Support




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





Sunday Morning Book Thread 12-27-2020

Christmas Library 2020 01.jpg
Glensheen Mansion Library, Duluth, MN

Good morning to all you 'rons, 'ettes, lurkers, and lurkettes, wine moms, frat bros, crétins sans pantalon (who are technically breaking the rules). 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 are definitely in the spirit of the season, but I can't imagine anyone actually wearing them.



Pic Note:

Welcom to Minnesota's Glensheen Mansion:

Glensheen exists because of the Northland’s Iron Range. The mineral-rich region was coveted by notorious businessman John D. Rockefeller. Chester Congdon convinced his client, the Oliver Mining Company, to align itself with Rockefeller’s rival, Andrew Carnegie. Eventually the entire industry consolidated into U.S. Steel -- making the investors, Chester included, very wealthy.

Chester and Clara Congdon built Glensheen between 1905 and 1908 as their home. This influential family is known for opening up iron mining in this region and setting aside land for public use, such as the North Shore Scenic Highway and Congdon Park.

Glensheen was donated to the University of Minnesota and opened as a historic house museum in 1979.

Glensheen’s main house has 39 rooms and covers 27,000 square feet of living space. The ceilings are 16 inches thick and they contain large hollow tiles made of a fire retardant material. It cost the Congdons $854,000 to build Glensheen.

That's approximately $22 million in today's dollars.



It Pays To Increase Your Word Power®

20201227 book pic 01.jpg




20201227 book pic 02.jpg



Questions

'Ette 'Dr. Alice' e-mailed me with some questions about how Amazon pays authors, about which I know nothing, so I will just let her ask you directly:

I do have questions about how Amazon pays its authors. Do they pay a percentage of the book's cost? And what about books ordered under the Kindle Unlimited program, or free books (that the author has temporarily discounted)? I'm just curious and I think some of the other readers of the book thread might be as well.

We have a lot of writers on this here blog, so hopefully they'll chime on on this.



Who Dis:

who dis 20201227.jpg

(Last week's 'who dis' was the Chairman of the Board, Frank Sinatra.


Moron Recommendations

Recommendation from a lurker via e-mail:

I saw that you requested some YA books - I was a voracious reader growing up, and have quite a list that you don't see these days.

One that keeps coming back to my mind is 'Sinbad and Me' by Kin Platt. This mystery thriller was so good I must have read it several dozen times. My paperback was so dog-eared. And I don't think it is one that anyone has mentioned.

The book makes you think- it has a puzzle ending and a math part that is actually very technically accurate, and it is obvious the author was a fan of ciphers and codes.

When someone tells me about a book they've read as a child, I immediately assume it's going to be OOP, but I'm happy to report that I was wrong. Even though Sinbad and Me was first published in 1966, it is still in print. And it looks pretty danged interesting:

A wonderfully imaginative blend of "buddy book" with Edgar Allan Poe's "The Gold Bug," complete with ghosties and ghoulies and big strong English bulldogs that go bump in the night...Throw in some highly inventive puzzles and code breaking, a hero who is smarter than he thinks he is, a friend with a "million candlepower brain," and assorted bad guys of various levels of toughness, and you have a thrilling, funny, intricate adventure/mystery mixing ciphers, architecture and numismatics...It's the kind of book that fires a passion for reading, even in the most reluctant of readers: young boys...Tunnels, caves, spooky old houses, codes, ciphers, a graveyard, a ghost and pirate story, evil villains, colorfully odd characters, hidden treasure, adventure on land and in water, danger, a touch of romance and, perhaps most importantly, it depicts that special bond between a dog and its master.

It is also available on Kindle.

___________

Here's an old recommendation I am just now getting around to:

324 My contribution to the book thread: Thanks to the 'Ron who recommended "Radical Eye for the Infidel Guy." There's lots of info packed into it and written so it can be absorbed quickly. It's my kind of book: facts, facts, and more facts and the occasional biting Moron Horde stabs at sarcasm.

Posted by: RondinellaMamma at November 08, 2020 10:44 AM (8/7u2)

The blurb for Radical Eye for the Infidel Guy: Inside the Strange World of Militant Islam says that the author

...uses sardonic humor and a streak of radical irreverence to expose Islamist ideology for what it really is and to help you develop your own Radical Eye. Combining the debunking zeal of Thomas Paine's Age of Reason with Mad magazine's irreverent view of history and politics, Ryan has written the most politically incorrect - and funniest - book on radical Islam that you're ever likely to read.

The Kindle edition is $11.99, but used hardcover editions can be had for as little as $1.98.

___________



20201227 book pic 04.jpg

___________

62 Speaking about Rosenbergs and American left cooperation with Russian, read book by former head of NKVD assassinations and espionage department Pavel Sudoplatov "Special Tasks".
From Amazon:
According to KGB archives, Pavel Sudoplatov directed the secretive Administration for Special Tasks. This department was responsible for kidnapping, assassination, sabotage, and guerrilla warfare during World War II, it also set up illegal networks in the United States and Western Europe, and, most crucially, carried out atomic espionage in the United States, Great Britain, and Canada. Sudoplatov served the KGB for over fifty years, at one point controlling more than twenty thousand guerrillas, moles, and spies.

Posted by: redmonkey at December 20, 2020 09:26 AM (6lGQ+)

And then it goes on to say that he was arrested in 1953, refused to confess to crimes he didn't commit, endured torture and solitary confinement, then strugged for two decades more for rehabilitation. Yeesh. I can't imagine having to endure something like that.

No ebook editions, but the paperback and hardcover editions cost about the same: $24. Used copies are considerably cheaper.

One Cold War history book that is available as an e-book is The Venona Secrets: The Definitive Exposé of Soviet Espionage in America. Decrypted from secret Soviet cable traffic

...are the details of the spying activities that reached from Harry Hopkins in Franklin Roosevelt s White House to Alger Hiss in the State Department to Harry Dexter White in the Treasury. More than that, The Venona Secrets exposes:

• Information that links Albert Einstein to Soviet intelligence and conclusive evidence showing that J. Robert Oppenheimer gave Moscow our atomic secrets.

• How Soviet espionage reached its height when the United States and the Soviet Union were supposedly allies in World War II.

• The previously unsuspected vast network of Soviet spies in America.

• How the Venona documents confirm the controversial revelations made in the 1940s by former Soviet agents Whittaker Chambers and Elizabeth Bentley.

• The role of the American Communist Party in supporting and directing Soviet agents.

• How the Soviets penetrated America’s own intelligence services.

Romerstein and Breindel cast a spotlight on one of the most shadowy episodes in recent American history - a past when by our very own government officials, whether wittingly or unwittingly, shielded treason infected Washington and Soviet agents.

Of course, now I have to wonder if these spy rings are still in place, only instead of being managed by Moscow, they're being run out of Beijing.

___________


20201227 book pic 05.jpg



Books By Morons

Moron author JP Mac (author of the much liked and recommended (by me) urban fantasy novel Hallow Mass) has just published a short-story anthology, Death Honk: Nine Tales of the Macabre, wherein menace, murder, mystery await you:

Trespass forbidden boundaries, cross into eerie dimensions, mingle with the sinister and the lost in a treasury of nine peculiar tales ranging from the supernatural to the satirical.

--A naïve publisher blindly sets in motion the annihilation of Earth.
--High school students risk their lives in a brutal quest for popularity.
--An ambitious District Attorney struggles against the consequences of his inane policies.

Written over a decade, these stories span the worlds of magical realism, dark urban fantasy and classic horror. Greed, innocence and betrayal draw characters into settings laced with tension, black humor, and the creepy abominations of H.P. Lovecraft. So grab a copy, relax and set your imagination to cruise as an anthology of fantastic fables awaits.

$3.99 on Kindle.

___________

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.



20201227 book pic 03.jpg

Posted by: OregonMuse at 09:00 AM




Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Good morning my fellow bibliophiliacs!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove in Iron Gauntlet Clutching an Iron Mace at December 27, 2020 09:01 AM (Dc2NZ)

2 hiya

Posted by: JT at December 27, 2020 09:01 AM (arJlL)

3 This week I tried two actual new books. One by Toby Neighbors in the Arthur series. It was OK but it only had one book in the series so far. I then moved on to Twighlight Seeker by Pippa Dacus. Turned out to be about vampires and other booger men. Just could not get into it. So now back to old friends I have read several times.


Posted by: Vic at December 27, 2020 09:02 AM (mpXpK)

4 Tolle Lege
Finished Jack Cashill's Unmasking Obama, though I read all the crimes of the scandalous free administration it did fill in background of the good side players and connected them that I knew should be but maybe didn't know the details.
( better see if this makes it)

Posted by: Skip at December 27, 2020 09:04 AM (Cxk7w)

5 Didn't know about Venona leaks linking Oppenheimer and Einstein to the USSR.

I know that Oppie was a member of the Communist Party in the 30's, but a lot of liberals were.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove in Iron Gauntlet Clutching an Iron Mace at December 27, 2020 09:05 AM (Dc2NZ)

6 Tolle Lege
Finished Jack Cashill's Unmasking Obama, though I read all the crimes of the scandalous free administration it did fill in background of the good side players and connected them that I knew should be but maybe didn't know the details.
( better see if this makes it)
Posted by: Skip

"SAFE !"

Posted by: JT at December 27, 2020 09:05 AM (arJlL)

7 Who Dis is the guy that looks like Edmund Gwenn.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at December 27, 2020 09:05 AM (PiwSw)

8 In 897 A.D., "Pope Stephen VII set in motion a solemn trial of the late Pope Formosus... The corpse itself was dragged from the tomb where it had rested for eight months and, dressed again in its sacerdotal robes, was brought into the council chamber. There it was propped up in the throne that it had occupied in life while, in a parody of legal form, the "trial" went its blasphemous way.

The corpse was provided with a council, who wisely kept silent while Pope Stephen raved and screamed his insults at it."

-- from "The Bad Popes" by E.R. Chamberlin

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove in Iron Gauntlet Clutching an Iron Mace at December 27, 2020 09:06 AM (Dc2NZ)

9 Beautiful library!

Posted by: CN at December 27, 2020 09:06 AM (ONvIw)

10 4 continued
I see now the media became fully the Democrats Propaganda ministry in 2008 and it is astonishing how well they did their job protecting Jug Ears. Also shows how he controlled things from behind just as I am sure he is with Sundowner and Ho Harris.

Posted by: Skip at December 27, 2020 09:06 AM (Cxk7w)

11 "Stephen had not yet finished with his vengeance. The corpse was stripped and the three fingers of benediction on the right hand were hacked off. It was then dragged through the palace and hurled to the yelling mob in the streets, who in turn dragged it to the Tiber and threw it in. Later, a group of fishermen pulled it out and in compassion gave it a decent burial."

This was a time when factions (Constantinople, the HRE, and the Franks) were duking it out for control, and Formosus backed Arnulf as king of the HRE.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Formosus

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove in Iron Gauntlet Clutching an Iron Mace at December 27, 2020 09:07 AM (Dc2NZ)

12 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadaver_Synod

Pope Stephen proved unpopular (!), there was the inevitable public outcry, and he was later strangled in prison.

Comment: "Cadaver Synod" would be a great Metal band name.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove in Iron Gauntlet Clutching an Iron Mace at December 27, 2020 09:07 AM (Dc2NZ)

13 Mis Hum saw a good who's dis though not reading.

Posted by: Skip at December 27, 2020 09:07 AM (Cxk7w)

14 morning book worms...finally converted to Kindle for Novels..became too difficult handling 600-800 page paperbacks at night in bed....will still buy all Non-fiction books in hardback though..

Posted by: Qmark at December 27, 2020 09:08 AM (hg6m+)

15 Pope Stephen proved unpopular (!), there was the inevitable public outcry, and he was later strangled in prison.

He was the Epstein of his day.

Posted by: JT at December 27, 2020 09:08 AM (arJlL)

16 I started the prequel to Pillars of the Earth.

Posted by: orthothrix at December 27, 2020 09:08 AM (aRJ80)

17 Of course, now I have to wonder if these spy rings are still in place, only instead of being managed by Moscow, they're being run out of Beijing.

But you'd have to replace "communist party" with uniparty as one can bet that anybody who can get graft/payoffs will take it.

Posted by: CN at December 27, 2020 09:09 AM (ONvIw)

18 I read The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race, And Identity by Douglas Murray. Murray critiques intersectionalism, identity politics, social justice, and other ills of our current society. He thinks that these seem to exist not to help minority groups or individuals, but rather to divide us. An interesting, thought-provoking book. Murray is also the author of The Strange Death Of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam which I hope to read soon.

Posted by: Zoltan at December 27, 2020 09:10 AM (qb8uZ)

19 Holy cow -- I went to a Wikipedia link on "posthumous executions" and found this:

Joseph Warren (1741–1775), a physician and major general of American colonial militias, was stripped of his clothing, bayoneted until unrecognizable, and then he was shoved into a shallow ditch, after he was killed at the Battle of Bunker and Breed's Hill. Days later, British Lieutenant James Drew had Joseph Warren's body exhumed again; his was body stomped on, beaten, decapitated and humiliated on the area, according to eyewitness testimonies

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove in Iron Gauntlet Clutching an Iron Mace at December 27, 2020 09:12 AM (Dc2NZ)

20 Posted by: Skip at December 27, 2020 09:06 AM (Cxk7w)

Of course, he's some globalist commie anti-Christ, the media and donks blindly follow and no matter how great the crime, they just love him more.

Posted by: CN at December 27, 2020 09:12 AM (ONvIw)

21 14 morning book worms...finally converted to Kindle for Novels..became too difficult handling 600-800 page paperbacks at night in bed....will still buy all Non-fiction books in hardback though..
Posted by: Qmark at December 27, 2020 09:08 AM (hg6m+)

If you don't know about this website, this is awesome for public-domain ebooks:

https://standardebooks.org/



Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at December 27, 2020 09:12 AM (PiwSw)

22 CN yes only it's to the Chi-Coms now, though the Leftists are not afraid of helping the Bolsheviks now and then.

Posted by: Skip at December 27, 2020 09:13 AM (Cxk7w)

23 Who dis: Cousin It?

Posted by: Biden's Dog at December 27, 2020 09:14 AM (h9CJU)

24 Didn't know about Venona leaks linking Oppenheimer and Einstein to the USSR.

I know that Oppie was a member of the Communist Party in the 30's, but a lot of liberals were.

==

"Links" could mean many things, being at the same party for example, and talking to a soviet embassy member (all were spies in one capacity or another), then meeting for a donut and coffee a time or two.

Posted by: runner at December 27, 2020 09:15 AM (zr5Kq)

25 I actually would wear the pants featured.

I don't understand the picture that goes with the word "respair."

Posted by: Ladyl at December 27, 2020 09:16 AM (TdMsT)

26 I received my copy of "the god that failed" which has pieces by various disillusioned ex-commies like Koestler, Gide, Silone. It was delayed by the holiday mail mess.

Posted by: CN at December 27, 2020 09:17 AM (ONvIw)

27 I still can't place "who dis" character, looks old-fashioned....

Posted by: runner at December 27, 2020 09:17 AM (zr5Kq)

28 Who Dis = Billy Bob Thornton.

he's bad.

Posted by: Tom Servo at December 27, 2020 09:17 AM (V2Yro)

29 How did China get the nukes ? I forget.

Posted by: runner at December 27, 2020 09:18 AM (zr5Kq)

30 Hey! I know that dude in the picture!

Posted by: Winter Warlock at December 27, 2020 09:19 AM (xxG/v)

31 "There is one way to find out if a man is honest; ask him! If he says "yes," you know he's crooked."

Groucho Marx - who appreciates backwardnessism in all its forms

Posted by: BackwardsBoy - #BlockadeDC at December 27, 2020 09:19 AM (HaL55)

32 -- from "The Bad Popes" by E.R. Chamberlin
Posted by: All Hail Eris

I have this book. I should probably read it now!

Currently reading: Harry Potter I (audiobook), Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon (physical copy), and just finished The River Girl's Song by Angela Castillo (Kindle).

I'm not sure I like these Outlander books. They're a bit of a slow burn. Gabaldon really takes her time with the plot.

OTOH, the Castillo book moved too quickly. It calls itself a novella and would have been much better if the authoer had expanded it to novel-length.

Posted by: sinalco at December 27, 2020 09:19 AM (yODqO)

33 Good Sunday morning, horde!

Those pants are fine--I would wear them to work, now that I work at home.

Posted by: April at December 27, 2020 09:20 AM (OX9vb)

34 I don't understand the picture that goes with the word "respair."

Posted by: Ladyl at December 27, 2020 09:16 AM (TdMsT)


I think it's supposed to convey the idea of "tentative hopefulness" mentioned in the description.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at December 27, 2020 09:21 AM (TY8Lu)

35 Ah, the book thread!

For Christmas I got a copy of Vladimir Nabokov's Pale Fire, so I'm dipping my toes into it. He's one of my father's favorite authors, so this will give us something to talk about besides arguing politics.

Joseph Conrad is still lurking in the background, though. I've enjoyed getting to know him again after a 20 year hiatus and intend to add to my holdings of his works.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 27, 2020 09:21 AM (cfSRQ)

36 29 How did China get the nukes ? I forget.
Posted by: runner at December 27, 2020 09:18 AM (zr5Kq)

I think it's always been believed that Stalin helped them, back when he still thought he could keep Mao under his control. The Russians have a long history of doing incredibly smart and incredibly stupid things at the same time.

Posted by: Tom Servo at December 27, 2020 09:21 AM (V2Yro)

37 Thank you OM for yet another stellar Book Thread!

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at December 27, 2020 09:22 AM (PiwSw)

38 I finished two books this week. The first was "Speak, Memory", Nabokov's autobiography written not long after coming to America and written up to the point of walking toward the ship in France, with wife and son, that brought him here. Unlike Gaylord's tree killer, it's extremely well written and incorporates some of his fiction techniques such as events repeating themselves through time (like deja vu only different). It was serialized in the New Yorker, which was a source of cash for him since the Cornell gig was surprisingly ungenerous compared to now, and probably not a bad way to read i

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 27, 2020 09:22 AM (y7DUB)

39
"Links" could mean many things, being at the
same party for example, and talking to a soviet embassy member (all were
spies in one capacity or another), then meeting for a donut and coffee a
time or two.

Posted by: runner at December 27, 2020 09:15 AM (zr5Kq)

---
It's like "alcohol-related" car accidents. The clear implication is that it was *caused by* alcohol, thereby justifying additional prohibition. See also: "gun violence."

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 27, 2020 09:23 AM (cfSRQ)

40 To answer the question about Amazon paying authors - for Kindle books, the author gets either 70% or 35% of the price of the book (the price which the author sets) and paid 60 days after the month of sale. I have a whole raft of Kindle books out there, so there'll be funds deposited at the end of this month for ebooks sold throughout October. My print books are through LSI (Lightning Source International) and distributed through Ingram, which requires a 55% discount so they can offer the standard 40% discount to retail outlets like brick and mortar stores and Amazon. (TBC)

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at December 27, 2020 09:23 AM (xnmPy)

41 Good morning and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to my fellow Book Threadists. I hope everyone read and/or received some great books.

Posted by: JTB at December 27, 2020 09:23 AM (7EjX1)

42 As a counterweight to the nonsense put out by AOC and the Green New Dealers, there is "Masters of Mass Production" by Christy Borth from 1945.

Copies in English are hard to find, it is easier to get those in German and Japanese. Having lost to these Americans, the losers wanted to learn why.

Amazon shows only one copy used available at $175.00
https://tinyurl.com/ybwhw3yo

Posted by: MachiasPrivateer at December 27, 2020 09:24 AM (EMi53)

43 34 I don't understand the picture that goes with the word "respair."

Posted by: Ladyl at December 27, 2020 09:16 AM (TdMsT)

I think it's supposed to convey the idea of "tentative hopefulness" mentioned in the description.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at December 27, 2020 09:21 AM (TY8Lu)

It depends on how you look at it. You could see it as green shoots sprouting out of the earth, or you could see it as the spot where the dog just peed.

