Sunday Morning Book Thread 03-07-2021

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, thanks to the civil rights gains in the 60s and 70s, the right of all Americans to wear dorky pants was secured.

Pic Note:

I had not known about this particular monastic library, but it made the news about 10 years ago for a particularly brazen and systematic series of book thefts. Spoiler: it was an inside job:

First opened to the public in 1586 and located on the grounds of a church, the Girolamini is, according to Wikipedia, the oldest library in Naples and the second oldest in Italy. It gorgeous interior — vaulted, painted ceilings and allover wooden shelves — housed incredibly precious volumes, including a 1518 edition of Thomas More’s Utopia and Galileo’s 1610 treatise Sidereus Nuncius. But in the 1980s, it began to fall into disrepair, like so many underfunded and underpreserved cultural institutions, and it was closed to the public. In 2011, a bookseller named Marino Massimo De Caro was appointed director of the library by the Ministry of Culture, presumably in the hopes of turning the place around. A year later, De Caro was arrested for systematically ransacking and looting the Girolamini’s collection.

They eventually recovered about 80% of the stolen items, but a number of rare and valuable items are still missing. No doubt they're gracing the libraries of private collectors.

It Pays To Increase Your Word Power®

Library Girl

OK Boomer

I've long argued that we're not going to make any progress as a culture until we've done an honest, objective assessment of the social upheavals of the 1960s. The perspective is always some version of pie in the sky, oh how wonderful and liberating it is, the music was great and oh, weren't those the days treacly hagiography. My personal view is that it takes one generation to lose a civilization and this is the generation that lost ours,

David Horowitz has done some good work on this topic, since when he switched from left to right in the early 1980s, his old comrades accused him of "turning his back on the 60s" and eventually his reply to them was "yes, that's exactly what I'm doing."

With that, I welcome the appearance of Boomers: The Men and Women Who Promised Freedom and Delivered Disaster as a necessary corrective:

In Boomers, essayist Helen Andrews addresses the Boomer legacy with scrupulous fairness and biting wit. Following the model of Lytton Strachey's Eminent Victorians [published in 1918], she profiles six of the Boomers' brightest and best. She shows how Steve Jobs tried to liberate everyone's inner rebel but unleashed our stultifying digital world of social media and the gig economy. How Aaron Sorkin played pied piper to a generation of idealistic wonks. How Camille Paglia corrupted academia while trying to save it. How Jeffrey Sachs, Al Sharpton, and Sonya Sotomayor wanted to empower the oppressed but ended up empowering new oppressors.

Ranging far beyond the usual Beatles and Bill Clinton clichés, Andrews shows how these six Boomers' effect on the world has been tragically and often ironically contrary to their intentions. She reveals the essence of Boomerness: they tried to liberate us, and instead of freedom they left behind chaos.

And others have to clean up their mess.

Kindle is about the same price as the hardcover edition.

I would recommend this well-balanced review from City Journal.

Who Dis:

(Last week's 'who dis' was actor Sam Rockwell.

Moron Recommendations

22 I think I might like Paulette Jiles' "Simon the Fiddler" even more than her "News of the World". It's connected to that fine novel by the character Simon Boudlin, a young musician conscripted into the Confederate Army in the last days of the war. In the weeks following the surrender, he and some regimental bandmates are asked to play at a dinner gathering of the officers and families of both sides. There, Simon spies the lovely Irish governess Doris, who is an indentured servant to the family of a mean Union colonel. Simon is immediately smitten.

Trying to earn a living in the Texas seacoast towns, Simon teams up with penny whistle player and tatty gentleman scholar Damon, Tejano guitarist Doroteo, and Union drummer boy Patrick. They have all kinds of adventures, but Simon never forgets Doris, and takes up a secret correspondence with her. He vows to meet up with her again as a prosperous land-owner.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at February 28, 2021 09:07 AM (Dc2NZ)

Simon the Fiddler is one of Amazon's "Editor's Picks", so it's got that going for it. AHE's blurb is pretty complete, and the Amazon blurb is positively gushing:

Incandescent in its beauty, told in Paulette Jiles’s trademark spare yet lilting style, Simon the Fiddler is a captivating, bittersweet tale of the chances a devoted man will take, and the lengths he will go to fulfill his heart’s yearning.

The Kindle edition is $13.99, but it does sound like a good read.

___________

Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy has been mentioned a few times, so let's take a look:

Before the ink was dry on the U.S. Constitution, the establishment of a permanent military became the most divisive issue facing the new government. The founders―particularly Jefferson, Madison, and Adams―debated fiercely. Would a standing army be the thin end of dictatorship? Would a navy protect from pirates or drain the treasury and provoke hostility? Britain alone had hundreds of powerful warships.

From the decision to build six heavy frigates, through the cliff-hanger campaign against Tripoli, to the war that shook the world in 1812, Ian W. Toll tells this grand tale with the political insight of Founding Brothers and the narrative flair of Patrick O'Brian.

This is all news to me. That is, that there'd be a big debate about this. I thought the founders were very suspicious of standing armies, while a commissioning of a navy was specifically enshrined in the constitution as it suited the "l'aizzez faire" philosophy of government. Therefore the navy would be primarily defensive in nature to keep other countries from messing with us. But I cleary need to refine my understanding.

The Kindle edition goes for $9.99.

___________

In my to read list: Patrick Byrne's The Deep Rig about the 2020 election. Get it before it gets censored for wrong-think.

Posted by: Hans G. Schantz at February 28, 2021 09:14 AM (we9lM)

The title of this book immediately raised my interest: The Deep Rig: How Election Fraud Cost Donald J. Trump the White House, By a Man Who did not Vote for Him, written by

...a libertarian who did not vote for Trump and has publicly criticized him: that said, he believes Election 2020 was rigged, and that should be objectionable to every person who believes, "just government derives its power from the consent of the governed." In this book he explains what caused him in August 2020 to study election fraud, and what really happened during the 2020 election. He describes how his team of "cyber-ninjas" unraveled it while they worked against the clock of Constitutional processes, all against the background of being a lifetime entrepreneur trying to interact with Washington, DC. This book takes you behind the headlines to backroom scenes that determined whether or not the fraud would be exposed in time, and paints a portrait of Washington that will leave the reader asking, "Is this the end of our constitutional republic?"

Combing through the Amazon reviews, I noticed:

(1) The overwhelming majority of the (almost 300) reviews were 5-star reviews
(2) None of the negative/dismissive reviews were from Verified Purchasers, i.e. there was no evidence that the reviewers had actually read the book.

I want to read this book, but not right now. I think I'm still too close to the events and it's just going to make me depressed, angry, or both. But it's on my list.

It's only $3.99 on Kindle.

