The other book, which I've mentioned on the thread several times, is "A Reverance for Wood" by Eric Sloane. The amount of practical information about wood during the settling of the country and what that says about the culture and attitudes of the people is fascinating. I have many of Sloane's books and they are all delightful and informative.

Whoever mentioned "Norwegian Wood", thanks. The book is great and it launched some re-reading of the other two books.

Posted by: JTB at August 16, 2020 09:54 AM (7EjX1)

193 Just finished "Some Danger Involved" by Will Thomas, about an "Enquiry Agent" and his young Welsh assistant in 1880s London investigating the crucifixion murder of a Jewish rabbinical student who bears a striking resemblance to the popular image of Jesus Christ.

==

Posted by: runner at August 16, 2020 09:55 AM (zr5Kq)

194 On the subject of writer's block, Raymond Chandler famously said: "When you don't know what do to, have someone walk in the room with a gun."

For "gun," of course, you could substitute bomb, or secret someone's been trying to cover up, or whatever. Drop in a surprise.

Posted by: Dr Alice at August 16, 2020 09:55 AM (zjvTi)

195 Deanna witnesses a murder from a passing train. When she tries to report it, no one believes her and no one can find evidence of the murder. If this sounds a lot like Agatha Christie's "The 4:50 from Paddington," it is. But the movie came first.
Posted by: Art Rondelet of Malmsey at August 16, 2020


*
*

According to IMDb, the original story that Lady on a Train was based on was by Leslie Charteris, the creator of The Saint.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 16, 2020 09:56 AM (rpbg1)

196 Preparing to start "Memoirs of W.T. Sherman", ought to keep me busy for a while, 800+ pgs. of small print.

Posted by: BignJames at August 16, 2020 09:56 AM (X/Pw5)

197 Morning Horde. Just a quick check-in during a break from packing - mostly books. One week from today we'll be doing the much more enjoyable and leisurely job of UNpacking.

One of the towns we looked at, but didn't choose, was Edenton NC. Apparently there are still hard feelings in the population over their daycare abuse pseudo-scandal. (Little Rascals Daycare.) It seems that no one trusts anyone else.

But that's just one of the innumerable things wrong with the world. I am no Kantian, and he was among the least eloquent of writers, but he nailed it with "nothing straight was ever made of the crooked timber of humanity." Or, as GKC put it, "What's right with the world is the world. What's wrong with the world is man."

Posted by: Eeyore at August 16, 2020 09:56 AM (LMs+g)

198 Heard maybe a 10 second clip of the Hamilton play, just in that short time could tell its drivel not worth seeing.

Posted by: Skip at August 16, 2020 09:56 AM (OjZpE)

199 Just finished Shales "Great Society - A New History". It is actually a good read and fascinating that she makes a case that Nixon wasn't altogether different from LBJ in his beliefs about government defeating poverty. Both Cardinals of the religion of government.

Posted by: Heart of Darkness at August 16, 2020 09:56 AM (nFRLh)

200 Wolfus, in case you didn't see it upthread, e-mail me through my nic, and I'll send you that "The Grey Sisters" story.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 16, 2020


*
*

Email sent, sir.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 16, 2020 09:57 AM (rpbg1)

201 I never understood why Tookie did about ten more years than his mother and sister. I couldn't even figure out the corruption or whom it would benefit.
Posted by: Bandersnatch at August 16, 2020 09:40 AM (q2K0j)

My opinion, for the little it's worth, is that since the opposition to him came mainly from the loathsome Martha Coakley and slob Jane Swift, it was a combination of -

- female instinct to "protect the kids;"
- a desire not to look soft on pedos in front of the voters;
- a fright of admitting the whole thing was a fake from the word go;
- sheer female foot-stamping bitchery.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 16, 2020 09:49 AM (2JVJo)


One of the worst things about being railroaded on a sex crime of any type, but particularly about children, is there will always be a not small number of borderline retards who are convinced the accused is guilty. The Duke LAX case was an example of that with books subsequently written about how they got away with something.

Posted by: Captain Hate at August 16, 2020 09:57 AM (y7DUB)

202 @190
I've said this before, but Agatha Christie is the master at making the villain "rootable" and playing with our prejudices. She openly uses this as a plot point in Witness for the Prosecution, where the wily Greta Garbo purposefully makes the jury hate her.

Posted by: artemis at August 16, 2020 09:58 AM (AwPyG)

203 Being happy is a deliberate choice.

=

You forgot to add : "In my opinion..."

Posted by: runner at August 16, 2020 09:58 AM (zr5Kq)

204 @202
this is not a surprise at all to anyone who's been on a jury.

Posted by: artemis at August 16, 2020 09:59 AM (AwPyG)

205 198
Heard maybe a 10 second clip of the Hamilton play, just in that short time could tell its drivel not worth seeing.

Posted by: Skip


My family loves the play but I have steadfastly refused to see it. I hate rap.

Posted by: pep at August 16, 2020 09:59 AM (v16oJ)

206 179 Mary Poppins:

I think the big one was "reluctance to admit the entire thing was a fraud from the gitgo." And then the awfulness of somehow having to address the consequences for the victims of the frame up.

I think all the people invested in the Amirault hoax must've said (with Macbeth), "We are so steeped in blood that sin must wash out sin."

Posted by: mnw at August 16, 2020 09:59 AM (Cssks)

207 Preparing to start "Memoirs of W.T. Sherman", ought to keep me busy for a while, 800+ pgs. of small print.

Posted by: BignJames at August 16, 2020 09:56 AM (X/Pw5)

---
Good book. I've read it twice.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 09:59 AM (cfSRQ)

208 It really is. There's comfort in the familiar, even if the familiar is horrible. I'm trying break out of that, difficult as it is....


Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at August 16, 2020 09:49 AM (NWiLs)
===


I wonder if that is where one's attraction to a "type" comes from.
Posted by: runner at August 16, 2020 09:52 AM (zr5Kq)

That's possible. That if you're used to being treated badly, or relationships that make you feel bad about yourself, then that's what you'll seek. There's another theory that I think is more accurate than the "boys marry their mothers an girls marry their fathers" pseudo-Freudian canard. It's that people tend to seek relationships with partners that remind them of the parental figure they had the most conflict with, the most damaged relationship with, with the hope they can heal from it if they can just make that substitute relationship work. Well, that isn't how it works. And whatever it was you needed in that primordial early relationship that you didn't get, you're never going to get. Ever.

Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at August 16, 2020 10:00 AM (NWiLs)

209 Some books arrived this week...."Mao, The Unknown Story" which was a recommendation from the book thread. I haven't started it yet.

I also got "Where There is No Dentist" for the Prepper section of the library. It is a book about dental hygiene and DIY dentistry aimed at 3rd world villagers/. It is quite informative and I've picked up some good tips already.
I can't wait for the companion book to get here "Where There is No Doctor"

Posted by: The Walkimg Dude at August 16, 2020 10:00 AM (cCxiu)

210 Back in my rocker days I experienced some clever ways to overcome writer's block while songwriting. One really talented guy who I wrote with would say "switch instruments!" when things bogged down. He played bass and I played guitar, and while we each had some proficiency on the other's main axe, getting out of our comfort zones often got the sessions "unstuck" and led to some of our best songs.

Posted by: Guy Smiley at August 16, 2020 10:00 AM (FtO5h)

211 201 Hate

Right again! You're on a roll this morning.

Posted by: mnw at August 16, 2020 10:01 AM (Cssks)

212 E-readers are convenient, but they do have their down-sides. Last time I traveled, my Nook decided to reset to its factory defaults. (I think the power button got pushed down and held down by other things it was packed with) So I had to re-register the device and all that. But, since my nook is old, it needed a security patch in order to connect to the internet. So I had to side-load the patch from my laptop, just to be able to connect to the internet to re-register my device. All before I could use it for anything. Annoying, but at least it was smooth sailing after that...

Anyways, after I re-registered, re-downloaded my B&N content, and re-side-loaded all my third party content, I did get a chance to do some reading on the trip, and ran through the first of the Legend of Drizzt books: Homeland. It was decent enough. Fairly standard fantasy adventure. the most surprising part of the book was that almost the entire story took place in the underground city that Drizzt was born in. (The titular 'homeland'.) I'm used to fantasy adventures that sprawl across an entire continent. But there are about a dozen Drizzt books. I imagine the rest of the world will be explored in later installments.

Posted by: Castle Guy at August 16, 2020 10:01 AM (Lhaco)

213 I read The Ophian Rising by Brian Niemeier, the 4th and final book in his Soul Cycle series. The series begins as a space pirates adventure but gets very weird. Kind of a theological space fantasy. A bit hard to follow at times, as Niemeier has created such a strange world with so many characters. I stuck with it, though, because the writing is good, and the ending was satisfying.
I also listened to Noir by Christopher Moore. Fun, with a good number of laugh-out-loud bits.

Posted by: DIY Daddio at August 16, 2020 10:01 AM (RJscS)

214 I hope all find inner peace on this thread. The mental anguish must be hard to live with.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at August 16, 2020 10:01 AM (fIHXk)

215 Heard maybe a 10 second clip of the Hamilton play, just in that short time could tell its drivel not worth seeing.



Posted by: Skip

My family loves the play but I have steadfastly refused to see it. I hate rap.


Posted by: pep at August 16, 2020 09:59 AM (v16oJ)

---
My kids love it because I raised them to enjoy musicals (I'm as into show tuns as any straight man can be).

The youngest really fastened onto it so I convinced her to watch "Evita" with me.

She was reluctant but I said "It's like Hamilton, only set in Argentina."

It took her by surprise, but now she'll randomly sing "Peron's Latest Flame."

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 10:02 AM (cfSRQ)

216 209
Some books arrived this week...."Mao, The Unknown Story" which was a
recommendation from the book thread. I haven't started it yet.


It's excellent, although enraging. What a waste of human life that man caused.

Posted by: pep at August 16, 2020 10:02 AM (v16oJ)

217
One of the worst things about being railroaded on a sex crime of any type, but particularly about children, is there will always be a not small number of borderline retards who are convinced the accused is guilty. The Duke LAX case was an example of that with books subsequently written about how they got away with something.
Posted by: Captain Hate at August 16, 2020 09:57 AM (y7DUB)

They're marked for life. As the old question goes, "Where do I go to get my reputation back?"

Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at August 16, 2020 10:02 AM (NWiLs)

218
You forgot to add : "In my opinion..."





Posted by: runner at August 16, 2020 09:58 AM (zr5Kq)

---
I never said it was an easy choice.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 10:03 AM (cfSRQ)

219 Just finished "Some Danger Involved" by Will Thomas, about an "Enquiry Agent" and his young Welsh assistant in 1880s London investigating the crucifixion murder of a Jewish rabbinical student who bears a striking resemblance to the popular image of Jesus Christ.

I checked that out. Very nice! Added to the kindle.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 16, 2020 10:03 AM (2JVJo)

220 It's a perfectly dreary day for a good read in a comfy chair, so I'm doing just that.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at August 16, 2020 10:04 AM (Dc2NZ)

221 It really is. There's comfort in the familiar, even if the familiar is horrible. I'm trying break out of that, difficult as it is.

It's also interesting to see who shits on you when you're hurting and struggling but trying to improve yourself.
Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at August 16, 2020 09:49 AM (NWiLs)


Sadly, comfort level works both ways and some people need to validate themselves by invalidating others' achievements. My mom loved to do this, of course. All 4(!) of her husbands had bitchy moms. Go figure.

My revelation came to me my sophmore year in undergrad. I paid closer attention to people who spoke up a lot and realized they were not more insightful, just less "beaten down" and more willing to take risks. Being wrong in class did not earn you scorn and feelings of inadequacy, so I started being more assertive. I also stood up to my mother and said what needed to be said. It didn't change her, but it changed me. The child is never to blame for parental abuse and sometimes people need to hear it a few times or more, before it sinks in. Getting crapped on by the person whose job it was to protect you, is not protection.

Posted by: CN at August 16, 2020 10:04 AM (ONvIw)

222 Barack was gonna write a book...
...but then Ayers got high...

Barack was gonna write a book...
...but then Ayers got high...

Now we got no agit-prop, and I know why...

Cuz Ayers got high,
Cuz Ayers got high
Cuz Ayers got high.

Posted by: Taqiyyologist at August 16, 2020 10:04 AM (j3jZX)

223 Email sent, sir.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 16, 2020 09:57 AM (rpbg1)


I don't see it yet, but will respond when I do.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 16, 2020 10:04 AM (2JVJo)

224 I see there's a discussion about Reno and Coakly, the architects of the fake molestation cases.

I think most people understand mistakes can be made. It happens, because we're human.

What I think most people despise, though, is government agents can destroy lives, almost at a whim, without consequences. Which is unconscionable.

Both Reno and Coakly should be rotting in a jail cell somewhere and stripped of every single asset, in order to pay some sort of restitution to the victims of their malice.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing
at August 16, 2020 10:05 AM (WEBkv)

225
Reading "Billionaire at the Barricades" by Laura Ingraham ... because I have it. The book itself is a "meh" rehash of politics and elections from Reagan up through 2016.

(In general, most books by radio personalities and columnists merely rehash crap from their day to day shows and are not worth purchasing -- but I regrettably relent from time to time.)

Imagine my surprise to read this in Chapter 5: "... asked John Ekdahl, a volunteer and popular blogger known as Ace of Spades (36)."

Footnote (36) reads: www.businessinsider.com/romney-project-orca-disaster-2012-11

The error appears to have originated at Business Insider, which so identified Ekdahl as Ace.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at August 16, 2020 10:05 AM (pNxlR)

226 Captain Hate

Glad you are liking the book. Thanks for the positive feedback.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at August 16, 2020 10:05 AM (u82oZ)

227 speaking of birch, I was reading that the people who study language origins can often tell where it originated by the words used. One of the earliest has a word for "birch" but doesn't have a word for "ocean"
so they surmise central/eastern Europe

Posted by: artemis at August 16, 2020 10:06 AM (AwPyG)

228 I've also started the first collection of "Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos."

-
I loved Sgt. Fury as a kid. I well remember the cover of him on the wing of a Fokker Dr. I fighting the Nazi who had killed his (almost) fiance in an air raud.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at August 16, 2020 10:06 AM (+y/Ru)

229 Both Reno and Coakly should be rotting in a jail cell somewhere and stripped of every single asset, in order to pay some sort of restitution to the victims of their malice.
Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing
at August 16, 2020 10:05 AM (WEBkv)


Reno is currently impaled on the barbed cock of Satan.

Posted by: Captain Hate at August 16, 2020 10:06 AM (y7DUB)

230 never said it was an easy choice.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 10:03 AM (cfSRQ)


I don't think a state of being such as "happiness" can be chosen. It is result of multiple things. "Be happy !" as a command sounds ridiculous, and one step from "Beatings will continues until happiness improves".

Posted by: runner at August 16, 2020 10:06 AM (zr5Kq)

231 Fuck a kid or get accused of it your life is over there is no difference between the two

Posted by: PUE 206 at August 16, 2020 10:07 AM (D/SYi)

232 Grey Sisters sent, Wolfus.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 16, 2020 10:08 AM (2JVJo)

233 Behind this suave facade *pffffft* HAAHAHAHAHAAA - sorry, couldn't keep a straight face on that one - is a tormented soul looking for some peace. And bras to sign.
Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo

Glad ya took it in the spirit with which it was intended !

Posted by: JT at August 16, 2020 10:08 AM (arJlL)

234 RE: Amirault fiasco:

Accountants like to say, "First loss is the best loss," I believe.

Write it off FAST-- don't dig in! That's what happens in most of the notorious prosecutorial disasters-- people dig in.

Posted by: mnw at August 16, 2020 10:09 AM (Cssks)

235 Mrs. HoD has real PTSD symptoms from her difficult mother , just a bitter and hateful Vesuvius type - we were 23 and just married when I had the talk with MIL about how she would treat my wife and never left her alone when we visited, but 40 some odd years later I still have to watch my tone in even the smallest situations. Sad really.

Posted by: Heart of Darkness at August 16, 2020 10:09 AM (nFRLh)

236 There's a dynamic between people who are narcissists and people who are their "doormats", who allow the narcissists to brow beat them.
I think everybody probably knows examples from their own lives. And there's a very public example in Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

Posted by: artemis at August 16, 2020 10:09 AM (AwPyG)

237 Well, that isn't how it works. And whatever it was you needed in that primordial early relationship that you didn't get, you're never going to get. Ever.
Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at August 16, 2020 10:00 AM (NWiLs)

But it explains how a child of an alcoholic will find one to fix, or how a person will seek out an abuser to repair. It doesn't work but it's some emotional equation that some people must solve.

Posted by: CN at August 16, 2020 10:09 AM (ONvIw)

238 Reno is currently impaled on the barbed cock of Satan.
Posted by: Captain Hate at August 16, 2020 10:06 AM (y7DUB)
------------

Ah, I either forget she'd died or this is news to me.

Either way, it's no less than she deserves.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing
at August 16, 2020 10:09 AM (WEBkv)

239 Orrustu timi! Bloth og dauthi!
Posted by: runner


I've often wondered how the cobs adjudge comments in unfamiliar languages - go to an online translator to check what was said, or just assume it doesn't matter 'cause no one can read it anyway?

Posted by: mindful webworker
radically inclined webworks
at August 16, 2020 10:09 AM (wKcYr)

240 All 4(!) of her husbands had bitchy moms. Go figure.

Four? Good God almighty.

And all the rest...very well-said. It's good insight.

Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at August 16, 2020 10:09 AM (NWiLs)

241 Captain Hate

Glad you are liking the book. Thanks for the positive feedback.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at August 16, 2020 10:05 AM (u82oZ)


You're welcome. Honestly Horde recs are the best by a not small margin. Well narrated history is such a contrast to some of the boring marxist sludge produced by most of wackademia.

Posted by: Captain Hate at August 16, 2020 10:09 AM (y7DUB)

242 Sadly, comfort level works both ways and some people
need to validate themselves by invalidating others' achievements. My
mom loved to do this, of course. All 4(!) of her husbands had bitchy
moms. Go figure.



Posted by: CN at August 16, 2020 10:04 AM (ONvIw)

---
Huh, my mom was married 4 times as well. We should form a club.

On the plus side, we reconciled at my uncle's funeral. I visited with her a couple of weeks ago.

I recognize that a major point of friction between us is religion. For me religion is religion. For her it is politics. When I rejected the Democrats, she felt I was rejecting her and her faith. She's changed churches many times, but the Party - that is beyond question.

I now know to downplay it, shift the subject and focus on the grandkids. So we get along.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 10:12 AM (cfSRQ)

243 Chernow's other work includes a recent bio of Grant, and the book I'm most interested in reading, The House of Morgan, a 1990 bio of J.P. Morgan.
=====

Highly recommend The House of Morgan. (I used to have a copy, but was lost in one of my mother's raids to clean up my various book clutter.)

Posted by: mustbequantum at August 16, 2020 10:12 AM (MIKMs)

244 I just finished the book The Wealth Explosion, the Nature and Origins of Modernity by Stephen Davies.

Davies' argument is that the modern world is different from the world our ancestors lived in since the Agricultural revolution, and he reviews how it is different, current theories on what allowed the change to happen, what the change itself is and what is sustaining it.

He looks at two periods that similar changes happened, at he one we are in that started in Northern Europe in the 17th Century, and the period of Song Dynasty China from the 10th to the 13th Centuries that ended first with the Mongol invasion of China, and then with the establishment of the Ming and the Qing dynasties that pretty much disassembled their modern period to return to a more "traditional" society.

He looks for parallels between China and Europe's moves to modernity, and they are roughly a move away from small, subsistence farming, a move to trade and manufacturing, and a drive by the elites to foster or at least stop inhibiting invention and development of potentially destabilizing technologies. This was followed by both a change in culture matching the change in economy, and a change in thinking, which in Europe was called the scientific method, where systematized bodies of knowledge (like Biblical understanding of the world, Galen's understanding of medicine, alchemy) began to be verified by pragmatic or experimental work to see if it continued to be valid or not.
He calls the two systems of knowledge "proscriptive and prescriptive knowledge" and points out that traditionally the global theories of a proscriptive system of knowledge are static in that they only allow acceptance of new data that can be understood within and support the system, and that since prescriptive knowledge (like making Wootz steel or brewing beer) had no underlying theory it could only advance by blind trial and error, and by accident.

By combining the two there is a dramatic change both in magnitude of technological advances but also when it starts to build on itself, in wild new directions that were never considered before.

in the final section he refers back to the brief flourishing after the Song period in China and how it was closed down, and how in Europe the elites of the competing states had to rely on the wealth and advances to survive in the chaos that was 17th-19th century Europe had to allow continuing advance.



In his afterword, he states two things, one is that it is possible that the political situation could be engineered to prevent or walk back modernity, with the caveat that to do so would probably be a disaster on par with rejecting agriculture and re-adopting hunter-gathering economy, and that it is possible to choke it out through restrictions, but the benefit to any society that refused to do this could be enormous.

finally he asserts that we are no longer living in a Western Civilization, and have not been since the 1850's, any more that a Frank or Saxon living in 1200 could be said to be living in a Roman society, the changes have been so complete and profound.

Stephen Davies has a lot of lectures recorded that can be found on YouTube, and is a wonderful speaker. His only drawbacks as an author are that he uses all the rhetorical flourishes and techniques while writing, and that makes a fairly old fashioned and florid prose that can be hard to get into. He also tends to pad out his arguments a bit far, and some of his padding is just padding.
Each chapter has end notes for further reading. Very extensive lists of resource books that he used.

Posted by: Kindltot at August 16, 2020 10:14 AM (WyVLE)

245 I knew a man whose father had abandoned him young. He married, had kids, built a happy life, and they received a small inheritance when the father died. He cried for days, and couldn't seem to get over it.
The therapist told him that he wasn't mourning the father he never knew, he was mourning the fact the relationship would never be repaired.

Posted by: artemis at August 16, 2020 10:15 AM (AwPyG)

246 I've often wondered how the cobs adjudge comments in unfamiliar
languages - go to an online translator to check what was said, or just
assume it doesn't matter 'cause no one can read it anyway?


After the convulsions of laughter from imagining a Moron following the comment with his fingers while his mouth moves.

Oobin glit? Gleeben broof!

Posted by: BackwardsBoy - Mask Rebel at August 16, 2020 10:15 AM (HaL55)

247 On vacation and trying to turn the 13-year-old nephew into a David Eddings fan while finding a quiet place to write my "you're not actually the prophesied one" book. Taking a new approach that's endorsed by my therapist and psychiatrist: writing whatever pieces I feel like and worrying about stitching it all together later.

Posted by: pookysgirl, nothing new under the sun (hardly) at August 16, 2020 10:16 AM (7VLEj)

248 i'm a week late on this report, but I went looking for Butler's Books which had been Colleen's Books. the addresses i found for it were not occupied by book stores.

best i can guess is, it's gone.

Posted by: yara at August 16, 2020 10:16 AM (rde8g)

249 Deanna Durbin is my kinda cutie

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 16, 2020 10:17 AM (KZzsI)

250 235 Mrs. HoD has real PTSD symptoms from her difficult mother , just a bitter and hateful Vesuvius type - we were 23 and just married when I had the talk with MIL about how she would treat my wife and never left her alone when we visited, but 40 some odd years later I still have to watch my tone in even the smallest situations. Sad really.
Posted by: Heart of Darkness at August 16, 2020 10:09 AM (nFRLh)

Ugh, that's really shitty. I'm sorry about that. It can last a really long time. I still get massive adrenaline dumps in certain situations that remind of that. It's bizarre. Actual physical danger, near misses? Totally calm. Certain confrontational or similar situations that are reminiscent of earlier life? Fight or flight time. I hope she can find peace and healing.

Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at August 16, 2020 10:18 AM (NWiLs)

251 Kindltot

Thank you. Good summary.

I can juxtapose it with Birth of the Modern by Paul Johnson, if I get around to ir.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at August 16, 2020 10:18 AM (u82oZ)

252 I knew a man whose father had abandoned him young. He married, had kids, built a happy life, and they received a small inheritance when the father died. He cried for days, and couldn't seem to get over it.
The therapist told him that he wasn't mourning the father he never knew, he was mourning the fact the relationship would never be repaired.
Posted by: artemis at August 16, 2020


*
*

I *wish* my father had left me a small inheritance!

He taught me 3 things of any value: Anything worth doing is worth doing right; if you're going to drink, drink at home, as it's cheaper and safer; and always get off the carousel in the direction it's turning. That was about it.

(To be fair, Precept No. 1 covers almost everything in life anyway.)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 16, 2020 10:18 AM (rpbg1)

253 245 I knew a man whose father had abandoned him young. He married, had kids, built a happy life, and they received a small inheritance when the father died. He cried for days, and couldn't seem to get over it.
The therapist told him that he wasn't mourning the father he never knew, he was mourning the fact the relationship would never be repaired.
Posted by: artemis at August 16, 2020 10:15 AM (AwPyG)

Yes, the personal loss of a narrative.

Posted by: CN at August 16, 2020 10:18 AM (ONvIw)

254 I don't think a state of being such as "happiness" can be chosen. It is result
of multiple things. "Be happy !" as a command sounds ridiculous, and
one step from "Beatings will continues until happiness improves".

Posted by: runner at August 16, 2020 10:06 AM (zr5Kq)

---
Here's a thought experiment.

Due to bank error/lottery ticket/present from distant relative, you just got $1,000.

Wahoo! How cool is that. You can finally get that cool thing you wanted!

And then your car/dishwasher/hip breaks. The cost? $1,000.

To some people (which used to include me), that utterly sucks, it's like life is just out to torment you. Gives you stuff and then takes it away.

But from another view, it's great good fortune that you got 'free' money just when it really came in handy.

Don't get me wrong, I bitch about many things, but it's just blowing off steam. Mostly I look on the bright side of stuff.


Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 10:18 AM (cfSRQ)

255 But it explains how a child of an alcoholic will find one to fix, or how a person will seek out an abuser to repair. It doesn't work but it's some emotional equation that some people must solve.

Posted by: CN at August 16, 2020 10:09 AM (ONvIw)

This is true.

Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at August 16, 2020 10:19 AM (NWiLs)

256 216 "It's excellent, although enraging. What a waste of human life that man caused."
I worked in Asia, predominantly in China for over a decade. The near worship Mao gets especially from younger Chinese, and their ignorance concerning his deeds always amazed me.
For example, Mao's face is on every denomination of paper money over there. 5, 10, 20, 50, 100...its all Mao staring back at ya. heh.

Posted by: The Walkimg Dude at August 16, 2020 10:19 AM (cCxiu)

257 Don't get me wrong, I bitch about many things, but it's just blowing off steam. Mostly I look on the bright side of stuff.

I find that very difficult. I prefer expecting the worst, so that when something pleasant happens, you're happy.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 16, 2020 10:20 AM (2JVJo)

258 Grey Sisters sent, Wolfus.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 16, 2020


*
*

Got it, monsieur!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 16, 2020 10:20 AM (rpbg1)

259 On vacation and trying to turn the 13-year-old
nephew into a David Eddings fan while finding a quiet place to write my
"you're not actually the prophesied one" book. Taking a new approach
that's endorsed by my therapist and psychiatrist: writing whatever
pieces I feel like and worrying about stitching it all together later.


Posted by: pookysgirl, nothing new under the sun (hardly) at August 16, 2020 10:16 AM (7VLEj)

---
Writing can be excellent therapy.

Good luck!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 10:20 AM (cfSRQ)

260 Sgt. Mom, For the Malayan Campaign, find a copy of Quartered Safe Out Here by George MacDonald Fraser.

Posted by: Kindltot at August 16, 2020 10:20 AM (WyVLE)

261 Anyone else find it just a bit odd that on the eve of the Democrat convention there is not one Biden surrogate on any of the Sunday shows?

Posted by: JackStraw at August 16, 2020 10:20 AM (ZLI7S)

262
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 10:18 AM (cfSRQ)
----------

I'm definitely in the "lemons into lemonade" category, because that good fortune kept bad fortune from turning into a disaster.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing
at August 16, 2020 10:20 AM (WEBkv)

263 245 I knew a man whose father had abandoned him young. He married, had kids, built a happy life, and they received a small inheritance when the father died. He cried for days, and couldn't seem to get over it.
The therapist told him that he wasn't mourning the father he never knew, he was mourning the fact the relationship would never be repaired.
Posted by: artemis at August 16, 2020 10:15 AM (AwPyG)

Yeah, sounds right. Bloody devastating.

Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at August 16, 2020 10:20 AM (NWiLs)

264 **loos at clock**

I'm late! Got to get chicken into the crock pot.

Hope you all have a lovely day.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 16, 2020 10:20 AM (2JVJo)

265 So AB Stoddard is going after PDT and the USPS bashing
........
Taylor Swift Attacks Trump Over USPS:'He Is WELL AWARE That We Do Not Want Him as Our President'



There is virtually no difference here at all.


The Shadownet/social media pushes the desired line to be vomited out of all available podcast, SM, and YT outlets. That's why the fake narrative appears coordinated. Because it is.


Reading Baen Books free collections of short stories lately. When the SJW crap starts , I just go to another story.

Posted by: deplorable unperson - refuse to accept the Mask of the Beast at August 16, 2020 10:21 AM (luzVb)

266 Someone last week mentioned a series of books by Nicholas Rhea, about a British constable. Kindle Unlimited had the first of the series, "Constable on the Hill", for free so I downloaded it. It was pleasant in a meandering kind of way, but I kept waiting for something to happen, other than "I rode my bike down the hill to the village hall. There I saw Fred." I returned it half way through. Maybe I'm missing something.

Posted by: grammie winger at August 16, 2020 10:21 AM (4EyHE)

267 I'm late! Got to get chicken into the crock pot.

Hope you all have a lovely day.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at August 16, 2020 10:20 AM (2JVJo)

Euphemism?

Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at August 16, 2020 10:21 AM (NWiLs)

268 Notepad has always had F5-inserts date and time. At least since Win95. I think. Certainly since XP.

Cutting and pasting:

The reason merely "pasting to Notepad" doesn't correct unicode characters is, Notepad does nothing to what you paste.

In Notepad, if your text has Unicode characters and you try to save it with ANSI format, it will tell you you'll lose characters. Save it in ANSI anyway, re-load the file, then it will be free of Unicode characters - need them or not. (I think. Been a while since I've done anything this way.)

There is a site, I think, which will change all the unicode characters to ASCII (e.g. use a regular vertical apostrophe for the fancy angled ones). I don't remember what that site is, just seen it mentioned.

My best lazy solution is charset.org that OM mentioned above.

Here's an easy-to-remember short link to it:
bit.ly/pixyize

Unicode characters will be changed to HTML equivalents. ♠ is formed by (hope this works) spades;. However, if someone then cuts-and-pastes your comment, they'll in turn get Pixy reject or at least the little black diamonds. They'll need to Pixyize, too.

Alternatively, do the tedious work of going through the modified text in the lower panel, and manually replace all the html equivalents with plain ASCII characters.

And if you don't know what all that means, well, we really shouldn't have to these days, but Pixy is "vintage" software.

Which we love, warts and all.

Posted by: mindful webworker - technically squeaking at August 16, 2020 10:22 AM (wKcYr)

269 For example, Mao's face is on every denomination of paper money over there. 5, 10, 20, 50, 100...its all Mao staring back at ya. heh.
Posted by: The Walk___ Dude at August 16, 2020 10:19 AM (cCxiu)
----------

Well, at least they have the excuse of ignorance, unlike the modern left in this country.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing
at August 16, 2020 10:22 AM (WEBkv)

270 Sorry, Sgt. Mom, that was the Burma campaign.

I am an idiot

Posted by: Kindltot at August 16, 2020 10:22 AM (WyVLE)

271 Been reading Moorcock's Elric stories recently. I read them first in high school, from the library in random order (whatever was available on the shelf at the time) and I loved them then.

Now, decades later I still enjoy their creativity and the fresh, unique way Moorcock creates fantasy in a sea of Tolkien knockoffs. But I don't love them like I did, because they read kind of pulpy and contrived. Elric always can pull the right spell, the right deal with an ancient being by his peoples, get Arioch's aid at the right time. He's not quite a "Marty Stu" because he messes up and hurts people and fails quite a bit, but he doesn't ever really feel in any especial danger.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 16, 2020 10:22 AM (KZzsI)

272 Still reading Cromwell. Lots of timely insight in the text and history. I will summarize when finished.

Have a great day, everyone. Chores await.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at August 16, 2020 10:23 AM (u82oZ)

273 Anyone else find it just a bit odd that on the eve of the Democrat convention there is not one Biden surrogate on any of the Sunday shows?

Posted by: JackStraw at August 16, 2020 10:20 AM (ZLI7S)

I can't stand most of those people during the week. I ain't gonna watch 'em on Sunday.

Posted by: BignJames at August 16, 2020 10:23 AM (X/Pw5)

274 @261
what do you think this means? they don't dare pull him out now, do they?

Posted by: artemis at August 16, 2020 10:23 AM (AwPyG)

275 @228 --

I would hiss "Spoilers!", but I had read about that on a fan site years ago. Now I get to see how the relationship began.

Posted by: Weak Geek at August 16, 2020 10:23 AM (u/nim)

276 Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 10:18 AM (cfSRQ)

Gotta sign off , will check into your experiment later on.


Posted by: runner at August 16, 2020 10:23 AM (zr5Kq)

277 changed to HTML equivalents. ♠ is formed by (hope this works) spades;.

Sigh! Didn't work. Supposed to be an ampersand in front of spades;.

Posted by: mindful webworker - technically squeaking at August 16, 2020 10:23 AM (wKcYr)

278 Dang, I gotta go too. Have a good day, y'all.

Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at August 16, 2020 10:23 AM (NWiLs)

279 Ugh, that's really shitty. I'm sorry about that. It can last a really long time. I still get massive adrenaline dumps in certain situations that remind of that. It's bizarre. Actual physical danger, near misses? Totally calm. Certain confrontational or similar situations that are reminiscent of earlier life? Fight or flight time. I hope she can find peace and healing.
Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at August 16, 2020 10:18 AM (NWiLs)

I'm usually on the side of stand your ground. Flight from uncomfortable situations with assholes, reinforces the feeling of inability to cope. Calling out these people and asking them why crapping on someone makes them feel better can be helpful. It was for me. I don't recommend doing it to a boss, but testing the boundaries of relationships with some confrontation is good.

A wise aunt told me before you commit to someone make sure you know what they're like when they're mad at you. You do not want to learn this later.

Posted by: CN at August 16, 2020 10:24 AM (ONvIw)

280 Taking a new approach that's endorsed by my therapist and psychiatrist: writing whatever pieces I feel like and worrying about stitching it all together later.

That's the approach every established author commends. The first draft is for getting your ideas down on paper, not editing. Edit later, fix later. Don't try to make it right, just make it done.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 16, 2020 10:24 AM (KZzsI)

281 RE: The Satanic Ritual Abuse Panic - I've always wondered what happened to the kids. These were little kids who were told that awful things happened to them and then, one would think, would go through treatment to help them deal with the trauma of this thing that supposedly happened to them.