Posted by: Tom Servo at December 27, 2020 09:25 AM (V2Yro)

44 For some reason, couldn't continue above comment. For print books sold through Amazon, royalties are eventually paid to me through LSI, after deducting print costs and the wholesale discount ... 90 days after the sale. I get more from selling print books directly, especially through book events and fairs. Print royalties from Amazon or anyone else are a bare trickle, compared to eBooks.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at December 27, 2020 09:26 AM (xnmPy)

45 It was serialized in the New Yorker, which was a
source of cash for him since the Cornell gig was surprisingly ungenerous
compared to now, and probably not a bad way to read i

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 27, 2020 09:22 AM (y7DUB)

---
In those days, college professors accepted that the tradeoff for getting to basically pursue their hobby was less monetary compensation. They often got free housing, however. A select few who got hired early in a college's formation might also make money in real estate. A bunch of the neighborhoods in East Lansing were 'developed' by the faculty who not only made bank, but named streets after themselves.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 27, 2020 09:27 AM (cfSRQ)

46 How are we supposed to write about books if there's a 600 character limit on comments? Seems unreasonable.

Anyway, the kindle book I'm now reading is Adam Savage's Every Tool's a Hammer: Life is What You Make It. Savage may be a bit of a d___, but he definitely has a way with words.

Posted by: sinalco at December 27, 2020 09:28 AM (yODqO)

47 For some reason, couldn't continue above comment.


Posted by: Sgt. Mom at December 27, 2020 09:26 AM (xnmPy)

---
I think the barrage of spam has caused Pixy to truncate comments.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 27, 2020 09:28 AM (cfSRQ)

48 me this week: "An Actor and His Time," John Gielgud (1979).

He lived to be 96 & wrote THREE autobios. This was the first.

I would've liked to know more about his business affairs-- his estate was rather modest, considering his great celebrity & longevity.

At the time of his death, published reports estimated his estate at a little under $2 million. For comparison purposes, a Danish actress you likely never heard of, Trine Dyrholm, who has appeared in some decent movies you also probably never heard of ("A Better World"), is said to be worth $40 million.

Posted by: mnw at December 27, 2020 09:28 AM (Cssks)

49 I think it's always been believed that Stalin helped them, back when he still thought he could keep Mao under his control. The Russians have a long history of doing incredibly smart and incredibly stupid things at the same time.
==
Tom, I actually went and searched. They stole much from Los Alamos. The design of some key components (the cone, whatever that is) matched to the millimeter. Some of the rocket data came from militaary contractors. They key scientist rained at MIT. There was also an American defector Joan Hinton who worked on "fat man".

Posted by: runner at December 27, 2020 09:29 AM (zr5Kq)

50 *their key scientist
and
*trained at

Posted by: runner at December 27, 2020 09:29 AM (zr5Kq)

51 Didn't know about Venona leaks linking Oppenheimer and Einstein to the USSR.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove in Iron Gauntlet Clutching an Iron Mace at December 27, 2020 09:05 AM (Dc2NZ)

+ + +


I think the book reveals that Einstein had a "personal" relationship with a KGB woman, not knowing who she was.

Posted by: Biden's Dog at December 27, 2020 09:30 AM (h9CJU)

52 Soviets signed many things, but I think the principal was keep your enemies closer - pact with the nazis, nuke pact with Mao.

Posted by: runner at December 27, 2020 09:31 AM (zr5Kq)

53 43 34 I don't understand the picture that goes with the word "respair."

Posted by: Ladyl at December 27, 2020 09:16 AM (TdMsT)

I think it's supposed to convey the idea of "tentative hopefulness" mentioned in the description.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader

It depends on how you look at it. You could see it as green shoots sprouting out of the earth, or you could see it as the spot where the dog just peed.
Posted by: Tom Servo at December 27, 2020 09:25 AM (V2Yro)

I thought I saw a spider. Weird.

Posted by: Ladyl at December 27, 2020 09:31 AM (TdMsT)

54 46 How are we supposed to write about books if there's a 600 character limit on comments? Seems unreasonable."

if you haven't been on the blog much this week, well the 600 char limit is just something we all have to work with because of the Great Christmas Troll Wars.

you can do longer thoughts if you split them up into and a, b, c, etc., parts. Just takes a bit of organization.

Posted by: Tom Servo at December 27, 2020 09:31 AM (V2Yro)

55 14 morning book worms...finally converted to Kindle for Novels..became too difficult handling 600-800 page paperbacks at night in bed
Posted by: Qmark at December 27, 2020 09:08 AM (hg6m+)

I changed to kindle reading for much the same reason.

Posted by: sinalco at December 27, 2020 09:32 AM (yODqO)

56 38 continued.

Since I'm reading the second volume of his biography most of the events were familiar anyway. After that I read a short story written from the perspective of one siamese twin. This was written during the time he was also working on Lolita and was originally planned to be a full length book. It's interesting enough and full of wit but I almost get the idea that his wife, who did all his typing, said maybe the book about the pervert is a better use of your time.

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 27, 2020 09:32 AM (y7DUB)

57 It may be a YA book but I think I'll read Sinbad and Me. I could use some good, old-fashioned escapism ....

Posted by: Blacksheep at December 27, 2020 09:32 AM (6mvRv)

58 Cannot even imagine what they are stealing now. Their infiltration is wide and deep - universities, research labs, technology companies, military contractors, and of course the government.

Posted by: runner at December 27, 2020 09:33 AM (zr5Kq)

59 Ah... Glensheen. Located in little Beijing on Lake Superior, Duluth Minnesota - home of CPC Avic-owned Cirrus Aircraft and the stronghold of the Communist swine who call themselves DFLers (Democratic Farmer Labor).
Glensheen is owned, operated, staffed by the state university and her minions. She's been run into the ground over the last 40 years - the school extracts maximum profits while doing little maintenance. She's thread-bare - a depressing reminder of America's once unbridled entrepreneurial spirit. Now an ironic relic the communist state of minnesota displays with righteous contempt

Posted by: New Leaf at December 27, 2020 09:33 AM (8QeJn)

60 Those pants are fine. I would lick them off and get all sticky.

Posted by: f'd at December 27, 2020 09:33 AM (A+nkq)

61 I get more from selling print books directly,
especially through book events and fairs. Print royalties from Amazon or
anyone else are a bare trickle, compared to eBooks.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at December 27, 2020 09:26 AM (xnmPy)

---
I'm looking at doing more of that - getting a booth and selling books directly.

I will say that while your observations RE print v ebook are generally correct, I have found two exceptions in my own catalog: gaming rules and nonfiction.

Both genres do not easily lend themselves to e-readers. People want a physical book of decent dimensions and are willing to accept a price point to support it. Thus both Conqueror: Fields of Victory and Long Live Death have print far outselling ebook.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 27, 2020 09:33 AM (cfSRQ)

62 48 continues:

I always think the business affairs of famous people are fascinating (Shakespeare; Mozart; Richard Burton) & give the reader a more complete picture of the individual.

Since Gielgud had no immediate family, there is no indication that he gave away his money during his lifetime. Something not quite right there-- bad investments?

Posted by: mnw at December 27, 2020 09:34 AM (Cssks)

63 I'm currently reading The Broker by John Grisham.

Started out good, then it got boring and now its starting to get good again.

Posted by: JT at December 27, 2020 09:34 AM (arJlL)

64 Yea, this week's pants are not very controversial.

Posted by: runner at December 27, 2020 09:34 AM (zr5Kq)

65 Who dis: one of the singers in ZZ Top?

Posted by: Linn Ridge at December 27, 2020 09:35 AM (E8JQx)

66 WTFO no noods no mas

Posted by: rhennigantx at December 27, 2020 09:35 AM (5QBw6)

67 if you haven't been on the blog much this week, well the 600 char limit is just something we all have to work with because of the Great Christmas Troll Wars.
Posted by: Tom Servo at December 27, 2020 09:31 AM (V2Yro)

Oh, I understand that. I was trying to be funny and failed.

Posted by: sinalco at December 27, 2020 09:36 AM (yODqO)

68 Good morning y'all!

Posted by: tbodie at December 27, 2020 09:36 AM (LkzOc)

69 For Christmas I got a copy of Vladimir Nabokov's Pale Fire, so I'm dipping my toes into it. He's one of my father's favorite authors, so this will give us something to talk about besides arguing politics.

Pale Fire is, I think, his most fully realized work. I look forward to rereading it.

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 27, 2020 09:36 AM (y7DUB)

70 I'm here.(again)

I'd wear those pants. They look more like leggings than pants and considering how wild some of the leggings I've seen at the gym are, perfectly acceptable.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at December 27, 2020 09:37 AM (sd8p8)

71 "Gaylord's tree killer"
Posted by: Captain Hate 

*chortle* One of the lesser known grunge bands. Might have opened for Nickelback.

Posted by: Drink Like Vikings *President Re-Elect Donald Trump* at December 27, 2020 09:38 AM (xVLND)

72 I'm reading Eats, Shoots & Leaves. Thanks to the Morons who recommended it several weeks ago.

It's funny and light reading, perfect for the pre-burning times we're in right now.

Posted by: squeakywheel at December 27, 2020 09:38 AM (T2vUn)

73
I think it's always been believed that Stalin helped them, back when he
still thought he could keep Mao under his control. The Russians have a
long history of doing incredibly smart and incredibly stupid things at
the same time.


Posted by: runner at December 27, 2020 09:29 AM (zr5Kq)

---
Stalin was capable of breathtaking double-dealing. One reason he cut back on aid to the Spanish Republic was that Japan was making noises in Manchuria, so he sent "volunteer" pilots to fly for the Nationalists. Interesting pictures out of there of Polikarpov I-16s in Nationalist colors.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 27, 2020 09:38 AM (cfSRQ)

74 Commie spies....anybody mentioned Brennan?

Posted by: BignJames at December 27, 2020 09:39 AM (AwYPR)

75 I read The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race, And Identity by Douglas Murray. Murray critiques intersectionalism, identity politics, social justice, and other ills of our current society. He thinks that these seem to exist not to help minority groups or individuals, but rather to divide us. An interesting, thought-provoking book. Murray is also the author of The Strange Death Of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam which I hope to read soon.

Posted by: Zoltan at December 27, 2020 09:10 AM (qb8uZ)



Unfortunately, Murray seems to think that the woke tide only needs to be rolled back ever so slightly, to say 2014, and then somehow prevented from advancing any further. In part, this is because Murray is gay and he is reluctant to concede that gay men are responsible for any of the excesses. He can't get beyond the first chapter without arguing that gay men are superior to everybody else. He seems particularly alarmed that the trans movement is depleting the supply of gay men by converting them into trans-women.


Murray has described himself as a "UK conservative". In other words, he is really a liberal. He is unwilling to acknowledge the fact that it was liberal attitudes like his that paved this disastrous road. Murray's untenable position is something like "only 2/3rds of Chesterton's Fence should have been demolished".

Posted by: cool breeze at December 27, 2020 09:39 AM (UGKMd)

76 Pale Fire is, I think, his most fully realized work. I look forward to rereading it.

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 27, 2020 09:36 AM (y7DUB)

---
There is clearly a lot going on. I'm reading it slowly but I know I'll have to go back through it again.

It's kind of like Lolita, which is not what everyone thinks it is. (Well, it is, but it isn't, which is the point.)

Vladimir does love himself some layer satire.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 27, 2020 09:40 AM (cfSRQ)

77 Poland is about to pass a law protecting online speech against tech censorship. Awesome. Poland would know (painfully) from censorship.

Posted by: runner at December 27, 2020 09:40 AM (zr5Kq)

78 Poland knows censorship when it sees it.

Posted by: runner at December 27, 2020 09:40 AM (zr5Kq)

79 I'd wear those pants. They look more like leggings than pants and considering how wild some of the leggings I've seen at the gym are, perfectly acceptable.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at December 27, 2020 09:37 AM (sd8p

There is this gal in my APT that wear legging so tight/thin I can tell when she is ovulating.

Posted by: rhennigantx at December 27, 2020 09:44 AM (5QBw6)

80 I was saddened to learn that Mark Schweizer, who wrote the hilarious Liturgical Mystery series, died last year from a brain tumor. Such a loss of a creative, gleeful man. In his honor, I'm going to reread the entire series over the new year.

I reread his Christmas Cantata last week. One of my few Christmas traditions.

Posted by: JTB at December 27, 2020 09:45 AM (7EjX1)

81 Off to seize the day by the p****.

Later, book fagz.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove in Iron Gauntlet Clutching an Iron Mace at December 27, 2020 09:46 AM (Dc2NZ)

82 Finished Ivo Andric's Bridge on the Drina which, in its own weird way, is an excellent way to understand the Balkans where the muslims and Christians, although mainly from the same genetic stock, coexisted in an uneasy truce pending the status of the outside influencers. When the Ottoman empire was sent packing from the area that created a void for the muz from which they never recovered. But then the Austrians pissed all over the Serbs and knocked them off their perch. The book ends during WW1 as the bridge is partially destroyed but in its way describes Bosnia today.

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 27, 2020 09:47 AM (y7DUB)

83 Haha, later, Eris!

Posted by: April at December 27, 2020 09:47 AM (OX9vb)

84 80 I was saddened to learn that Mark Schweizer, who wrote the hilarious Liturgical Mystery series, died last year from a brain tumor. Such a loss of a creative, gleeful man. In his honor, I'm going to reread the entire series over the new year.

I reread his Christmas Cantata last week. One of my few Christmas traditions.
Posted by: JTB at December 27, 2020 09:45 AM (7EjX1)

oh no I have sads now!

Posted by: rhennigantx at December 27, 2020 09:47 AM (5QBw6)

85 Bye Eris.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at December 27, 2020 09:49 AM (PiwSw)

86 Murray has described himself as a "UK conservative".
In other words, he is really a liberal. He is unwilling to acknowledge
the fact that it was liberal attitudes like his that paved this
disastrous road. Murray's untenable position is something like "only
2/3rds of Chesterton's Fence should have been demolished".

Posted by: cool breeze at December 27, 2020 09:39 AM (UGKMd)

---
What he doesn't get is that the part he wants to "conserve" was only a fleeting instant in the inevitable decline.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 27, 2020 09:49 AM (cfSRQ)

87 Nice Lieberry!

I like those pants.....

The Who Dis is the Fatman before he goes off the chain.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at December 27, 2020 09:49 AM (R/m4+)

88 Finished "A Place for Everything" recommended here and enjoyed it very much. It's nominally about alphabetizing, but really about tools for organizing and navigating information.
Having done A LOT of research in my working life, I could not imagine doing any of it without tools that were only developed (or perfected) developed in the last two centuries.

Posted by: Art Rondelet of Malmsey at December 27, 2020 09:50 AM (fTtFy)

89 Since Gielgud had no immediate family, there is no indication that he gave away his money during his lifetime. Something not quite right there-- bad investments?
Posted by: mnw at December 27, 2020 09:34 AM (Cssks)

I get the impression he spent heavily and I know he donated lots of money to causes/people dedicated to lowering the age of consent for gays and gay rights in general.

Posted by: CN at December 27, 2020 09:50 AM (ONvIw)

90 Good morning. I see Sgt. Mom answered the question about Amazon paying authors, but since it seems she has an actual publisher I can add a bit more info if you want to self-publish, as did for the cookbook.

Weasel can give the gnarly details, but I know that we set the price for both the hard copy and the ebook ourselves. Not sure exactly of the formula, but we set the hard copy at $14.99 because we wanted to keep it affordable. We get slightly under $4 of that; Amazon keeps the rest. We set the ebook price to reflect about the same net to us - I think we get slightly over $4 for those.

Posted by: bluebell at December 27, 2020 09:51 AM (/669Q)

91 Poland is about to pass a law protecting online speech against tech censorship. Awesome. Poland would know (painfully) from censorship.
Posted by: runner

Be interesting to see if they can take it to the FAANG. We could use a little help from a freedom-loving ally since nearly all of our power base is in thrall to the Silicon Valley money bukkake. I wonder if they have CNN in their airports.

Posted by: Drink Like Vikings *President Re-Elect Donald Trump* at December 27, 2020 09:51 AM (xVLND)

92 77 Poland is about to pass a law protecting online speech against tech censorship. Awesome. Poland would know (painfully) from censorship.
Posted by: runner at December 27, 2020 09:40 AM (zr5Kq)

And the USA runs toward it willingly. Obama has made us pathetic

Posted by: CN at December 27, 2020 09:51 AM (ONvIw)

93 Finished Ivo Andric's Bridge on the Drina
which, in its own weird way, is an excellent way to understand the
Balkans where the muslims and Christians, although mainly from the same
genetic stock, coexisted in an uneasy truce pending the status of the
outside influencers.
Posted by: Captain Hate at December 27, 2020 09:47 AM (y7DUB)

---
One reason why the Bosnians were so reviled during the Yugoslav devolution was that they were seen as traitors by other Slavs. Instead of remaining Christian, the Bosnians converted and were thereby incorporated into the Ottoman hierarchy.

The repayment of centuries-old grudges is a Balkan specialty.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 27, 2020 09:53 AM (cfSRQ)

94 Also, occasionally we would notice that the cookbook was being offered at $12.99 - that was Amazon doing a temporary price drop, which they never told us they were doing, but we would still get the same amount from them per book so the drop would come out of their proceeds.

Posted by: bluebell at December 27, 2020 09:53 AM (/669Q)

95 1 of 2 or 3
I read Tailspin by Bernard Connors about a suspect in the famous Sam Sheppard (that's Dr. Sam Sheppard!) murder case, Major James Call. Major Call was, if not a hero, at least an honorably serving Air Force combat veteran. His life fell apart when his wife died and he became a thief, burglar, robber, and murderer. In fact, he was an adrenaline junkie who drank too much, gambled too much, and was generally insubordinate before the death of his wife. The evidence linking him to the Sheppard murder is thin, basically that he was in the area at the time and did audacious things

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at December 27, 2020 09:54 AM (+y/Ru)

96
g'mornin', book-ish 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at December 27, 2020 09:54 AM (DUIap)

97 I get the impression he spent heavily and I know he
donated lots of money to causes/people dedicated to lowering the age of
consent for gays and gay rights in general.

Posted by: CN at December 27, 2020 09:50 AM (ONvIw)

---
Elton John has famously expensive habits and despite massive income has flirted with financial ruin to do his profligacy.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 27, 2020 09:54 AM (cfSRQ)

98 Be interesting to see if they can take it to the FAANG....
Posted by: Drink Like Vikings *President Re-Elect Donald


Well, they triumphed over more formidable enemies. What may happen is FAANG might buy off a bunch of creeps in ICJ with help from China and try to bully them. I think Hungary and a few others may join Poland in fighting back.

Posted by: runner at December 27, 2020 09:55 AM (zr5Kq)

99 Poking around a little bit I found a mention that the OED has only a single citation for the word respair, dated 1425, and it has fallen out of use since.

Another site says (oddly enough), "..."respair" is a word that English-speakers decided they could happily live without."

Linguistically, despair seems to be the default human condition. And happily so!

Posted by: Muldoon at December 27, 2020 09:55 AM (m45I2)

100 Vladimir does love himself some layer satire.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 27, 2020 09:40 AM (cfSRQ)


Oh yes. Regarding your reading Conrad, one of Vlad's weirdest blind spots was his dismissal of his works compared to, say, Robert Louis Stevenson. I hope his biography explains that because otherwise I'm left to guess about it. It might have been a Rooski/Pole enmity thing. Or it might be a class thing; he hated Dostoyevsky for being a fucking lowlife, which he was, even as he dismissed the Freudian elements as being tawdry. But Conrad was a fellow emigr

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 27, 2020 09:56 AM (y7DUB)

101 Poland looks to be one of the few bastions of freedom left.



They currently have a somewhat conservative government.

Posted by: runner at December 27, 2020 09:56 AM (zr5Kq)

102 FIRST!!!!!

Posted by: Sponge - Office of the Mr. Dr. President Elect at December 27, 2020 09:56 AM (Zz0t1)

103 Elton John has famously expensive habits and despite massive income has flirted with financial ruin to do his profligacy.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 27, 2020 09:54 AM (cfSRQ)

Gielgud was of a generation that probably had to pay to keep their sexuality out of the press and had a lot of boyfriends over the years.

Posted by: CN at December 27, 2020 09:57 AM (ONvIw)

104 Obama has made us pathetic
Posted by: CN at December 27, 2020 09:51 AM (ONvIw)

you aint seen nothing yet

Posted by: uncle handsy Joe at December 27, 2020 09:57 AM (5QBw6)

105 100 continued

emigre which should count for something. Plus both wrote in multiple languages.