___________

Pixy has been getting awfully picky lately, and that's due to a high level of troll activity plus the spammers. But this means that sometimes legitimate comments can't be posted and last week, moron Weak Geek kept getting his recommendation rejected. So here it is:

I finished “Future Quest,” a 12-issue (two trade collections) DC Comics maxiseries that features practically all of the Hanna-Barbara action characters of the ‘60s – anybody here besides me remember “The Impossibles“? – battling to save Earth from a creature that has destroyed numerous planets.

The story slams into high gear from the start and never lets up. I actually cheered out loud at a couple of scenes.

As the name suggests, the “Jonny Quest” bunch is prominent, but nobody in the book is overlooked.

Some new characters are brought in to expand this world from being all male plus Jezebel Jade and Jan. Most of them work for me, but I think one should have been 30 years older.

I know mainstream comics have gone off the deep end in the past few years, but this is a bright spot, with no politics. The writer is Jeff Parker, whose work I enjoy. I don’t know his political views, and I don’t want to know them. I have too few comics writers to follow as is.

The first volume of the Hanna-Barbera reboot Future Quest is $16.99 for paperback or $5.99 on Kindle.

___________

Books By Morons

Moron author Max Cossack has a new novel out. According to the e-mail he sent me:

There’s a new Max Cossack novel out this week, number 5 in the “Wilder Bunch” series beginning with “Khaybar, Minnesota,” and including “Simple Grifts.” It’s “Where There Is No Man”, in which Sam Lapidos and his Mauritanian-born law partner Jacob Laghdaf take on a series of new Arizona clients, each one plunging their lives into ever more violent turmoil, and each new day bringing their clients and themselves closer to destruction. It’s “suspenseful, action-packed, sometimes moving, often laugh-out-loud funny, and always PC-indifferent.”

Where There is No Man is $2.99 on Kindle and $12.99 for the paperback edition. In fact, all five installments of the Hack Wilder series are priced at $2.99 Kindle/$12.99 paperback.

___________

'Ette author Anne Cleeland has just released the thirteenth in her Doyle & Acton series of detective novels. This one is called Murder in Unsound Mind:

Detective Sergeant Kathleen Doyle has been called-in to assist with a few unsound-mind murders, lately—murders committed by a person who appears to be mentally unhinged. This type of murder is always a concern for Scotland Yard, since it raises the possibility that there’s a serial killer on the loose.

And it doesn’t help matters that the weather is so very cold and miserable—small wonder, that these killers have gone off the deep end; Doyle was half-way there herself, what with Christmas coming far too quickly, and a husband who was showing some troubling signs of his own.

The Kindle edition is only $4.99.

___________

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

___________

So that's all for this week. As always, book thread tips, suggestions, bribes, insults, threats, ugly pants pics and moron library submissions may be sent to OregonMuse, Proprietor, AoSHQ Book Thread, at the book thread e-mail address: aoshqbookthread, followed by the 'at' sign, and then 'G' mail, and then dot cee oh emm.

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

Posted by: OregonMuse at 08:55 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Who Dis? Agnes Moorehead!

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at March 07, 2021 08:59 AM (PiwSw)

2 Good Sunday morning, horde!

Mrs. Sansabelt looks like she's not favorably impressed.

Posted by: April at March 07, 2021 09:00 AM (OX9vb)

3 ooh, and a first too!

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at March 07, 2021 09:00 AM (PiwSw)

4 Books read for 2021 - 15 so far
Currently reading The Winds of Change and Other Stories by Isaac Asimov (not to be confused with The Changewinds by Jack L. Chalker).
Also, Clifford D. Simak may be the single best science fiction author ever, if only because his stories are extremely pertinent and relevant in today's world. Despite the fact that he wrote many of them 50 years or more in the past. Great stuff. Pick them up at used bookstores or through openroadmedia.com before they are taken away by the techno-elite for their "wrong thinking." It's only a matter of time.

Posted by: Lord Squirrel at March 07, 2021 09:00 AM (hQrcu)

5 They were charging $25-30 for those slacks back in the 60s?

TY for the Book thread, OM.

Posted by: GnuBreed at March 07, 2021 09:00 AM (F0YaR)

6 Gorgeous library

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 09:00 AM (ONvIw)

7
And still the time change nonsense survives.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at March 07, 2021 09:02 AM (pNxlR)

8 I started reading some Roald Dahl stories for adults, and so far, they're nothing special.

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 09:02 AM (ONvIw)

9 Tolle Lege
Reading a used book, D-Day the First 24 Hours by Will Fowler whom I have another book co-wrote by on Soviet Armor of WWII.
Always looking for more information on D-Day as FiL was a veteran of.

Posted by: Skip at March 07, 2021 09:02 AM (Cxk7w)

10 Agnes Moorehead!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at March 07, 2021 09:02 AM (Dc2NZ)

11 Good Morning.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at March 07, 2021 09:03 AM (89T5c)

12 Mrs. Sansabelt looks like she's not favorably impressed.

Posted by: April at March 07, 2021 09:00 AM (OX9vb)

Whatever happened to polyester? Did they lose the formula?

Posted by: BignJames at March 07, 2021 09:04 AM (AwYPR)

13 Sorry OM...'Blue Anon' now no longer exists...

@JackPosobiec

Wokies at Urban Dictionary zapped Blue Anon because it was too powerful!

https://tinyurl.com/y8xmapkv

Posted by: Tami at March 07, 2021 09:04 AM (cF8AT)

14 I wonder if this beautiful library carries Kamala's books for children and the President to read. If not, they should be ordered to by order from the WH.Biden could write his glowing book review to put on the cover.

Posted by: Colin at March 07, 2021 09:04 AM (WIRN7)

15 Shame DeCaro's dried up remains are not hanging from a corbel there.

Posted by: Skip at March 07, 2021 09:05 AM (Cxk7w)

16 I'm not likely to read an essay that thinks Steve Jobs is/was the problem. Not that I care about him one way or the other, but the idea that he exemplifies our what's gone wrong is just silly on its face.

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at March 07, 2021 09:05 AM (H5knJ)

17 I thought the who dis is Phyllis Schlafly, but then, I don't get around much in the old movie and tv world. Clearly, I couldn't pick Agnes Moorehead out of a lineup.

Posted by: April at March 07, 2021 09:05 AM (OX9vb)

18 Whoops. My total books read this year is 16.

Forgot that I had just finished Asimov's The End of Eternity yesterday. It was a pretty decent time travel story with an interesting twist at the end. It's Asimov, so definitely worth a look. How that man found time to sleep, considering how much he wrote in his life, is a mystery to me.

Posted by: Lord Squirrel at March 07, 2021 09:05 AM (hQrcu)

19 Those slacks are fine. I would wear them to slack in my back yard.

Posted by: a slacker at March 07, 2021 09:06 AM (Wql+a)

20 'Ette author Anne Cleeland has just released the thirteenth in her Doyle
Acton series of detective novels. This one is called Murder in Unsound Mind:

I love all her books and have read the whole series up till this one. Yay! More Doyle and Acton!