So even though they were not abused, adults told them they were, they were treated as if they were, and then, years later, when the child is old enough to understand the world, the child discovers that not only did that not happen but that said child's testimony was used to send people to jail falsely.

I cannot imagine that would do positive things to one's mental health.

Also Janet Reno was an utter monster.

Posted by: alexthechick - Boobs and hysteria at August 16, 2020 10:24 AM (GbPPJ)

282 The therapist told him that he wasn't mourning the
father he never knew, he was mourning the fact the relationship would
never be repaired.

Posted by: artemis at August 16, 2020 10:15 AM (AwPyG)

---
Yep.

It seems to me that if you have a great relationship with someone and they die, you grieve, but not nearly as much as someone who never got the relationship fixed.

My wife was torn up over her mother's death because the woman could not *even on her death bed* be kind to her. All she wanted was an expression of simple, unconditional love, and that women denied it to her.

Brutal stuff.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 10:25 AM (cfSRQ)

283 Cromwell and Mao are two biographies I would love to read

Posted by: Skip at August 16, 2020 10:26 AM (OjZpE)

284 Anyway, I heard from the vet. Kidney values are fine and the precious elevation was a fluke. Unfortunately, he's anemic, which could be tickborne disease, auto immune (coth curable), or something dreadful like a mass bleeding into the gut. Appointment at 120p for radiology and reticulocyte work

Posted by: CN at August 16, 2020 10:26 AM (ONvIw)

285 Eris:

Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits was nuts and I really enjoyed it.

Have you perchance read Wong's John Dies At The End trilogy? Some of the oddest yet interesting stories I think I've ever read.

Posted by: Sharkman at August 16, 2020 10:27 AM (1YlHz)

286 >>what do you think this means? they don't dare pull him out now, do they?

Pretty much what I've always thought, the entire Biden campaign is a kabuki show. The media is working overtime to make us think a corrupt, senile old fool who has somehow managed to accomplish pretty much nothing in 5 decades in DC is crushing Trump while sitting in his basement and flubbing speeches someone else wrote for him on video.

The whole thing is a media creation.

Posted by: JackStraw at August 16, 2020 10:27 AM (ZLI7S)

287 It seems to me that if you have a great relationship with someone and
they die, you grieve, but not nearly as much as someone who never got
the relationship fixed.


Not in my case. One of the most freeing days of my life was the day my biological father died. I figured he could never hurt me again. Done. Close that door.

Posted by: grammie winger at August 16, 2020 10:27 AM (4EyHE)

288 Well, time to wander.

Patio sweeping before church beckons.

T Storms rolled through last night and made a mess.

So, now we get to deal with 100 degree heat and subsequent humidity.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing
at August 16, 2020 10:28 AM (WEBkv)

289 The problem with reading a Cromwell bio is that its nearly impossible to get an objective, impassive, detatched examination of the facts. Its like reading a bio of Trump written today, everyone is so wound up by presuppositions, anger, and emotional baggage that you either get "he was a hero" or "he was the worst person ever."

Biographies should never be an endorsement or attack, merely the facts which people can use to draw their own conclusions. You aren't supposed to worship or destroy, merely inform.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 16, 2020 10:28 AM (KZzsI)

290 Appointment at 120p for radiology and reticulocyte work

Posted by: CN at August 16, 2020 10:26 AM (ONvIw)


I pray that this will turn out to be minimal and treatable.

Posted by: grammie winger at August 16, 2020 10:29 AM (4EyHE)

291 I'm putting $2 on Biden dropping out this week. Hey! At 99/1 odds I could make $198!

Posted by: Menack at August 16, 2020 10:29 AM (buTO7)

292 @282
There's a great scene in "Sex and the City" (of all things) where Miranda's mother was on her deathbed, and she told Miranda that she was wearing the wrong shade of lipstick

Posted by: artemis at August 16, 2020 10:29 AM (AwPyG)

293 Ok, as for books. Not much this week because of doggeh's issues and husbands medical appointments.

I did start The Forest Passage about avoiding/surviving a surveillance state. It's not a work of fiction, but a sort of handbook.

Posted by: CN at August 16, 2020 10:29 AM (ONvIw)

294 That Sgt. Fury cover is considerably different than I remembered.

https://bit.ly/31Zoe3o

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at August 16, 2020 10:29 AM (+y/Ru)

295 Anyone else find it just a bit odd that on the eve of the Democrat convention there is not one Biden surrogate on any of the Sunday shows?


They're running a stealth campaign. They are counting completely on 'not being Trump' being their strategy.


You have to wonder if they've already given up.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at August 16, 2020 10:30 AM (oVJmc)

296 Sorry, Sgt. Mom, that was the Burma campaign.

I am an idiot
Posted by: Kindltot

Not to be confused with The Burma Shave Campaign....

Posted by: JT at August 16, 2020 10:31 AM (arJlL)

297 290 Appointment at 120p for radiology and reticulocyte work

Posted by: CN at August 16, 2020 10:26 AM (ONvIw)


I pray that this will turn out to be minimal and treatable.
Posted by: grammie winger at August 16, 2020 10:29 AM (4EyHE)

Thanks, so much. Me too. I've had too much cancer in the family the past few years. I am happy to have my family members alive and in remission, but I don't need more of this.

Posted by: CN at August 16, 2020 10:31 AM (ONvIw)

298 No chance of Basement Joe bowing out, it puts egg on lots of Democrat Propaganda Ministries who have sworn that he is fit and ready to lead and your crazy thinking otherwise.

Posted by: Skip at August 16, 2020 10:31 AM (OjZpE)

299 Not in my case. One of the most freeing days of my
life was the day my biological father died. I figured he could never
hurt me again. Done. Close that door.


Posted by: grammie winger at August 16, 2020 10:27 AM (4EyHE)

---
I should clarify that this is the case when it is someone with whom you desperately want to be reconciled.

If you've already written them off, yes, it is as you say.

While I felt terrible for my wife at her sense of loss, I personally was relieved that the woman could no longer continue to torment us. My wife has now come to understand that she was mourning the death of a dream, not an actual person.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 10:32 AM (cfSRQ)

300 Just finished Rogue Bolo by Keith Laumer and am about to start Bolo: The Annals of the Dinochrome Brigade, also by KL. Excellent stories about sentient tanks that I've reread many times over the last 50 years.

Downloaded a Keith Laumer MegaPack on Kindle so after the Bolo stories there will be a bunch of Retief tales which I always enjoy revisiting.

Posted by: Sharkman at August 16, 2020 10:32 AM (1YlHz)

301 @286
Not to mention that he's on multiple videos doing pedophile-like behavior. I never understood why they thought that would pass muster--it's like the Epstein stuff; it doesn't matter whether you're Rep or Dem, 90% of the voters are repulsed.
I never understood how Biden could be the least-worst

Posted by: artemis at August 16, 2020 10:32 AM (AwPyG)

302 Dang, I gotta go too. Have a good day, y'all.
Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo

Autograph session ?

Posted by: JT at August 16, 2020 10:33 AM (arJlL)

303 It was nice to see the Howling Commandos show up in Captain America I, but they got such short shrift. Sgt Fury (Nick's dad) was in there, but you got no real understanding of it, he was just the black guy who spoke a bunch of languages.

In my opinion, a series of short films, or a TV series about Captain America fighting Nazis and Hydra in WW2 with the Howling Commandos featured in it would have been much better. The film gave little sense that he was around long enough or was known well enough to be so beloved and iconic.

But I get it, Marvel was on a short schedule, they had to get these films out then Avengers, and actors are on contracts and age even as you're filming so you can't tell the story as slowly and efficiently as you might want.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 16, 2020 10:33 AM (KZzsI)

304 My wife has now come to understand that she was mourning the death of a dream, not an actual person.


Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 10:32 AM (cfSRQ)


Yes, my sister had the same feeling.

Posted by: grammie winger at August 16, 2020 10:33 AM (4EyHE)

305 I love the Retief stories, fun sci-fi, with a wise-cracking protagonist. the nephew might like them, too

Posted by: artemis at August 16, 2020 10:33 AM (AwPyG)

306 Appointment at 120p for radiology and reticulocyte work

Posted by: CN at August 16, 2020 10:26 AM (ONvIw)


Prayers up, CN !

Posted by: JT at August 16, 2020 10:34 AM (arJlL)

307 While I felt terrible for my wife at her sense of loss, I personally was relieved that the woman could no longer continue to torment us. My wife has now come to understand that she was mourning the death of a dream, not an actual person.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 10:32 AM (cfSRQ)

So that helps, I assume. It's still a loss and parents are supposed to be supportive and protective. An early "betrayal" has long lasting consequences.

Posted by: CN at August 16, 2020 10:34 AM (ONvIw)

308 Anyone else find it just a bit odd that on the eve of the Democrat convention there is not one Biden surrogate on any of the Sunday shows?

Posted by: JackStraw at August 16, 2020 10:20 AM (ZLI7S)

Maybe they don't want people overloaded/overdosed by the end of the week?

Posted by: BignJames at August 16, 2020 10:34 AM (X/Pw5)

309 Prayers up, CN !
Posted by: JT at August 16, 2020 10:34 AM (arJlL)

Thanks.

Posted by: CN at August 16, 2020 10:34 AM (ONvIw)

310 In my effort to actually reread the hundreds of books I moved from house to house for 40 years on the theory that "I might want to read that again someday" I've started "The Boys of Summer" by Roger Kahn. This is a great memoir and probably what turned me into a baseball fan (growing up in Green Bay made baseball distinctly secondary).

Posted by: Who knew at August 16, 2020 10:34 AM (SfO/T)

311 I endorse the Luna City series here, also.

This -- number 9 -- is a bit of a departure in that there is no crisis point. The great movie mob, the buried treasure, the celebrity wedding ... prior installments in the series address these and other particular local emergencies. None are quite cliff hangers but events that do carry over from book to book. The crisis here is all historical, and wraps up. Nothing, seemingly, to carry over or forward.

But the selection of loose threads to weave up from all the prior stories approaches the inventory of a Hobby Lobby.

I'm encouraged to believe this, then, is a calm before a storm. Enjoy. Catch up if necessary. And batten down.

Posted by: pouncer at August 16, 2020 10:35 AM (Jjybm)

312 Do any of you have Kindle Unlimited? I find their selection to be pretty hit and miss. I had a free subscription for a year, and am waffling as to renewing it for money.

Posted by: grammie winger at August 16, 2020 10:35 AM (4EyHE)

313 The whole thing is a media creation.

Posted by: JackStraw at August 16, 2020 10:27 AM (ZLI7S)

On November 3rd, around, oh, 9PM, the curtain will come crashing down on the whole dumb show, and we'll get to watch disturbing images of those TV talking heads that bought into this crazy magic show whose faces will melt like those Nazis at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Posted by: Boswell at August 16, 2020 10:35 AM (w2LAm)

314 One of the most freeing days of my
life was the day my biological father died. I figured he could never
hurt me again. Done. Close that door.


Posted by: grammie winger

(Gently kisses Grammie on the forehead......)

Posted by: JT at August 16, 2020 10:35 AM (arJlL)

315 I love the Retief stories, fun sci-fi, with a wise-cracking protagonist. the nephew might like them, too

Those are loads of fun and often great political satire. Its amazing to see someone able to create an effective comedic hero out of a diplomat

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 16, 2020 10:35 AM (KZzsI)

316 One of the Midway books is like this, the Kindle version of either Shattered Sword or the Symonds one. It's not too bad, but it has some glaring examples of bad OCR on IJN ship names and will spell one three different ways on the same page.

Posted by: hogmartin at August 16, 2020 09:10 AM (t+qrx)

---
It's particularly tough in a novel where the author is using some unique turns of phrase and somewhat experimental for its time.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 09:14 AM (cfSRQ)


Question: Who proofread "Finnegan's Wake"?

Posted by: DR.WTF at August 16, 2020 10:36 AM (AiZBA)

317 >>Not to mention that he's on multiple videos doing pedophile-like behavior. I never understood why they thought that would pass muster--it's like the Epstein stuff; it doesn't matter whether you're Rep or Dem, 90% of the voters are repulsed.
I never understood how Biden could be the least-worst

I've always thought this was a purely defensive move to try and prevent what happened in 2016 from being fully exposed. Obama telling Slow Joe "You don't have to do this" regarding his running for president is a bizarre statement.

You don't have to run for president? That sounds like a plea not to commit suicide not just a non-endorsement. It's just a weird sentiment and doesn't make sense unless Joe was running for an ulterior motive.

Posted by: JackStraw at August 16, 2020 10:36 AM (ZLI7S)

318 Biographies should never be an endorsement or
attack, merely the facts which people can use to draw their own
conclusions. You aren't supposed to worship or destroy, merely inform.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 16, 2020 10:28 AM (KZzsI)

---
Stanley G. Payne's biography of Francisco Franco tries to be even-handed, but it comes off as endorsing him because so many lies have been spread about him over the years.

Franco himself was taciturn and wrote little, so his enemies had a field day in shaping the narrative.

Churchill's quip that he "intended to write history" is taken by some to mean he intends to whitewash himself, but he meant that he intended to at least get his version out there. He knew he had many enemies and without his version of events, they would define his life and career.

Franco dabbled in fiction, but his story has largely been shaped by his enemies, which is why "Franco" is such a valuable source. It helped a lot in writing my book as well because I wanted to understand Franco's strategy and thought process.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 10:36 AM (cfSRQ)

319 Basement Joe isn't coming out to even so much answer marshmallow questions how would it look anyone else coming out to answer them?

Posted by: Skip at August 16, 2020 10:37 AM (OjZpE)

320 (growing up in Green Bay made baseball distinctly secondary).

Posted by: Who knew at August 16, 2020 10:34 AM (SfO/T)



I hear ya. The curling competitions up there drown out everything else.

Posted by: grammie winger at August 16, 2020 10:37 AM (4EyHE)

321 President Donald Trump' s younger brother Robert passed away Saturday, after being hospitalized in New York City. He was 71 years old.

"It is with heavy heart I share that my wonderful brother, Robert, peacefully passed away tonight. He was not just my brother, he was my best friend. He will be greatly missed, but we will meet again. His memory will live on in my heart forever. Robert, I love you. Rest in peace," the President said in a statement.

https://bit.ly/3awniat

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at August 16, 2020 10:37 AM (+y/Ru)

322 {{{grammie}}}

Posted by: San Franpsycho at August 16, 2020 10:37 AM (EZebt)

323 57 those pants would be OK if you were going to the P.A.G.A.N. rally but didn't want to wear the heavy goatskin chaps.
Posted by: Kindltot
I was actually looking for a good photo of the P.A.G.A.N. goatskin chaps when I found the hairy leggings I submitted to OM.

Posted by: Downcast at August 16, 2020 10:37 AM (pZ22/)

324 Do any of you have Kindle Unlimited? I find their selection to be pretty hit and miss.

I had a free month and read a bunch of books through it. I was able to find several fine new series and good books and a bunch of things I didn't finish. Like all of Amazon, it was tough to find really want I wanted, but there's quite a bit on there.

I wouldn't pay for it, I'd rather pay that much to buy books than rent some.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 16, 2020 10:38 AM (KZzsI)

325 The talk shows are leading with the story that since PDT did not 150% refute the kamila is not eligible to run for vp story he is the devil

Posted by: Nevergiveup at August 16, 2020 10:38 AM (85Gof)

326 Have you perchance read Wong's John Dies At The End trilogy? Some of the oddest yet interesting stories I think I've ever read.
Posted by: Sharkman at August 16, 2020 10:27 AM (1YlHz)
---
I read and loved all of them. The situations are bugnuts, but the relationships and emotions are genuine. There is a kind of bittersweetness to his writing, for all the funny.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at August 16, 2020 10:38 AM (Dc2NZ)

327 312 Do any of you have Kindle Unlimited? I find their selection to be pretty hit and miss. I had a free subscription for a year, and am waffling as to renewing it for money.
Posted by: grammie winger at August 16, 2020 10:35 AM (4EyHE)

Most of the choices were not my thing and books I want were pretty available for low cost. So I discontinued my subscription.

Posted by: CN at August 16, 2020 10:39 AM (ONvIw)

328 I have approx 150 pages to go on Arthur Hailey's Detective.

Posted by: JT at August 16, 2020 10:40 AM (arJlL)

329 238 Reno is currently impaled on the barbed cock of Satan.
Posted by: Captain Hate at August 16, 2020 10:06 AM (y7DUB)
------------

Ah, I either forget she'd died or this is news to me.
Either way, it's no less than she deserves.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing
at August 16, 2020 10:09 AM (WEBkv)


I think she passed in 2014, approx.

In my opinion, she was a truly evil woman. And yet elevated to one of the highest offices this country has. Bill sure knew how to pick 'em.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 16, 2020 10:41 AM (Zpa+Q)

330 Those ugly pants are Joe Biden pants. I can see him enticing little kids to run their fingers up and down them.

And then I want to gouge my eyes out.

Posted by: Jenos Idanian at August 16, 2020 10:41 AM (Qf0BO)

331 Re Mao's face on currency:

That allows you to crumple the bastard at will. Sort of subversive, that.

About happiness:

Former pastor we had would speak of "God moments" -- instances that would perk your spirits.

I once was in a dark mood and was standing by a window. A bird flew down and perched on the sill. Being so close to that feathered cutie boosted my attitude immensely. Evidence that it helped? How about that I remember that event?