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 27, 2020 09:57 AM (y7DUB)

106 Thanks for the recommendations, OM, et.al. ...

Posted by: Adriane the Dreaming of Space Cylinders Critic ... at December 27, 2020 09:58 AM (LPnfS)

107
you aint seen nothing yet
Posted by: uncle handsy Joe at December 27, 2020 09:57 AM (5QBw6)

Joe is undoubtedly a blackmailed and wholly owned subsidiary of Obama.

Posted by: CN at December 27, 2020 09:58 AM (ONvIw)

108
Seeing that photo with the "respair" definition brings to mind a recollection that soon we will again hear the phrase "green shoots" applied to dead cat bounces of the Sundowner's economy, should that come to pass.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 27, 2020 09:59 AM (pNxlR)

109 This seems appropriate......

https://youtu.be/t0lo9_JWuwU

Posted by: Sponge - Office of the Mr. Dr. President Elect at December 27, 2020 09:59 AM (Zz0t1)

110 Finished She Rides Shotgun, the award winning first novel published by Jordan Harper. Would have said it was a short novel, but it clocks in at 272 pages. Very tightly written with little fluff to it. Has the feel of the movie The Professional to it. Fresh out of prison dad kidnaps daughter as they deal with hit on them put out by Aryan Steel members. Give it a 7 out of 10.

Posted by: Charlotte at December 27, 2020 10:00 AM (bKPAB)

111 [100 comment rule] - SBD

Posted by: Sponge - Office of the Mr. Dr. President Elect at December 27, 2020 10:00 AM (Zz0t1)

112 100 continued

emigre which should count for something. Plus both wrote in multiple languages.
Posted by: Captain Hate at December 27, 2020 09:57 AM (y7DUB)

Perhaps we should adopt the asterisk as a continuation sign here in the threads? Type until the 600 character limit appears, back up to the last complete*

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at December 27, 2020 10:01 AM (mzC78)

113
Joe is undoubtedly a blackmailed and wholly owned subsidiary of Obama.
Posted by: CN at December 27, 2020 09:58 AM (ONvIw)


As we're learning, 75% of our entire government is this.

Well, with China, anyway.

Posted by: Sponge - Office of the Mr. Dr. President Elect at December 27, 2020 10:01 AM (Zz0t1)

114 *word, add an asterisk, and then carry from the asterisk in the next post.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at December 27, 2020 10:01 AM (mzC78)

115 Of course, I continue with LOTR, reveling in the delight and distraction from the news. But I'm stretching out the process by dipping into other books, sometimes quite different ones. I just started "The Latin Mass Explained". Raised Catholic, the 'teaching' was completely authoritarian and questions were not encouraged. That attitude drove me away from the church as a teenager. Fifty years later I hope to reestablish a faith with understanding. The early part of the book looks encouraging.

Posted by: JTB at December 27, 2020 10:01 AM (7EjX1)

116 Respair:

Look at these green shoots in the picture. Please ignore those "twigs", which are actually the legs of a very large spider.

Posted by: OneEyedJack at December 27, 2020 10:02 AM (z79tQ)

117 Afyer Disney screwed over Allen Dean Foster on his royalties, he started an awareness add campaign for his novels. I purchased and started (this morning!) his novel 'Relic'.

Good stuff.

Plague wipes out all but one human and aliens help him find his birth planet Earth.

Here is the link to the goodreads page: https://tinyurl.com/yavs4tvj

Posted by: BifBewalski AOS Moron at December 27, 2020 10:03 AM (VcFUs)

118 It might have been a Rooski/Pole enmity thing.
Posted by: Captain Hate at December 27, 2020 09:56 AM (y7DUB)

---
I think that's part of it. It surely rankled to Russians to see Poland become independent and gain a bunch of Western Ukraine into the bargain.

Conrad was a generation older and well-established by the 1920s (and his reputation surged in the 60s) so there may have been some professional jealousy as well.

I bet publishers were often like: "Wow, so you write in your second language? Hey, that's just like this Conrad guy! You ever heard of him?"

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 27, 2020 10:04 AM (cfSRQ)

119 One reason why the Bosnians were so reviled during the Yugoslav devolution was that they were seen as traitors by other Slavs. Instead of remaining Christian, the Bosnians converted and were thereby incorporated into the Ottoman hierarchy.

A lot of peasant children were kidnapped to Turkey as a perverted form of tribute and brought up as muz before they knew better. Looking at our dogshit education system, it's hard for children to resist brainwashing.

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 27, 2020 10:04 AM (y7DUB)

120 Who builds a mansion in Duluth?

Posted by: grammie winger at December 27, 2020 10:04 AM (gm3d+)

121 Respair:

Look at these green shoots in the picture. Please ignore those "twigs", which are actually the legs of a very large spider.
Posted by: OneEyedJack at December 27, 2020 10:02 AM (z79tQ)


Predespaired: When you know things are not going to work out, yet you woke up anyway.

Posted by: Sponge - Office of the Mr. Dr. President Elect at December 27, 2020 10:04 AM (Zz0t1)

122 2 of 2 or 3
Did audacious things like burglarizing homes with the victims present and brass his way out if discovered. He eventually killed a cop who had him cornered.

I tried speed reading this book with a good deal of success. I tried to read paragraphs in one fell swope. This book is written in a straight forward manner so I could follow pretty well and, if I didn't understand something, I could always slow down and read that paragraph carefully. I'd never want to do this with a comedy book, I wouldn't get the jokes, or a mystery, I wouldn't catch all the clues, but for a book like

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at December 27, 2020 10:05 AM (+y/Ru)

123 From the EZDog WWII diary, my dad references the improvement in the Battle of the Bulge situation today in 1944.

Dec 27, 1944

News from the north sector looks better. The attack has been stopped in nearly all sectors and limited advances have been made with counterattacks. Bastogne, which was surrounded and subjected to terrific pounding has been contacted and the perimeter of defense is now well around the city. Reports say the Germans are suffering terrific losses from the Air Corps and Arty as well as Inf action.
(cont)

Posted by: Muldoon at December 27, 2020 10:05 AM (m45I2)

124 (cont) Our front is still inactive. 45 Div made limited advances E of Bitche. We were given the sector along the Rhine S of Strassbourg again, giving us a front of over 90 miles, probably a record. The Arty is getting stretched pretty thin but we have them well set.
Weather is very cold for doing any fighting. Temperature dropped to 20°.

Posted by: Muldoon at December 27, 2020 10:05 AM (m45I2)

125 3 of 3
A book like this, it can be a useful skill.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at December 27, 2020 10:06 AM (+y/Ru)

126 Joe is undoubtedly a blackmailed and wholly owned subsidiary of Obama.

Posted by: CN at December 27, 2020 09:58 AM (ONvIw)

---
You don't need to blackmail people to do what they were going to do anyway.

Fellow Travelers were almost always volunteers. Those on the China payroll don't like the US and want it taken down a peg. Getting rich is just a win-win for them.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 27, 2020 10:06 AM (cfSRQ)

127 Well, with China, anyway.
Posted by: Sponge - Office of the Mr. Dr. President Elect at December 27, 2020 10:01 AM (Zz0t1)

I don't think the sheer evil of Obama can be minimized either.

After I read the god that failed (I was nodding enthusiastically as Crossman described the religious nature of the followers), I'll return to Solzhenitsyn for a while, including the short stories.

Posted by: CN at December 27, 2020 10:06 AM (ONvIw)

128
I finished reading Neil Stephenson's "Reamde" and I am left ... disappointed. I think that is because he had so many character pairings / groupings moving the story along and he had to bring them all together in the vicinity of the climactic events that too many fortuitous coincidences had to be invoked in order to accomplish that. A sense of things being forced grew stronger the closer the end of the book came. Not his best, by that measure, although it was ripping along merrily for well over half of the work.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 27, 2020 10:06 AM (pNxlR)

129 CN

Gielgud's sexuality wasn't much of a secret after his 1953 arrest & conviction for soliciting men for sex in a public lavatory. It wasn't much of a secret before, either.

There is no indication from what I've read that Gielgud gave money to his gay lovers, or even that he had any long-term relationships.

Gielgud did make anonymous donations to gay charities & causes late in his life, but so did Ian Mckellen, who is fabulously wealthy.

Posted by: mnw at December 27, 2020 10:06 AM (Cssks)

130 Thanks to whoever recommended Sinbad and Me. Just picked up a copy as it sounds like a good pick to read with my son (who's a reluctant reader). After getting a close look at what the public school reading is, its becoming more and more important to pick out older books to read at home, and this looks like a good one.

Posted by: Revenant at December 27, 2020 10:07 AM (//ATM)

131 I read two Georgette Heyer books that came highly recommended by Artemis. The Tollgate and Sylvester, the Wicked Uncle. They were enjoyable quick reads la lot like the Amanda Quick stories I used to read. Actually Heyer predates Quick by a lot so other way around.Plucky heroine meets recalcitrant hero and they partner up to solve the mystery or defeat the bad guys.
Nice escapist reading.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at December 27, 2020 10:07 AM (sd8p8)

132 I believe my wife and I toured Glensheen Mansion. I do remember touring a mansion on the north shore. If I recall correctly there is a lighthouse open to tours, which is not far away.

Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at December 27, 2020 10:07 AM (lgiXo)

133 I saw E of Bitche open for Ministry of E at The Ballroom in '89.

Posted by: Sponge - Office of the Mr. Dr. President Elect at December 27, 2020 10:08 AM (Zz0t1)

134 Books I gave this Christmas: "The Complete Thai Cookbook", "Battles that Changed History", "Home Renovations", and "Amazing Animal Facts."

Posted by: grammie winger at December 27, 2020 10:08 AM (gm3d+)

135 A delightful surprise from Mrs. JTB. She ordered me a copy of "The Ashley Book of Knots", something I've wanted for years but was too cheap to buy. It's a massive book and is considered the bible of knot tying. Published in 1944, it may not have the latest materials available but that doesn't matter. I want the history, Ashley's drawings, and access to some techniques. This is the kind of book that will get thumbed through a lot, so she got the hardcover version.

Posted by: JTB at December 27, 2020 10:08 AM (7EjX1)

136 84 80 I was saddened to learn that Mark Schweizer, who wrote the hilarious Liturgical Mystery series, died last year from a brain tumor. Such a loss of a creative, gleeful man. In his honor, I'm going to reread the entire series over the new year.

I reread his Christmas Cantata last week. One of my few Christmas traditions.
Posted by: JTB at December 27, 2020 09:45 AM (7EjX1)

oh no I have sads now!

Posted by: rhennigantx at December 27, 2020 09:47 AM (5QBw6)


#metoo

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at December 27, 2020 10:09 AM (TY8Lu)

137 It surely rankled to Russians to see Poland become independent and gain a bunch of Western Ukraine into the bargain.

What really rankled Nabokov was how American libs didn't understand one fucking thing about Russia, particularly how they acted like Lenin freed up the artists instead of regarding them as useful tools. Vlad insisted that artistic freedom was much better under the tsars than is acknowledged here.

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 27, 2020 10:10 AM (y7DUB)

138 Please ignore those "twigs", which are actually the legs of a very large spider.

-
Didja see this about Col. Sanders?

https://bit.ly/3hmwsdp

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at December 27, 2020 10:11 AM (+y/Ru)

139 A lot of peasant children were kidnapped to
Turkey as a perverted form of tribute and brought up as muz before they
knew better. Looking at our dogshit education system, it's hard for
children to resist brainwashing.

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 27, 2020 10:04 AM (y7DUB)

---
The Jannissaries were a thing, no doubt.

Still, such conversions were limited because it undermined the tax base; the "tribute" demanded of dhimmis was a huge source of Ottoman income.

Subject peoples did 'erode' over time, which made the survivors that much more embittered to the ones they perceived as traitors to their heritage. Also, they still had to pay tribute and accept subordinate status.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 27, 2020 10:12 AM (cfSRQ)

140 -
Didja see this about Col. Sanders?

https://bit.ly/3hmwsdp
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at December 27, 2020 10:11 AM (+y/Ru)


Nice.

Col. Sanders was a waterbaby.

Posted by: Sponge - Office of the Mr. Dr. President Elect at December 27, 2020 10:12 AM (Zz0t1)

141 This week I watched The Professor and the Madman, about the writing of the OED. Mel Gibson And Sean Penn respectively star. Does that count?

Posted by: Tinfoilbaby at December 27, 2020 10:12 AM (z3Wsk)

142 "Books I gave this Christmas: "Home Renovations""
Someone got on Grammies bad side.

Posted by: lowandslow at December 27, 2020 10:14 AM (qH6FZ)

143 This week I watched The Professor and the Madman, about the writing of the OED. Mel Gibson And Sean Penn respectively star. Does that count?
Posted by: Tinfoilbaby at December 27, 2020 10:12 AM (z3Wsk)


Anything outside of Fast Times at Ridgemont High, watching a movie with Sean Penn is -6 points.

Posted by: Sponge - Office of the Mr. Dr. President Elect at December 27, 2020 10:14 AM (Zz0t1)

144

The morning is looking up.
I got to see grammie's nic.
And the comment?
Pure grammie.

Posted by: TeeJ at December 27, 2020 10:15 AM (rco8e)

145
"Books I gave this Christmas: "Home Renovations""
Someone got on Grammies bad side.


Posted by: lowandslow at December 27, 2020 10:14 AM (qH6FZ)



LOL - Son who is not a handyman doesn't want to keep calling son-in-law who is. So he's learning skillz.

Posted by: grammie winger at December 27, 2020 10:16 AM (gm3d+)

146 I may have asked this before but has anyone read Black Lamb and Grey Falcon by Rebecca West? I know it's very long but I'm thinking of tackling that soon.

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 27, 2020 10:16 AM (y7DUB)

147 Posted by: Doctor Toad-O, Boomer Rube at December 27, 2020 10:06 AM (cct0t)

Librivox

Posted by: weirdflunky at December 27, 2020 10:16 AM (cknjq)

148 We were given the sector along the Rhine S of
Strassbourg again, giving us a front of over 90 miles, probably a
record. The Arty is getting stretched pretty thin but we have them well
set.

Posted by: Muldoon at December 27, 2020 10:05 AM (m45I2)

---
Which division was he in?

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 27, 2020 10:16 AM (cfSRQ)

149 "now I have to wonder if these spy rings are still in place, only instead
of being managed by Moscow, they're being run out of Beijing."

Clintons shared our nuke tech with China, "as a globalist, Clinton promotes 'multipolarity' -- the doctrine that no country (such as the USA) should be allowed to gain decisive advantage over others."


Hazel O'Leary declassified 11 million pages of nuke data and loosened security ... to "level the playing field". (including suitcase nukes) She also made a lot of expensive trips to China ... sounds like Hunter. see Idiot's Guide to Chinagate, Freerepublic.com

Posted by: illiniwek at December 27, 2020 10:16 AM (Cus5s)

150 I read two Georgette Heyer books that came highly recommended by Artemis.
{...}

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice)


You might like 'These Old Shades'.

Posted by: Adriane the Dreaming of Space Cylinders Critic ... at December 27, 2020 10:17 AM (LPnfS)

151 Hiya TeeJ ! Did you have a nice Christmas?

Posted by: grammie winger at December 27, 2020 10:17 AM (gm3d+)

152 booken morgen horden!

Posted by: vmom - Trump won! at December 27, 2020 10:17 AM (nUhF0)

153
Who builds a mansion in Duluth?
Posted by: grammie winger


Mining magnates, as in this case. In Marquette, MI, my home town, John M. Longyear built a mansion and then had it dismantled and rebuilt in Brookline, MA, after a railroad acquired rights to lay down a line between it and Lake Superior. The full story is here --
https://www.longyear.org/learn/research-archive/
longyear-mansion-moves-from-marquette-1903/

Longyearbyen, on Spitsburgen, Norway, is named for him, as he was the developer for the coal mines established there.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 27, 2020 10:18 AM (pNxlR)

154 I can't believe anyone thinks that 2021 will be better than this year. China will not stop attacking. We will, most likely, have a corrupt, illegitimate president and Congress. The anarchists will be back in the streets.

Posted by: Kate Winslet's boobs at December 27, 2020 10:18 AM (ftFVW)

155 Krebs - I did not know you were from Marquette. Our family cabin was up by Munising.

Posted by: grammie winger at December 27, 2020 10:19 AM (gm3d+)

156 Those Pants would be appropriate for Peppermint Patty...

...or Candy Kane.

Posted by: Muldoon at December 27, 2020 10:19 AM (m45I2)

157 Clintons shared our nuke tech with China, "as a
globalist, Clinton promotes 'multipolarity' -- the doctrine that no
country (such as the USA) should be allowed to gain decisive advantage
over others."

Posted by: illiniwek at December 27, 2020 10:16 AM (Cus5s)

---
A multipolar world was a big topic in the 80s and after. Bipolarity was considered dangerous because of the zero-sum aspect could lead one side to fear defeat and launch an all-out suicidal attack to forestall the inevitable.

See also Thucydides and Athens v Sparta. (con't)

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 27, 2020 10:19 AM (cfSRQ)

158 Clintons shared our nuke tech with China, "as a globalist, Clinton promotes 'multipolarity' -- the doctrine that no country (such as the USA) should be allowed to gain decisive advantage over others."

Clinton's guilt in undermining the country often gets minimized by people who should know better, including some here.

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 27, 2020 10:19 AM (y7DUB)

159 I love the photo that goes with the Word Power respair. Seeing new life after a hard winter or natural disaster is special. The photos of green growth coming up through the burnt debris a year after Mt Saint Helens erupted almost brought me to tears.

Posted by: JTB at December 27, 2020 10:19 AM (7EjX1)

160 Finally we can truthfully say that 2020 is hindsight.

Posted by: Muldoon at December 27, 2020 10:20 AM (m45I2)

161 Longyearbyen, on Spitsburgen, Norway, is named for him, as he was the developer for the coal mines established there.
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 27, 2020 10:18 AM (pNxlR)

Longyear was, and remains, the big name in the diamond core-drilling industry.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at December 27, 2020 10:21 AM (mzC78)

162 There is no indication from what I've read that Gielgud gave money to his gay lovers, or even that he had any long-term relationships.

Gielgud did make anonymous donations to gay charities & causes late in his life, but so did Ian Mckellen, who is fabulously wealthy.
Posted by: mnw at December 27, 2020 10:06 AM (Cssks)

He lived with any number of his lovers and some for quite a while. If you look at "gay" sources they are much more forthcoming about that. He was quite a predator.

Posted by: CN at December 27, 2020 10:21 AM (ONvIw)

163 so from the previous thread:

However, we just got a notice that our library is discontinuing the RBdigital service effective December 30. This came as a total shock, and I don't know what to do. I have a subscription to Audible, but those books are very expensive.
Posted by: Doctor Toad-O, Boomer Rube

Doctor Toad-O,

our local library, though it rents out physical audiobooks, will loan them for free to the vision-impaired
call your local library and speak to the head librarian

so call your local library, speak to the head librarian if possible, and ask

They may have a similar policy

Posted by: vmom - Trump won! at December 27, 2020 10:22 AM (nUhF0)

164

Better than I deserved, grammie.
Watched church's livestream of Christmas Eve.
Only miniscule pain here and there all day.
Has made a bit of a comeback but not too bad.

Hope yours was incredibly blessed!

Posted by: TeeJ at December 27, 2020 10:22 AM (rco8e)

165 Cannot even imagine what they are stealing now. Their infiltration is wide and deep - universities, research labs, technology companies, military contractors, and of course the government.

What they are stealing now includes deadly viruses. One group was caught at Canada's National Microbiology Lab, its only Level-4 lab, shipping deadly viruses to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The chair of Harvard's Chemistry department was indicted in 2020 for receiving payments from the Wuhan Institute of Technology.

Posted by: cool breeze at December 27, 2020 10:22 AM (UGKMd)

166 ugh - weird double paste

Posted by: vmom - Trump won! at December 27, 2020 10:22 AM (nUhF0)

167 (con't)

Multipolarity was seen as better because the losses would be distributed among multiple players, so if one side falls behind, it has no easy option to try to stop its decline. This also allows other players to shift to supporting that player, thus maintaining a balance of power.

Of course multipolar politics resulted in almost constant warfare, which is where nukes come in. The belief is that nuclear arsenals make such wars impossible (mutually assured destruction) and therefore the ideal is a multi-polar nuclear world. This is why Obama so badly wants Iran to have the A-bomb. It's basically magical thinking that atomic weapons make people suddenly rational.