Posted by: grammie winger at March 07, 2021 09:07 AM (45fpk)

21 I would visit that lieberry, then I would go to the bakery down the street for a delicious sfogliatelle.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at March 07, 2021 09:08 AM (PiwSw)

22 Endora !

Posted by: runner at March 07, 2021 09:08 AM (zr5Kq)

23 I was tempted by mention of Paulette Giles' new book "Simon the Fiddler" on last weeks book thread - but no way am I gonna pay that much for an e-Book! I'll wait for a used print copy to show up!
Not much reading this week, devoted most time to cleaning up the garden, but what reading time I had was to reading a forthcoming book by another Moron, and penning a review of it from which blurbs might be lifted. I'll let the author announce when the book will be available, but I will say it was a fascinating read about an unknown (to me) hero of WWII.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at March 07, 2021 09:08 AM (xnmPy)

24 I really liked News of the World. If I'm going to read Simon the Fiddler, I'd better hurry up and do it before they make a movie of it starring Tom Hanks.

I really had to struggle to get his image out of my mind when reading News of the World. I finally overcame it with someone more like James Coburn.

Posted by: April at March 07, 2021 09:10 AM (OX9vb)

25 old and busted: Blue Anon
new hotness : Pink Anon, first LGBTQ insurgent !

Posted by: runner at March 07, 2021 09:11 AM (zr5Kq)

26 Going thru Andy Ngo's "Unmasked". Starts out with stuff I already knew. Then he gets into some of the working of Antifa. Like the encryption software for their phones, for communications. I an wondering if downloading the app's will get you taged by Bob at NSA. "Hi Bob!" What has struck me is ... they that is them. Has been around for a long time. a big "Group Think" organazation, but there has to be somebody directing the show.

Posted by: Paladin at March 07, 2021 09:11 AM (7mMMu)

27 I am also reading books on dog training. I haven't had a pup in the house since 1991, so it seems newish

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 09:11 AM (ONvIw)

28 Nice Lieberry!

Those pants.....Sansabelts rule!

The Who Dis is Bill Clinton in drag.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at March 07, 2021 09:12 AM (R/m4+)

29 Really miss B&N and being able to sit with a coffee and sample books deciding what to read. So many little things ruined by our government with this forced lockdown.

About to finally read book IV of the Stormlight Archive. Hopefully it holds up to the predecessors.

Posted by: NJRob at March 07, 2021 09:13 AM (Ce7wD)

30 I'm not paying dead trees prices for e-books. Sorry, authors.

I get most of my books from the library now. My purchases are mostly old classic SF stories that libraries don't carry.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at March 07, 2021 09:14 AM (Dc2NZ)

31 yay books!!!

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at March 07, 2021 09:14 AM (nUhF0)

32 Very, very high surface area to books ratio in that library, but I like it.
It breaks my heart to think of those books ending up in a private collector's library, but the church clearly wasn't capable of caring for them properly. They should be in a museum. Like, say, one of the many fine museums near where I live. And with generous visiting hours.
Camille Paglia doesn't really belong on that list. Neither does Jobs. That just sounds like someone's idea of a hot take.
Awesome Poe picture.

Posted by: pep at March 07, 2021 09:15 AM (v16oJ)

33 Good MorningI lurk here a lot but always come to the Book Thread to look in amazement at the beautiful libraries shown here. Looking at the libraries makes me SMH at those ignoramuses yelping at western civ and its achievements. Sheesh.

Posted by: Novadog at March 07, 2021 09:15 AM (o3Gy9)

34 30: I buy used, generally.

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 09:15 AM (ONvIw)

35 A. H. Lloyd, I recently ran across an article I thought you might be interested in. It is at "tank-encyclopdia.com", March 5, 2021. It is about an armored car from the Spanish Civil War, the Blinado tipo ZIS. It was designed and produced by the Republican side and was successful enough that captures ones were used by both the Nationalists and the Italians. As well as details of the vehicle's design, the article covers its operational history and includes a large number of contemporary photographs.

Posted by: John F. MacMichael at March 07, 2021 09:15 AM (JsY6e)

36 Stabsamillion would be a great name for a knife store.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at March 07, 2021 09:15 AM (Dc2NZ)

37 Many years ago, I read a book entitled The Dream and the Nightmare which proposed that the '60s had two branches of liberation thought, one basically just and one a nightmare. The just branch was the fight against discrimination based on race etc. and the nightmare was "personal liberation" which destroyed families and ruined lives. At the time, I agreed with the premise but now I see that anti-discrimination has morphed into deadly and hateful identity politics so now I see it more as the nightmare and the nightmare.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 07, 2021 09:16 AM (VVEnO)

38 One last thing: I know she's only watercolors on a piece of paper, but I think I'm in love with the girl in the painting. The only possible improvement would be glasses.

Posted by: pep at March 07, 2021 09:17 AM (v16oJ)

39 I'm finishing up Susannah Clarke's _Piranesi_. She's the one who made a huge splash with her first novel _Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell_ but then didn't write much for a long time. I believe she had some kind of serious health problem.

Anyway, she did manage to write a new book, and it's really good. Not related at all to Strange/Norrell. If you like Borges or the Narnia novel _The Magician's Nephew_ it's got a lot of influences from them. Not a children's book, though.

Recommended.

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 07, 2021 09:18 AM (QZxDR)

40 I buy used, generally.

Posted by: CN
Ditto. Good condition and up is the best deal at Amazon. Yeah, I know, but I have a problem, okay?

Posted by: pep at March 07, 2021 09:18 AM (v16oJ)

41 I went to the BN site and saw that Huckleberry Finn was selling like crazy. People preparing for more stupid cancelling?

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 09:19 AM (ONvIw)

42 36 Stabsamillion would be a great name for a knife store.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at March 07, 2021 09:15 AM (Dc2NZ)

In the punk years, there was a thrift shop in Dayton called Millions of Dead Clothes.

Posted by: April at March 07, 2021 09:20 AM (OX9vb)

43 Good morning fellow Book Threadists. I hope everyone had a great week of reading. Mine was terrific.

Posted by: JTB at March 07, 2021 09:21 AM (7EjX1)

44 Anyway, this week I liked Under Western Eyes, by Conrad, but feel disinterested in Dahl's stories for adults.

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 09:22 AM (ONvIw)

45 I've mentioned this before but it's on point. David Horowitz' Radical Son is one of my all time favorite books.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 07, 2021 09:22 AM (VVEnO)

46 The 60s were when the spoiled brat boomers reached late adolescence, and refused to grow up any further, wanting playtime forever.

The, "Good times make bad people," part of the formula.