Posted by: Weak Geek at August 16, 2020 10:41 AM (u/nim)

332 Kindle mistakes are a source of frustration to me. I have read books that are by excellent authors, books that have been out for years, by a reputable publisher, that are riddled with typos and errors.

I can't decide if its because they tried to go on the cheap and use an Optical Character Reader which are infamous for messing up text, or if its an artifact of changing formats, which in my experience always messes up text, changing words etc.

Its like publishers despise ebooks and just crap something out fast to get it done without putting any time or care into it.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 16, 2020 10:41 AM (KZzsI)

333 @327
that's the thing, there's so much competition for readers that the prices are way down, and there's no need to belong to any kind of price club.
I recommend Bookbub.com. You sign up, (free) tell them your favorite authors, and they will notify you any time that author puts out a book for free or 99 cents.

Posted by: artemis at August 16, 2020 10:42 AM (AwPyG)

334 The talk shows are leading with the story that since PDT did not 150% refute the kamila is not eligible to run for vp story he is the devil
Posted by: Nevergiveup

Hiya Captain !

I'm waiting for someone to tell Kameeeela to shut her Blowhole !

Posted by: JT at August 16, 2020 10:42 AM (arJlL)

335 In my opinion, she was a truly evil woman.

That administration was packed with evil. Almost every person working in it, from the top down, was a monster. Bill Clinton is a horrible human being married to one of the worst people in history, and they surrounded themselves with more of their kind.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 16, 2020 10:43 AM (KZzsI)

336 Its like publishers despise ebooks and just crap something out fast to get it done without putting any time or care into it.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 16, 2020 10:41 AM (KZzsI)



A couple of weeks ago I downloaded an Agatha Christie book, and there were two whole chapters missing. Plus the table of contents was in the middle of the book.

Posted by: grammie winger at August 16, 2020 10:43 AM (4EyHE)

337 So that helps, I assume. It's still a loss and
parents are supposed to be supportive and protective. An early
"betrayal" has long lasting consequences.

Posted by: CN at August 16, 2020 10:34 AM (ONvIw)

---
Yes, because once she realized who her mother really was, she could forgive herself for not meeting unrealistic expectations.

Then, having forgiven herself, she could finally forgive her mother and find peace.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 10:43 AM (cfSRQ)

338 @332
Part of it is the formatting. Kindle ebooks should be in .mobi format. If a book is in the more generic .epub format, then the kindle version will have the errors you see

Posted by: artemis at August 16, 2020 10:44 AM (AwPyG)

339 Question: Who proofread "Finnegan's Wake"?
Posted by: DR.WTF at August 16, 2020


*
*

Who could?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 16, 2020 10:44 AM (rpbg1)

340 Andy takes a victory lap for being forced to back down.

Andrew Cuomo@NYGovCuomo
NYS will provide health personnel and supervision so that @Sept11Memorial can mount the Tribute in Light safely.

I am glad that we can continue this powerful tribute to those we lost on 9/11 and to the heroism of all New Yorkers.

We will #NeverForget.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at August 16, 2020 10:44 AM (+y/Ru)

341 I recommend Bookbub.com. You sign up, (free) tell
them your favorite authors, and they will notify you any time that
author puts out a book for free or 99 cents.


Posted by: artemis at August 16, 2020 10:42 AM (AwPyG)


Thanks for the tip! I will do that.

Posted by: grammie winger at August 16, 2020 10:45 AM (4EyHE)

342 Started book 13 (14th actually) of the Marius Mules series by S. J. A. Turney.

The series follows Marcus Fronto first as a Legate of the X legion as Julius Caesar launches his invasion of Gaul, through the civil war with Pompey, Egypt and now fighting the rebellion against Scipio and Caesar's former Lt. Labienus in Africa.

At the moment Caesar is greatly out numbered and pinned against the African coast at Ruspina (across the Med. from Sicily). Will he win or will Scipio's Numibian ally Juba with his elephants crush Caesar? Stay tuned.

These are fun books based mostly on Caesar's memoirs. Obviously, these are historical novels so I don't get excited by the use of current terms or derived plot points.

The books are inexpensive on Kindle.

Posted by: Beartooth at August 16, 2020 10:45 AM (IYZ+m)

343 Isom, put Martina Macbride's Independence Day on loop. Listen to it three times and then go forth. It's your life now. Live it.

Posted by: creeper, sockless at August 16, 2020 10:45 AM (XxJt1)

344 Andrew Cuomo is a vile asshole.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at August 16, 2020 10:46 AM (fIHXk)

345 I had Kindle Unlimited when I had my first Kindle, I found enough of my particular interest to keep me busy but it might not have if had it a long time. There is quite the selections if you have a wider reading.

Posted by: Skip at August 16, 2020 10:46 AM (OjZpE)

346 Brutal stuff.

Yup. BTDT, got the t-shirt. I ran across a baby pic of me around age 3 taken in a studio. A closer look shows bruising on my legs. That's a lot of crap to have to dig out from under, none of it necessary. Prayers up for all of the Hordelings who've been through that in all its various forms.

Posted by: BackwardsBoy - Mask Rebel at August 16, 2020 10:46 AM (HaL55)

347 A couple of weeks ago I downloaded an Agatha Christie book, and there were two whole chapters missing. Plus the table of contents was in the middle of the book.
Posted by: grammie winger

It's a mystery!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at August 16, 2020 10:46 AM (+y/Ru)

348 When Singapore was in the vice-like grip of a genital panic:

https://tinyurl.com/y5nldc42

Pork sales plummeted!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at August 16, 2020 10:46 AM (Dc2NZ)

349 Good heavens, what an awesome title:

Retief and the Pangalactic Pageant of Pulchritude

An interstellar beauty contest?

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 16, 2020 10:47 AM (Zpa+Q)

350 Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at August 16, 2020 10:44 AM (+y/Ru)

Andrew Cuomo is a vile asshole.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at August 16, 2020 10:46 AM (fIHXk)

I'm going to the garage for a cup and a smoke...and to stew a bit.

Posted by: BignJames at August 16, 2020 10:48 AM (X/Pw5)

351 Antifa went to Sturgis yesterday. It was a bad idea.

https://tinyurl.com/y3otdf4o

Posted by: JackStraw at August 16, 2020 10:48 AM (ZLI7S)

352 303 Chris Taylor: "In my opinion, a series of short films, or a TV series about Captain America fighting Nazis and Hydra in WW2 with the Howling Commandos featured in it would have been much better."

It was a very compressed story arc. I did admire how this one, following Iron Man, addresses the whole issue of "costumed heroes". The iconic flag-suit was DESIGNED ON PURPOSE as a stage prop, P.R., political stunt. Yes, and it worked. (The later movies that put "The Captain" or merely "Steve Rogers" into black and grey basically ruined the whole concept.) Iron Man has a costume because the suit IS the superpower. Thor (or Loki) has a costume because he's from another world and they ALL dress funny. Captain America has a suit designed for a musical comedy stage play. Hulk barely has pants. Yep yep yep yep. It's not clear why Barton and Romanov have costumes.
Afterwards and for other characters the reasoning behind the super-suits is hit or miss.

Marvel released a few "web only" shorts back when they were still world-building. Black and White faux newsreels -- grainy enough that some actor could substitute in for the expensive Chris Evans -- could nicely do the "Cap and the Howling Commandos" series here envisioned. With a Peggy Carter connection now and then, as well.

Posted by: pouncer at August 16, 2020 10:48 AM (Jjybm)

353 Isom, put Martina Macbride's Independence Day on loop. Listen to it three times and then go forth. It's your life now. Live it.
Posted by: creeper, sockless at August 16, 2020


*
*

The first time I heard that song, I was in admiration.

The second time, I realized that what the mother of the narrator did *left her kids without any parent at all*! By her act of personal liberty, she had abandoned her children "to the county home." I'm not sure that's what the songwriter intended, but the meaning is there if you think about it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 16, 2020 10:49 AM (rpbg1)

354 Holy crap, am I understanding right that Trump is managing to get the Democrats and big time media to loudly announce that the post office is full of strife and trouble and mail in voting will be a complete failure because Trump?

Hahaha

Posted by: Charles Darwin - Brake lights matter at August 16, 2020 10:49 AM (kVW11)

355 Preparing to start "Memoirs of W.T. Sherman", ought to keep me busy for a while, 800+ pgs. of small print.
Posted by: BignJames

Well worth it. I liked them better than Grant's. Somewhere in my kindle 'to-read' are his brother's memoirs. John Sherman was in the Senate so I'm expecting some decent political chicanery when I finally get around to reading them.

Posted by: Who knew at August 16, 2020 10:49 AM (SfO/T)

356 Late to the thread, but you know those people who brought you the satanic day care centers in the 80s?

Some the very same people have brought you... shaken baby syndrome!

There is substantial evidence that shaken baby syndrome DOES NOT EXIST. That the injuries attributed to it are damn near impossible to create, by shaking. And instead are attributable to other things, like falls and... get this, sickle cell anemia.

But there are still doctors out there diagnosing in, on the flimsiest of scientific evidence, and prosecutors prosecuting it, in spite of credible doctors arguing against these cases.

Lots of people are still in prison this day, even though they've NEVER shown any evidence of abusing the child in question.

Why?

Because at heart, we're a Salem Witch Trial species.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 16, 2020 10:49 AM (hku12)

357 So, books. I'm some way into Nate Silver's The Signal and the Noise.

It's from 2012, and it's current, so it's a bit dated. It hasn't shown me anything new yet but it was recommended by someone smarter than I (and I don't admit that about many people) so I'm going to keep going.

Posted by: Bandersnatch at August 16, 2020 10:50 AM (q2K0j)

358 Thanks. That's what I did and I got the wall of red text. Apparently it doesn't like my writing style.

Posted by: pep




The Blog isn't even allowing cutting and pasting of comments this morning.

Posted by: Sharkman at August 16, 2020 10:50 AM (1YlHz)

359 late to the tjread
hello bookpeeps

Posted by: vmom 2020 Pinky Raised in Superciliousity at August 16, 2020 10:50 AM (J8nVw)

360 Inherited a NOOK Color.

Found they are no longer supported, and this one, the touch screen is unresponsive.

Oh well.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 16, 2020 10:51 AM (3D/fK)

361 Preparing to start "Memoirs of W.T. Sherman", ought to keep me busy for a while, 800+ pgs. of small print.
Posted by: BignJames

I read them and liked them better than Grant's. I've got his brother's memoirs on my kindle for a future read. He was in the U.S. Senate so I expect some decent stories of political chicanery

Posted by: Who knew at August 16, 2020 10:51 AM (SfO/T)

362 "When Singapore was in the vice-like grip of a genital panic:
"


I remember that one, the Case of the Disappearing Dongs

Posted by: Dr Watson at August 16, 2020 10:52 AM (cCxiu)

363 I read "The Order" by Daniel Silva. A lot of crap. The whole "Nazis are Right-Wing" thing. Female and married priests will save the Catholic Church. Guitars and tamborines will make the youth return to the Church.

Posted by: JAS at August 16, 2020 10:52 AM (dT9VH)

364 Ahh, now it's working.

Posted by: Sharkman at August 16, 2020 10:52 AM (1YlHz)

365 With a Peggy Carter connection now and then, as well.

It would have been nice to see her developed as more than just a love interest, a girl who struggled against the patriarchy, and a psycho who opened fire with a live pistol against a man because she saw him kissing another girl when they weren't in any way in the remotest sort of relationship.

Did she even know the shield was bulletproof? We have no reason to believe so in the movie at that point.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 16, 2020 10:53 AM (KZzsI)

366 I read "The Order" by Daniel Silva. A lot of crap. The whole "Nazis are Right-Wing" thing. Female and married priests will save the Catholic Church. Guitars and tamborines will make the youth return to the Church.
Posted by: JAS at August 16, 2020


*
*

Wasn't he the villain with the obsession about M in Skyfall?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 16, 2020 10:53 AM (rpbg1)

367 Bill Clinton is a horrible human being married to one of the worst people in history, and they surrounded themselves with more of their kind.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 16, 2020 10:43 AM (KZzsI)


Right? It's like they were doing job interviews to fill staff positions and such after Bill's election and you might get something like, "sorry, you're just not corrupt and sleazy enough to work for this administration. James Carville will show you out."

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 16, 2020 10:54 AM (Zpa+Q)

368 Female and married priests
will save the Catholic Church. Guitars and tamborines will make the
youth return to the Church.

Posted by: JAS at August 16, 2020 10:52 AM (dT9VH)

---
If that was the case, why isn't the Anglican Church overwhelmed by converts?

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 10:54 AM (cfSRQ)

369 FIRST!!!!!

Posted by: Sponge - China is Asshoe! at August 16, 2020 10:55 AM (Zz0t1)

370 I really like the painting. I would hang.

Posted by: Sponge - China is Asshoe! at August 16, 2020 10:55 AM (Zz0t1)

371 Just finished Operation Crossroads, The Official Pictorial History.

From the Office of the Historian, Joint Task Force One.

Copyright: 1946

Interesting

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at August 16, 2020 10:55 AM (3D/fK)

372 AHL

I read Payne's book recently. I didn't think he was endorsing Franco. I can't see how anyone would, unless the reader is projecting his own views onto Payne.

Posted by: mnw at August 16, 2020 10:55 AM (Cssks)

373 Interesting tidbit on the Millie Weaver "burglary" arrest on Friday.

https://twitter.com/LbrYmemes/status/1295009491247927297/photo/1

The easy recap - she had an argument at a family reunion and took her moms phone away. Of course, theres always a cop caller in the room. Cause we need to bring the state into our squabbles ya know.

Posted by: Menack at August 16, 2020 10:56 AM (buTO7)

374 About happiness:



Former pastor we had would speak of "God moments" -- instances that would perk your spirits.



I once was in a dark mood and was standing by a window. A bird flew
down and perched on the sill. Being so close to that feathered cutie
boosted my attitude immensely. Evidence that it helped? How about that I
remember that event?


I had one of those moments while walking into the club before the ChiCom Wu-Flu shut that down.

Was dragging my bass amp on a handtruck with my bass on my back. A black mom trailing her two small children crossed in front of me. The daughter who looked to be about 5 stopped dead in her tracks, looks up at me and out of the blue goes, "HELLO MR. MAN!" in the cutest little sing-song voice I've heard in a while. I tipped my cap to her and replied, "Hello, young lady." Her brother who looked to be about 7 was mentally rolling his eyes, but never said anything. You could tell that wasn't the first time he'd seen his little sister do that.


I still chuckle about that moment to this day. Gotta luv little kids who just own the entire world like that.

Posted by: BackwardsBoy - Mask Rebel at August 16, 2020 10:56 AM (HaL55)

375 I'm not buying the Bluetooth thing.

The only thing that comes outta Denmark is pork. They're the worlds biggest exporter of pork.

That's it.

They don't really do much else.

Oh, and they're the smartest people on earth. Just ask them. They'll tell you.

Posted by: Sponge - China is Asshoe! at August 16, 2020 10:56 AM (Zz0t1)

376 Antifa went to Sturgis yesterday. It was a bad idea.

https://tinyurl.com/y3otdf4o

Posted by: JackStraw

-

I love that there are literally search results on Google showing antifa at Sturgis surrounded by snopes news articles saying claims that antifa was going to Sturgis is fake news, a meme, and has been debunked.

Posted by: Charles Darwin - Brake lights matter at August 16, 2020 10:57 AM (kVW11)

377 Female and married priests will save the Catholic Church. Guitars and tamborines will make the youth return to the Church.
Posted by: JAS at August 16, 2020



I'm old enough to remember "guitar masses" which sucked giant orange balls. Guitar masses are what we got after Vatican II which the Church thought would reach disaffected youth.

Short answer: Nope.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 16, 2020 10:57 AM (Zpa+Q)

378 Daniel Silva's roots are DNC and journalism, so it's not unexpected

Posted by: artemis at August 16, 2020 10:57 AM (AwPyG)

379 Interesting tidbit on the Millie Weaver "burglary" arrest on Friday.

https://twitter.com/LbrYmemes/status/1295009491247927297/photo/1

The easy recap - she had an argument at a family reunion and took her moms phone away. Of course, theres always a cop caller in the room. Cause we need to bring the state into our squabbles ya know.
Posted by: Menack at August 16, 2020 10:56 AM (buTO7)


She took her mom's phone? NO WONDER swat was called........

Posted by: Sponge - China is Asshoe! at August 16, 2020 10:57 AM (Zz0t1)

380 Female and married priests
will save the Catholic Church. Guitars and tamborines will make the
youth return to the Church.

Posted by: JAS at August 16, 2020 10:52 AM (dT9VH)

Sarcasm surely

Posted by: PUE 206 at August 16, 2020 10:57 AM (D/SYi)

381 $65 million does not go as far as it used to!
Posted by: rhennigantx at August 16, 2020 09:14 AM (JFO2v)

True but it can still go pretty damn far.
Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at August 16, 2020 09:14 AM (NWiLs)

Maybe one of us should pose as a ghost writer (I'm so ghostly, you have never heard of me!), and offer to do Obama's book for an advance of $25 million.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 16, 2020 10:57 AM (epJZu)

382 I had no intentions to, but DAMN did I drink a lot yesterday.

Posted by: Sponge - China is Asshoe! at August 16, 2020 10:58 AM (Zz0t1)

383 Anyone else find it just a bit odd that on the eve of the Democrat convention there is not one Biden surrogate on any of the Sunday shows?

Posted by: JackStraw at August 16, 2020 10:20 AM (ZLI7S)


There's nothing surrounding Biden I don't find odd.