(con't)

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 27, 2020 10:23 AM (cfSRQ)

168 Hope yours was incredibly blessed!

Posted by: TeeJ at December 27, 2020 10:22 AM (rco8e)


It truly was.

Posted by: grammie winger at December 27, 2020 10:23 AM (gm3d+)

169 I was on bookstube on Youtube, and the people were going on about reading authors of color, LGBTQWS authors, Asian authors, female authors to expand their reading lists. Does anyone decide to read a book because the author is a member of a protected class? I usually read about the plot and not who the author sleeps with or where they are from.

Posted by: megthered at December 27, 2020 10:25 AM (SM/op)

170 Which division was he in?

*******

VI Corps

The Artillery were allocated from the Corps level to various units or battle sectors as needed.

Posted by: Muldoon at December 27, 2020 10:25 AM (m45I2)

171 CN

Can you cite to any evidence that Gielgud gave away his fortune to his gay lovers?

I doubt you can.

Posted by: mnw at December 27, 2020 10:25 AM (Cssks)

172 (con't)

This shows the left's largest failure, which is to understand others. All they do is project their beliefs; they have zero understanding of their adversaries, whether they be Muslim fanatics or observant Christians.

They think everyone is as shallow and greedy as they are and motivated solely by personal gain. The notion that a nation can say "Hey, we've got nukes! Let's get on with the Escheton!" is beyond their limited understanding of the world.
(end)

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 27, 2020 10:25 AM (cfSRQ)

173 What they are stealing now includes deadly viruses. One group was caught at Canada's National Microbiology Lab, its only Level-4 lab, shipping deadly viruses to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The chair of Harvard's Chemistry department was indicted in 2020 for receiving payments from the Wuhan Institute of Technology.
Posted by: cool breeze at December 27, 2020 10:22 AM (UGKMd)

Profs and administrators are huge sellouts, profs in particular can't tolerate people they think are not as smart as them having more than they do, so they get it however they can.

Posted by: CN at December 27, 2020 10:25 AM (ONvIw)

174 My sister gave me a biography of Alastair Sim for Christmas. I have the memoir his wife wrote about him after he died, but I didn't know someone had written a biography.

He was very retiring and reluctant to play the "star" in real life - wouldn't give autographs or even interviews to reporters. But people would send him fan mail, which he read. His wife wrote, "[O]ur favourite letter came from a man who showered Alastair with praise and ended with the words, 'In my opinion your performances never fail to deteriorate.'"

Posted by: Dr. Mabuse at December 27, 2020 10:26 AM (fNoYU)

175
Krebs - I did not know you were from Marquette. Our family cabin was up by Munising.
Posted by: grammie winger


I lived there from the mid-50s through the mid-70s and would not have had it be in any way different. It was a great area to get acquainted with the outdoors and the people were down to earth and genuine. Mom still lives in the vicinity.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 27, 2020 10:26 AM (pNxlR)

176 He seems particularly alarmed that the trans movement is depleting the supply of gay men by converting them into trans-women.

My favorite contradiction is gays who claim to be "non-binary", neither male nor female. If you're gay, you're male. Words mean things.

Posted by: Ian S. at December 27, 2020 10:27 AM (6XLoz)

177 Clintons shared our nuke tech with China, "as a globalist, Clinton promotes 'multipolarity' -- the doctrine that no country (such as the USA) should be allowed to gain decisive advantage over others."

The Clunton's are also the reason we have issues with NK and nukes.

Posted by: Sponge - Office of the Mr. Dr. President Elect at December 27, 2020 10:28 AM (Zz0t1)

178 if I had a nuke
I would use it

Posted by: vmom - Trump won! at December 27, 2020 10:29 AM (nUhF0)

179 Clinton's guilt in undermining the country often gets minimized by people who should know better, including some here.
Posted by: Captain Hate

He was always far darker than the lovable hick horndog persona he faked. He's always been a conscience-less narcissist willing to do anything to satisfy himself. Whether raping women or selling out our country's security, he was only in it for himself. The malignancy of his two terms easily rivals Gaylord's, and the massive structural damage can never be repaired. All we get as a consolation prize is poundmetoo is going to cancel him eventually.

Posted by: Drink Like Vikings *President Re-Elect Donald Trump* at December 27, 2020 10:29 AM (xVLND)

180 141 This week I watched The Professor and the Madman, about the writing of the OED. Mel Gibson And Sean Penn respectively star. Does that count?
Posted by: Tinfoilbaby at December 27, 2020 10:12 AM (z3Wsk)

This is a really good movie. I actually forgot I was watching a Sean Penn movie.

Posted by: sinalco at December 27, 2020 10:29 AM (yODqO)

181 Does anyone decide to read a book because the author is a member of a protected class? I usually read about the plot and not who the author sleeps with or where they are from.
Posted by: megthered at December 27, 2020 10:25 AM (SM/op)


It's all about indoctrination. Period.

Look at EVERY TV commercial now. Mixed race. Gay. Lesbian.

You WILL be brainwashed.

Posted by: Sponge - Office of the Mr. Dr. President Elect at December 27, 2020 10:30 AM (Zz0t1)

182 So today's sermon was The Great Commission. Fitting for next year, I think. And, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Matthew 25:19. Gives me hope.

Posted by: jmel at December 27, 2020 10:30 AM (bVhJi)

183 The word respair reminds me of eucatastrophe, which may have been invented by Tolkien.
I understand it as a catastrophe for evil or great good coming out of darkness.
A lot of us need respair or eucatastrophe. I know I do.

Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at December 27, 2020 10:30 AM (lgiXo)

184 Glensheen is just north of Duluth on Hwy 61. If you go, see the mansion then drive 2.5 hours north to Grand Marais. It's the coolest small town in America and the drive is one of the most spectacular in America. Head to the donut shop in Grand Marais. They are the World's Best. There is an outstanding little fly fishing store there called FlyBox. The backcountry around there is truly breathtaking, with pretty darned good fishing too.

Posted by: jeff at December 27, 2020 10:30 AM (J2JqR)

185 Greetings, O Book Thread!
Kin Platt is a wonderful writer and I heartily recommend him. Be aware, though, that not all of his books are lighthearted or suited for chilluns (e.g. The Blue Man, The Boy Who Could Make Himself Disappear). Sinbad and Me and The Witch Who Wouldn't (same characters) are delightful classics.

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at December 27, 2020 10:31 AM (fpRbZ)

186
Longyear was, and remains, the big name in the diamond core-drilling industry.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon


That I did not know. I grew up with friends who were his great grandchildren, I believe, and who still live around Marquette.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 27, 2020 10:31 AM (pNxlR)

187 This week I watched The Professor and the Madman, about the writing of the OED

==

watched that recently too

Posted by: vmom - Trump won! at December 27, 2020 10:32 AM (nUhF0)

188 VI Corps



The Artillery were allocated from the Corps level to various units or battle sectors as needed.



Posted by: Muldoon at December 27, 2020 10:25 AM (m45I2)

---
Yes, now I remember. The corps has almost disappeared from US organization since we began downsizing. It's now an all-purpose HQ as far as I can tell, with no set table of organization.

Our brigades are almost divisions in their own right with divisions acting in the place of corp HQs. Weird.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 27, 2020 10:32 AM (cfSRQ)

189 Marks last book was in Oct of 2018 and it was about the sheriff retiring.

I guess it was foreshadowing!

Posted by: uncle handsy Joe at December 27, 2020 10:33 AM (5QBw6)

190 Finally we can truthfully say that 2020 is hindsight.

OK, so are we agreed that if something horrific happens in the next four days that it's Muldoon's fault?

Posted by: Bob the Bilderberg at December 27, 2020 10:33 AM (qc+VF)

191 What's the tire company on the FOAD list?
Goodyear?

Posted by: RoyalOil at December 27, 2020 10:33 AM (aO8Gd)

192 Does anyone decide to read a book because the author is a member of a protected class?

Yeah, my cousin's daughter exclusively reads books by non-white, non-male authors because of those properties. But I think the bulk of them merely buy books for those reasons instead of reading them.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 10:34 AM (KZzsI)

193 Good morning Hordemates!
I woke up thinking it was Monday. Imagine my surprise when I saw and joy the "these pants" link.

Posted by: Diogenes at December 27, 2020 10:34 AM (axyOa)

194

"It truly was."

Thank you for that, God.
Now, I'm gonna get so I don't disrupt this thread any further.
God bless, sis.

Posted by: TeeJ at December 27, 2020 10:35 AM (rco8e)

195 For the person asking about how Amazon pays--
a) it depends (seriously, it changes so you have to read the details)
ii) Amazon wants cheap books so the best return is for prices 1.99 to 9.99
C) for free book you get nothing (except publicity for your *other* books)
4) I am also a Single Person Publisher like Sgt. Mom Yes, you can do that without a downtown building and letterhead.

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at December 27, 2020 10:35 AM (fpRbZ)

196
He seems particularly alarmed that the trans movement is depleting the supply of gay men by converting them into trans-women.


Then he ought to have Sundowner establish a Strategic Gay Men's Reserve in order to ensure that we are not caught in short supply of that vital resource.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 27, 2020 10:35 AM (pNxlR)

197 I finished the biography of Geo. Washington by Ron Chernow.
Poor man had a bad passing. 3 different doctors bleeding him out of more than half his blood supply probably wasn't helpful, in retrospect.

Posted by: navybrat, quarantined at December 27, 2020 10:37 AM (w7KSn)

198
Wishing Him A Fund Farewell - a limerick

The homosexual actor John Gielgud
Lived his life with the motto "Just Feel Good"
But it ain't no joke
That he died flat broke
In the end the tax man got him real good!

Posted by: Muldoon at December 27, 2020 10:38 AM (m45I2)

199 Re: multi-polarity; hardly a new idea. Europe had finally achieved true multi-polarity in 1914.

"This shows the left's largest failure, which is to understand others. All they do is project their beliefs; they have zero understanding of their adversaries, whether they be Muslim fanatics or observant Christians."

A constant failing of the proud and arrogant throughout time; they do not think they need to understand others because they believe they are so much better, and what others think is not worth knowing.

Posted by: Tom Servo at December 27, 2020 10:38 AM (V2Yro)

200 Then he ought to have Sundowner establish a Strategic Gay Men's Reserve in order to ensure that we are not caught in short supply of that vital resource.
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 27, 2020 10:35 AM

To be stored in an abandoned salt mine beneath Brokeback Mountain...

Posted by: Drink Like Vikings *President Re-Elect Donald Trump* at December 27, 2020 10:38 AM (xVLND)

201 There is a breakdown; Amazon pays more per kindle book after the 2 dollar mark and less before that, but as Sabrina Chase notes charging more than $5 per book will reduce your sales to the point where you're making less than you could have. I have read multiple articles by independent authors who have shown statistically that they sell more copies when their books are in that range than higher.

Big publishers, greedy and desperate for the old days of cash flow, grossly overcharge for their e-books. They want the same price for them as print, which is simply imbecilic.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 10:40 AM (KZzsI)

202 Does anyone decide to read a book because the author is a member of a protected class?

==

I have given writers a chance for odd reasons, including race

usually I give them one chapter to capture my interest

Posted by: vmom - Trump won! at December 27, 2020 10:40 AM (nUhF0)

203 >>I finished the biography of Geo. Washington by Ron Chernow.Poor man had a bad passing. 3 different doctors bleeding him out of more than half his blood supply probably wasn't helpful, in retrospect.


Problem with that is he probably lost well over half his good Humours.

Posted by: garrett at December 27, 2020 10:41 AM (ALttk)

204 >>Does anyone decide to read a book because the author is a member of a protected class?


Decided? No.


Forced? Too many times to count.

Posted by: garrett at December 27, 2020 10:41 AM (ALttk)

205
Does anyone decide to read a book because the author is a member of a protected class?


Nope. As a matter of fact, knowing such in advance would more likely put me off from reading any work so authored. Not from prejudice, but because of the strong likelihood the author has nothing useful or novel to say. I'll buttress this assertion by pointing to the works offered up in recent decades for television and movies, where such things are quite overt, as being interesting-content-free.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 27, 2020 10:42 AM (pNxlR)

206 Kamala Harris
@KamalaHarris
Our Kwanzaa celebrations are one of my favorite childhood memories. The whole family would gather around across multiple generations and we'd tell stories and light the candles.

Whether you're celebrating this year with those you live with or over Zoom, happy Kwanzaa!

-
I'm dreaming of a black Kwanzaa.

I saw that the SLA based their political philosophy on the "lights" of Kwanzaa so kidnapping, rape, murder, robbery. Sounds about right.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at December 27, 2020 10:43 AM (+y/Ru)

207 141 This week I watched The Professor and the Madman, about the writing of the OED. Mel Gibson And Sean Penn respectively star. Does that count?

Posted by: Tinfoilbaby at December 27, 2020 10:12 AM (z3Wsk)


I would say so. Particularly since I watched it last week and am planning to do a book thread write-up on it.

Real soon now.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at December 27, 2020 10:43 AM (TY8Lu)

208 for a purely secular, self centered reason on why understanding others completely is so important: "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."

recent practical application - for all of us who were certain that Trump would be re-elected, we understood our own side well, but we massively underestimated the capabilities and determination of our enemies.

Posted by: Tom Servo at December 27, 2020 10:43 AM (V2Yro)

209 >>The Clunton's are also the reason we have issues with NK and nukes.


And the reason that Europe has a Muslim Migrant problem.

Also, our own Central American Problem is now a sunsidiary of Hillary's State Department.

Posted by: garrett at December 27, 2020 10:43 AM (ALttk)

210
Can you cite to any evidence that Gielgud gave away his fortune to his gay lovers?

I doubt you can.
Posted by: mnw at December 27, 2020 10:25 AM (Cssks)

I'm just speculating as to why he left so little. I assume he gave it away before he died, or just spent it on wine, boys, and song. Maybe he gave family some, but he had a predatory history and that costs money. He didn't want his details published, and I suppose he paid for silence. Hensler seemed to be a long term thing, his little Martini, but plenty of articles say he was promiscuous with a "dark side".

Posted by: CN at December 27, 2020 10:43 AM (ONvIw)

211 >> Kamala Harris
@KamalaHarris
Our Kwanzaa celebrations are one of my favorite childhood memories.


Liar.

Posted by: garrett at December 27, 2020 10:44 AM (ALttk)

212 Sadly, and this is not fair, I have read fewer and fewer female authors these days. In the past I never cared who the author was because I was only interested in the book. It could have been written by an otter as far as I cared.

But I have noticed a very consistent, recognizable pattern that goes beyond random happenstance: women authors are more woke and stridently so these days and its painful to read.

Plus, I believe it is very unjust and unreasonable how female authors are pushed so heavily by publishers and male are passed by because of their masculinity.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 10:44 AM (KZzsI)

213 off perv sox

Posted by: rhennigantx at December 27, 2020 10:44 AM (5QBw6)

214 Anything outside of Fast Times at Ridgemont High, watching a movie with Sean Penn is -6 points.

Posted by: Sponge - Office of the Mr. Dr. President Elect at December 27, 2020 10:14 AM (Zz0t1)


I have learned to ignore Penn's off-screen buffoonery, he's actually a very good actor.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at December 27, 2020 10:45 AM (TY8Lu)

215 Kamala Harris
@KamalaHarris
Our Kwanzaa celebrations are one of my favorite childhood memories.


No lie is too blatant and pathetic for her to push.

Kwanzaa was being basically forgotten, nobody brought it up for years. I guess they want to push it back into the limelight for some reason.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 10:46 AM (KZzsI)

216 Kwanza was invented by FBI.

Posted by: rhennigantx at December 27, 2020 10:46 AM (5QBw6)

217 >>recent practical application - for all of us who were certain that Trump would be re-elected, we understood our own side well, but we massively underestimated the capabilities and determination of our enemies.


We lost sight of the terrain.

We put our faith in the Map being accurate and it turns out, it was a lie.

Posted by: garrett at December 27, 2020 10:46 AM (ALttk)

218
I have learned to ignore Penn's off-screen buffoonery, he's actually a very good actor.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at December 27, 2020 10:45 AM (TY8Lu)


I'm the opposite on both, but can put aside their open hatred of me, and still think he's not good.

But I'm no TJM, so YMMV.

Posted by: Sponge - Office of the Mr. Dr. President Elect at December 27, 2020 10:46 AM (Zz0t1)

219 booken morgen horden!

Posted by: vmom - Trump won!


Bork, bork, bork~!

Posted by: swedish weft cut-loop at December 27, 2020 10:47 AM (r/D5B)

220 I guess they want to push it back into the limelight for some reason.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 10:46 AM (KZzsI)


Because black lies matter.

Posted by: Sponge - Office of the Mr. Dr. President Elect at December 27, 2020 10:47 AM (Zz0t1)

221 Finally we can truthfully say that 2020 is hindsight.

This year, please refer to New Year's Eve as "2020 24 hours to go": https://youtu.be/bm51ihfi1p4

Posted by: cool breeze at December 27, 2020 10:47 AM (UGKMd)

222 Fun fact: Sean Penn is the brother-in-law of Aimee Mann.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at December 27, 2020 10:47 AM (PiwSw)

223 I know that Oppie was a member of the Communist Party in the 30's, but a lot of liberals were.
Posted by: All Hail Eris

Paul Johnson wrote that the 30's set up a false premise in the minds of many intellectuals: A. liberal democracy has failed therefore. B. We must choose between Nazism and Communism. If you didn't know about Stalin's crimes (and he kept them well hidden) the choice must have seemed like a no-brainer, especially to Jews.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&V at December 27, 2020 10:48 AM (HabA/)

224 Any book written by a person claiming to be transgender will have the words courageous and ground breaking on the dust jacket.

Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at December 27, 2020 10:48 AM (lgiXo)

225 Yeah for all his idiotic ideology and behavior in the world, Sean Penn is a very skilled and gifted actor. He's done some stinkers but for the most part is really good. And he is one of those "annoying leftist twerp" actors I can ignore to enjoy his work, like George Clooney.

Others, either they aren't skilled enough or are just so stupidly caustic that I can't see past it, like Tim Robbins. Whose career has cratered so badly apparently just about everyone thinks so as well.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 10:48 AM (KZzsI)

226 recent practical application - for all of us who were certain that Trump would be re-elected, we understood our own side well, but we massively underestimated the capabilities and determination of our enemies.

---

Some of us are very much aware of who and what the enemy is, and how miraculous it will be if Trump wins.

Posted by: SMH at December 27, 2020 10:48 AM (RU4sa)

227 >>Gielgud's sexuality wasn't much of a secret after his 1953 arrest & conviction for soliciting men for sex in a public lavatory.


Fan of the Wide Stance?

Posted by: garrett at December 27, 2020 10:48 AM (ALttk)

228 Has Kamala reminisced about her Ramadan memories yet?

Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at December 27, 2020 10:49 AM (lgiXo)

229 Those paintings are too large for the room.

Also, the frames are wrong.

Also, what's up with the light fixtures?

Posted by: weft cut-loop at December 27, 2020 10:50 AM (r/D5B)

230 If you didn't know about Stalin's crimes (and he kept them well hidden) the choice must have seemed like a no-brainer, especially to Jews.

There was plenty of information about Stalin's evil, they just chose to ignore it. And for some reason, many atheist Jews have leaned communist long before Communism had an official name.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 10:50 AM (KZzsI)

231 Has Kamala reminisced about her Ramadan memories yet?
Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at December 27, 2020 10:49 AM (lgiXo)


As she was sitting back, toking some ganja listening to Biggie and 2pac in college?

Posted by: Sponge - Office of the Mr. Dr. President Elect at December 27, 2020 10:50 AM (Zz0t1)

232 I have come to enjoy reading the diary excerpts of Muldoon's father. I think his comment about a 90 mile front as a record may be correct, unbroken until VII Corps artillery (I was the G2) deployed to Desert Shield/Storm. We had a heck of a lot more arty but it's something you always want more of.

Posted by: Diogenes at December 27, 2020 10:51 AM (axyOa)

233 216 Kwanza was invented by FBI.
Posted by: rhennigantx at December 27, 2020 10:46 AM (5QBw6)

I suspect the FBI invents a lot and gaslights like crazy.