Posted by: davidt at March 07, 2021 09:23 AM (5ZHS+)

47 45 I've mentioned this before but it's on point. David Horowitz' Radical Son is one of my all time favorite books.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 07, 2021 09:22 AM (VVEnO)

I liked it, too. Seems pretty accurate to me

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 09:24 AM (ONvIw)

48 I finished Plato's "Apology". I got the impression that Socrates was not really sorry.

Posted by: f'd at March 07, 2021 09:24 AM (Wql+a)

49 The 60s were when the spoiled brat boomers reached late adolescence, and
refused to grow up any further, wanting playtime forever.

oh for the love of pete

Posted by: grammie winger at March 07, 2021 09:24 AM (45fpk)

50 Finished "Son of the Morning Star"...Custer and the Little Bighorn. This was a bestseller in the '80s, but I thought...meh. Maybe because I already knew the ending.

Posted by: BignJames at March 07, 2021 09:25 AM (AwYPR)

51 I recently finished votermom's new book "My Dear Cousin." Set during the second world war, it alternates between third person narration and the letters two cousins (and best friends) write to one another during the war, describing their experiences. One is an Army nurse who goes through some harrowing experiences. Highly recommended.

Posted by: Dr Alice at March 07, 2021 09:27 AM (3PlHP)

52 been catching up on older Sarah Hoyt books
also downloaded a sample of The Naked Socialist and it's quite illuminating - am gonna have to get the whole book

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at March 07, 2021 09:27 AM (nUhF0)

53 A little bit of good news: the HP Lovecraft Historical Society succeeded in raising money to buy a collection of HPL's letters to Frank Belknap Long, which they're giving to the Brown University Library.

It's funny: the guys running the HPLHS are a pair of bog-standard Proggies, who insist on spotting and bemoaning every one of Howard's racist asides in his private letters -- but at least they understand his importance and value his life and work.

The Fascist aunties have been trying to "cancel" Lovecraft for years, but they can't seem to pull it off. Partly because he's in public domain, so even pressuring one publisher to drop him from the list doesn't stop half a dozen small presses and indies from popping up to fill the need. Partly because he's so damned influential they'd have to cancel half their favorite Proggie fantasy and horror writers along with him. And partly because of the "no publicity is bad publicity" effect, by which their attacks just get more people interested in his work.

The current strategy is to "deconstruct" Lovecraft, which means writing bog-standard Proggie stories of people being heroically oppressed, but with some HPL name-checks.

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 07, 2021 09:27 AM (QZxDR)

54 I need to get caught up with Acton and Doyle

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at March 07, 2021 09:28 AM (nUhF0)

55 49 The 60s were when the spoiled brat boomers reached late adolescence, and
refused to grow up any further, wanting playtime forever.

oh for the love of pete
Posted by: grammie winger at March 07, 2021 09:24 AM (45fpk)

There are plenty of boomers to whom this applies, but there are "pre-boomers" like Joe Biden and Jane Fonda and Nancy Pelosi, and on and on to whom it applies even more. Bill Ayers born in 44 is technically NOT a boomer if we're a post-war thing, now was Abby Hoffman

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 09:28 AM (ONvIw)

56 Posted by: Dr Alice at March 07, 2021 09:27 AM (3PlHP)

oh, My Dear Cousin is by our own Celia Hayes

I don't write, only read

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at March 07, 2021 09:30 AM (nUhF0)

57 It's a mistake to say that generations have tightly-defined chronological boundaries. Barack Obama has the Boomer mindset despite being born after the usual cut-off date. And if some wartime babies were early-adopters I'd say count them as Boomers, too.

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 07, 2021 09:30 AM (QZxDR)

58 The Fascist aunties have been trying to "cancel" Lovecraft for years, but they can't seem to pull it off.
I imagine it's racism, but which particular bee is up their butts?

Posted by: pep at March 07, 2021 09:31 AM (v16oJ)

59 56 Aah, my apologies! All this time I somehow thought you were Celia Hayes.

Posted by: Dr Alice at March 07, 2021 09:31 AM (3PlHP)

60 Gabriel Smith of Teaching Tolerance explains what's wrong with Dr. Seuss' The Sneetches:

But what about The Sneetches?
In light of this new information, you may wonder about Dr. Seuss books featuring non-human characters. At Teaching Tolerance, we've even featured anti-racist activities built around the Dr. Seuss book The Sneetches. But when we re-evaluated, we found that the story is actually not as "anti-racist" as we once thought. And it has some pretty intricate layers you and your students might consider, too.

The solution to the story's conflict is that the Plain-Belly Sneetches and Star-Bellied Sneetches simply get confused as to who is oppressed. As a result, they accept one another. This message of "acceptance" does not acknowledge structural power imbalances. It doesn't address the idea that historical narratives impact present-day power structures. And instead of encouraging young readers to recognize and take action against injustice, the story promotes a race-neutral approach.

https://bit.ly/2O7BVdC

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 07, 2021 09:32 AM (VVEnO)

61 57 It's a mistake to say that generations have tightly-defined chronological boundaries. Barack Obama has the Boomer mindset despite being born after the usual cut-off date. And if some wartime babies were early-adopters I'd say count them as Boomers, too.
Posted by: Trimegistus at March 07, 2021 09:30 AM (QZxDR)

That makes it convenient, doesn't it? Obama, born in 61, is a Boomer (and my grandma's candidate for anti-Christ, evenhough she died in 7

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 09:32 AM (ONvIw)

62 I'm about halfway through Pnin by Nabokov and am thoroughly enjoying every sentence. I think after completing Lolita he really hit his stride as far as comfort in writing in English (he still felt most at home writing in Russian, naturally, but he wrote in English differently stylistically than any other author I've encountered). Accordingly Pnin is at least partly autobiographical: academic from Russia who puts together odd sentences and had major dental problems. But other aspects, particularly awkwardness around women, are obviously not based on real life, his ability to poke fun at himself notwithstanding. But some of his ruminations on art (That Dali is really Norman Rockwell's twin brother kidnapped by gypsies in babyhood) are flat out hilarious.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at March 07, 2021 09:32 AM (y7DUB)

63 Boomer mindset

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 07, 2021 09:30 AM (QZxDR)

What's that? Love painting w/that brosd brush?

Posted by: BignJames at March 07, 2021 09:33 AM (AwYPR)

64 Posted by: Dr Alice at March 07, 2021 09:31 AM (3PlHP)
-----,
Celia is Sgt. Mom.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at March 07, 2021 09:33 AM (GLv8N)

65 I got the impression that Socrates was not really sorry.

Posted by: f'd at March 07, 2021 09:24 AM (Wql+a)

He talked prettier than a $10 whore!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at March 07, 2021 09:33 AM (Q9lwr)

66 With Lovecraft it's not hard to find racist stuff, especially because some of it's really there.

But the guy is so foundational to modern fantasy and horror that they can only manage some ankle-biting right now.

After the Dems finish dismantling America, then they can send out squads to burn everything he wrote.

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 07, 2021 09:34 AM (QZxDR)

67 This message of "acceptance" does not acknowledge structural power
imbalances. It doesn't address the idea that historical narratives
impact present-day power structures.

oh my gosh. It's a children's book, not a United Nations training manual.