Posted by: Captain Hate at August 16, 2020 10:58 AM (y7DUB)

384 @382
You sound a little as though you've had the hair of the dog that bit you this morning

Posted by: artemis at August 16, 2020 10:59 AM (AwPyG)

385 $65 million does not go as far as it used to!
Posted by: rhennigantx at August 16, 2020 09:14 AM (JFO2v)

True but it can still go pretty damn far.
Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at August 16, 2020 09:14 AM (NWiLs)


In personal terms, $65 mil can solve ALL of your problems. In government terms, it's a tank of gas.

Posted by: Sponge - China is Asshoe! at August 16, 2020 10:59 AM (Zz0t1)

386 Another Retief fan here. Met him during college. Laughed so hard at the first acronym that I shed tears.

Now have lots of Retief books, most of them not yet read. That status will change.

Someday.

Posted by: Weak Geek at August 16, 2020 10:59 AM (u/nim)

387 He also blames the early Church Fathers for scapegoating the Jews, thus causing 2000 years of murder and theft.

Posted by: JAS at August 16, 2020 10:59 AM (dT9VH)

388 AHL



I read Payne's book recently. I didn't think he was endorsing
Franco. I can't see how anyone would, unless the reader is projecting
his own views onto Payne.

Posted by: mnw at August 16, 2020 10:55 AM (Cssks)

---
I was merely noting that trying to set the record straight on a controversial figure can be construed as an endorsement. It isn't, but to the person's enemies, any good thing must mean you are down with every vile act they performed.
I like Payne because he is so fair-minded.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 11:00 AM (cfSRQ)

389 Anyone else find it just a bit odd that on the eve of the Democrat convention there is not one Biden surrogate on any of the Sunday shows?

Posted by: JackStraw at August 16, 2020 10:20 AM (ZLI7S)

Not really. The entire MSM, inluding faux news and wallace, shill for biden, so why need other surrogates?

Posted by: Nevergiveup at August 16, 2020 11:00 AM (85Gof)

390 Any of you Spygate followers out there who might have missed it Steven Schrage just gave a very interesting interview with Bartiromo. Try and find a video of it.

Posted by: JackStraw at August 16, 2020 11:01 AM (ZLI7S)

391 Off to handle some chores, all. See you later on the food thread!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 16, 2020 11:01 AM (rpbg1)

392 grammie winger : So you know Green Bay?

Posted by: Who knew at August 16, 2020 11:01 AM (SfO/T)

393 You sound a little as though you've had the hair of the dog that bit you this morning
Posted by: artemis at August 16, 2020 10:59 AM (AwPyG)


Not yet, but that might be on the menu this morning.

Posted by: Sponge - China is Asshoe! at August 16, 2020 11:01 AM (Zz0t1)

394 My favorite kind of biographical presentation is when someone starts out with one position and through research, study, and writing the book, that position changes. It means they learned and they're more likely to be even-handed.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 16, 2020 11:02 AM (KZzsI)

395 Female and married priests
will save the Catholic Church. Guitars and tamborines will make the
youth return to the Church.

Posted by: JAS at August 16, 2020 10:52 AM (dT9VH)

---
If that was the case, why isn't the Anglican Church overwhelmed by converts?
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 10:54 AM (cfSRQ)


As a former altar boy acolyte in the Anglican Church, their business plan has been flawed for at least half a century.

Posted by: Captain Hate at August 16, 2020 11:02 AM (y7DUB)

396 I read Payne's book recently. I didn't think he was endorsing
Franco. I can't see how anyone would, unless the reader is projecting
his own views onto Payne.

Posted by: mnw at August 16, 2020


*
*

Whenever I hear or read Franco's name, I think of Franco-American spaghetti. I can't help it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 16, 2020 11:02 AM (rpbg1)

397 Yes, Wolfie. She did did leave them alone.

But she also left them alive.

Posted by: creeper, sockless at August 16, 2020 11:03 AM (XxJt1)

398 Reading a couple of books on childhood trauma. Still looking for answers and solutions.

Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo at August 16, 2020 09:13 AM (NWiLs)

Childhood trauma can make you feel pretty unlovable and fearful of people. I know we discussed our wretched clildhoods before, but for me the answer was accepting that my mom, in particular, was hateful and willing to assign blame to her kids, largely me as the older.

I recall being hypersuspicious of people who were nice to me as if they just didn't know that I didn't deserve it and looked for people who would give me the criticism I believed I deserved (because we seek the familiar more often than the better...habits are hard)
Posted by: CN at August 16, 2020 09:29 AM (ONvIw)


I'm going to mention another book, but please don't anyone think I'm recommending it, because I'm not.

It's called "Shit Magnet" by a fellow named Jim Goad. Jim is something of a cult figure, I guess you might say, he's been publishing "shocking" stuff for a few decades now.

He spent some time in prison, and this book kinda details the how and why.

Jim is VERY explicit in describing the abuse and neglect he experienced as a child, and he describes in detail how he experienced this internally. The first part of the book is harrowing but good.

Then he starts in on his behaviors, what he did in response. Then he explains the disastrous relationship the ended with him going to prison.

Jim, at least by the time he wrote the book, hadn't yet put two and two together, and come to understand he was in prison because of the raw, untreated trauma he experienced as a child. He lashes out at others, and doesn't seem to have a clue how abusive and dangerous he is.

So... I suspect many people can relate, but jeez Jim, get some freakin' help, and stop thinking everyone who tries to help you is a moron and a fraud.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 16, 2020 11:03 AM (hku12)

399 I read Growth of the Soil by Knut Hamsun. I've read a few of his works but missed this somehow. A settler goes to the wilderness in Norway, starts a farm, gets married, has kids. Civilization follows. It is a book that I was sneaking in reading time while I worked.

Hamsun was a Nazi sympathizer so I suspect his books will be memory holed. It's not obvious in this book other than a digs at the Jews at the end. And what was surprising were the women that murdered their newborns. The lead's wife murders her daughter who has a harelip, as she has. She spends time in jail. Another character murders her son and is released after a trial.

The characters behave like real people and are complicated. It's an interesting book and worth your time.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at August 16, 2020 11:03 AM (YynYJ)

400 Morning Hordemates.
Thems some icky pants.

Posted by: Diogenes at August 16, 2020 11:04 AM (axyOa)

401 JS, I pray you are right about there being consequences for bad behavior

Posted by: Cosmic Charlie at August 16, 2020 11:04 AM (PUmDY)

402 OT: Don't know if this has come up here yet, but seems like 'interesting' - almost skull worthy - news, and thought the Horde would want to know...

https://tinyurl.com/y566z5kk

Cheers. Happy Sunday. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Posted by: Abiss at August 16, 2020 11:05 AM (Y8DtA)

403 grammie winger : So you know Green Bay?

Posted by: Who knew at August 16, 2020 11:01 AM (SfO/T)


I've passed through on many a trip to the UP. Only time I've really spent there has been the Hall of Fame. Never have been able to get tickets to an actual game, although son seems to always luck out in that department. I am a shareholder, but who isn't?

Posted by: grammie winger at August 16, 2020 11:05 AM (4EyHE)

404 I also got "Where There is No Dentist" for the
Prepper section of the library. It is a book about dental hygiene and
DIY dentistry aimed at 3rd world villagers/. It is quite informative and
I've picked up some good tips already.
I can't wait for the companion book to get here "Where There is No Doctor"


Posted by: The Walk___ Dude at August 16, 2020 10:00 AM (cCxiu)


Where There is No Dentist aka The History of England

Posted by: TheQuietMan at August 16, 2020 11:06 AM (+k5vA)

405 Yes, Wolfie. She did did leave them alone.

But she also left them alive.
Posted by: creeper, sockless at August 16, 2020


*
*

Good point. The songwriter does have Martina say, "I'm not saying if it's right or it's wrong," so there is that.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at August 16, 2020 11:06 AM (rpbg1)

406 We're going to have a cottage industry of Trump bios starting in a few years. Could exceed Lincoln, if that could be possible.

Posted by: Ignoramus at August 16, 2020 11:06 AM (9TdxA)

407 Holy crap, am I understanding right that Trump is managing to get the Democrats and big time media to loudly announce that the post office is full of strife and trouble and mail in voting will be a complete failure because Trump?

Hahaha

Posted by: Charles Darwin - Brake lights matter





Trump is the Intergalactic Immortal Omniscient Troll-Master-In-Chief.

Posted by: Sharkman at August 16, 2020 11:06 AM (1YlHz)

408 Musketeer:
All for one and one for all.

Communist:
All for one and none for all.

Posted by: Headless Body of Agnew at August 16, 2020 11:07 AM (e1mEI)

409 Morning, everyone. I'll renew my plea for someone to post the procedure for cutting and pasting from a Word file to this here site. IIRC, it involves Notepad.
Posted by: pep at August 16, 2020 09:21 AM (v16oJ)

Can't get much simpler. Copy the passage you want from Word (or any other source of formatted text), paste into Notepad, and save as a text file. That gets rid of any hidden formatting.

Now copy the text file from Notepad, and paste it here. Should work. If you get a red error message, look through your copy for things like curly quotes, curly apostrophes, and em-dashes, and replace them with the normal ones from your keyboard.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 16, 2020 11:07 AM (epJZu)

410 Interesting tidbit on the Millie Weaver "burglary" arrest on Friday.

https://twitter.com/LbrYmemes/status/1295009491247927297/photo/1

The easy recap - she had an argument at a family reunion and took her moms phone away. Of course, theres always a cop caller in the room. Cause we need to bring the state into our squabbles ya know.
Posted by: Menack at August 16, 2020 10:56 AM (buTO7)

She took her mom's phone? NO WONDER swat was called........
Posted by: Sponge - China is Asshoe! at August 16, 2020 10:57 AM (Zz0t1)


This is such horseshit. We live in a fucking police state if shit like this happens in an allegedly GOP run state.

Posted by: Captain Hate at August 16, 2020 11:08 AM (y7DUB)

411 Interesting tidbit on the Millie Weaver "burglary" arrest on Friday.

https://twitter.com/LbrYmemes/status/1295009491247927297/photo/1

The easy recap - she had an argument at a family reunion and took her moms phone away. Of course, theres always a cop caller in the room. Cause we need to bring the state into our squabbles ya know.
Posted by: Menack at August 16, 2020 10:56 AM (buTO7)


Is that the "burglary" charge? I thought that had to do with possession of "stolen" documents.

There's a "domestic violence" charge among others, so the mom phone thing would explain that.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 16, 2020 11:08 AM (hku12)

412 @403
For those of you who may not know, Cameo.com gets famous people to send a video to you for a fee. We got Brett Favre to wish my sister happy birthday, and she is still over the moon He does a great job!

Posted by: artemis at August 16, 2020 11:08 AM (AwPyG)

413 Time to get busy. Later all.

Posted by: JackStraw at August 16, 2020 11:08 AM (ZLI7S)

414 OT: Don't know if this has come up here yet, but seems like 'interesting' - almost skull worthy - news, and thought the Horde would want to know...

https://tinyurl.com/y566z5kk

Cheers. Happy Sunday. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Posted by: Abiss at August 16, 2020 11:05 AM (Y8DtA)


BIG, if anything actually comes from it..........

Posted by: Sponge - China is Asshoe! at August 16, 2020 11:08 AM (Zz0t1)

415 Time to get busy. Later all.
Posted by: JackStraw at August 16, 2020 11:08 AM (ZLI7S)


He's gonna score......hehehhehehehhehehehehheh

Posted by: Butthead at August 16, 2020 11:09 AM (Zz0t1)

416
You never know what world libs live in.

Mail-in voting is no big deal--despite nearly 900 dead people voting in Michigan al-fucking-ready. And Trump's disapproval is an attempt to *sabotage* the vote

--which would otherwise be to say it *CAN* be sabotaged, just by a President being on record discouraging it. It *CAN* be sabotaged.

So, do we live a world where mail-in balloting is no big deal, or do we like in a world where it is especially vulnerable to sabotage by the chief executive of the United States?

Libs can't decide, because they like *both* stories.

Mika can't decide whether we live in a world where Trump wouldn't need to fear shooting somebody on 5th avenue or whether Trump needed to cover things up in the investigations or whether the SDNY can prosecute Trump for tax fraud or campaign finance misdeeds.

Because both stories feel good. In one Trump is criminal and will get his--in another Trump is the main threat in an unmoored NYC because he said something about shooting somebody on 5th avenue which few libs ever bothered to understand--because the story they were telling about it was just *too* good.

It doesn't matter whether he would lose a voter if he shot somebody on 5th avenue, the House is ready to impeach him, and I believe the Senate would convict and I couldn't blame them. But Mika lives in an alternate reality where that is anywhere near plausible (or even close to what Trump said).

Posted by: Axeman at August 16, 2020 11:09 AM (7qN9Y)

417 @407
Maybe Trump is Retief

Posted by: artemis at August 16, 2020 11:09 AM (AwPyG)

418 The NY Times has out a front page story about the possibility that a silent group of Trump supporters might exist - maybe, probably not though. The whole article is a hilarious trip through the mental problems of the reporter dealing with the possibility that he won't get his way in November, a greasy nervousness that, yeah these silent Trump people exist, but there is only, like, ten of them.

He hopes...he prays...

Posted by: Boswell at August 16, 2020 11:09 AM (w2LAm)

419 For those of you who may not know, Cameo.com gets
famous people to send a video to you for a fee. We got Brett Favre to
wish my sister happy birthday, and she is still over the moon He does a
great job!


Posted by: artemis at August 16, 2020 11:08 AM (AwPyG)



You just helped me select son's birthday present. Thank you!

Posted by: grammie winger at August 16, 2020 11:09 AM (4EyHE)

420 He also blames the early Church Fathers for scapegoating the Jews, thus causing 2000 years of murder and theft.





Posted by: JAS at August 16, 2020 10:59 AM (dT9VH)

---
It's fascinating to me to see how many people today demand apologies but never intend to offer forgiveness in return.

What they really seem to want is a confession of guilt to then justify whatever punishment they have in mind.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 11:09 AM (cfSRQ)

421 Now if someone could just get Jordy Nelson on the line for me. My birthday is in two months. Should give you plenty of time.

Posted by: grammie winger at August 16, 2020 11:11 AM (4EyHE)

422 Its off topic, and probably discussed last night, but the Supreme Court ruled organizations affiliated w Soros' Open Society lose the protection of 1st Amendment, and can be treated as international threats as this impacts supporters in the US & abroad.

pdf of the ruling written by Kavanaugh:

https://tinyurl.com/y83onkku

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 16, 2020 11:12 AM (KZzsI)

423 For those of you who may not know, Cameo.com gets
famous people to send a video to you for a fee. We got Brett Favre to
wish my sister happy birthday, and she is still over the moon He does a
great job!


Posted by: artemis at August 16, 2020 11:08 AM (AwPyG)



You just helped me select son's birthday present. Thank you!
Posted by: grammie winger at August 16, 2020 11:09 AM (4EyHE)


If it's too expensive, I understand you can basically hire a couple dudes in India to do the same thing for something like five bucks.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 16, 2020 11:12 AM (hku12)

424 Frank Dikotter has written a number of books on Mao, I have never read them, but I have them in my "maybe buy one day" list

he has used a lot of the PRC archives to research Mao and the great leap forward and the cultural revolution.

I like his interviews because he verbally bitchslaps NPR grade interviewers.

Posted by: Kindltot at August 16, 2020 11:12 AM (WyVLE)

425 The easy recap - she had an argument at a family reunion and took her moms phone away.


This requires a grand jury?

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at August 16, 2020 11:12 AM (oVJmc)

426 Off to hang out with Rusty before the vet visit. I'm anxious so that's the best plan.

Posted by: CN at August 16, 2020 11:13 AM (ONvIw)

427
This requires a grand jury?
Posted by: Mr. Peebles at August 16, 2020 11:12 AM (oVJmc)


No, but until the right learns how to lawfare, we're going to continue losing the battles.

Posted by: Sponge - China is Asshoe! at August 16, 2020 11:14 AM (Zz0t1)

428 407 Holy crap, am I understanding right that Trump is managing to get the Democrats and big time media to loudly announce that the post office is full of strife and trouble and mail in voting will be a complete failure because Trump?

Hahaha
Posted by: Charles Darwin - Brake lights matter


Trump to Democrats (and media): "Dance, monkeys!"

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 16, 2020 11:14 AM (Zpa+Q)

429 "The NY Times has out a front page story about the possibility that a silent group of Trump supporters might exist - maybe, probably not though. "

The big issue in 2016 was Turnout, Turnout, Turnout. Trump got 5% more than Romney from White Non-college, the largest cohort of all -- nearly 3x the potential Black vote -- and we'll see even more in November. (Thank you BLM!)
Pollsters missed this in 2016.

NBC did a separate poll on turnout in 2016 but threw out the results because it came back too old and too white. (None so blind as those who don't want to see).

Posted by: Ignoramus at August 16, 2020 11:14 AM (9TdxA)

430 Not really. The entire MSM, inluding faux news and wallace, shill for biden, so why need other surrogates?
Posted by: Nevergiveup at August 16, 2020 11:00 AM (85Gof)

Besides, the Approved Story Line today is that Trump is going to rig the election by destroying the Post Office forever, or something like that.

Posted by: Tom Servo at August 16, 2020 11:14 AM (V2Yro)

431 425 The easy recap - she had an argument at a family reunion and took her moms phone away.

This requires a grand jury?
Posted by: Mr. Peebles at August 16, 2020 11:12 AM (oVJmc)


That's what I was wondering about, too.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 16, 2020 11:14 AM (Zpa+Q)

432 374
About happiness:





Former pastor we had would speak of "God moments" -- instances that would perk your spirits.