Posted by: CN at December 27, 2020 10:52 AM (ONvIw)

234
Has Kamala reminisced about her Ramadan memories offered up her recommendations concerning which kneepads are most comfortable to work in yet?
Posted by: Northernlurker, surgit


Stick with what you know, gurrrrl!

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 27, 2020 10:52 AM (pNxlR)

235 222 well what a small world

Posted by: Skip at December 27, 2020 10:53 AM (Cxk7w)

236 Some of us are very much aware of who and what the enemy is, and how miraculous it will be if Trump wins.
Posted by: SMH

This. I watched Miracle on Ice last night from the same family room I did 40 years ago. Such a good movie.

Then I woke up this am. Praying that we can save this Country in some normal fashion.

Posted by: Infidel at December 27, 2020 10:53 AM (wR3DP)

237 Paul Johnson wrote that the 30's set up a false
premise in the minds of many intellectuals: A. liberal democracy has
failed therefore. B. We must choose between Nazism and Communism. If
you didn't know about Stalin's crimes (and he kept them well hidden) the
choice must have seemed like a no-brainer, especially to Jews.
Posted by: DonnaV

Stalin didn't just keep his crimes well-hidden, he had Walter Duranty as his fact-checker. The fix was most definitely in.

Posted by: SFGoth at December 27, 2020 10:53 AM (KAi1n)

238 The thing is, Kamala is so bad a liar that she fools no one, at least for any length of time. She just makes up ridiculous crap and spews it with that smug, sneering look on her face like "they'll believe anything I say, the idiots" and then people reject it and she looks confused and frightened.

If anything she's even less likable and liked than Biden. But that ticket, according to the legacy media, got more votes than any candidate in American history. A greater percentage of Americans than ever before voted for them, more than Roosevelt, Washington, Reagan, etc. Uh huh.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 10:53 AM (KZzsI)

239 Those paintings are too large for the room.


Also, the frames are wrong.

Also, what's up with the light fixtures?
Phew. Glad I'm not the only one. I found this library to be a little creepy

Posted by: sharon(willow's apprentice) at December 27, 2020 10:55 AM (sd8p8)

240 189 ... "Marks last book was in Oct of 2018 and it was about the sheriff retiring.

I guess it was foreshadowing!"

According to the website, Schweizer didn't know about the tumor when he retired the series. But it appeared shortly after and hit fast. Damn!!

Posted by: JTB at December 27, 2020 10:56 AM (7EjX1)

241 I'm still very happily entrenched in the world of Nero Wolfe and intend to remain there until I've read all 70 plus of them - if I can track them all down. The only one so far that has disappointed me is "A Family Affair" which was published the year Stout died. Wolfe obsessed with Watergate, Archie tangling with feminists and eating horrible vegetarian muck fed to him by Lily Rowan - no, just no.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&V at December 27, 2020 10:56 AM (HabA/)

242 I have come to enjoy reading the diary excerpts of Muldoon's father.

Posted by: Diogenes


******

Your first-hand military experience provides a level of insight that I lack. I see them through the prism of my personal knowledge of him. You have a much deeper knowledge of WWII and the ETO than I do. Thanks for your views on things.

Posted by: Muldoon at December 27, 2020 10:56 AM (m45I2)

243 I started watching Ben Shapiro's takedown of Kamala's Hanukkah message. It was informative but his voice drove me away.

Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at December 27, 2020 10:56 AM (lgiXo)

244 FBI Investigating Now Whether Or Not 5G Paranoia Lead To Nashville Attack

https://bit.ly/3hnXMYo

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at December 27, 2020 10:56 AM (+y/Ru)

245 I also watched The Professor and Madman. It has the same problem most of these semi-biographical movies have. They take a somewhat obscure but interesting story of our history and over dramatize it to get eyeballs. On one hand it's kinda nice they're willing to do these movies on the other hand there's no need to stick in artificial deadlines and dramatic speeches to tell the story.

Posted by: lowandslow at December 27, 2020 10:56 AM (qH6FZ)

246 I used to not care about the race/sex/what they like to stick it in/etc. of authors but now I do. If I see an author praised for being stunning 'n brave because of the above traits, I pretty much assume the book's a piece of trash and pass over it. Straight, white and male is a guarantee of quality nowadays.

Posted by: Trimegistus at December 27, 2020 10:56 AM (QZxDR)

247 Kamala Harris
@KamalaHarris
Our Kwanzaa celebrations are one of my favorite childhood memories. The whole family would gather around across multiple generations and we'd tell stories and light the candles.

Whether you're celebrating this year with those you live with or over Zoom, happy Kwanzaa!


Bit..ch is still "telling stories."

Posted by: Ladyl at December 27, 2020 10:56 AM (TdMsT)

248 Then I woke up this am. Praying that we can save this Country in some normal fashion.
Posted by: Infidel at December 27, 2020 10:53 AM (wR3DP)

That would be spectacular, but losing it to the CCP should not be tolerated no matter how much Schumer, Biden and the donks get in compensation.

Posted by: CN at December 27, 2020 10:56 AM (ONvIw)

249 "This shows the left's largest failure, which is to understand others.
All they do is project their beliefs; they have zero understanding of
their adversaries,"

My current world view is that the "globalists" in the shadows do understand others. They pit one against another with sovereign nations, not just in "identity politics". Mutlipolarity helped stop MAGA style liberty from spreading, since free people are a threat to globalists. ("lock her up" chants)


Their main enemy is Western Civ and especially America with its Bill of Rights, individuals sovereign before their God. The CCP is useful for them, but imo they don't plan to let Xi run the world, they just need him to help defeat MAGA. NWO will be run by the 20 "world banks", including the mob running the EU out of Brussels, and maybe London.

Posted by: illiniwek at December 27, 2020 10:57 AM (Cus5s)

250 For free audiobooks check online for The National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS), Library of Congress.

Posted by: Mrs. JTB at December 27, 2020 10:57 AM (7EjX1)

251 Sharon--

If you liked the mystery-ish Heyers, you might also like "The Reluctant Widow."

Posted by: Art Rondelet of Malmsey at December 27, 2020 10:57 AM (fTtFy)

252 The only one so far that has disappointed me is "A Family Affair" which was published the year Stout died.

Parker's last Spenser book was a big disappointment as well. He had totally changed as a character in that book, vocally reversing several things he had stood for and lived his entire life by, and spending most of the book doing nothing except hanging out with the unlikable and annoying Susan.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 10:57 AM (KZzsI)

253 I still maintain that whichever Federal Agency was behind the explosions should be in charge of the investigation under the provisions of the Federal Paperwork Reduction Act of 1994.

Posted by: Chris Wray, Bias Trainer and Vegas Stage Manager at December 27, 2020 10:57 AM (Ndje9)

254 Also, what's up with the light fixtures?
Phew. Glad I'm not the only one. I found this library to be a little creepy
Posted by: sharon(willow's apprentice)

And why is that green chair shoved in the corner?

Posted by: Infidel at December 27, 2020 10:57 AM (wR3DP)

255 Stalin didn't just keep his crimes well-hidden, he had Walter Duranty as his fact-checker. The fix was most definitely in.
Posted by: SFGoth at December 27, 2020 10:53 AM (KAi1n)

Well, yeah, but the point is few in the West knew about them as a result, whereas the world knew exactly how Hitler felt about the Jews.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&V at December 27, 2020 10:58 AM (HabA/)

256 The thing is, Kamala is so bad a liar that she fools
no one, at least for any length of time. She just makes up ridiculous
crap and spews it with that smug, sneering look on her face like
"they'll believe anything I say, the idiots" and then people reject it
and she looks confused and frightened.



Posted by: Christopher R Taylor

It's not that she thinks we'll believe it, it's that she thinks she won't be called on it and there won't be any blowback (heh, NPI). So far, whatever blowback there's been, look where she's been installed. (Like a couple of other posters, she was my local DA a ways back.)

Posted by: SFGoth at December 27, 2020 10:58 AM (KAi1n)

257 Can we dismantle the FBI yet?

FBI Had Reportedly Been Warned Twice About Nashville Bombing Suspect

Posted by: Sponge - Office of the Mr. Dr. President Elect at December 27, 2020 10:59 AM (Zz0t1)

258 46. How are we supposed to write about books if there's a 600 character limit on comments? Seems unreasonable.

====
Clearly and concisely.

Posted by: From that time at December 27, 2020 11:00 AM (aAQRl)

259 Also, what's up with the light fixtures?
Phew. Glad I'm not the only one. I found this library to be a little creepy
Posted by: sharon(willow's apprentice)

And why is that green chair shoved in the corner?
Posted by: Infidel at December 27, 2020 10:57 AM (wR3DP)

And some of the paintings seem to be off kilter.

Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at December 27, 2020 11:00 AM (lgiXo)

260 >>FBI Had Reportedly Been Warned Twice About Nashville Bombing Suspect

So. They had him on their...




What comes before Radar?

Posted by: garrett at December 27, 2020 11:00 AM (ALttk)

261 Still reading:

1. Death on a Friday Afternoon by the late Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, my deep philosophical annual Chrismas read;

Posted by: Sharkman at December 27, 2020 11:01 AM (Qio/u)

262 And:


2. Vol. 3 of The Gulag Archipelago by Alexandr Solzhenitsyn;

3. The Secret Language of Cells by Dr. Jon Lieff, which seems to describe a bit of sentience at the microbiological level; and,

4. Digital Apollo by David Mindell, recommended here by Notorious BFD.

Also reading a draft of a textbook called Phallicies of Fysics by James E. Beichler, Ph.D, which proposes a new theory of everything. Pretty interesting.

Good morning, Blessed Horde.

Posted by: Sharkman at December 27, 2020 11:01 AM (Qio/u)

263 Arrived late to the thread today; now it's going political. But back on books - I can wait to find all the works of Mark Schweizer and read them. Thank you, fellow book lovers, for introducing me to so many authors! Hope everyone has plenty of time this holiday week to read good books.

Posted by: CarolinaGirl at December 27, 2020 11:01 AM (Kh9rg)

264 I had those 'clacker balls' toy as a kid, showed on the ONT. I wish I had the uranium one.

And happy Sunday all.

Posted by: Cannibal Bob at December 27, 2020 11:01 AM (Dz5W3)

265 What comes before Radar?
Posted by: garrett at December 27, 2020 11:00 AM (ALttk)

gheydar

Posted by: rhennigantx at December 27, 2020 11:02 AM (5QBw6)

266 You know Kamala's lying because no black American has ever celebrated Kwanzaa. It's entirely the province of middle-aged white ladies who teach elementary school or run public libraries.

Posted by: Trimegistus at December 27, 2020 11:02 AM (QZxDR)

267 I finished the first five SPQR books by John Maddox Roberts. Sadly I ran out of birthday funds so that's all I can afford for the moment, but its nice to have a collection started. Each is a fun little story but his sense of humor and the setting add a lot to it, as does the rich historical background information.

There are two other series I want to collect: The Fool's Guild series by Alan Gordon and the Blind Beak series by Bruce Alexander. All three are historical mysteries, all are very well written and full of historical information woven into the story without being boring.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 11:02 AM (KZzsI)

268 >> I had those 'clacker balls' toy as a kid, showed on the ONT


Those things were weapons, not toys.

Posted by: garrett at December 27, 2020 11:02 AM (ALttk)

269 FBI Had Reportedly Been Warned Twice About Nashville Bombing Suspect
Posted by: Sponge - Office of the Mr. Dr. President Elect at December 27, 2020 10:59 AM (Zz0t1)

Who's telling us that, the FBI? They say a lot of things. If the blown apart bomber is AQ Warner, the custom alarm dealer, sure the evidence points to him being suicidal (giving away property for example to the daughter of a Nashville area insurance broker) but I just don't trust them after Las Vegas. Sick paranoids are easily manipulated.

Posted by: CN at December 27, 2020 11:03 AM (ONvIw)

270 BTW I did not find the pants of the week super ugly. I can't say I love them but on the right legs those leggings might get a second glance.

Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at December 27, 2020 11:03 AM (lgiXo)

271 What comes before Radar?
Posted by: garrett at December 27, 2020 11:00 AM (ALttk)

Did not they know about the Rolling Stones Cover Model Mahommendan Boston Bomber Bros??

Posted by: rhennigantx at December 27, 2020 11:03 AM (5QBw6)

272 How are we supposed to write about books if there's a 600 character limit on comments?

Yeah Pixy's new character limit is really cramping my posting style

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 11:04 AM (KZzsI)

273 I think the set my sister had glowed in the dark and I got mor bruises from those things than just about anything else.

Posted by: garrett at December 27, 2020 11:04 AM (ALttk)

274 So. They had him on their...
What comes before Radar?
Posted by: garret


*****


Speed Doal?

Posted by: Muldoon at December 27, 2020 11:04 AM (m45I2)

275 And some of the paintings seem to be off kilter.

Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at December 27, 2020 11:00 AM (lgiXo)

Its Duluth.

Posted by: Cannibal Bob at December 27, 2020 11:04 AM (Dz5W3)

276 Not maybe fun fact as much as how time flys, from Unmasking Obama it's been since 2009 That a young James Okeefe and cohorts took down ACORN.
Seems like it wasn't long ago.

Posted by: Skip at December 27, 2020 11:05 AM (Cxk7w)

277 Dragging the topic back to books, I've been re-reading Tolkein lately, particularly his translation of Beowulf. I'm starting to see a huge influence of that work on his Middle-Earth fantasies.

For instance, you can kind of see Aragorn at Edoras as a version of Beowulf at Heorot, both helping save the king from a supernatural peril. But Tolkein goes Beowulf one better when Rohan comes to Gondor's aid later on -- as if King Hrothgar showed up to help kill the dragon.

Posted by: Trimegistus at December 27, 2020 11:05 AM (QZxDR)

278 Who's telling us that, the FBI? They say a lot of things.

Yeah I wonder about that. its always claimed "yeah we were looking into that" after every major event, almost like the FBI is trying to show competence. In a stupid way, because it makes them look hapless and incapable.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 11:05 AM (KZzsI)

279 If I understand correctly,, and I might not, Kwanzaa was built on hatred of white people and Christianity.
How can you wish a happy day of hating?

Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at December 27, 2020 11:05 AM (lgiXo)

280 Those things were weapons, not toys.

Posted by: garrett at December 27, 2020 11:02 AM (ALttk)

You say that like its a bad thing.

Posted by: Cannibal Bob at December 27, 2020 11:06 AM (Dz5W3)

281 Yeah Pixy's new character limit is really cramping my posting style

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 11:04 AM (KZzsI)

We could start a code system. F Could mean

Fuck the old pervy Joe Biden and the cocksucking Commielala Harris Fake Kwanza Quoting Scrunt.

Posted by: rhennigantx at December 27, 2020 11:06 AM (5QBw6)

282 TY, Art rondelet. It is especially wonderful when I get a book recommendation here and my library has the ebook! Just put the Reluctant Widow on reserve. I do especially like mysteries. Adds something to the reading trying to figure out the clues.
If you haven't read any of Anne Cleeland's Acton and Doyle series and like mysteries, they are a must read.

Posted by: sharon(willow's apprentice) at December 27, 2020 11:06 AM (sd8p8)

283 Not maybe fun fact as much as how time flys, from Unmasking Obama it's been since 2009 That a young James Okeefe and cohorts took down ACORN.
Seems like it wasn't long ago.
Posted by: Skip at December 27, 2020 11:05 AM (Cxk7w)


The people that exposed Planned Parenthood to be the baby chopping parts seller it is have been ordered to pay Planned Parenthood $26 million.

Posted by: Sponge - Office of the Mr. Dr. President Elect at December 27, 2020 11:07 AM (Zz0t1)

284 Mom got me and my brothers a book of forgotten mysteries of WW2 for Christmas, it looks really interesting. I know its kind of a cheesy show but I like the show "Mysteries at the Museum."

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 11:07 AM (KZzsI)

285 FBI Had Reportedly Been Warned Twice About Nashville Bombing Suspect



So. They had him on their...





What comes before Radar?

Posted by: garrett at December 27, 2020 11:00 AM (ALttk)

Klinger

Posted by: TheQuietMan at December 27, 2020 11:08 AM (C7yzq)

286 > But I think the bulk of them merely buy books for those reasons instead of reading them.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor

Nailed it.

One of the best-selling authors of the mid-20th century was Frank Yerby, who was of mixed race (black, Seminole, Scots-Irish). I doubt if most of his readers knew that, or would have cared if they had.

He's excellent, by the way. A lot of his stuff is sadly out of print, but it's worth picking up if you run across it in a used book store.

He took some criticism because he often wrote about (e.g.) Periclean Athens rather than Today's Racial Issues.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at December 27, 2020 11:08 AM (6dXV7)

287 Yeah I wonder about that. its always claimed "yeah we were looking into that" after every major event, almost like the FBI is trying to show competence. In a stupid way, because it makes them look hapless and incapable.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 11:05 AM (KZzsI)

hmm, tough choice "yeah we knew, but did shit" or "we just had no clue". Either way who can prove their story. It could be "yeah we knew this bastard was a huge paranoid, we fed his delusion and helped him be a hero against 5G" Nothing is off the table since Vegas.

Posted by: CN at December 27, 2020 11:08 AM (ONvIw)

288 I believe Kunte Kente was more likely a real person than Kwanza is a real tradition.

Posted by: rhennigantx at December 27, 2020 11:08 AM (5QBw6)

289 I started watching Ben Shapiro's takedown of Kamala's Hanukkah message. It was informative but his voice drove me away.
Posted by: Northernlurker


But his wife is a doctor, dammit~!

Posted by: weft cut-loop at December 27, 2020 11:09 AM (r/D5B)

290 > I finished the first five SPQR books by John Maddox Roberts.

Those are excellent.

For a different (but equally good, IMO) take on the same era, try the Roma Sub Rosa series by Steven Saylor.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at December 27, 2020 11:10 AM (6dXV7)

291 Kwanzaa was invented whole cloth to be an atheist replacement for Christianity, just for black people. Because Santa Claus displacing and eclipsing Jesus wasn't enough, I suppose.

It has to be the first purely a-religious holiday invented in the last 600 years though. I mean, aside from "yay its a president's birthday" kinda non-holiday crap.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 11:10 AM (KZzsI)

292 >>But his wife is a doctor


Guy Benson's wife has a dick.

Posted by: garrett at December 27, 2020 11:11 AM (ALttk)

293 The people that exposed Planned Parenthood to be the baby chopping parts seller it is have been ordered to pay Planned Parenthood $26 million.
Posted by: Sponge - Office of the Mr. Dr. President Elect at December 27, 2020 11:07 AM (Zz0t1)

The book burning in F 451 was not to destroy the books. It was to show people that the thoughts of others were not against their own ideas of right and wrong, good and evil.

Posted by: rhennigantx at December 27, 2020 11:11 AM (5QBw6)

294 You know what would really be cool ? Not to see a mention of Joe or Kramola all weekend. Any weekend. Especially what they said, or did. Or obama and his always ugly spouse. Anything that can possibly be said was said already, no ? Is it too much to ask ?

Posted by: runner at December 27, 2020 11:11 AM (zr5Kq)

295 > @KamalaHarris
Our Kwanzaa celebrations are one of my favorite childhood memories.

Someone should ask her dad about this.

He seems to have his head on fairly straight, for an academic, and also seems to have a low degree of tolerance for Kamala's bullshit.

No doubt due to many years of experience with it.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at December 27, 2020 11:12 AM (6dXV7)

296 Runner: hear, hear!

Posted by: Trimegistus at December 27, 2020 11:12 AM (QZxDR)

297 Is it too much to ask ?
Posted by: runner at December 27, 2020 11:11 AM (zr5Kq)

Hey how about those Saints!

Posted by: rhennigantx at December 27, 2020 11:12 AM (5QBw6)

298 For a different (but equally good, IMO) take on the same era, try the Roma Sub Rosa series by Steven Saylor.

I have read those but they don't have as much humor as the SPQR books and he's not quite as good at telling Roman culture and history without waxing pedantic, in my opinion. I enjoy reading them but I don't think I'll buy any.

Another author who does Rome mysteries (in a later period) is Lindsey Davis but those are just not nearly as good.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 11:12 AM (KZzsI)

299 Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 10:57 AM (KZzsI)

I don't know about Parker, but I cut Stout slack. He was nearly 90 when he died in 1975 and was still cranking out Nero Wolfe novels. Keeping two iconic characters going for 40 years is quite an accomplishment, even if those characters don't really fit into 70's NYC...