Posted by: grammie winger at March 07, 2021 09:35 AM (45fpk)

68 What's that? Love painting w/that brosd brush?
Posted by: BignJames at March 07, 2021 09:33 AM (AwYPR)

Seems the case, although Ayers group and now antifa are NOT boomers, it's fun to blame us.

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 09:35 AM (ONvIw)

69 Needs a Swiffer.

'Mornin', Horde.

Posted by: creeper at March 07, 2021 09:35 AM (XxJt1)

70 If "race-neutral" is now Wrongthink, then I guess they should get busy cancelling MLK Jr's "I have a dream" speech, no?

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at March 07, 2021 09:36 AM (PiwSw)

71 Okay, Boomer. Whatever you say.

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 07, 2021 09:36 AM (QZxDR)

72 64 Thank you.

Posted by: Dr Alice at March 07, 2021 09:36 AM (3PlHP)

73 feel disinterested in Dahl's stories for adults.
Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 09:22 AM (ONvIw)

His stories are very inconsistent but one about a group of wine connoisseurs is one of the creepiest stories I've even encountered.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at March 07, 2021 09:37 AM (y7DUB)

74 Boomer mindset

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 07, 2021 09:30 AM (QZxDR)

What's that? Love painting w/that brosd brush?

Posted by: BignJames at March 07, 2021 09:33 AM (AwYPR)

Boomer Mindset equals Useless Eaters. Soon they'll take us out back and shoot us for being born in an unacceptable year.

Posted by: grammie winger at March 07, 2021 09:37 AM (45fpk)

75 I don't really think Seuss wrote in "intricate layers" to indoctrinate, but I guess it's popular or someone's doctoral dissertation to say so.

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 09:37 AM (ONvIw)

76 OM, thanks to you and your wonderful selections I've just bought 6 new books for my Kindle. When I already have at least 30 in my want-to-read stack. Sigh.

Posted by: Carolina Girl at March 07, 2021 09:37 AM (Kh9rg)

77 Greetings:

Me, I'm kind of surprised not to have come across many mentions of Christopher Calswell's "The Age of Enlightenment". In hindsight, it was my most "enlightening" read of 2020 if you get my drift and yet extremely rare to come across any mention of it on rightward websites.

Posted by: 11B40 at March 07, 2021 09:37 AM (evgyj)

78 With Lovecraft it's not hard to find racist stuff, especially because some of it's really there.
I've read a fair amount of his stuff, and I guess it just didn't register. I mean, nobody really likes the Great Old Ones, do they? I certainly don't want them in my neighborhood.

Posted by: pep at March 07, 2021 09:38 AM (v16oJ)

79 Okay, Boomer. Whatever you say.

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 07, 2021 09:36 AM (QZxDR)

Oh hush, Child.

Posted by: BignJames at March 07, 2021 09:38 AM (AwYPR)

80 Hollyweird and the media think the generations were just like themselves. The reality is conservatives were much more a major percentage of this country in the 60s than they are today. Anyone who does not see that truly needs to read a bit more. If you buy the absurd idea that the 60's were dominated by the Left, then ask a leftist what they thought about the 70s and 80s.

When a Leftist says they lived the 60s, they are saying they were jagoffs in that decade. The reality is we would pine for the conservatives that lived in that decade. We get pushed around constantly for things men and women of the 60s would not.

Posted by: Quint at March 07, 2021 09:38 AM (1FZFY)

81 Edie Falco will star as Hillary Clinton in the upcoming FX series Impeachment: American Crime Story.

Crime Boss Wife plays Crime Boss Wife!

Posted by: rhennigantx at March 07, 2021 09:38 AM (yrol0)

82 It's more my ass that has a boomer problem.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 07, 2021 09:39 AM (VVEnO)

83 Library Girl is stacked!

Posted by: Muldoon at March 07, 2021 09:39 AM (m45I2)

84 His stories are very inconsistent but one about a group of wine connoisseurs is one of the creepiest stories I've even encountered.
Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at March 07, 2021 09:37 AM (y7DUB)

I guess I haven't got there yet. I did sorta like the one about "authors".

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 09:40 AM (ONvIw)

85 I'm having a terrible time getting through "Who Moved the Stone" by Morrison. It's wonderful devotional reading, but it was published at the end of the 19th century and so the language is stilted. And whoever scanned the book in for Kindle did a rotten job - my eye keeps catching on all the misspellings that you can tell are OCR flubs.

Posted by: Carolina Girl at March 07, 2021 09:40 AM (Kh9rg)

86 Okay, Boomer. Whatever you say.
Posted by: Trimegistus at March 07, 2021 09:36 AM (QZxDR)

As a Boomer, observing the reflexive defensiveness never ceases to be amusing.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at March 07, 2021 09:40 AM (y7DUB)

87 Gloop and Gleep always had funny voices.

Posted by: Dr. Varno at March 07, 2021 09:40 AM (vuisn)

88 Paladin, good morning. Select Antifa personnel have been trained by Red China and Iran. And they sent some of their folks to Syria to get training and combat experience alongside the communist militia.

Antifa is a serious organization.

Posted by: callsign claymore at March 07, 2021 09:40 AM (6SCX/)

89 It has been a good week for reading and acquisition. The latest copies of Muzzleloader and Backwoodsman magazine arrived on time. (The previous editions had been delayed by the Post Office for well over a month.) I finished the second of the Liturgical Mystery rereads. (Easy to forget how good those are.) I found hard cover editions of the Lensman series: the first three books in one and the second three in in the other. I dip into these as well as the Skylark stories now and then. Finding good condition used copies of these books helps since my paperback editions from the 1960s are really showing their age and wear and tear.

Posted by: JTB at March 07, 2021 09:41 AM (7EjX1)

90 There's a Lovecraft story called "Medusa's Coil" about a sort of vampire woman whose hair is really some kind of freaky alien monster. But that's not the big scary revelation. No, the thing which gets held to the very end for shock effect is that she's actually black.

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 07, 2021 09:41 AM (QZxDR)

91 59 56 Aah, my apologies! All this time I somehow thought you were Celia Hayes.
Posted by: Dr Alice at March 07, 2021 09:31 AM (3PlHP)

I'm very flattered

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at March 07, 2021 09:41 AM (nUhF0)

92 As a Boomer, observing the reflexive defensiveness never ceases to be amusing.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at March 07, 2021 09:40 AM (y7DUB)

Like placing blame for their shortcomings?

Posted by: BignJames at March 07, 2021 09:42 AM (AwYPR)

93 71 Okay, Boomer. Whatever you say.
Posted by: Trimegistus at March 07, 2021 09:36 AM (QZxDR)

So the "boomers" and those with a "boomer mindset" that are a problem. LOL, ageist! Antifa is no boomer thing, nor was Occupy. Donald Trump IS a Boomer.