I once was in a dark mood and was standing by a window. A bird flew

down and perched on the sill. Being so close to that feathered cutie

boosted my attitude immensely. Evidence that it helped? How about that I

remember that event?

I had one of those moments while walking into the club before the ChiCom Wu-Flu shut that down.

Was
dragging my bass amp on a handtruck with my bass on my back. A black
mom trailing her two small children crossed in front of me. The daughter
who looked to be about 5 stopped dead in her tracks, looks up at me and
out of the blue goes, "HELLO MR. MAN!" in the cutest little sing-song
voice I've heard in a while. I tipped my cap to her and replied, "Hello,
young lady." Her brother who looked to be about 7 was mentally rolling
his eyes, but never said anything. You could tell that wasn't the first
time he'd seen his little sister do that.


I still chuckle about that moment to this day. Gotta luv little kids who just own the entire world like that.


Posted by: BackwardsBoy - Mask Rebel at August 16, 2020 10:56 AM (HaL55)
I used to go out walking on summer evenings when I lived in the Philadelphia suburb of Narberth in the 1980s and 1990s. One evening, I walked past a family sitting at a picnic table in their backyard eating dinner. A little boy about six or seven saw me and said, "Would you like to come and eat with us?" I don't recall what his parents' expressions were, and I had already eaten, so I said, "Thanks, but I've already had supper."
I pray for that little boy now and then, and hope he grew into a man with the same character I saw then.And sometimes I wish I'd taken him up on is offer. I might have met an amazing family when I knew few people in the area.

Posted by: Wethal at August 16, 2020 11:16 AM (ZzVCK)

433 I suspect people who think "Payne endorses Franco" are more unhappy about what he wrote about Republican Spain than what he wrote about Franco.

The old left still reveres the loyalists, I think.

All that old stuff about murdering priests & disenfranchising Catholic voters is inconvenient & in poor taste.

Posted by: mnw at August 16, 2020 11:17 AM (Cssks)

434 Besides, the Approved Story Line today is that Trump is going to rig the election by destroying the Post Office forever, or something like that.
Posted by: Tom Servo at August 16, 2020 11:14 AM (V2Yro)

If he could rig the election so he wins and destroy the USPS then he deserves to be on Rushmore!

Posted by: MAC SOG'''' at August 16, 2020 11:17 AM (P4Pk9)

435 I would wait to see about this Amber lady's story.
the left is trying desperately to muddy-up the waters, ever since the patriot-citizens have taken hold of the reins on social media. For instance, they've started a disinformation campaign that a young man who seems to be a real loser is "Q" as an example.

I'm always suspicious when either side presents someone as "famous" when I've never heard of them before.

Posted by: artemis at August 16, 2020 11:18 AM (AwPyG)

436 Its off topic, and probably discussed last night, but the Supreme Court
ruled organizations affiliated w Soros' Open Society lose the protection
of 1st Amendment, and can be treated as international threats as this
impacts supporters in the US abroad.***
Horse, barn door. Still better late than not at all. Good grief the damage that 89 y.o. has perpetrated on the world in general and the USA in particular. Cannot imagine what greater good G-d will bring out of his (Soros) evil.

Posted by: Old Dude at August 16, 2020 11:19 AM (LGXGf)

437 It's fascinating to me to see how many people today demand apologies but never intend to offer forgiveness in return.

What they really seem to want is a confession of guilt to then justify whatever punishment they have in mind.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 11:09 AM

Well said.

Posted by: Taqiyyologist at August 16, 2020 11:19 AM (j3jZX)

438 Sgt. Mom, For the Malayan Campaign, find a copy of Quartered Safe Out Here by George MacDonald Fraser.


Posted by: Kindltot at August 16, 2020 10:20 AM (WyVLE)


The Jungle is Neutral by F. Spenser Chapman is even better, Chapman fought behind enemy lines for four years, was wounded twice, captured twice and escaped twice. The level of courage and perseverance is simply amazing.
"At this meal there was a meat dish about which there seemed to be some mystery. I found it very good, being less rank then monkey though not so good as jungle pig. After the meal I was told that I had been eating Jap. Though I would not knowingly have become a cannibal I was quite interested to have sampled human flesh".

Posted by: cool breeze at August 16, 2020 11:19 AM (UGKMd)

439 One of the problems with the book thread (well, maybe it's my problem) is that following suggestions for one book leads to a dozen more related in some fashion.

The suggestion to read "Norwegian Wood", led to rereading a couple of other books about trees and wood. Since part of my interest stems from wood working and wood carving, that could well lead to some books I have about use and care of hand tools. And since part of the story concerns history, that will likely have me digging out my books by Eric Sloane such as "A Reverance for Wood" and "Diary of an Early American Boy".

And this kind of thing happens all the time. One mention of a particular book leads to a two foot stack of sorta related tomes. No wonder I don't get much done. I'm always looking for or at books.

Posted by: JTB at August 16, 2020 11:20 AM (7EjX1)

440 I read Growth of the Soil by Knut Hamsun. I've read a few of his works but missed this somehow. A settler goes to the wilderness in Norway, starts a farm, gets married, has kids. Civilization follows. It is a book that I was sneaking in reading time while I worked.

Hamsun was a Nazi sympathizer so I suspect his books will be memory holed. It's not obvious in this book other than a digs at the Jews at the end. And what was surprising were the women that murdered their newborns. The lead's wife murders her daughter who has a harelip, as she has. She spends time in jail. Another character murders her son and is released after a trial.

The characters behave like real people and are complicated. It's an interesting book and worth your time.
Posted by: Notsothoreau at August 16, 2020 11:03 AM (YynYJ)


I haven't read any Knut Hamsun in a long time. I just remember his books being really bleak. I still have a couple in my shelves, Hunger and Mysteries; not sure if I'll ever get around to rereading them. As far as being a Nazi symp, he'd had a couple strokes by then and maybe his noggin wasn't functioning so well. Or maybe Ezra Pound needed company..

Posted by: Captain Hate at August 16, 2020 11:21 AM (y7DUB)

441 The old left still reveres the loyalists, I think.



All that old stuff about murdering priests disenfranchising Catholic voters is inconvenient in poor taste.

Posted by: mnw at August 16, 2020 11:17 AM (Cssks)

---
The new left reveres them as well.

That's what makes getting the truth about Spain and Franco so difficulty.

I fully expect to be accused of being a Nationalist shill and Franco apologist simply for presenting verifiable facts, but when I first studied the war, I assumed the Republic was the good guys.

The more you dig into it, however, the more the lies get exposed.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 11:21 AM (cfSRQ)

442 The Crying of Lot 49 is a good story.

Posted by: Cosmic Charlie at August 16, 2020 11:21 AM (PUmDY)

443 Ah, Jack King Kirby, the main source of every dollar anybody made off Marvel. DC war comics (Haunted Tank?) didn't interest me, although I hadn't seen Sgt. Rock. But Sgt. Fury got me interested.

It was reading Sgt. Fury comics one day when it came home to me that WW2 ended a mere seven years before I was born - previously it had all seemed ancient history. Then I began to see how much of Europe and Britain were still deep in rubble. Changed my historical perspective.

Posted by: mindful webworker
radically inclined webworks
at August 16, 2020 11:22 AM (wKcYr)

444 One of the lowest, worst moments in my life was when my parents were fighting in the car on the way home from somewhere. I'd heard them fight before, but it was more of the "why can't you understand" than "I can't stand you any more". My older brothers had been... unwise for years, and it was causing a great deal of strain and stress on them.

My father had been raked over the coals for his efforts to get the Deacons in the church to do more to help the needy in the congregation. He was unhappy with his job. Mom was going through menopause. Basically it was a horrible combination of events that was destroying their marriage.

And I could hear it in their voices. They were getting past he point of love that I had always seen in their lives and voices, and now they sounded like people who really did not like each other at all.

I fled the car and went up into the woods behind our house, and sat in the field and cried and screamed at God for help. I was blind with tears, helpless and when I finally calmed down and looked up... every animal in the field, and our cats was surrounding me. The horses, the goats, the geese, the donkey. They were just so close I could touch them all. And they were calm and peaceful and just standing close, not watching me.

It was the most amazing, unreal thing I had ever experienced in my life, to this day I have a hard time believing it. It was like they all could sense I was in such horrendous pain and fear that I needed comfort and safety. And these were not animals I was close to, some were quite shy. I wasn't a caretaker, I barely had anything at all to do with the horses besides sometimes giving one an apple.

God was with me that day.

My parents worked it out and stayed together and eventually my brothers got past that stage (one of them at least) and wised up. God was with us then, too.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 16, 2020 11:23 AM (KZzsI)

445 I read absolutely nothing last week, save the HQ and twenty more pages of Muldoon's book. One of these days I'm going to finish it and that will be a black day indeed.

Posted by: creeper, sockless at August 16, 2020 11:25 AM (XxJt1)

446 I suspect people who think "Payne endorses Franco" are more unhappy about what he wrote about Republican Spain than what he wrote about Franco.

The old left still reveres the loyalists, I think.

All that old stuff about murdering priests & disenfranchising Catholic voters is inconvenient & in poor taste.
Posted by: mnw at August 16, 2020 11:17 AM (Cssks)

Simply put Payne made Franco look good by telling the truth

Posted by: PUE 206 at August 16, 2020 11:25 AM (D/SYi)

447 God was with me that day.



My parents worked it out and stayed together and eventually my
brothers got past that stage (one of them at least) and wised up. God
was with us then, too.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 16, 2020 11:23 AM (KZzsI)

---
A holy moment.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 11:25 AM (cfSRQ)

448 ALH

My working assumption is that the new left is historically illiterate, & doesn't know Generalissimo from General Hospital

Posted by: mnw at August 16, 2020 11:26 AM (Cssks)

449 If you have a paperback, you now own a rare first edition!


Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 09:12 AM (cfSRQ)

Yay Me! It arrived yesterday, and it's up in the queue right after "The Conquering Tide" by Ian Toll.

Posted by: Old Blue at August 16, 2020 11:26 AM (VNmG1)

450 A holy moment.

The reason I know it was holy was that it wasn't a feeling so much of comfort, although it was, but the primary feeling was of awe and a little fear. Every time anyone in the Bible has a close encounter with God or one of His servants, they are terrified, they faint, they crumple and want to hide. God's presence is overwhelmingly awesome, not peaceful and comforting. Its too much for us as humans.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 16, 2020 11:27 AM (KZzsI)

451 For those of you who may not know, Cameo.com gets
famous people to send a video to you for a fee. We got Brett Favre to
wish my sister happy birthday, and she is still over the moon He does a
great job!


Posted by: artemis at August 16, 2020 11:08 AM (AwPyG)


Tommy Chong is "featured."

I may have to send him somewhere.......

Posted by: Sponge - China is Asshoe! at August 16, 2020 11:27 AM (Zz0t1)

452 Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 16, 2020 11:23 AM (KZzsI)

---

I prayed my parents would divorce.

Posted by: SMH at August 16, 2020 11:27 AM (RU4sa)

453 I haven't read any Knut Hamsun in a long time. I just remember his books being really bleak.
Posted by: Captain Hate at August 16, 2020 11:21 AM (y7DUB)


What, a Norwegian writer with a bleak outlook on life? The devil you say...

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 16, 2020 11:28 AM (Zpa+Q)

454 419 For those of you who may not know, Cameo.com gets
famous people to send a video to you for a fee. We got Brett Favre to
wish my sister happy birthday, and she is still over the moon He does a
great job!


Posted by: artemis at August 16, 2020 11:08 AM (AwPyG)

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

I just went to check out their site. In the new and noteworthy section (first one on the page), first person listed is Mia Khalifa. While they list what the other celebs are known for, they don't list hers (for obvious reasons)

Posted by: No One of Consequence at August 16, 2020 11:28 AM (CAJOC)

455 Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 16, 2020 11:23 AM (KZzsI)

*getting dusty in here*

Posted by: creeper, sockless at August 16, 2020 11:29 AM (XxJt1)

456 My parents worked it out and stayed together and eventually my brothers got past that stage (one of them at least) and wised up. God was with us then, too.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 16, 2020 11:23 AM (KZzsI)


What an amazing story.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 16, 2020 11:29 AM (Zpa+Q)

457 Besides, the Approved Story Line today is that Trump is going to rig the election by destroying the Post Office forever, or something like that.
Posted by: Tom Servo at August 16, 2020 11:14 AM (V2Yro)
---
---But there's nothing to worry about in mass mail voting!

Unlike poll voting which had nothing to do with the federal government--mail-in voting is totally subvertible by the President's whims--or even not clapping enough for Tinkerbell.

Other than that--and the 20+% the blue state of New York felt they had to throw out in their own election primary--totally safe!

Posted by: Axeman at August 16, 2020 11:30 AM (7qN9Y)

458 Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 16, 2020 11:23 AM (KZzsI)

That's an incredibly touching story. I usually avoid commenting on personal matters of others here but that was different.

Posted by: Captain Hate at August 16, 2020 11:30 AM (y7DUB)

459 Sweet story, CRT.

Posted by: SMH at August 16, 2020 11:31 AM (RU4sa)

460 ...His memory will live on in my heart forever. Robert, I love you. Rest in peace," the President said in a statement.
https://bit.ly/3awniat
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks


Kinda dusty in here alluva sudden.

Read that the Dem tyrants wanted the Pres to self-isolate for two weeks if he wanted to visit his brother. I presume he never got to? There could be Trumpian payback.

Posted by: mindful webworker
radically inclined webworks
at August 16, 2020 11:31 AM (wKcYr)

461 AHL
Everyone gets to be critical of Franco (and anyone who defends him) until the Jacobins are on their stoop.

Posted by: PUE 206 at August 16, 2020 11:33 AM (D/SYi)

462 I feel bad my parents are still living and together and get along with them well I think.
( that was a touching story Christopher)

Posted by: Skip at August 16, 2020 11:33 AM (OjZpE)

463 I prayed my parents would divorce.

My parents always loved each other, and were clear about it to everyone. They had a policy of never, ever running each other down in public to anyone else. My dad would charge mom a kiss every time she passed him, a toll. Mom would do little things for him every day, just something small to show how much she cared.

I was surrounded by love growing up, and this was so hard to face.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 16, 2020 11:33 AM (KZzsI)

464 My niece got that cameo thing for my BIL with Yankee great Don Mattingly. Wasn't cheap but it was a big hit and memorable.

Posted by: Ignoramus at August 16, 2020 11:35 AM (9TdxA)

465 ...His memory will live on in my heart forever. Robert, I love you. Rest in peace," the President said in a statement.
https://bit.ly/3awniat
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks

Kinda dusty in here alluva sudden.

Read that the Dem tyrants wanted the Pres to self-isolate for two weeks if he wanted to visit his brother. I presume he never got to? There could be Trumpian payback.
Posted by: mindful webworker
radically inclined webworks
at August 16, 2020 11:31 AM (wKcYr)


I hadn't heard, was it coronavirus?

Posted by: BurtTC at August 16, 2020 11:36 AM (hku12)

466 With apologies to OMuse for going off topic, a quick update for those who expressed good wishes for WeaselCatv2.

In short, much improved! She stopped eating over a week ago, and multiple trips to the vet and a LOT of tests and lab work failed to turn up anything other than a healthy cat. Yesterday at the kitty ER they switched her to some different medicine which apparently did the trick. She has her appetite back and is nibbling away at her food. Thanks again for all the good wishes!

Posted by: Weasel at August 16, 2020 11:36 AM (MVjcR)

467 This thread has come to a screeching halt, and there's not a new one yet.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 16, 2020 11:37 AM (hku12)

468 "I think of Franco-American spaghetti. I can't help it."


Uh oh

Posted by: SpaghettiOs at August 16, 2020 11:37 AM (Tnijr)

469 A holy moment.

Seconded.

Posted by: BackwardsBoy - Mask Rebel at August 16, 2020 11:37 AM (HaL55)

470 I was surrounded by love growing up, and this was so hard to face.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 16, 2020 11:33 AM (KZzsI)

---

You were truly blessed to have love in your house.

Was the opposite in mine, which I thought was the norm for the longest time.

Really wasn't until I met my husband and his family that the contrasts struck me.

If it hadn't been for my grandmother, it would have been much worse.

Posted by: SMH at August 16, 2020 11:37 AM (RU4sa)

471 I don't know if it was mentioned above but there is a twatter string about, The wrong Trump died.
Vile bastards. One asked what Trump offered the devil to take his brother instead of himself.

This gets me so angry that I need to

**types**

**deletes**

Posted by: Winston, dreg of society at August 16, 2020 11:38 AM (d9Irc)

472 Delurking...
To Insomniac and others seeking healing from childhood trauma, two things have been SUPER helpful to me - Faster EFT (emotional freedom technique) helps the brain stop reliving the past. Traumas are like vinyl records the brain plays over and over again. Faster EFT puts a big scratch in the record so it stops playing and healing/growth can occur. A good coach trained in it accelerates results. The second thing is The Healing Code (a book) by Alexander Loyd and Ben Johnson which goes after healing the subconscious. Cheers and blessings to everyone on a healing journey.

Posted by: dutchbaby at August 16, 2020 11:38 AM (kQFTI)

473 I refuse to even read that evil garbage.

Posted by: SMH at August 16, 2020 11:39 AM (RU4sa)

474 How can it be possible that the President of the United States cannot visit his dying brother?

Posted by: creeper, sockless at August 16, 2020 11:39 AM (XxJt1)

475 One couple I know have been going through some rough times -- haven't we all? -- and apparently they decided to get professional help once they noticed what their constant strife was doing to their kids.