Posted by: Donna&&&&&V at December 27, 2020 11:13 AM (HabA/)

300 Runner: hear, hear!

Posted by: Trimegistus at December 27, 2020 11:12 AM (QZxDR)

thanks , brah !

Posted by: runner at December 27, 2020 11:14 AM (zr5Kq)

301 it's been since 2009 That a young James Okeefe and cohorts took down ACORN.


*******


From a tiny ACORN a might hoax did grow.

Posted by: Muldoon at December 27, 2020 11:14 AM (m45I2)

302 might = mighty

Posted by: Muldoon at December 27, 2020 11:14 AM (m45I2)

303 Hey how about those Saints!
Posted by: rhennigantx at December 27, 2020 11:12 AM (5QBw6)


books man , books !

Posted by: runner at December 27, 2020 11:14 AM (zr5Kq)

304 I also noticed some links between Beowulf and The Hobbit, especially the last part where B. fights the dragon. The dragon starts wrecking things after a thief sneaks into its lair and steals a golden cup. Sound familiar? Also, Beowulf takes 11 companions to fight the dragon, and then drags along the repentant thief to show them where the dragon is -- so it's kind of Bilbo in reverse. (And yes, that makes him the 13th Warrior, not that he does anything. It's all Beowulf and Wiglaf.)

Posted by: Trimegistus at December 27, 2020 11:15 AM (QZxDR)

305 "for all of us who were certain that Trump would be re-elected,-- we massively underestimated the
capabilities and determination of our enemies."

many said Trump had to win above margin of cheat, many warned the cheat would be bigger than ever. Trump was re-elected ... the win was bigger than even the enemy expected, but that didn't stop the massive dumps .. contingency plan I guess.


Now we are measuring our sides' capabilities and determination. I expect much more to be revealed, even as outcome is uncertain. Trump and company must reveal the theft, not bow to the coup gracefully (even if he ultimately leaves, he is obligated to expose our domestic enemies)

Posted by: illiniwek at December 27, 2020 11:15 AM (Cus5s)

306 Sponge Yeah I read that, Robed Tyrants

Posted by: Skip at December 27, 2020 11:15 AM (Cxk7w)

307 Two weeks ago book thread:
h/t Retired Buckeye Cop
Who Moved the Stone?
Free online version
gospeltruth.net/whomovedthestone.htm

Thanks for this. A subject near and dear to my heart. My ADHDLBQT+ means I'm plowing through it slowly, but steadily. Really enjoy his reasoning technique.

The online book seems to have been scanned and OCR'd, possibly auto-cucumbered, because there's oodles of tyops. Took me a while to figure out that "mailer" is "matter." Easier to decipher: almighty "Cod."

Posted by: mindful webworker
Happy Three French Hens Day
at December 27, 2020 11:15 AM (ek7rN)

308 There is another roman mystery series by Rosemary Rowe that I want to try, but the library is such a mess its about impossible to get anything from them these days.

The biggest problem is that they dropped their due dates: nothing is due. Ever. Or at least until the governor stops acting like its an emergency and they can re-open.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 11:15 AM (KZzsI)

309 Gotta be sneaky to get around the new blog rulz.

Posted by: Sharkman at December 27, 2020 11:16 AM (Qio/u)

310 303 Hey how about those Saints!
Posted by: rhennigantx at December 27, 2020 11:12 AM (5QBw6)


books man , books !
Posted by: runner at December 27, 2020 11:14 AM (zr5Kq)


Naw man, how 'bout those Saints! *fistbump*

Posted by: Eliot Page at December 27, 2020 11:16 AM (PiwSw)

311 Maybe the author of Who Moved the Stone was from Boston.

Posted by: Trimegistus at December 27, 2020 11:17 AM (QZxDR)

312 I also noticed some links between Beowulf and The Hobbit, especially the last part where B. fights the dragon.

I never really thought about the parallels, but you're right, there are many. I do know that Tolkien pulled on a lot of sources and inspirations to write the Lord of the Rings.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 11:17 AM (KZzsI)

313 The British are ALWAYS doing that when one of their jihadis goes nuts with a knife: "We were monitoring him" is the inevitable response. Is that supposed to make people feel better? Sure, your sister's dead, but kindly Nanny Government was hovering nearby, benignly watching and monitoring.

Posted by: Dr. Mabuse at December 27, 2020 11:17 AM (fNoYU)

314
I currently am reading "The Road to Guilford Courthouse - The American Revolution in the Carolinas", by John Buchanan and have just gotten started with the Battle of Sullivan's Island. Having lived in South Carolina myself -- Camden, to be exact -- I regret that I did not take more time to visit the many Revolutionary war battlefields in the area during the five years I was there. Perhaps in the coming year or two I can rectify that oversight.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 27, 2020 11:17 AM (pNxlR)

315 O'Keefe shook the ACORN tree, and several small acorns popped up, with different names, same people, same objectives, same corrupt backers.


same with former election ballot dumpers, they never go to prison. (or rarely, not the big ones)

Posted by: illiniwek at December 27, 2020 11:17 AM (Cus5s)

316 Sure, your sister's dead, but kindly Nanny Government was hovering nearby, benignly watching and monitoring.

Its like whatever company advertises that it would suck if all the business ever did was observe.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 11:18 AM (KZzsI)

317 I don't have to agree with everything Douglas Murray says to find him a valuable and eloquent writer. I strongly recommend "The Strange Death of Europe" as well as any Murray interviews posted on YouTube.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&V at December 27, 2020 11:19 AM (HabA/)

318 books man , books !
Posted by: runner at December 27, 2020 11:14 AM (zr5Kq)

Still slogging thru Stranger in a Strange Land. I have a new hard copy book on Adams defending the Boston Massacre shooters.

Posted by: rhennigantx at December 27, 2020 11:20 AM (5QBw6)

319 Murray's untenable position is something like "only
2/3rds of Chesterton's Fence should have been demolished".

Posted by: cool breeze at December 27, 2020 09:39 AM (UGKMd)

---
What he doesn't get is that the part he wants to "conserve" was only a fleeting instant in the inevitable decline.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 27, 2020 09:49 AM (cfSRQ)

I suspect neither of you actually read the book.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 27, 2020 11:20 AM (oQ94s)

320 I read Stranger in a Strange Land long ago, and it felt like two different books by two different authors. Like Heinlein wrote half of it, put it aside, then decades later when very unhappy and depressed wrote the second half.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 11:21 AM (KZzsI)

321 What comes before Radar?
Posted by: garrett

John Brennan

Posted by: Chris Wray, Bias Trainer and Vegas Stage Manager at December 27, 2020 11:21 AM (Ndje9)

322 I cut Stout slack. He was nearly 90 when he died in 1975 and was still cranking out Nero Wolfe novels.

We're working our way through Season 2 of the Nero Wolfe TV adaptations with Timothy Hutton. It's a bit disorienting, because they're doing stories from different eras, but not in order. So we started with the 50s, then they did one awful one from the 60s, and now they're back to the 40s and WWII era. I'd prefer if they'd set them all in one era - maybe wartime and immediately after.

Posted by: Dr. Mabuse at December 27, 2020 11:21 AM (fNoYU)

323 Your first-hand military experience provides a level of insight that I lack. I see them through the prism of my personal knowledge of him. You have a much deeper knowledge of WWII and the ETO than I do. Thanks for your views on things.

Posted by: Muldoon at December 27, 2020 10:56 AM



Naaa...this is a smart military blog...Im just a nug.

Posted by: Diogenes at December 27, 2020 11:21 AM (axyOa)

324 Speaking of Soviet spies, George Blake finally died in Russia yesterday. Age 98.

Evil bastard.

Posted by: Sharkman at December 27, 2020 11:21 AM (Qio/u)

325 The British are ALWAYS doing that when one of their jihadis goes nuts with a knife: "We were monitoring him" is the inevitable response. Is that supposed to make people feel better? Sure, your sister's dead, but kindly Nanny Government was hovering nearby, benignly watching and monitoring.
Posted by: Dr. Mabuse


One of the 9/11 jihadis was in police custody in August of that year and the FBI decided that they couldn't hack his laptop computer 'cause reasons.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at December 27, 2020 11:22 AM (r/D5B)

326 RE: Gielgud again:

I don't think the word "predator" should be inflicted on anyone, male/female/straight or gay, who looks for younger sex partners, UNLESS the younger sex partners in question are underage or compelled, a la Harvey Weinstein.

Posted by: mnw at December 27, 2020 11:22 AM (Cssks)

327 Everyone knew the Dems were indulging in various forms of perfidy during the election. They even boasted of their intentions the preceding summer.
What I didn't expect was the judiciary being sufficiently compromised to allow the theft to succeed.

Posted by: navybrat, quarantined at December 27, 2020 11:23 AM (w7KSn)

328 Someone should ask her dad about this.

He seems to have his head on fairly straight, for an academic, and also seems to have a low degree of tolerance for Kamala's bullshit.

No doubt due to many years of experience with it.
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at December 27, 2020 11:12 AM (6dXV7)


After his first run in on this, I'm betting he's been "gotten to" at this point.

Posted by: Sponge - Office of the Mr. Dr. President Elect at December 27, 2020 11:24 AM (Zz0t1)

329 Thank you Sgt Mom, A H Lloyd and bluebell!

Captain Hate - I have a friend who has read "Black Lamb and Grey Falcon" and loved it. I myself have not read it.

C R Taylor - I love the Fools' Guild series. Incredible historic detail and nice Shakespearean references.

Posted by: Dr Alice at December 27, 2020 11:24 AM (W+MBL)

330
The other book which I am now reading is "The Crafter's Guide to Taking Great Photos", by Heidi Adnum. One month back the missus and I took an on-line class with a professional photographer who has photographed jewelry for publications. The key to getting good shots is lighting, lighting, lighting, and she provided several good examples of how to work that out.

My chief takeaway from the class was that a person interested in getting good shots of their works needs to (1) create a queue of pieces to be shot, (2) set aside a full day devoted solely to shooting them, and ...

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 27, 2020 11:25 AM (pNxlR)

331 The corpse was provided with a council, who wisely kept silent while Pope Stephen raved and screamed his insults at it."

-- from "The Bad Popes" by E.R. Chamberlin
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Iron Fist in Velvet Glove in Iron Gauntlet Clutching an Iron Mace at December 27, 2020 09:06 AM (Dc2NZ)

A little context might be nice. The ravings of Stephen... was there any truth to them?

Posted by: BurtTC at December 27, 2020 11:25 AM (oQ94s)

332 I don't think the word "predator" should be inflicted on anyone, male/female/straight or gay, who looks for younger sex partners, UNLESS the younger sex partners in question are underage or compelled, a la Harvey Weinstein.

Posted by: mnw at December 27, 2020 11:22 AM (Cssks)

You are free to take it up with the UK press.

Posted by: CN at December 27, 2020 11:26 AM (ONvIw)

333 I watched a video of a motivational talk by Brian Shul, the SR-71 pilot who wrote a book I can't afford about his experiences flying that plane. (Seriously, it costs something like $200 a copy!)

What I hadn't known was that Shul had been a fighter pilot in Vietnam and got shot down, suffering horrible burns and nearly dying. He finally decided to live, and since then has no fear of anything, since every day is an extra gift. Reminds me of Merian Cooper, the director of King Kong, who had a similar experience in World War I.

Posted by: Trimegistus at December 27, 2020 11:26 AM (QZxDR)

334
... (3) spend most of that day getting the lighting all good and proper in the shooting arena so you can run through the pieces more quickly once that is set.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 27, 2020 11:26 AM (pNxlR)

335 Any arborist's around? I have a black walnut tree that has 3 stained areas on the lower trunk. I searched it, but didn't see anything close, except thousand cankers disease, which didn't appear to be what my tree has.

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at December 27, 2020 11:26 AM (7Fj9P)

336 Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 27, 2020 11:17 AM (pNxlR)

Lots of skirmishes, ambushes and small battles in my area...."Bloody Bill" Cunningham was the local loyalist asshole.

Posted by: BignJames at December 27, 2020 11:27 AM (AwYPR)

337 Headline on the CoVid News Network (CNN) this morning:

"New CoVid19 variant found in Canada."

That's because viruses constantly mutate, making vaccines of limited utility and draconian lockdowns absolutely worthless, which CNN did not bother to explain.

Posted by: Sharkman at December 27, 2020 11:27 AM (Qio/u)

338 the UK Daily Mail talked of the "5G paranoia" in terms of conspiracy theory, that caused Brits to destroy some 5G towers, or some such.


There is some "dis-info" about 5G frying brains, but the spying is real enough. And the 5G run by Huawei was no doubt a direct portal for China to spy on everything. Given that our CIA did have deals with ATT and Google and others for spying (w/o a warrant) ... it is certainly fact not theory that governments are spying ... even on presidents and judges.


btw the "bombers" dad worked at ATT, maybe at that very building. (if my info is correct)

Posted by: illiniwek at December 27, 2020 11:27 AM (Cus5s)

339 I love the Fools' Guild series. Incredible historic detail and nice Shakespearean references.

And they are consistently hilarious despite often dealing with very tragic, sad events. I love historical mysteries not so much for the mysteries (which often aren't all that compelling) but because of the history told in an entertaining manner.

Which brings me to A distant mirror : the calamitous 14th century recommended by folks here. Its too big to read through, but I am reading it in chunks each Sunday and it is not only well told but absolutely jam packed with fascinating details

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 11:27 AM (KZzsI)

340 Wife is reading an article that is titled "NEVER refrigerate these items under ANY circumstances."
(emphasis added).

Never. Or you're GONNA DIE!!!!!!

I hate the media.

1/2 the things on the list are usually labeled "Refrigerate after opening."

Posted by: Sponge - Office of the Mr. Dr. President Elect at December 27, 2020 11:28 AM (Zz0t1)

341 As the author, I can heartily recommend Radical Eye for the Infidel Guy: A Look Inside the Strange World of Militant Islam. As a long-time member of the Horde, I am deeply honored to be included in the book thread--so much so that I have put on pants and will wear them for the rest of the day.

Posted by: Kevin Ryan at December 27, 2020 11:29 AM (n5PjM)

342 Were it possible, I would love to use A Distant Mirror... for a series of novels set in the time. Bernard Cornwell's "Archer" series is set in that time, as are the excellent Arthur Conan Doyle books Sir Nigel and The White Company

Doyle was meticulous about historical detail (at least, the best he could get at the time) and his writing was excellent. He only did the Sherlock Holmes books to pay the rent, his real writing was in books like this.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 11:29 AM (KZzsI)

343 btw the "bombers" dad worked at ATT, maybe at that very building. (if my info is correct)
Posted by: illiniwek at December 27, 2020 11:27 AM (Cus5s)

So ATT must have been there for a long time. I suspect a 63 yo man's father retired long ago. How did AQ get his start in alarm systems? I guess verbal alarm at the scene makes sense considering his occupation.

Posted by: CN at December 27, 2020 11:30 AM (ONvIw)

344
That's because viruses constantly mutate, making vaccines of limited utility and draconian lockdowns absolutely worthless, which CNN did not bother to explain.
Posted by: Sharkman at December 27, 2020 11:27 AM (Qio/u)


Study of over 10 million subjects shows there is NO spread when asymptomatic.

NO SPREAD.

Masks = tyranny

Posted by: Sponge - Office of the Mr. Dr. President Elect at December 27, 2020 11:30 AM (Zz0t1)

345 ...and will wear them for the rest of the day.
Posted by: Kevin Ryan



********

Whoa now young fella. Let's not get carried away.

Posted by: Muldoon at December 27, 2020 11:30 AM (m45I2)

346 Late to the thread, good morning!

Vox has a good, albeit Babylon Bee-like piece this morning about a D.C. outfit for YouTubers and Zoomers who want to look well-read and erudite, called Books by the Foot. I've always wondered if the "experts" we see on Fox actually ever read the books behind them. Then I see this and remember, everything on screen is fake. Even the libraries.

https://tinyurl.com/yd8v49my

Posted by: Taqiyyologist (bofa/deez) at December 27, 2020 11:31 AM (OssQ4)

347 I don't think the word "predator" should be inflicted on anyone, male/female/straight or gay, who looks for younger sex partners, UNLESS the younger sex partners in question are underage or compelled, a la Harvey Weinstein.

Posted by: mnw at December 27, 2020 11:22 AM (Cssks)

You are free to take it up with the UK press.
Posted by: CN at December 27, 2020 11:26 AM (ONvIw)

UK Press... speaking of predators....

Posted by: BurtTC at December 27, 2020 11:32 AM (oQ94s)

348 We're working our way through Season 2 of the Nero Wolfe TV adaptations with Timothy Hutton. It's a bit disorienting, because they're doing stories from different eras, but not in order.

Posted by: Dr. Mabuse


I've started season 1 and have a similar problem. That is, the clothes and cars look like the 1940s, but then Archie refers to something that happened in 1956, like it was several years ago, and I'm like, so what year is it, actually?

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at December 27, 2020 11:32 AM (TY8Lu)

349 UK Press... speaking of predators....
Posted by: BurtTC at December 27, 2020 11:32 AM (oQ94s)

And digging up corpses and putting them on trial...

Posted by: BurtTC at December 27, 2020 11:33 AM (oQ94s)

350
Oh, and one other recommendation from the pro regarding photographing small objects is NOT to buy the "light box" kits offered for sale by crafting sites. You can do just as well, and for less, using translucent plastic storage containers, clamped and adjustable desk lamps, white cloth and white paper or poster board to set up your lighting.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 27, 2020 11:33 AM (pNxlR)

351 You are free to take it up with the UK press.
Posted by: CN at December 27, 2020 11:26 AM (ONvIw)

UK Press... speaking of predators....
Posted by: BurtTC at December 27, 2020 11:32 AM (oQ94s)


UK Press > NY Times

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at December 27, 2020 11:33 AM (TY8Lu)

352 To quote a pundit of my acquaintance: Read meat isn't bad for you. Fuzzy green meat is bad for you.

Posted by: Cybersmythe at December 27, 2020 11:33 AM (qDSku)

353 You can tell the difference between someone who is a book reader and who has books around to seem well read and smart.

The reader's house is haphazardly piled with books and the shelves look almost randomly stocked, with books shoved in sideways on top of others on the shelf because they ran out of room.

The poser's house is all carefully stocked and orderly, with big never-read copies on display.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 11:34 AM (KZzsI)

354 Posted by: Dr. Mabuse at December 27, 2020 11:21 AM (fNoYU)
Yeah, although the books were written over a long timespan, basically Wolfe and Archie are of the '40's and '50's. It was amusing in "A Family Affair" to read of Archie wearing his hat in the mid-70's. Men stopped wearing hats with suits during the JFK administration and certainly no young man (and Archie is eternally 32) sported one in the '70's, unless he was a pimp or wearing some mod version of the oversized newsboy caps. Wolfe and Archie in leisure suits? Perish the thought!

Posted by: Donna&&&&&V at December 27, 2020 11:34 AM (HabA/)

355 I'm thinking of treating myself to a King James bible. I recently started reading mine again. Its a Thompsons NIV and I find myself disappointed with some of the wording changes. I don't need easier to understand, I want to read the beautiful, evocative language. Horde recommendations will be appreciatively read.

Posted by: PaleRider is simply irredeemable at December 27, 2020 11:35 AM (Aashi)

356 There is some "dis-info" about 5G frying brains, but the spying is real enough. And the 5G run by Huawei was no doubt a direct portal for China to spy on everything. Given that our CIA did have deals with ATT and Google and others for spying (w/o a warrant) ... it is certainly fact not theory that governments are spying ... even on presidents and judges.

Posted by: illiniwek at December 27, 2020 11:27 AM (Cus5s)

Saw an interview Stossel did with Snowden. Snowden's argument is that essentially nothing of any value ever came from the spying being done on everybody.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 27, 2020 11:36 AM (oQ94s)

357 You can do just as well, and for less, using translucent plastic storage containers, clamped and adjustable desk lamps, white cloth and white paper or poster board to set up your lighting.

For the longest time I used one of those bendy desk lamps with all the springs and a sheet of glass for a lightbox, which meant I blinded myself every so often since it wasn't frosted. Eventually the glass just self-destructed into 9000 little safety squares on the floor and my lap.