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 09:42 AM (ONvIw)

94 No, the thing which gets held to the very end for shock effect is that she's actually black.
**Fans self, clutches pearls, faints onto the couch**

Posted by: pep at March 07, 2021 09:42 AM (v16oJ)

95 His stories are very inconsistent but one about a group of wine connoisseurs is one of the creepiest stories I've even encountered.
Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at March 07, 2021 09:37 AM (y7DUB)

I guess I haven't got there yet. I did sorta like the one about "authors".
Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 09:40 AM (ONvIw)

I just looked it up and it's called Taste.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at March 07, 2021 09:43 AM (y7DUB)

96 I'm having a terrible time getting through "Who Moved the Stone" by Morrison. It's wonderful devotional reading, but it was published at the end of the 19th century and so the language is stilted. And whoever scanned the book in for Kindle did a rotten job - my eye keeps catching on all the misspellings that you can tell are OCR flubs.
Posted by: Carolina Girl at March 07, 2021 09:40 AM (Kh9rg)

I had the same problem and it was a much slower read than it should have been because of it. Use a proofreader, even one who isn't perfect. There are two ebook editions, and while the later one has some corrections, they both suffer from a lack of attention to detail.

Posted by: Catherine -- who generally doesn't curse. at March 07, 2021 09:44 AM (eO5wY)

97 95: Thanks. I bought a large cheap collection and I'll read that one next.

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 09:44 AM (ONvIw)

98 There's a Lovecraft story called "Medusa's Coil" about a sort of vampire woman whose hair is really some kind of freaky alien monster. But that's not the big scary revelation. No, the thing which gets held to the very end for shock effect is that she's actually black.

-
And that little girl was me.

Posted by: Vice President Kameltoe Harris at March 07, 2021 09:44 AM (VVEnO)

99 Paladin, good morning. Select Antifa personnel have been trained by Red China and Iran. And they sent some of their folks to Syria to get training and combat experience alongside the communist militia.

Antifa is a serious organization.
Posted by: callsign claymore at March 07, 2021 09:40 AM (6SCX/)

Antifa: more than just an idea?

Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at March 07, 2021 09:44 AM (lgiXo)

100 Saw that Margaret Maron passed recently at 82. Enjoyed her NC based mysteries.

Posted by: dingbat at March 07, 2021 09:44 AM (ixAaq)

101 Suffice to say "Medusa's Coil" isn't HPL's best work. It doesn't get into most of the anthologies. You can find it here: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Medusa%27s_Coil

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 07, 2021 09:44 AM (QZxDR)

102 Bernie Sanders is NOT boomer. Rush was a boomer.

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 09:46 AM (ONvIw)

103 I saw this, larfed, and thought of Muldoon:

There was a young man
From Cork who got limericks
And haikus confused

https://tinyurl.com/5bnz5f7v

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at March 07, 2021 09:46 AM (PiwSw)

104 It wouldn't surprise me too much to learn that much of the current Democrat leadership are actually Deep Ones in disguise or something.

Although the Deep Ones in "Shadow Over Innsmouth" do seem to have a better grasp of economics.

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 07, 2021 09:47 AM (QZxDR)

105 As a boomer myself, I know I had things a lot easier in my youth than my parents who were born and raised during the Great Depression and WWII.

Posted by: davidt at March 07, 2021 09:47 AM (5ZHS+)

106 I'm nearly finished with Wild Swans, by Jung Chang. I am struck at the similarities between the Red Guard and Antifa. Chang describes how the youth were encouraged to go around the country to "stir things up," and were given free transport, food and shelter to do so.

I think the Chinese invented cancel culture during the Cultural Revolution.

Posted by: April at March 07, 2021 09:47 AM (OX9vb)

107 Don't blame the Boomers. Blame the Commies that filled their heads with nonsense.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 07, 2021 09:48 AM (mzC78)

108 As a Boomer, observing the reflexive defensiveness never ceases to be amusing.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at March 07, 2021 09:40 AM (y7DUB)

Like placing blame for their shortcomings?
Posted by: BignJames at March 07, 2021 09:42 AM (AwYPR)

I grew up immersed in people who didn't think they had any shortcomings despite abundant evidence to the contrary. You still see some of it here with "they haven't made any good music since the 70s". Yeah whatever; enjoy those 8 tracks.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at March 07, 2021 09:48 AM (y7DUB)

109 Antifa: more than just an idea?
Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at March 07, 2021 09:44 AM (lgiXo)

It's a very serious group of people who see nazis pouring out of the woodwork. It's "if we don't get rid of them, they'll kill us" and they define their mission as pre-emptive strikes. It's a sick post WWII, Hollywood, mindset, so typical of that generation/s

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 09:48 AM (ONvIw)

110 vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion

Pssst.....you have mail.

Posted by: JT at March 07, 2021 09:49 AM (arJlL)

111 Hiya

Posted by: JT at March 07, 2021 09:49 AM (arJlL)

112 If we're looking for where we went wrong, those pants would be a good place to start.

Posted by: creeper at March 07, 2021 09:49 AM (XxJt1)

113
I'm going to starting rereading "The Man in the High Castle" this week.

Season One of the amazon series is s-l-o-o-o-ow, and seems to be fairly off track from what I remember reading as a high schooler.

But, it's made me curious about the story again, so book it is.

I'll probably tap-out at the end of series one unless the book makes me curious about amazon's show all over again.

Posted by: naturalfake at March 07, 2021 09:49 AM (dWwl8)

114 Whoa! Who couldda seen this coming?

Socialism Success Story: Inflation Pushes Venezuela To Print $1,000,000 Bolivar Bill

-
This way you need only the smaller wheelbarrow to carry your money when you go shopping.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 07, 2021 09:50 AM (VVEnO)

115 Anyway, I don't think Dahl brought the same dedication and talent to his work for adults which were largely magazine stories. So far:meh

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 09:50 AM (ONvIw)

116 Has anyone read The Thirty Years War, by C.V. Wedgewood? I'm considering buying it.

Posted by: pep at March 07, 2021 09:50 AM (v16oJ)

117 Speaking of acquisitions, I came across an out of print hard cover edition of one of my favorite Sackett books, Ride the River. It's one of those fake leather versions that were so well made. The used price for an excellent copy was about what the current paperback costs. No contest.

Getting away from so much re-reading, I got a copy of Tristam Shandy, which was mentioned here recently. It's one of those titles I should have read decades ago and didn't. I'm looking forward to starting it this week.

Posted by: JTB at March 07, 2021 09:51 AM (7EjX1)

118 But I do recommend "Under Western Eyes" for Conrad fans. I read it led to a breakdown for the guy, but it's a good look at "revolutionaries".

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 09:51 AM (ONvIw)

119 It is slightly shocking to realize that Roald Dahl could actually make a good living during the 1950s by writing short stories.

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 07, 2021 09:52 AM (QZxDR)

120 Boomer mindset
=====

Remember, Ayers and Woodward are from the same small very wealthy area of DuPage County, Illinois when it was one of the top counties in the US.

Posted by: mustbequantum at March 07, 2021 09:52 AM (MIKMs)

121 Extremism in defense of vice is our liberty.

Description of the Boomer philosophy from the book.