Posted by: Trimegistus at August 16, 2020 11:40 AM (ekOv+)

476 How sick of a person do you have to be to post such vileness when someone has lost a loved one??

Posted by: SMH at August 16, 2020 11:40 AM (RU4sa)

477 Remember that the post office is billions in dollars in debt but undercharging Amazon to deliver its goods.
Not a coincidence, and it's no wonder they're yelling their heads off that there's a new sheriff in town

Posted by: artemis at August 16, 2020 11:40 AM (AwPyG)

478 If Trump dies you get Pence

ROFLOL

Posted by: PUE 206 at August 16, 2020 11:40 AM (D/SYi)

479 Since turning 29, it has been an unfortunate fact of life that I have lost older family members. Knowing how much that hurts, and that President Trump has the additional weight of the world on his shoulders, I pray he finds the strength he needs for the months ahead.



Posted by: Boots at August 16, 2020 11:41 AM (oGBso)

480
Read that the Dem tyrants wanted the Pres to self-isolate for two weeks if he wanted to visit his brother.+++
And how many of them self-quarantined upon their return from Atlanta and Lewispalooza?

Posted by: Old Dude at August 16, 2020 11:41 AM (LGXGf)

481 Delurking...
To Insomniac and others seeking healing from childhood trauma, two things have been SUPER helpful to me - Faster EFT (emotional freedom technique) helps the brain stop reliving the past. Traumas are like vinyl records the brain plays over and over again. Faster EFT puts a big scratch in the record so it stops playing and healing/growth can occur. A good coach trained in it accelerates results. The second thing is The Healing Code (a book) by Alexander Loyd and Ben Johnson which goes after healing the subconscious. Cheers and blessings to everyone on a healing journey.
Posted by: dutchbaby at August 16, 2020 11:38 AM (kQFTI)


I can't emphasize enough PTSD is a brain illness. It's not about thinking one's self to getting better.

The brain needs to be rewired.

There are several effective methods. I'm not familiar with the one you mention here, Faster EFT, but if it works, then yeah, no amount of talking about trauma is going to be as effective.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 16, 2020 11:42 AM (hku12)

482 @438 I also endorse both Quartered Safe and Jungle is Neutral.

Chapman was the inspiration for the crazy British guerilla major in Bridge of on the River Kwai.

With or without parachutes?

Posted by: Ignoramus at August 16, 2020 11:42 AM (9TdxA)

483 Yet. According to the media the USPS gets no federal tax money to support itself.

And, no I didn't read Twatter. Screw that pest hole of diseased minds.
Just saw a piece on Fox.

Posted by: Winston, dreg of society at August 16, 2020 11:42 AM (d9Irc)

484 I'm always suspicious when either side presents someone as "famous" when I've never heard of them before.

Or when somebody or something is "controversial," usually only to PROGDA and almost always for just speaking the truth and/or common sense. Jordan Peterson is a prime example.

Posted by: BackwardsBoy - Mask Rebel at August 16, 2020 11:43 AM (HaL55)

485 I'm still trying to figure out how I stumbled on this, apparently from Pixy's future.

https://tinyurl.com/y37mvuyz

Posted by: freaked at August 16, 2020 11:43 AM (Tnijr)

486 I was surrounded by love growing up, and this was so hard to face.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 16, 2020 11:33 AM (KZzsI)


Keeping a marriage together, even a "perfect" one, is hard work particularly with children. Mine was on the rocks for a while when the children were young; I stopped drinking for years and started a plan to get out of the job I hated but was trapped in, which was the real source of my problems.

Our 45th anniversary is later this month.

Posted by: Captain Hate at August 16, 2020 11:43 AM (y7DUB)

487 >>How can it be possible that the President of the United States cannot visit his dying brother?

If only I was unable to visit my dying brother.

Posted by: George Obama at August 16, 2020 11:44 AM (2M/TV)

488 466 ... Weasel,
Thanks for the update on Weaselcatv2. Good news is always on topic.

Posted by: JTB at August 16, 2020 11:45 AM (7EjX1)

489 478 If Trump dies you get Pence

***
Meaning you get the end of any possible hope for draining the swamp, reviving the nation or defeating the Left.

Posted by: Ordinary American at August 16, 2020 11:46 AM (H8QX8)

490 It doesn't bother me at all, God knows I missed funerals I should not have. But the President is a job and going anywhere entitles a lot of security quite possibly stopping others from getting there.

Posted by: Skip at August 16, 2020 11:47 AM (OjZpE)

491 478 If Trump dies you get Pence

***
Meaning you get the end of any possible hope for draining the swamp, reviving the nation or defeating the Left.
Posted by: Ordinary American at August 16, 2020 11:46 AM (H8QX

Well maybe, but it still offends the same folks sensibilities.

Posted by: PUE 206 at August 16, 2020 11:49 AM (D/SYi)

492 Can anybody explain this?



January 27, 2304

Irony Are Us

Hi folks!

Until we get this blog sortled out [That would be "sorted". I think that Zixie's translator module is a bit out of whack. Pixy] you can find great-grandma's entries up hear [It also appears to have trouble with homonyms.] and honourable ancestor's [A loose translation, I suspect.] down below. Or click on the archives. 22nd century entries are gran Trixie's; 21st century is the old dude. [As I said, a loose translation.]

Enjoy your stay, and watch out for the ice weasels!

Zixie Misa
Pixy's Planaria Plantation
Paradise Cove
Epsilon Eridani C
27 January 2304

Posted by: freaked at August 16, 2020 11:50 AM (Tnijr)

493 Dorothy Rabinowitz is the bravest journalist of my life - the lone voice who dared to investigate the hysteria and reveal the truth. Mollie Hemingway is a worthy successor. Journalists today acknowledge that the day care panic was a hysteria, but none have atoned for their prominent role in fanning the flames of the hysteria.

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at August 16, 2020 11:50 AM (d9Cw3)

494 Biden was a stop gap to shut Trump up on Ukraine. Commala was to win the primary, but, Coffee Cake ruined that. Nothing has gone according to plan since The Escalator.

Posted by: Jamaica NYC at August 16, 2020 11:50 AM (4vNgL)

495 With the library basically closed, I was able to find some new books to read by searching for "free kindle books [genre]" on Amazon. There are a surprising number and while the great majority of them are chickromance stuff and most of it not terrific, I have found some real gems.

I have a confession to make: I tend to avoid female authors. I don't avoid them because I think women cannot write, there are some amazingly talented, skilled, and wonderful women authors out there.

The problem is that the market is glutted to the point of Mr Creosote in The Meaning of Life, and most of the books are awful. Its 80% knockoffs of that time traveling Scotland TV show and lame "erotica", and just not well written things. Its like digging through a sump to find a diamond ring

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 16, 2020 11:51 AM (KZzsI)

496 chrissy on Polination has a pic of owner Don Blyly standing in the ruins of Uncle Hugo's Science Fiction & Uncle Edgar's Mystery Bookstores on S. Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis.

The pic:
https://polination.files.wordpress.com/
2020/08/2020_08-15-minneapolis.jpg

chrissy's blog page:
https://polination.wordpress.com/
2020/08/15/bits-bytes-653/

"The city won't let Blyly haul away his wreckage without a permit. But he can't get a permit until he prepays thousands of dollars in property tax that comes due in October. Blyly has a lot of company...."

Posted by: mindful webworker
clik4tale: he had a quiet gift to share
at August 16, 2020 11:51 AM (wKcYr)

497 I've always thought Pence was deep state, ever since he was silent about the Billy Bush interview until he saw that it wasn't going to work.
Read the 25th amendment; this attempt to remove the president is a non-starter unless the VP is on board, and they've been trying to run it for 4 years.
Plus he was in charge of coronavirus response.

Posted by: artemis at August 16, 2020 11:51 AM (AwPyG)

498 "Where There is No Dentist aka The History of England"
I chuckled.


Posted by: The Walking Dude at August 16, 2020 11:51 AM (cCxiu)

499 If Hilary dies you get eggroll. Ha ha.

Posted by: klaftern at August 16, 2020 11:51 AM (RuIsu)

500 So I am on the 7th? Book in the Spellmonger series, I am enjoying the series. The Book Necromancer, more action in the last two books and the war with the Goblins heats up again. Can the Elves really be trusted is a good and interesting twist since they live so long they look at us like we are Dogs and treat Humans as such. It's has it's adult moments but it's not SJW and they seem to call these books sexist, Men rule and Women are cunning.

Just wonder if anybody here has read the series

Posted by: Patrick from Ohio at August 16, 2020 11:53 AM (dKiJG)

501 BurtTC - yes, totally agree.

Posted by: dutchbaby at August 16, 2020 11:53 AM (kQFTI)

502 There are several effective methods. I'm not
familiar with the one you mention here, Faster EFT, but if it works,
then yeah, no amount of talking about trauma is going to be as
effective.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 16, 2020 11:42 AM (hku12)



Burt - are you familiar with EMDR? Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing? What are your thoughts, if you have? I did a few rounds of that. Can't say it made any difference one way or the other.

Posted by: grammie winger at August 16, 2020 11:53 AM (4EyHE)

503 DJT visited his brother last Friday, I have read.

Posted by: navybrat, at large at August 16, 2020 11:54 AM (w7KSn)

504 OAN - 9/11 light tribute to go on after all with " safety precautions "

Because the lights might transmit the Covid-19 virus or something.

Posted by: Skip at August 16, 2020 11:55 AM (OjZpE)

505 If Hilary dies you get eggroll. Ha ha.
Posted by: klaftern at August 16, 2020 11:51 AM (RuIsu)

Actually, I'll get a nice, fat Cohiba I got stashed in the humidor for just such a wonderful event.

I'll take the eggroll too.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at August 16, 2020 11:55 AM (Z+IKu)

506 Thanks for including Supernatural Streets in your book thread. I'm a bit biased - being in it - but I really do think it's a great collection. An actual dead tree edition is coming soon as well, if you're a "got to hold it in my hands" type.

Posted by: Samrobb at August 16, 2020 11:56 AM (KLd4d)

507 Actually, I'll get a nice, fat Cohiba I got stashed in the humidor for just such a wonderful event.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at August 16, 2020 11:55 AM (Z+IKu)

I thought Monica got the Cohiba?

Posted by: PUE 206 at August 16, 2020 11:57 AM (D/SYi)

508 Thanks, navybrat. That feels better.

Posted by: creeper, sockless at August 16, 2020 11:57 AM (XxJt1)

509 MSNBC has Loretta Lynch on this morning.

That's a tell that she's going to be indicted.

Posted by: Ignoramus at August 16, 2020 11:58 AM (9TdxA)

510 DJT visited his brother last Friday, I have read.
Posted by: navybrat, at large at August 16, 2020 11:54 AM

I'm gonna say it: The Left are ghouls, and the details are none of our fucking business.

There, I said it.

Posted by: Taqiyyologist at August 16, 2020 11:58 AM (j3jZX)

511 478 If Trump dies you get Pence
***

Meaning you get the end of any possible hope for draining the swamp, reviving the nation or defeating the Left.
Posted by: Ordinary American at August 16, 2020 11:46 AM (H8QX


Right. Pence hasn't yet demonstrated any ability to stand up to the leftist howling mobs. I remember he pretty much caved on Indiana's version of RFRA. I only hope DJT has taught him both how to fight and its necessity.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 16, 2020 11:58 AM (Zpa+Q)

512
"The city won't let Blyly haul away his wreckage without a permit. But he can't get a permit until he prepays thousands of dollars in property tax that comes due in October. Blyly has a lot of company...."

yeah the city charging property tax on the ruins of burned and destroyed shops they stood back and let happen or even encouraged, is the height of cruelty and betrayal.

Its unjust to an almost painful degree. If this were fiction, there would be this uprising led by a charismatic hero or a shift in voting to fight for justice. Instead they'll elect someone as bad or worse, if they even replace Beetlejuice.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 16, 2020 12:00 PM (KZzsI)

513 68 Morning, everyone. I'll renew my plea for someone to post the procedure for cutting and pasting from a Word file to this here site. IIRC, it involves Notepad.
Posted by: pep at August 16, 2020 09:21 AM (v16oJ)

use this quote unf*cker
I think hogmartin made it

https://stoatnet.org/ace/

Posted by: vmom 2020 Pinky Raised in Superciliousity at August 16, 2020 12:00 PM (J8nVw)

514 Right. Pence hasn't yet demonstrated any ability to stand up to the leftist howling mobs. I remember he pretty much caved on Indiana's version of RFRA. I only hope DJT has taught him both how to fight and its necessity.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 16, 2020 11:58 AM (Zpa+Q)

Sometimes you need someone to lead you into the breach, to show you the way forward.

Posted by: PUE 206 at August 16, 2020 12:01 PM (D/SYi)

515 Are the Saga books by Kevin Vaughan any good? They look interesting, but they seem to get too much praise from the wrong sort of people.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at August 16, 2020 12:02 PM (OeBYn)

516 "The wrong brother died"

"If he was so close to his brother, why did he spend the day playing GOLF?"

" The 160,000 Americans he killed had relatives too!"


God, I HATE the Left

Posted by: JoeF. at August 16, 2020 12:02 PM (7ixfo)

517 I posted this late last week, but the Moron Horde actually catapulted Long Live Death to the #1 slot not only in Spain and Portugal History but also European History.

Which means that people looking up both topics are going to see something other than liberal agitprop for a change.

Thanks everyone!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 12:03 PM (cfSRQ)

518 There are several effective methods. I'm not
familiar with the one you mention here, Faster EFT, but if it works,
then yeah, no amount of talking about trauma is going to be as
effective.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 16, 2020 11:42 AM (hku12)



Burt - are you familiar with EMDR? Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing? What are your thoughts, if you have? I did a few rounds of that. Can't say it made any difference one way or the other.
Posted by: grammie winger at August 16, 2020 11:53 AM (4EyHE)


Yes, I'm well familiar. It's one of the most effective treatments for PTSD, but it doesn't work for everybody. Especially when there's complex trauma, but even more often, when it doesn't work it's possible the practitioner isn't quite laying the groundwork effectively enough.

If it doesn't work though, try something else. Don't give up!

Posted by: BurtTC at August 16, 2020 12:03 PM (hku12)

519 485 I'm still trying to figure out how I stumbled on this, apparently from Pixy's future.

https://tinyurl.com/y37mvuyz
Posted by: freaked at August 16, 2020 11:43 AM (Tnijr)

Is this page opening for you? It takes me to minx.cc, which, near as I can tell, is still off-line.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 16, 2020 12:03 PM (z6v33)

520 oh wait, it just opened. And you're right, it's from the future!

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 16, 2020 12:04 PM (z6v33)

521 Thank you BurtTC

Posted by: grammie winger at August 16, 2020 12:06 PM (4EyHE)

522 God, I HATE the LeftPosted by: JoeF. at August 16, 2020 12:02 PM (7ixfo)+++
I'm always reminded of the scene in The Exorcist whee Fr Regan admonishes Fr Karras to not engage the demon during the rite.

Posted by: Old Dude at August 16, 2020 12:07 PM (LGXGf)

523 Thank you BurtTC
Posted by: grammie winger at August 16, 2020 12:06 PM (4EyHE)


You're welcome. CBD has opened a new thread now, but I'll check in here for a bit, if anyone has any other questions.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 16, 2020 12:07 PM (hku12)

524 Has anyone read Keith Richards' autobiography? Looking for an easy interesting read for Labor Day

Posted by: Cosmic Charlie at August 16, 2020 12:08 PM (PUmDY)

525 yeah, there are pics of Trump entering the hospital to see his brother, probably Friday. curious about whether China virus was involved ... no indication of what happened, or whether it was rather sudden. More pressure on Trump that he didn't need ... prayers for him.

Posted by: illiniwek at August 16, 2020 12:08 PM (Cus5s)

526 Dorothy Rabinowitz is the bravest journalist of my life - the lone voice who dared to investigate the hysteria and reveal the truth. Mollie Hemingway is a worthy successor. Journalists today acknowledge that the day care panic was a hysteria, but none have atoned for their prominent role in fanning the flames of the hysteria.
Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at August 16, 2020 11:50 AM (d9Cw3)


After I read the first Rabinowitz article on the Amirault case I was shaking with rage and thinking "this is fucked up; how could this happen?" It still took a long fucking time for the miscarriage to be undone. And it increased my hatred for most of the enemedia by a major click.

Posted by: Captain Hate at August 16, 2020 12:10 PM (y7DUB)

527 When Dad had a stroke in the bathroom by the door and I couldn't get to him I was traumatized. My sister, a clinical psychologist, had me sit in front of her, hold her hands, close my eyes and relive the event. I don't know why it worked, but it did and I could finally think about it without crashing.

Posted by: creeper, sockless at August 16, 2020 12:11 PM (XxJt1)

528 Pence still hasn't explained his role in the Flynn fuck job. DJT surely knows what it was, so it can't be something really bad, but it's still an oddly unaddressed situation imo.

Posted by: Captain Hate at August 16, 2020 12:13 PM (y7DUB)

529 Sometimes you need someone to lead you into the breach, to show you the way forward.
Posted by: PUE 206 at August 16, 2020 12:01 PM (D/SYi)


Sometimes problems continue because no one understands it is a problem. Sometimes it is because no one understands there can be a solution.

Posted by: Kindltot at August 16, 2020 12:17 PM (WyVLE)

530 The topic of stress related psychological damage and "PTSD" etc is a tough one when writing fiction.

For example, it was completely realistic for Tony Stark to be so unmanned and traumatized by the things he went through so as to be a helpless wreck making idiotic decisions out of terrified desperation and having nervous breakdowns when a kid shows him a picture he drew of NYC under attack.