But yeah: don't spend a fortune on the thing. You can get a lamp, the glass, and a box for cheap at a big box store.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 11:36 AM (KZzsI)

358 Good morning book horde!

My book report this week: I finally finished the Mage World saga, with the end of A Working of Stars setting up events that will happen in an earlier book. (Time travel. Go figure.) I enjoyed the books, but they were tough reads for me, I think because there were lots of strange words that were all similar so it was hard to keep track of what was going on. I don't know what's next but I have a large "to be read" pile, so I should be able to keep busy.

Posted by: Cybersmythe at December 27, 2020 11:37 AM (qDSku)

359 353 You can tell the difference between someone who is a book reader and who has books around to seem well read and smart.

The reader's house is haphazardly piled with books and the shelves look almost randomly stocked, with books shoved in sideways on top of others on the shelf because they ran out of room...

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 11:34 AM (KZzsI)


I am extremely well-read and smart...

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at December 27, 2020 11:37 AM (PiwSw)

360 Headline on the CoVid News Network (CNN) this morning:

Wrote yesterday as soon as it was discovered in Britain a full air sea blockade should have been in effect. A Zombie apocalypse could start this way.

Posted by: Skip at December 27, 2020 11:37 AM (Cxk7w)

361 UK Press... speaking of predators....
Posted by: BurtTC at December 27, 2020 11:32 AM (oQ94s)

UK Press > NY Times
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at December 27, 2020 11:33 AM (TY8Lu)

Maybe so, but that's like saying Pol Pot is better than Mao.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 27, 2020 11:37 AM (oQ94s)

362 Any arborist's around? I have a black walnut tree that has 3 stained areas on the lower trunk. I searched it, but didn't see anything close, except thousand cankers disease, which didn't appear to be what my tree has.
Posted by: Brave Sir Robin

Is there one of them "pansexuals" in yore area ?

Posted by: JT at December 27, 2020 11:37 AM (arJlL)

363 I am not sure if I amentirely correct, but I have started asserting that
a) viruses naturally mutate to be more contagious but less deadly
b) the only way covid could mutate to be more deadly and more contagious is if it was tinkered with, in a lab
c) bio-warfare will continue until the lab is nuked

Posted by: vmom - Trump won! at December 27, 2020 11:37 AM (nUhF0)

364 Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 11:34 AM (KZzsI)

In a Dorothy Sayers mystery story, a character figures out who the criminal is by his library. All the books are packed so tightly together than the visitor has trouble pulling a book out. No actual reader of books would pack books that tightly in bookshelves.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&V at December 27, 2020 11:38 AM (HabA/)

365
Headline on the CoVid News Network (CNN) this morning:

"New CoVid19 variant found in Canada."


So we're going o be exposed to the long-known elements of virology, which is something most folks would benefit from having at least a passing knowledge of, but in a "COVID-19 is a superbug!" context involving panicked headlines, so that the powers that be can "keep up the skeer"?

These people are pure evil.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 27, 2020 11:38 AM (pNxlR)

366 I want to read the beautiful, evocative language. Horde recommendations will be appreciatively read.

While its not exactly the same language, the New King James is very readable while maintaining the same kind of translation and richness of language.

But yeah, there is something about that old king James that is more beautiful sounding: it feels important and meaningful in a way modern language does not.

THOU SHALT NOT KILL has a lot more punch than "do not kill"

Just avoid the 1619 original version; its in language so old its nearly unreadable.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 11:39 AM (KZzsI)

367 I suspect neither of you actually read the book.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 27, 2020 11:20 AM (oQ94s)

Cover to cover, and left a lengthy review on goodreads, which I excerpted above. Murray didn't have much of a problem with wokeness until he got worried about so many young gay men getting turned into trans-women.

Posted by: cool breeze at December 27, 2020 11:39 AM (UGKMd)

368 351: I'm sure he was a saint. Donating to lower the age of consent is heroic, no doubt.

Maybe he gave his money to animal charities, or just to theater. LOL. I don't like to read about old coots trying to do 16 year olds, and his being a great actor and friend to the producers and directors provided a Weinstein like incentive to his would be conquests.

And why shouldn't the UK press let people know what the acting profession was up to? It's better than lionizing them as intellectual lights by virtue of their fame.

Posted by: CN at December 27, 2020 11:40 AM (ONvIw)

369 335 Any arborist's around? I have a black walnut tree that has 3 stained areas on the lower trunk. I searched it, but didn't see anything close, except thousand cankers disease, which didn't appear to be what my tree has.
Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at December 27, 2020 11:26 AM (7Fj9P)

---------

I am a shrubber.

Posted by: Roger the Shrubber at December 27, 2020 11:40 AM (fLVm1)

370 The poser's house is all carefully stocked and orderly, with big never-read copies on display.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor

Book binding damage (read use) being obvious in a readers house as well.

Pull a book and see if it falls open to a page or "clumps". The 'clumpers' haven't been opened.

Posted by: AZ deplorably isolated at December 27, 2020 11:40 AM (gtatv)

371 I'm thinking of treating myself to a King James bible. I recently started reading mine again. Its a Thompsons NIV and I find myself disappointed with some of the wording changes. I don't need easier to understand, I want to read the beautiful, evocative language. Horde recommendations will be appreciatively read.
Posted by: PaleRider
-x--
If you want a beautiful, heirloom quality Bible look at Schuyler (pronounced sky-lar). They are spendy but beautiful and useable. I got one for my husband a few Christmas's ago and he uses it daily.

Posted by: lin-duh at December 27, 2020 11:41 AM (UUBmN)

372 b) the only way covid could mutate to be more deadly and more contagious is if it was tinkered with, in a lab
c) bio-warfare will continue until the lab is nuked
Posted by: vmom - Trump won! at December 27, 2020 11:37 AM (nUhF0)

And it's possible this research is going EXACTLY the way they want it, so nobody's going to be blowing it up any time soon.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 27, 2020 11:41 AM (oQ94s)

373
The poser's house is all carefully stocked and orderly, with big never-read copies on display.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor


The conditions of the books' spines are the tells.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 27, 2020 11:41 AM (pNxlR)

374 In a Dorothy Sayers mystery story, a character figures out who the criminal is by his library.

I wish someone would do the Whimsey stories with love and real dedication to authenticity. I don't trust the BBC these days. I have a hard time reading Sayers, even though I recognize they are good and well written. But I want to enjoy the stories.

The story is that she stopped writing the books because she fell so much in love with Lord Peter and couldn't write him objectively.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 11:42 AM (KZzsI)

375
These people are pure evil.
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 27, 2020 11:38 AM (pNxlR)

There are many contagious diseases they don't give a damn about that are rising, but not as sensational.

Posted by: CN at December 27, 2020 11:42 AM (ONvIw)

376
Murray didn't have much of a problem with wokeness until he got worried about so many young gay men getting turned into trans-women.
Posted by: cool breeze


There's an app for that.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 27, 2020 11:42 AM (pNxlR)

377 I suspect neither of you actually read the book.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 27, 2020 11:20 AM (oQ94s)
Cover to cover, and left a lengthy review on goodreads, which I excerpted above. Murray didn't have much of a problem with wokeness until he got worried about so many young gay men getting turned into trans-women.
Posted by: cool breeze at December 27, 2020 11:39 AM (UGKMd)

I think you drew the wrong conclusion. His stance is consistent, REGARDLESS of what issue. Perhaps he didn't notice until it was turned on him.

It's the first thing he talked about in the book.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 27, 2020 11:43 AM (oQ94s)

378 Good morning all. Thought I would finish Vanity Fair last night but ended up going out for dinner with a friend and then back to his place to listen to music, drink beer, talk smart, and solve all the problem of the world. My Christmas book haul was A Place for Everything (the book about alphabetical order), Cultural Amnesia by Clive James, and The True Believer by Eric Hoffer all of which hit my wish list after recommendations from here.

Posted by: Who knew at December 27, 2020 11:43 AM (SfO/T)

379 Just diacovered that Stephen King is putting out his 62nd novel next.

Completely lost track of him since reading Under the Dome many years ago.

How is it possible that he has written that many books? Likewise John Grisham (35) and Lisa Scottoline (30)?

Where did my life go!?!?! Time to buy some more books!!

Posted by: Sharkman at December 27, 2020 11:43 AM (Qio/u)

380 355 I'm thinking of treating myself to a King James bible. I recently started reading mine again. Its a Thompsons NIV and I find myself disappointed with some of the wording changes. I don't need easier to understand, I want to read the beautiful, evocative language. Horde recommendations will be appreciatively read.
Posted by: PaleRider
_______________________
I read the New King James Version & KJV. You can't go wrong with either.

Posted by: Puddleglum at December 27, 2020 11:44 AM (eMtpK)

381 I think you drew the wrong conclusion. His stance is consistent, REGARDLESS of what issue. Perhaps he didn't notice until it was turned on him.

It's the first thing he talked about in the book.
Posted by: BurtTC at December 27, 2020 11:43 AM (oQ94s)

It's not his job to go back and fight other people's battles, and you draw conclusions about his motives that are not supported by anything he's ever said.

He is diametrically opposed to the concept, and has said NOTHING to suggest he would approve of it if it benefitted gay men.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 27, 2020 11:45 AM (oQ94s)

382 Just diacovered that Stephen King is putting out his 62nd novel next.

While I would love to write that many books, I have found that ever super-prolific writer tends to fall into a rut (yes, including Louis L'Amour) so their work suffers. Or maybe I'm just jealous they have that kind of energy.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 11:45 AM (KZzsI)

383 I read the New King James Version & KJV. You can't go wrong with either.
Posted by: Puddleglum at December 27, 2020 11:44 AM (eMtpK)

---

This^

Posted by: SMH at December 27, 2020 11:45 AM (RU4sa)

384 Greetings:

I would like to recommend "The Age of Entitlement" by Christopher Caldwell. He takes us through his assessment of the important things that have happened to our country since the last '60s that are hardly ever discussed and when they are it's in an episodic as opposed to a continuum fashion. I agree with the author that it's been a long series of mistakes one on top of the other with the former soon to be effectively buried.

I would think it a book to go through chapter by chapter with progeny likely to be in-college-gated in the near future.


Posted by: 11B40 at December 27, 2020 11:45 AM (evgyj)

385 Somebody asked about Black Lamb and Grey Falcon. I read it probably 40 years ago and as I recall really liked it but thought it was a bit too long. I just picked it up for my kindle so I will read it again, eventually, and see how it holds up.

Posted by: Who knew at December 27, 2020 11:45 AM (SfO/T)

386 Any arborist's around? I have a black walnut tree that has 3 stained areas on the lower trunk. I searched it, but didn't see anything close, except thousand cankers disease, which didn't appear to be what my tree has.

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at December 27, 2020 11:26 AM



Look for neighbors with three large dogs.

Posted by: Diogenes at December 27, 2020 11:46 AM (axyOa)

387 Is there one of them "pansexuals" in yore area ?
Posted by: JT at December 27, 2020 11:37 AM (arJlL)


OK, I laughed loud and long at that one! Reminds me of an old Ann Landers column. Someone once wrote Ann Landers that if the stories about half-man, half-animal crossbreeding were possible, knowing men, the world would be covered with creatures that are half-man, half-dog, half-cat, half-goat and probably half-fencepost.

Posted by: Dr. Mabuse at December 27, 2020 11:46 AM (fNoYU)

388 Confession. I have quite a few non-fiction books I bought with best intentions of reading them to better inform myself but only cracked them open once or twice and read a few pages. The novels all show signs of use. So, non-read books are not always "bought this to impress others" But my unread tomes are not carefully displayed, they are tucked in places to be handy; only I still never pulled them out.

Posted by: PaleRider is simply irredeemable at December 27, 2020 11:47 AM (Aashi)

389 What I see more and more are bookcases used to display pictures, vases and knickknacks - but not books. Or maybe there are one or two vapid "inspirational" tomes or trendy best sellers perched there amidst the vases and crap, but that's it.

There have always been more non-readers than readers (interior decorators used to sell books by the yard to millionaires seeking to look erudite without actually reading) but now the non-readers include supposedly college-educated middle class young people. They have read their Harry Potter and "White People Suck" books - and that's about it.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&V at December 27, 2020 11:47 AM (HabA/)

390 JT you know walnut trees took a beating decades ago in the ne from some pest. Not sure what it is but surprised you have one.

Posted by: Skip at December 27, 2020 11:47 AM (Cxk7w)

391 I forgot to mention the Schuyler Bibles come in several editions. We personally use the ESV but they carry KJV and NKJV versions. They are just beautiful and you said you wanted to treat yourself...

Posted by: lin-duh at December 27, 2020 11:47 AM (UUBmN)

392 Just diacovered that Stephen King is putting out his 62nd novel next.

Posted by: Sharkman at December 27, 2020 11:43 AM (Qio/u)

Ignoring his insane and hateful politics, I lost interest in King a long time ago because he seemed to recycle characters and phrasing and world views.


That being said, his first several books, and certainly some of his short stories were quite good.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at December 27, 2020 11:48 AM (xT2tT)

393 (yes, including Louis L'Amour) so their work suffers.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor

I have a milk crate full of LL's. Yes you can see the formula; but, they read so quickly it didn't seem to matter.
He did become enamored with Islam (Walking Drum). It didn't get into many other of his works, thankfully.

Posted by: AZ deplorably isolated at December 27, 2020 11:48 AM (gtatv)

394 b) the only way covid could mutate to be more deadly and more contagious is if it was tinkered with, in a lab


********


Not exactly true. Spontaneous mutation is a random occurrence that results in a small change in the DNA (or RNA) sequence. This causes a change in some component of the virus, which could render it (a) non-functional, (b) less functional or weakened, or (c) more highly infectious or more lethal.

The respiratory virus strain that eventually prevails is the one with the most stable host-virus relationship. Kill the host too quickly the virus can't perpetuate.

Posted by: Muldoon at December 27, 2020 11:49 AM (m45I2)

395 I despair despite the respair respite.

Posted by: f'd at December 27, 2020 11:49 AM (A+nkq)

396 Any arborist's around? I have a black walnut tree that has 3 stained areas on the lower trunk. I searched it, but didn't see anything close, except thousand cankers disease, which didn't appear to be what my tree has.

Posted by: Brave Sir Robin at December 27, 2020 11:26 AM

Any tree can get slime flux, a harmless bacterium. Do the wounds ooze? I know the guy who is working on Thousand Cankers. A bit obsessed.

Posted by: MarkY at December 27, 2020 11:50 AM (+yNXF)

397 But my unread tomes are not carefully displayed, they are tucked in places to be handy; only I still never pulled them out.
Posted by: PaleRider is simply irredeemable at December 27, 2020 11:47 AM (Aashi)

It's like buying too much food. If there's a part of you that thinks you have to eat it all, that comes from a different place, and has nothing to do with getting the nutrition you need.

Now, if you're letting the fruit and veggies spoil, and loading up on Cheetos, that's not good. But not eating everything on your plate is not a sin.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 27, 2020 11:50 AM (oQ94s)

398 Two previous pastors: one used the NKJV; one used the NASB

Current pastor uses the ESV.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at December 27, 2020 11:50 AM (PiwSw)

399 but now the non-readers include supposedly college-educated middle class young people. They have read their Harry Potter and "White People Suck" books - and that's about it.

Yeah its depressing. Young people I know are proud they read like 6 books in a year. Dude, I read 6 books in a month. Read moar, text less.

Yes you can see the formula; but, they read so quickly it didn't seem to matter.

I agree, but its frustrating. He'll often start with a fresh, fascinating concept, but by the end of the book its the same territory again. Its disappointing and a missed opportunity.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 11:50 AM (KZzsI)

400
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 27, 2020 11:17 AM (pNxlR)

Lots of skirmishes, ambushes and small battles in my area...."Bloody Bill" Cunningham was the local loyalist asshole.
Posted by: BignJames


You're in Missouri / Kansas? I have a great (great?) granduncle in the Welsh branch of my family who served in that vicinity with the Union in 1865. Near as I can tell, his regiment's job was to guard a railroad line then under construction through the area.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 27, 2020 11:51 AM (pNxlR)

401 If you can repair something, can you also depair it?

Posted by: f'd at December 27, 2020 11:52 AM (A+nkq)

402 The respiratory virus strain that eventually prevails is the one with the most stable host-virus relationship. Kill the host too quickly the virus can't perpetuate.
Posted by: Muldoon at December 27, 2020 11:49 AM (m45I2)

Which is the basic point. A virus that becomes both more contagious AND lethal is pretty much defying the laws of biology.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 27, 2020 11:52 AM (oQ94s)

403 For those who enjoy Rex stout's writing. In the mid 1940s he wrote a piece for the Baker Street Irregulars newsletter: "Watson Was a Woman". It is funny and he obviously had fun writing it. Worth looking up.

Posted by: JTB at December 27, 2020 11:52 AM (7EjX1)

404 392 Ignoring King's insane and hateful politics. King will insert a little firearms ownership into his works, many times somebody with a Colt Woodsman. Living in Maine, he may own one, but that doesn't mean yours shouldn't be confiscated in his visions.

Posted by: bill in arkansas at December 27, 2020 11:53 AM (I58tH)

405 I think that for millennials chat about Netflix and Showtime series has replaced talking about books. None of my nieces and nephews seem to read, but they are all up on a zillion different shows and since I rarely watch TV I don't have much to contribute to their conversations. Funny, because in the 90's, it appeared that reading was making a big comeback - Borders joined with Starbucks to offer coffee and snacks to browsers and book clubs became popular. I guess that was just a middle aged boomer thing.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&V at December 27, 2020 11:53 AM (HabA/)

406 There are exceptions, of course. The best L'Amour books like Flint, Hondo, Down The Long Hills, and the Sackett books are fresh and interesting every time. A book like Echo Sackett he took an unusual idea (for him) and stuck with it to create something really great.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 11:53 AM (KZzsI)

407 The pic with the "THINK" shadow - anyone else read it in Aretha Franklin's voice?


[poking Matt 'Guitar' Murphy in the chest]

Posted by: mindful webworker
Happy Three French Hens Day
at December 27, 2020 11:54 AM (ek7rN)

408
Stoner thought of the week: What if all viruses were merely genetic remnants or fragments of the genome for a pan-galactic super being which, if they ever all came together in one host, would recreate that super being?

What if, huh?

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 27, 2020 11:54 AM (pNxlR)

409 Just across the bridge from Duluth is the Dick Bong flight museum.

Posted by: DaveA at December 27, 2020 11:54 AM (FhXTo)

410 purty lieberry

Posted by: deplorable unperson - refuse to accept the Mask of the Beast at December 27, 2020 11:55 AM (3P/5p)

411 The best L'Amour books like Flint, Hondo, Down The Long Hills, and the Sackett books are fresh and interesting every time. A book like Echo Sackett he took an unusual idea (for him) and stuck with it to create something really great.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor

You do know you're enticing me to get that crate out of the garage, right?
If you don't I'll thank you anyway!

Posted by: AZ deplorably isolated at December 27, 2020 11:56 AM (gtatv)

412 I'll have whatever Krebs is having. Then maybe I'll understand wtf he is talking about.

Posted by: f'd at December 27, 2020 11:56 AM (A+nkq)

413 Stoner thought of the week: What if all viruses were merely genetic remnants or fragments of the genome for a pan-galactic super being which, if they ever all came together in one host, would recreate that super being?

What if, huh?
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 27, 2020 11:54 AM (pNxlR)

But enough about me...

Posted by: Dr. Manhattan at December 27, 2020 11:56 AM (oQ94s)

414 Just discovered that Stephen King is putting out his 62nd novel next.

While I would love to write that many books, I have found that ever super-prolific writer tends to fall into a rut (yes, including Louis L'Amour) so their work suffers. Or maybe I'm just jealous they have that kind of energy.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor



King has devolved into a hack. A creative one with lots of ideas, but a hack nonetheless.

You are a good writer, not a hack.

Merry Christmas, Chris.

Posted by: Sharkman at December 27, 2020 11:56 AM (Qio/u)

415
Lots of skirmishes, ambushes and small battles in my area...."Bloody Bill" Cunningham was the local loyalist asshole.
Posted by: BignJames


My mistake, I focused on the "Bloody Bill" and added Anderson to it in order to place you in Missouri, and I overlooked the "loyalist" tag.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 27, 2020 11:56 AM (pNxlR)

416 Funny, because in the 90's, it appeared that reading was making a big comeback - Borders joined with Starbucks to offer coffee and snacks to browsers and book clubs became popular.