Posted by: Vir Cotto at March 07, 2021 09:52 AM (EpDzw)

122 oh for the love of pete
Posted by: grammie winger

pete who ?

Posted by: JT at March 07, 2021 09:52 AM (arJlL)

123 Anyway, I have new pup's first training class in about 10 minutes. Be back later.

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 09:53 AM (ONvIw)

124 Jane Fonda and her friends were red-diaper babies born in the late 30s.

Posted by: JAS, AoSHQ addict at March 07, 2021 09:53 AM (2BZBZ)

125 106 I'm nearly finished with Wild Swans, by Jung Chang. I am struck at the similarities between the Red Guard and Antifa. Chang describes how the youth were encouraged to go around the country to "stir things up," and were given free transport, food and shelter to do so.

I think the Chinese invented cancel culture during the Cultural Revolution.
Posted by: April at March 07, 2021 09:47 AM (OX9vb)

I've read the book and I've long found the comparisons striking.

So when will books like Wild Swans and Life and Death in Shanghai get banned?

Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at March 07, 2021 09:53 AM (lgiXo)

126 WHO Re-Issued Classics left out The Three Masketeers by A. Dumass

Posted by: Muldoon at March 07, 2021 09:53 AM (m45I2)

127 pete who ?
Posted by: JT at March 07, 2021 09:52 AM (arJlL)

Pete Rose...NOT a boomer

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 09:53 AM (ONvIw)

128 For H P Lovecraft fans, I think Leslie Klinger did an annotated book last year

A while ago, Klinger did a Sherlock Holmes annotation and it was well-received--he's one of those "foremost authority" people.

Posted by: artemis at March 07, 2021 09:53 AM (AwPyG)

129 This past week's read was The Devil's Game by Poul Anderson. This 1980 book isn't sci-fi (his normal gig), it's like George Soros running a real life game of Survivor with 7 players, none of which are very likeable as you get to know them.

One of the neat aspects is the story is told mostly in 8 part first person narrative. I rather enjoyed it. 3.5 out of 5 stars. Caution though -- mucho non PC language.

Posted by: GnuBreed at March 07, 2021 09:54 AM (F0YaR)

130 Extremism in defense of vice is our liberty.

Description of the Boomer philosophy from the book.

Posted by: Vir Cotto at March 07, 2021 09:52 AM (EpDzw)

That might have some validity.

Posted by: BignJames at March 07, 2021 09:54 AM (AwYPR)

131 126 WHO Re-Issued Classics left out The Three Masketeers by A. Dumass
Posted by: Muldoon at March 07, 2021 09:53 AM (m45I2)

The Loneliness of the Socially Distanced Runner, by Alan Sillytoe

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at March 07, 2021 09:54 AM (PiwSw)

132 I recently finished votermom's new book "My Dear Cousin."

votermom wrote a book ?

Posted by: JT at March 07, 2021 09:54 AM (arJlL)

133 So when will books like Wild Swans and Life and Death in Shanghai get banned?
Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at March 07, 2021 09:53 AM (lgiXo)

I don't know, but I'm glad I have my own copy of this one. I may find a second one and encourage my children to read it.

Posted by: April at March 07, 2021 09:54 AM (OX9vb)

134 And instead of encouraging young readers to recognize and take action against injustice, the story promotes a race-neutral approach.

https://bit.ly/2O7BVdC

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 07, 2021 09:32 AM (VVEn

And this is the real sin. Everything must revolve around turning everyone, men, women, boys, girls, pets, whatever, into progressive activists who are willing to fight and die for progressive causes. Anything else is wrongthink.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at March 07, 2021 09:55 AM (e074d)

135 WHO Re-Issued Classics left out The Three Masketeers by A. Dumass
I prefer his The Man in the Ironic Mask.

Posted by: pep at March 07, 2021 09:55 AM (v16oJ)

136 But I do recommend "Under Western Eyes" for Conrad fans.

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 09:51 AM (ONvIw)

Seconded!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at March 07, 2021 09:55 AM (Q9lwr)

137 Saw a TV documentary about the book thefts. The guy got house arrest for a few years.

Posted by: Vir Cotto at March 07, 2021 09:55 AM (EpDzw)

138 Mask made 0.7% difference in transmission rate of WuFlu. The error rate in the CDC study was +- 3%.

Posted by: rhennigantx at March 07, 2021 09:55 AM (yrol0)

139 @119

A lot of romance writers are making a living writing what is called "flash fiction"--short stories for women to read during their lunch hour.

Posted by: artemis at March 07, 2021 09:55 AM (AwPyG)

140 Mask made 0.7% difference in transmission rate of WuFlu. The error rate in the CDC study was +- 3%.

Posted by: rhennigantx at March 07, 2021 09:55 AM

I thought there was a no math rule on this blog.

Posted by: Mister Scott (formerly GWS) at March 07, 2021 09:56 AM (JUOKG)

141 A lot of romance writers are making a living writing what is called
"flash fiction"--short stories for women to read during their lunch
hour.
I'm sure the publishers have this information, but it would be interesting to see book sales to men and women broken down by fiction / nonfiction.

Posted by: pep at March 07, 2021 09:57 AM (v16oJ)

142 Has anyone read The Thirty Years War, by C.V. Wedgewood? I'm considering buying it.
Posted by: pep at March 07, 2021 09:50 AM (v16oJ)
------
Yes. It's a good 'un.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at March 07, 2021 09:58 AM (GLv8N)

143
A lot of romance writers are making a living writing what is called "flash fiction"--short stories for women to read during their lunch hour.
Posted by: artemis

"Hot flash fiction" is directed at women WILL YOU LEAVE ME ALONE ALREADY? during their time of "the change".

True story!

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at March 07, 2021 09:58 AM (pNxlR)

144 The reality is conservatives were much more a major percentage of this country in the 60s than they are today. Anyone who does not see that truly needs to read a bit more. If you buy the absurd idea that the 60's were dominated by the Left, then ask a leftist what they thought about the 70s and 80s.

The Vietnam war increased college attendance above earlier levels and exposed more people to lib theories. Even math and physics had their share of nutty people.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at March 07, 2021 09:58 AM (y7DUB)

145 But, it's made me curious about the story again, so book it is.

I'll probably tap-out at the end of series one unless the book makes me curious about amazon's show all over again.
Posted by: naturalfake at March 07, 2021 09:49 AM (dWwl

Compared to the series, the book is pretty sparse. The series fleshes out a lot of stuff PKD never got into. If you're an "originalist" who doesn't like adaptions that mess with the source material or add stuff that just isn't there (I tend to be this way), you probably won't like it, but I enjoyed it, mostly. I just put the book out of my mind.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at March 07, 2021 09:59 AM (e074d)

146 Bob from NSA informs me that several of you are not in compliance with Book Thread pants guidelines. Please rectify the situation, quietly, so as not to disturb the other Thread participants.