Realistic, but not appropriate for the genre. Superheroes are supposed to be above that, stronger and braver than us, to serve as icons and uplift us, not be cringing wrecks when they face a tough situation. People don't want to read a story about the hero who saves the day, then destroys themselves with drugs because they cannot stand the memories and what they faced any longer. That's not heroic or inspiring.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 16, 2020 12:17 PM (KZzsI)

531 I read Hunger but this is a more positive book. Things happen that you think will do the settlers in and it turns out okay.

Keith Richards autobio is a fun read. You'll enjoy it.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at August 16, 2020 12:17 PM (YynYJ)

532 Our 45th anniversary is later this month.
Posted by: Captain Hate

Congrats in advance, Captain !

Too bad James Jones has passed; he coulda sent you one of those celeb greeting cards !

Posted by: JT at August 16, 2020 12:19 PM (arJlL)

533 Has anyone else read The Oppenheimer Alternative by Robert Sawyer?

Aside from how sad it is that Robert has gone full SJW, the man can still put togther a good story. This one is a well-crafted sci-fi/alt history that puts a much different spin on a lot of the events surrounding Dr. Oppenheimer's life and work.

Posted by: Richard Paolinelli at August 16, 2020 12:21 PM (Lc8VQ)

534 If Hillary dies, we'll get Huma's memoirs.

Posted by: JT at August 16, 2020 12:21 PM (arJlL)

535 @530
you have to remember that the left only portrays vets as (1) psycho killers or (2) shell-shocked wrecks.
Nothing in between

Posted by: artemis at August 16, 2020 12:21 PM (AwPyG)

536 If Hillary dies, we'll get Huma's memoirs.
Posted by: JT at August 16, 2020 12:21 PM (arJlL)


I dunno. Remember that medical directive bracelet that says, "Please Clear My Hard Drive"?

Posted by: Kindltot at August 16, 2020 12:22 PM (WyVLE)

537 Pence still hasn't explained his role in the Flynn
fuck job. DJT surely knows what it was, so it can't be something really
bad, but it's still an oddly unaddressed situation imo.

Posted by: Captain Hate at August 16, 2020 12:13 PM (y7DUB)

---
I thought it was clear that Pence was set up right along with Flynn.

That was part of the conspiracy - to make it appear to Pence that Flynn was dishonest. Given that the incoming White House was completely blind-sided by unprecedented acts of outright treason, one can't be too hard on Pence.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 12:25 PM (cfSRQ)

538 DJT visited his brother last Friday, I have read.
Posted by: navybrat


That would be good news.

Posted by: mindful webworker
clik4tale: he had a quiet gift to share
at August 16, 2020 12:26 PM (wKcYr)

539 Realistic, but not appropriate for the genre.
Superheroes are supposed to be above that, stronger and braver than
us, to serve as icons and uplift us, not be cringing wrecks when they
face a tough situation. People don't want to read a story about the
hero who saves the day, then destroys themselves with drugs because they
cannot stand the memories and what they faced any longer. That's not
heroic or inspiring.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 16, 2020 12:17 PM (KZzsI)

---
Hollywood has gone from the Reluctant Hero to the Anti-Hero and after a stopover at the Really Reluctant Hero (who spends 1/2 the movie trying to avoid getting involved in the adventure) has now moved onto Mary Sue, who is simply obnoxious.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2020 12:27 PM (cfSRQ)

540 Has anyone else read The Oppenheimer Alternative by Robert Sawyer?

Aside from how sad it is that Robert has gone full SJW

-
I used to like him but Quantum Night was a bridge too far for me.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at August 16, 2020 12:29 PM (+y/Ru)

541 "Has anyone read Keith Richards' autobiography?"

It's great. The opening is hilarious. Could be made into a major scene in a movie.

Lots of insight into how Keith made music. He's the true genius in The Stones, and I don't use that term lightly. Keith (and Mick) had a love for American roots music, and made turned it into a melange of their own.

Posted by: Ignoramus at August 16, 2020 12:30 PM (9TdxA)

542 IIRC, Sally Yates had a role in misleading Pence. And telling the World that Flynn was a compromised security risk that couldn't be kept on.

Posted by: Ignoramus at August 16, 2020 12:33 PM (9TdxA)

543 Anyone read Brad Thor books? I about of a third done with "Near Dark", and, I am underwhelmed. Just me?

Posted by: FloridaMan at August 16, 2020 12:35 PM (HCeRP)

544 That's a good idea. Legit hypnotherapists can be hard to find though. I looked up that Gluck fellow and a couple of consumer fraud sites popped up with quite a few reports of him being a charlatan and a conman. So one always has to be careful.
Posted by: Insomniac - Ex Cineribus Resurgo

Remember the Barney Miller episode when Wojo got hypnotized ?

Posted by: JT at August 16, 2020 12:36 PM (arJlL)

545 " oh wait, it just opened. And you're right, it's from the future!"

I don't know how I got there. It just came up when I refreshed some comments yesterday.

Posted by: freaked at August 16, 2020 12:37 PM (Tnijr)

546 Read A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. Enjoyed it greatly. But his Rules of Civility was even better. For change of pace Factory Man by Beth Macy was a good read on the China rat bastards mission to kill US manufacturing and one mans fight to stop them. Great history.

Posted by: Ronsense at August 16, 2020 12:37 PM (i+yqt)

547 Has anyone read Keith Richards' autobiography? Looking for an easy interesting read for Labor Day
Posted by: Cosmic Charlie


Shibumi read that, and it made her like Keith a lot more than before. It was a pretty good read, according to her.

She read Pete Townsend's autobiography "Who Am I" and liked Pete a lot less.

Posted by: Bozo Conservative....living on the prison planet at August 16, 2020 12:39 PM (ZCiJZ)

548 503 DJT visited his brother last Friday, I have read.
Posted by: navybrat, at large at August 16, 2020 11:54 AM

Per the NY Post, he went to see him this past Friday, so I believe he knew that the situation was dire. The Post article also noted that his brother had been in the ICU unit at Mount Sinai for a week in June and that he was put on blood thinners, and suffered brain bleeds after a recent fall.

Posted by: Moonbeam at August 16, 2020 12:46 PM (qe5CM)

549 Being as we are now in the willowed woods, with OM's tolerant indulgence, my occasional self-vaunting blurb.

Linked in my nic is a story I wrote years ago (which I've mentioned here a little too often, I guess), published (hidden) on my website, so, not available on Kindle and no reviews on Amazon. Still kinda consider it rough draft. Have had practically no interest or feedback, so, not really motivated to polish it up.

I started out thinking of it as a graphic novel. I did sketches (which ended up being the intro of the story). But almost immediately, this flood of words came forth, and I never got to 'graphic-izing' them. There are some spot illustrations I've done but not added.

FWIW, I actually enjoy re-reading it all. Is that vain? Maybe the writing isn't top-shelf, but I like the characters who emerged practically unbidden as I wrote. Interesting experience.

I have only one other longer work in mind, an animated rock musical, originally conceived in 1972. Did many sketches. Wrote a bunch of the songs. Haven't figured out just quite how the central plot point would resolve. Funny thing is, nearly 50 years later, the story would be seen as quite timely. Folks succumbing to mass hysteria. I wonder if I'll ever work on it again.

I do admire those of you real authors who crank 'em out and even know how to market. Viva book thread!

PS - Everything on my website is free to read, but just FYI there are PayPal donation buttons that could use some exercise.

Posted by: mindful webworker
clik4tale: he had a quiet gift to share
at August 16, 2020 12:47 PM (wKcYr)

550 Thanks, JT. And everyone informing about Yates misleading Pence; not sure how I missed that...

Posted by: Captain Hate at August 16, 2020 12:50 PM (y7DUB)

551 Yesterday, August 15th, was V J Day, Victory over Japan.

75 years, maybe the last "hurrah" for the last of the vets from that war.

This was composed early in the war, when the outcome was in no ways sure.
The Common Man. The Man who served and won that war, and came home to build a better America.
Like my late Father.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KxMc_tyQBo


To quote Kirk Douglas as Commander Eddington in "In Harm's Way", that was a "gut bustin', mother lovin' Navy war".
My Dad was in the Army, but the Navy took them everywhere. Spent as much time at sea as on land. Was in the big typhoon that wrecked a lot of ships.

"Eternal Father Strong to Save"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gd812WN-YM

Lest we forget....

Posted by: Bozo Conservative....living on the prison planet at August 16, 2020 12:53 PM (ZCiJZ)

552 I read Keith Richards' autobiography. For starters, I recall it being 600+ pages long. Lot in there about technical aspects of music-- which I skipped. I thought it was interesting. He's something of an intellectual-- who knew?

Posted by: mnw at August 16, 2020 01:02 PM (Cssks)

553 I continue to read 'The Mysterious Affair at Styles', Christie, as my bedtime wash-the-daily-rage-out-your-head antidote. It's innocently entertaining.

I find it amusing that the bumbly Arthur Hastings character was established so early. A deliberate intent on Christie's part to provide an obvious contrast, in order to highlight Poirot's insightful intellect.

Think Bullwinkle vs. Rocky.

Still plugging away at the Moron-recommended 'Paris in the Terror', Loomis. Should be required reading for all college freshmen. The bottom line; atheists and anarchists lead to human suffering, misery, tyranny, and death. And, it ain't fiction.

Last week, finally started on another Moron-recommended book (and I thank you, whoever did so), 'Faraday, Maxwell, and the Electromagnetic Field', Forbes & Mahon.

So far, it is an extremely interesting and fascinating read. Even though both are at the foundation of my field (pun!), I have not known anything of substance about them personally.

Having just started in, I find that Faraday was a person of astonishing insight, not merely where electromagnetic fields are concerned, by any means, but also as a researcher, with socio-political insights.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at August 16, 2020 01:09 PM (AytXr)

554 "Eternal Father Strong to Save"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gd812WN-YM

Lest we forget....
Posted by: Bozo Conservative
--------

Uh, sorry. That has been canceled, removed, exorcised from our Hymnal. It conjures a militaristic image, you see. It's out.

We're trying to get rid of 'Onward Christian Soldiers' also.

Such things trigger some of our congregants, they say. They are offended.

Posted by: The Methodist Church at August 16, 2020 01:15 PM (CTJwJ)

555 Is that a picture of Oswalt and his daughter?

Posted by: MantuaBill at August 16, 2020 01:17 PM (tr21G)

556
Instead they'll elect someone as bad or worse, if they even replace Beetlejuice.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 16, 2020 12:00 PM (KZzsI)


Blyly is in Minneapolis, whose soiboi mayor was hooted off the stage when he refused to state publicly that he'd defund the police. Mayor Beetlejuice is Chicago's problem.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at August 16, 2020 01:17 PM (pNxlR)

557 Thank You, Lord, for the help you have given -- and still give -- my fellow Morons and me. We appreciate it, even though we can't always come up with the right words to express it. You know.

Posted by: empire 1 at August 16, 2020 01:20 PM (Irg/U)

558 Read the Keith Richards bio. Seems nicer and more well adjusted than his public rep.

Posted by: Regular joe at August 16, 2020 01:20 PM (L9P9s)

559 [146] Guy Smiley, "OUR SOUTHERN HIGHLANDERS" is on gutenberg.org. You can download it as an epub!

Posted by: microcosme at August 16, 2020 01:37 PM (uNa1R)

560 557 amen

Posted by: CN at August 16, 2020 01:37 PM (7+QLY)

561 FWIW, I actually enjoy re-reading it all. Is that vain? Maybe the writing isn't top-shelf, but I like the characters who emerged practically unbidden as I wrote. Interesting experience.

No, its not vain. If its a good read, you'll enjoy it, too. Liking re-reads, especially of old stuff you've done is a good sign you have real ability in writing and should pursue it more.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at August 16, 2020 01:37 PM (KZzsI)

562 Mike Hammer

I take another lesson from the Paris Terror as well:

It is better to give ground gradually than all at once. Ancien Regime did not.

There's a lot of that in history, imo: "if only we could go back to the start & compromise/negotiate a bit more."

Posted by: mnw at August 16, 2020 01:38 PM (Cssks)

563 @515 --

If you're asking about "Saga" the comic, I think that's Brian K. Vaughn.

IIRC, he did "Y: The Last Man." (Too lazy to check the longboxes.)

I'd like to know about "Saga," too. The library has the trades, but these days I worry more about wasting time than wasting money.

Posted by: Weak Geek at August 16, 2020 02:02 PM (u/nim)

564

Damn they closed the Library................out of BOOKS again!!!

Posted by: Saf at August 16, 2020 02:02 PM (5IHGB)

565 Happy National Airborne Day to my fellow jumpers. As a proud, prop-blasted member of the White Devils (2-504th PIR) I fart in the general direction of those nasty, stinky legs. STRIKE HOLD!

Posted by: Assassin6 at August 16, 2020 02:13 PM (GBYzV)

566 I've missed several of the book club posts and would like to go back and read them. How do I access the archives?

Posted by: abbynormal at August 16, 2020 02:27 PM (I849g)

567 #169 Fisher Ames' arch political enemies were Jefferson and Madison. He hated them and they hated him.. read about Fisher...a very interesting man.

Posted by: dacama at August 16, 2020 02:35 PM (mwDnq)

568 CN, good luck with your animal...

Posted by: dacama at August 16, 2020 02:48 PM (mwDnq)

569 Teresa Wright?

Posted by: RobertM at August 16, 2020 03:20 PM (lEqw+)

570 @566 --

Scroll down until the archive links appear in the right-hand column. They're listed by date. Have a calendar handy to determine which dates are Sundays. Happy spelunking!

(Do you know what autocorrect wants to make of "abbynormal"?)

Posted by: Weak Geek at August 16, 2020 03:38 PM (u/nim)

571 @566 --

Well, shit, I sure blew that one!

Archives are listed by month, not date. Look for the appropriate title in the month's offerings.

My apologies.

Posted by: Weak Geek at August 16, 2020 03:43 PM (u/nim)

572 Thanks Geek.

Posted by: abbynormal at August 16, 2020 03:49 PM (I849g)

573 "He's something of an intellectual-- who knew?"

Well the Book Horde knew because he's been mentioned as a book lover on the thread in the past.

Posted by: goodluckduck at August 16, 2020 04:30 PM (V8zw+)

574 The Navy did not shoot down TWA800, for one very good reason. Two actually.

That reason is...sailors talk, and if there is booze or women (or booze with women, or women with booze) involved the stories get better as they go along.

There is also the inconvenient fact that the "training exercise" was an anti-sub exercise involving a P3 Orion, which is not capable of carrying air-to-air weaponry, and a surface ship that, by law, is unarmed within the territorial waters of the US (unless departing on or returning from deployment or live-fire exercises which are conducted on clearly defined ranges).

But just like the bullshit story that John Cain started the Forrestal fire, it's a lie that won't ever go away...because conspiracy theories are FUN!

Thatisall.

Posted by: GGE of the Moron Horde, NC Chapter at August 16, 2020 05:37 PM (CcOog)

575 Ben McNally Books, pictured above, has for some time billed itself as "Toronto's Most Beautiful Bookstore"--a distinction which I've seen no reason to dispute. Unfortunately, its landlord has decided that the space would be better used for some sort of walkway. The latest news e-mailed to those of us on the customer list, if I understand it rightly, is that the store is about to move to temporary quarters where they will deliver books to you curbside and, they hope, offer by-appointment browsing during the 2020 holiday shopping season. In the meanwhile, they continue to search for a new long-term home.

Posted by: J Crossley at August 16, 2020 06:09 PM (yIU40)

576 An old book thread featuring Keith Richards

http://ace.mu.nu/archives/359842.php

Posted by: goodluckduck at August 16, 2020 06:35 PM (V8zw+)

577 576 An old book thread featuring Keith Richards

http://ace.mu.nu/archives/359842.php

Posted by: goodluckduck at August 16, 2020 06:35 PM (V8zw+)


Gotta love Keith. And please be careful you do not post on old threads as it triggers an automatic banning algorithm.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at August 16, 2020 10:29 PM (4EBed)

578 I would like to let all know that the size of your Penis really matters in your relationship or marriage. I got married to my wife about 1 month after we met in a photo studio, we lived happily for the first 3 months of our marriage until my wife and I started having quarrels at home because I couldn't satisfy her in bed with my little penis. Actually my penis was very small, it measured about 4.5 inch long on erection and I am 51 years old. My wife said it was forbidden by the women of this world. My wife started sleeping with other men outside. Sometimes i will return from work without finding my wife at home and whenever i call or ask her where she was, she will always snub at me and sometimes just tell me to go get a larger dick. All this continued for a long time and it hurt me so much that I was at the edge of breaking up on the marriage till when I read about a doctor called DR.Moses Buba. online. I never thought i could smile and be in a happy marriage again if not for the help of DR.Moses Buba. I got the doctors Emailsbuba.herbalmiraclemedicine@gmail.com ) on the internet and i emailed him, and he got back to me with some encouraging words, he got me some herbs cream which i use for just 8 days and i began to feel the enlargement of my penis, and without surgery. This went on for a little period of about 10 days and to my surprise my wife keeps screaming that she loves my big dick now. Now my wife no longer cheats on me, and my penis is now about 10.5 inches long on erection and off course very large round. And now my wife uses breasts, hips and bums enlargement. I and my wife are very happy for the help rendered to me by DR.Moses Buba, and I want to say a big thanks to the Doctor for the help. You can contact the Doctor now on his Email buba.herbalmiraclemedicine@gmail.com ) OR WHATSAPP +2349060529305, you can even contact me to know my result or see it with your eye on whats-app or you can call me +886981036185 or
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Posted by: kam ray at August 17, 2020 09:44 PM (D9E0b)

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