The late 80s to around 2000 was kind of a publishing and reading golden age. My go-to store was Waldenbooks, the local stores were wonderful. They did constant, big business. Gen X was a reading generation (most of us are probably in that range), and Boomers read as well.

Millennials... not so much. And Zoomers are largely almost illiterate in a strange way. They CAN read, but only short texts

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 11:56 AM (KZzsI)

417 Wish Brave Sir Robin would answer. I gots a sewing machine to disassemble (probably for good)!

Posted by: MarkY at December 27, 2020 11:57 AM (+yNXF)

418 A virus that becomes both more contagious AND lethal is pretty much defying the laws of biology.


********

No, not defying the laws of biology. Perhaps embarking on an evolutionary (at the viral level) dead-end path, but that is not to say that type of mutation cannot occur.

(I am not addressing specifics of the supposed novel novel coronavirus strain being reported in the UK)

Posted by: Muldoon at December 27, 2020 11:58 AM (m45I2)

419 Speaking of Soviet spies...George Blake died. he was one of highest profile English traitors who managed to escape and live out his vile life in Moscow.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at December 27, 2020 11:58 AM (xT2tT)

420 Stoner thought of the week: What if all viruses were merely genetic remnants or fragments of the genome for a pan-galactic super being which, if they ever all came together in one host, would recreate that super being?

What if, huh?

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM)




That would be crazy IRL and should immediately be a three book series written by Alastair Reynolds.

Posted by: Sharkman at December 27, 2020 11:58 AM (Qio/u)

421 King has devolved into a hack. A creative one with lots of ideas, but a hack nonetheless.

Posted by: Sharkman at December 27, 2020 11:56 AM (Qio/u)

I started reading a collection of short stories he did many years ago. After a handful of such stories (none of which I remember), it dawned on me he's just following the same formula over and over and over again.

No thanks.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 27, 2020 11:59 AM (oQ94s)

422 As I get older I find I'm reading slower but enjoy the writing more. It's a nice aspect of retirement; a luxury in fact. It reminds me of one of my favorite sayings: "I may be slow but I've got direction".

Posted by: JTB at December 27, 2020 11:59 AM (7EjX1)

423 Speaking of Soviet spies...George Blake died. he was one of highest profile English traitors who managed to escape and live out his vile life in Moscow.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo




98 years old. Evil.

Posted by: Sharkman at December 27, 2020 12:00 PM (Qio/u)

424 As to Beowulf, John Gardner (not the mystery writer, another guy) wrote a book called Grendel that is top-notch. Turns out dragons can see the future so the dragon knows that Beowulf is going to kill him. Which leads to an interesting discussion about the value and usefulness of foreknowledge. Highly recommended, I've read it at least three times and now that I'm thinking about it, I may reread again.

Posted by: Who knew at December 27, 2020 12:01 PM (SfO/T)

425 A virus that becomes both more contagious AND lethal is pretty much defying the laws of biology.


********

No, not defying the laws of biology. Perhaps embarking on an evolutionary (at the viral level) dead-end path, but that is not to say that type of mutation cannot occur.

(I am not addressing specifics of the supposed novel novel coronavirus strain being reported in the UK)
Posted by: Muldoon at December 27, 2020 11:58 AM (m45I2)

Which again, is the point. The dead end path is NOT going to emerge and cause a new pandemic.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 27, 2020 12:01 PM (oQ94s)

426 Millennials... not so much. And Zoomers are largely almost illiterate in a strange way. They CAN read, but only short texts
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 11:56 AM

They did invent "TL;DR". I see that regularly on Steam forums, in response to anything longer than two paragraphs. Its a sad shame.

Posted by: Taqiyyologist (bofa/deez) at December 27, 2020 12:01 PM (OssQ4)

427 We Have a NOOD

Posted by: Skip, the guy who says NOOD at December 27, 2020 12:02 PM (Cxk7w)

428 424 As to Beowulf, John Gardner (not the mystery writer, another guy) wrote a book called Grendel that is top-notch. Turns out dragons can see the future so the dragon knows that Beowulf is going to kill him. Which leads to an interesting discussion about the value and usefulness of foreknowledge. Highly recommended, I've read it at least three times and now that I'm thinking about it, I may reread again.
Posted by: Who knew at December 27, 2020 12:01 PM (SfO/T)



One of the best last lines in contemporary literature...

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at December 27, 2020 12:02 PM (PiwSw)

429 Isn't it "Thou shalt not commit murder" and not "kill?"

Because there IS a difference.

Posted by: Sponge - Office of the Mr. Dr. President Elect at December 27, 2020 12:03 PM (Zz0t1)

430
Gielgud said I'm financially spent
Blew my wad, now I can't pay the rent
Like when I have sex
It's kind of a hex
I've pre-ejaculated my last cent!


Posted by: naturalfake at December 27, 2020 12:03 PM (dWwl8)

431 Posted by: Muldoon at December 27, 2020 11:58 AM (m45I2)

Which again, is the point. The dead end path is NOT going to emerge and cause a new pandemic.
Posted by: BurtTC at December 27, 2020 12:01 PM (oQ94s)

Lots of oversimplification here, due to the 600 limit. So add that in as the third factor: Mutations that make a virus MORE lethal and MORE contagious and is spreading everywhere is basically not possible.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 27, 2020 12:03 PM (oQ94s)

432 Posted by: BurtTC at December 27, 2020 12:01 PM (oQ94s)

*********

What I get for jumping in mid-conversation, I guess. I was specifically addressing the notion that the only way a virus can evolve in a more deadly direction is via bioengineering.

Posted by: Muldoon at December 27, 2020 12:04 PM (m45I2)

433 Quick public service announcement before I take my leave.
Initialsuccess sent me a link to the StoptheSteal rally site on 1/6. Wildprotest.com. Seems very well organized with lots of important speakers. If you are planning on attending, feel free to email me and I will add you to our growing email list. Email in nic.Have a great day everyone and thanks for giving me an excuse to stay in bed all morning.

Posted by: sharon(willow's apprentice) at December 27, 2020 12:04 PM (sd8p8)

434 I started reading a collection of short stories he did many years ago. After a handful of such stories (none of which I remember), it dawned on me he's just following the same formula over and over and over again.

No thanks.

Posted by: BurtTC



Yep. Same here, though a couple of his shorts are worth reading: The Raft, about some kids trapped on a float in a lake with a monster in the lake. The monster

And Survivor Type about a surgeon whose plane crashes stranding him alone on a desert isle with just a bag of cocaine and his surgical kit. He eventually gets hungry and much hilarity ensues.

Posted by: Sharkman at December 27, 2020 12:04 PM (Qio/u)

435 Oops, meant to say: "The monster gets hungry" but the new blog rulz stymied me.

Posted by: Sharkman at December 27, 2020 12:05 PM (Qio/u)

436 I recently read or re-read (I'm not actually sure) LeCarre's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Good book, although looking at it with my writer's hat on I can see some places where the author palms a couple of cards. Why on Earth would the Soviets exchange a spy they captured who might be able to identify their key mole in British Intelligence? Sure, they don't think he actually knows who it is . . . but why take the risk at all? He was shot while trying to escape, too bad. And why would they let political unreliables who know about their biggest covert operation go abroad at all?

Posted by: Trimegistus at December 27, 2020 12:05 PM (QZxDR)

437 406 ... CRT,
Glad someone else likes "Ride the River" with Echo Sackett. It's a fun story. And I really enjoy the segments with the Clinch Mountain Sacketts.

Posted by: JTB at December 27, 2020 12:06 PM (7EjX1)

438
Avoid this site like the plague!

https://www.bookseriesinorder.com

I spent to twenty minutes in it and managed to add between two and three dozen books to my "wanna read" list.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 27, 2020 12:06 PM (pNxlR)

439 Isn't it "Thou shalt not commit murder" and not "kill?"

Because there IS a difference.

Posted by: Sponge - Office of the Mr. Dr. President Elect




You are correct, Sir.

Posted by: Sharkman at December 27, 2020 12:06 PM (Qio/u)

440 98 years old. Evil.
Posted by: Sharkman at December 27, 2020 12:00 PM (Qio/u)

---

If he didn't seek Jesus before his death, he'll have eternity to think about what he did in this life.

Posted by: SMH at December 27, 2020 12:07 PM (RU4sa)

441
Hey, you Nabokov readers!

What the title of the short ghost story he wrote?

I've forgotten the title and can't seem to find it.

Posted by: naturalfake at December 27, 2020 12:08 PM (dWwl8)

442 The Arty is getting stretched pretty thin but we have them well set.

Posted by: Muldoon at December 27, 2020 10:05 AM


You know, my uncle was an artilleryman in the ETO. That's essentially all I know about him, although I think his service record is written in the copy of the official history of WWII that I have in my library.

Posted by: Cybersmythe at December 27, 2020 12:09 PM (qDSku)

443 Nude:

"War, What is it Good For?"

"Really epic pictures of equipment!"

Posted by: Sharkman at December 27, 2020 12:09 PM (Qio/u)

444 Also apropos of a couple of other comments up above; I went on a mini-tour of the UP last August. Escanaba, Marquette, Copper Harbor. Hadn't been up there in the summer for decades. Marquette is a really nice town. And the Keweenaw is just gorgeous. Surprisingly we had no issues with the mosquitos and black flies.

Posted by: Who knew at December 27, 2020 12:10 PM (SfO/T)

445 You are a good writer, not a hack.

Merry Christmas, Chris.


Thank you for your kind words, and Merry Christmas to you as well. And to everyone here.

Glad someone else likes "Ride the River" with Echo Sackett. It's a fun story.

Its one of his very very few about a woman and it is one of his best. Delightful girl and fun story.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 12:10 PM (KZzsI)

446 I think Haunted Mesa is the only Lamour book I have read.

Posted by: Infidel at December 27, 2020 12:12 PM (wR3DP)

447 I spent to twenty minutes in it and managed to add between two and three dozen books to my "wanna read" list.

Yeah, its a very useful resource, but can be very hazardous to your wallet. Many book series don't need to be read in order, but benefit from it. Like the SPQR books, you can really see the character develop and watch the tragic, inevitable collapse of Rome as a republic unfold before your eyes.

Kinda familiar territory these days.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 12:12 PM (KZzsI)

448 446 ... "I think Haunted Mesa is the only Lamour book I have read."

Infidel,
Try "Flint". I think it is one of his best and is quintessential Louis L'Amour.

Posted by: JTB at December 27, 2020 12:18 PM (7EjX1)

449 Just discovered that Stephen King is putting out his 62nd novel next.

While I would love to write that many books, I have found that ever super-prolific writer tends to fall into a rut (yes, including Louis L'Amour) so their work suffers. Or maybe I'm just jealous they have that kind of energy.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor


Be not jealous.

He doesn't write every page. He has a stable of ghost writers.

There is a famous Wired article about it in 2002 or there abouts.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at December 27, 2020 12:20 PM (r/D5B)

450 Lots of oversimplification here, due to the 600 limit. So add that in as the third factor: Mutations that make a virus MORE lethal and MORE contagious and is spreading everywhere is basically not possible.

Posted by: BurtTC



I would love to read more on this particular question.

Posted by: Sharkman at December 27, 2020 12:21 PM (Qio/u)

451 My musings about why Gielgud (1904-2000) didn't die filthy rich:

1) In the years when he was on the stage, you really needed to be an impresario to make money-- the producer who put up the money. JG did this sometimes, but how successful commercially? Don't know. He doesn't discuss money.

2) The real $$$ was in the U.S. for entertainers. JG did go on tour here a lot.

3) Actors I've read about who got filthy rich did it from films. I don't think JG emphasized movie roles much.

I still wonder if JG had competent business agents & financial advisors.

Posted by: mnw at December 27, 2020 12:21 PM (Cssks)

452 In addition to the ones I listed, these are L'Amour books I highly recommend:


Passin' Through
Conagher
High Lonesome
The Cherokee Trail

There are probably others, but those will be a good start.

Honestly, most of his Hopalong Cassidy books are good too.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 12:25 PM (KZzsI)

453 Millennials... not so much. And Zoomers are largely almost illiterate in a strange way. They CAN read, but only short texts
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 11:56 AM

Kids are not being trained to be good readers. I've noted that virtual ed offers a lot of videos in lieu of chapters. My neighbor whose kids are in 4th, 7th, and 10th grade validates this. It's sad. My 2nd grade grandson's science and social studies work is largely video cartoons. It's an alarming trend.

Posted by: CN at December 27, 2020 12:28 PM (ONvIw)

454 My 2nd grade grandson's science and social studies work is largely video cartoons. It's an alarming trend

Well the educational powers that be assume you cannot hope to actually teach brown people how to read, so you have to work around that with ebonics and colorful cartoons.

Plus, as the Nazis planned for Eastern Europe: a permanent, poorly educated class of serfs is easier to control.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 12:34 PM (KZzsI)

455
Well the educational powers that be assume you cannot hope to actually teach brown people how to read, so you have to work around that with ebonics and colorful cartoons.

Plus, as the Nazis planned for Eastern Europe: a permanent, poorly educated class of serfs is easier to control.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 27, 2020 12:34 PM (KZzsI)

I'm thinking the latter. I live in a pretty chichi district and ebonics are not a concern. Teachers are lazy, and I've determined that "no child left behind" really means "no child moves ahead if we can help it".

Posted by: CN at December 27, 2020 12:38 PM (ONvIw)

456 Kids are not being trained to be good readers.

Posted by: CN



I got my daughter (13) Lucifer's Hammer by Niven and Pournelle this year. She's just watched Greenland so I've asked her to read the book and report to me how the book and movie treat the apocalyptic comet striking Earth story differently.

She said: "Okay, Daddles. Will do."

Posted by: Sharkman at December 27, 2020 12:40 PM (Qio/u)

457 I'm currently reading something I read about on the book thread: The Birth of the People's Republic of Antarctica by John Calvin Batchelor. When I read fiction it's usually science-fiction, but I have a soft spot for the idea of people settling in Antarctica. Which the book hasn't even come close to addressing yet.

Posted by: Jim S. at December 27, 2020 12:40 PM (ynUnH)

458 455 cont. Most parents here supplement the kids' school with additional programming in learning pods or use tutors or teach them additional math, science and literature on their own. The number of available workbooks was astonishing. When mine were school age, I had to call HBJ or Scott Foresman directly to get books.

Posted by: CN at December 27, 2020 12:41 PM (ONvIw)

459 She said: "Okay, Daddles. Will do."
Posted by: Sharkman at December 27, 2020 12:40 PM (Qio/u

She will thank you for encouraging her academically. Both of mine did when they became adults.

Posted by: CN at December 27, 2020 12:42 PM (ONvIw)

460 My musings about why Gielgud (1904-2000) didn't die filthy rich:


Posted by: mnw at December 27, 2020 12:21 PM (Cssks)

---
He was never a leading man like Olivier or even Guinness.

Guinness died very very rich because he got a percentage of Star Wars rather than a flat fee.


Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 27, 2020 12:46 PM (cfSRQ)

461 She will thank you for encouraging her academically. Both of mine did when they became adults.

Posted by: CN




*FistBump*

Posted by: Sharkman at December 27, 2020 12:48 PM (Qio/u)

462 Be not jealous.



He doesn't write every page. He has a stable of ghost writers.



There is a famous Wired article about it in 2002 or there abouts.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at December 27, 2020 12:20 PM (r/D5B)

---
Since I hate Kings writing style, I don't want to be like him in any way.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 27, 2020 12:54 PM (cfSRQ)

463 Guinness died very very rich because he got a percentage of Star Wars rather than a flat fee.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 27, 2020 12:46 PM (cfSRQ)


Which role he played was the one he hated the most. Or so I've heard.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at December 27, 2020 12:55 PM (TY8Lu)

464 The Glensheen Mansion in Duluth is infamous for the Elizabeth Congdon murder back in 1977. Her adopted stepdaughter and husband were tried and convicted. The motive was money (no surprise) since the stepdaughter was set to inherit the family fortune after her death. Elizabeth was in her late 80s at the time of the murder.

Posted by: wxwzrd at December 27, 2020 01:11 PM (+8/zD)

465 Somebody asked about Black Lamb and Grey Falcon. I read it probably 40 years ago and as I recall really liked it but thought it was a bit too long. I just picked it up for my kindle so I will read it again, eventually, and see how it holds up.
Posted by: Who knew at December 27, 2020 11:45 AM (SfO/T)


Thank you. I'll probably pick it up at the lieberry and if I like it buy a copy. I started it from the library years ago and got confused so we'll see if age has made me less dumb.

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 27, 2020 01:16 PM (y7DUB)

466 Hey, you Nabokov readers!

What the title of the short ghost story he wrote?

I've forgotten the title and can't seem to find it.

Posted by: naturalfake at December 27, 2020 12:08 PM (dWwl


The Vane Sisters.

Posted by: Captain Hate at December 27, 2020 01:20 PM (y7DUB)

467 Just finished Dark Imperium by Guy Haley and am currently reading The Devastation of Baal also by Haley. They are warhammer 40K novels and the are about moving the timeline into the 42nd millennium.

Posted by: Dr. Darth Randall at December 27, 2020 01:33 PM (zDlmu)

468 Elton John has famously expensive habits and despite massive income has flirted with financial ruin to do his profligacy.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 27, 2020 09:54 AM (cfSRQ)

Bob Dylan sold the rights to his catalog for $300 million. I bet that Sir Elton took notice of that, and will be making similar arrangements shortly.

Posted by: Darrell Harris at December 27, 2020 01:40 PM (xDF8J)

469 457 I'm currently reading something I read about on the book thread: The Birth of the People's Republic of Antarctica by John Calvin Batchelor. When I read fiction it's usually science-fiction, but I have a soft spot for the idea of people settling in Antarctica. Which the book hasn't even come close to addressing yet.
Posted by: Jim S. at December 27, 2020 12:40 PM (ynUnH)

I'd be interested in what you think of the book. I've been listening to his radio show, The John Batchelor Show, for years.

Posted by: Darrell Harris at December 27, 2020 01:43 PM (xDF8J)

470 320 "I read Stranger in a Strange Land long ago, and it felt like two different books by two different authors. Like Heinlein wrote half of it, put it aside, then decades later when very unhappy and depressed wrote the second half."

In one of his memoirs Heinlein said that he had often be told by readers that SiaSL exhibited the two-part style change you mentioned, but that each person who mentioned that to him identified a different place in the book where that change in style occurred.

Posted by: Lawdawg at December 27, 2020 01:50 PM (6K2vl)

471 You skipped over the most interesting part about the Glensheen mansion; the murders.

see: MPR News "40 Years later, GlenSheen Murders Still Grip Duluth"

I'd post the link to the story but your buffer won't allow a long string of text.

Posted by: Dr. Tar at December 27, 2020 02:23 PM (k+02c)

472
MPR News "40 Years later, GlenSheen Murders Still Grip Duluth"

I'd post the link to the story but your buffer won't allow a long string of text.
Posted by: Dr. Tar
-----------

Here 'tis:


https://tinyurl.com/ybtopy5p

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at December 27, 2020 03:37 PM (bPH26)

473 Waaaay late getting here, but reading 'Madrid', Sansom, for bedtime reading, and, 'David Sarnoff', Lyons, as a more serious thing.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at December 27, 2020 03:40 PM (830x5)

474
Glensheen murders' link -
https://artfulliving.com/murder-at-glensheen/

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 27, 2020 04:08 PM (pNxlR)

(Jump to top of page)






Processing 0.06, elapsed 0.0673 seconds.
15 queries taking 0.0208 seconds, 483 records returned.
Page size 289 kb.
Powered by Minx 0.8 beta.



MuNuvians
MeeNuvians
Polls! Polls! Polls!

Real Clear Politics
Gallup
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Top Top Tens
Greatest Hitjobs

The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon
A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates
Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny
More Margaret Cho Abuse
Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny
Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman
Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format
John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia
World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading
Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree
Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears
Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed"
Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility
Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips
They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan
Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq
Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town
When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool
What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means
Wonkette's Stand-Up Act
Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour
Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider
My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty
Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA
An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear
The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report!
Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet
The House of Love: Paul Krugman
A Michael Moore Mystery (TM)
The Dowd-O-Matic!
Liberal Consistency and Other Myths
Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias
John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate
"Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long)
The Donkey ("The Raven" parody)
News/Chat