Posted by: Assistant Associate AoSHQ Book Thread Monitor at March 07, 2021 10:00 AM (DMUuz)

147 Upthread. Pnin (Nabokov) such a great book and yes somewhat autobiographical. Read it over 20 years ago but might re read. My lasting impression was that it was a bit sad at the end but I remember enjoying it.

Posted by: Ziba at March 07, 2021 10:01 AM (S1hrL)

148 PG Wodehouse wont be around for long, especially Jeeves and Wooster stories. There is one maybe two J&W stories where Bertie refers to (n) mistrel shows.

Posted by: Jamaica NYC at March 07, 2021 10:01 AM (b+v9B)

149 votermom wrote a book ?
Posted by: JT at March 07, 2021 09:54 AM (arJlL)

Thank you. I was too embarrassed to type that.

Desperately need linky to purchase...even if it's on Amazon.

Posted by: creeper at March 07, 2021 10:01 AM (XxJt1)

150 Scarlatti who?

Yep, another week in which I didn't touch the book. That's a nice thing about ownership -- no pressure to finish.

Unlike the latest take from the library -- a hardbound collection of the first Silver Age Flash stories. Although I followed writers in my comics-buying heyday, I got this for the Carmine Infantino art.

Man, if we could have had the artists of that era with the writers of the '80s and the printing quality of today!

And, OM, thank you again for the column space.

Posted by: Weak Geek at March 07, 2021 10:02 AM (J9wig)

151 China is threatening China Joe over PDT's "dangerous practice" of open support for Taiwan.

Posted by: andycanuck at March 07, 2021 10:02 AM (d6he9)

152 The current strategy is to "deconstruct" Lovecraft, which means writing bog-standard Proggie stories of people being heroically oppressed, but with some HPL name-checks.
Posted by: Trimegistus at March 07, 2021 09:27 AM (QZxDR)

Yeah, I've felt for a long time that most, if not all, of the modern writers who play in Lovecraft's sandbox are simply not good enough writers or imaginative enough or understand exactly what Lovecraft was doing to either usurp him or even be worth reading.

The new relevant racist crowd is simply the latest and worst. Here's the problem:

Throw in a Black or other minority main character into a Lovecraftian story. Fine, whatevs. But, then the story always becomes how racism is the real horror.

Really? Look, no one's going to defend racism by anyone, but we're talking about an attack upon the world and reality itself by beings from outside of time and space who will kill every single person on Earth and eat their souls.

That makes your racism concerns seem pretty small potatoes within the context of your own story and writing. And frankly, the boring nature of an SJW re-cycle-O-matic story makes the reading no fun.

Posted by: naturalfake at March 07, 2021 10:02 AM (dWwl8)

153 Has anyone read The Thirty Years War, by C.V. Wedgewood? I'm considering buying it.
Posted by: pep

I pretty much liked it. It emphasizes Bourbon v. Hapsburg over Catholic v. Protestant. It also emphasizes the randomness of occurence. The opening section describing the myriad problems facing Europe of which an insignificant revolt in Prague is the unlikely spark that ignites the war is memorable.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 07, 2021 10:03 AM (VVEnO)

154 Flash fiction. More dumbing down of women? Read a good book for an hour is time better spent. Short stories are good reads, too.

Posted by: Ziba at March 07, 2021 10:04 AM (S1hrL)

155 Margaret Maron was a small town NC girl, who went to work at the Pentagon.

She says the government sent someone to check out her background for the job, and they wound up speaking to the owner of the town's only gas station, who told the man that the Marons "were good people."

She wrote a lot of popular books

Posted by: artemis at March 07, 2021 10:04 AM (AwPyG)

156 votermom wrote a book ?
Posted by: JT at March 07, 2021 09:54 AM (arJlL)

Thank you. I was too embarrassed to type that.

Desperately need linky to purchase...even if it's on Amazon.
Posted by: creeper at March

Apparently not. It was Sgt. Mom - Celia Hayes that wrote the book.

Posted by: JT at March 07, 2021 10:05 AM (arJlL)

157 "30 I'm not paying dead trees prices for e-books. Sorry, authors.
I get most of my books from the library now. My purchases are mostly old classic SF stories that libraries don't carry.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at March 07, 2021 09:14 AM (Dc2NZ) "

All of this !

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at March 07, 2021 10:07 AM (AKJpt)

158 Flash fiction. More dumbing down of women? Read a good book for an hour is time better spent.
Eh, it's not a virtue contest. My wife spent her professional career reading densely packed scientific literature, but her preference is romance novels and Hallmark movies. She'll read the odd book I recommend, but she always goes back to the stuff she likes. Different strokes.

Posted by: pep at March 07, 2021 10:07 AM (v16oJ)

159 @87 --

Dr. Varno, you should see how the comic gives voice to Gloop and Gleep.

As I kid, I would make Gloop or Gleep with the pen chains at the bank.

Posted by: Weak Geek at March 07, 2021 10:07 AM (J9wig)

160 @141

I always think its interesting that women tend to read mysteries while men tend to read thrillers.

Posted by: artemis at March 07, 2021 10:08 AM (AwPyG)

161 Picked up three Dr Seuss books at Goodwill last week.
Not the currently banned titles, but I figure they will all end up getting banned eventually. The book pickers are out in force leaving the shelves in a mess.

Posted by: Ziba at March 07, 2021 10:08 AM (S1hrL)

162 Getting away from so much re-reading, I got a copy of Tristam Shandy, which was mentioned here recently. It's one of those titles I should have read decades ago and didn't. I'm looking forward to starting it this week.
Posted by: JTB at March 07, 2021 09:51 AM (7EjX1)

I was the one who brought it up based on a comparison I saw someone in Goodreads make between it and Flann O'Brien's The Third Policeman. I'm certainly interested in reading it.

Speaking of rereads, someone in the middle of the week said they were doing so with Portrait of a Lady. I did so a few years ago and couldn't believe how much more I got out of it the second time for whatever reason because I wasn't particularly young, although perpetually immature, when I first read it.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at March 07, 2021 10:08 AM (y7DUB)

163 WHO Re-Issued Classics left out The Three Masketeers by A. Dumass
Posted by: Muldoon at March 07, 2021 09:53 AM (m45I2)

The Loneliness of the Socially Distanced Runner, by Alan Sillytoe
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper

The Scarlet Gaiter by Nathaniel Coughthorne.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 07, 2021 10:09 AM (VVEnO)

164 As I kid, I would make Gloop or Gleep with the pen chains at the bank.
Posted by: Weak Geek at March 07, 2021 10:07 AM (J9wig)

Gloop and Gleep sound like failed names for laundry detergent.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 07, 2021 10:09 AM (mzC78)

165 Color me confused. As usual.

No matter. Found "My Dear Cousin" on Amazon and tapped, "Buy now with one click". Wasn't sure there was even a current credit card on file, but it flew. Thanks for the tip.

Posted by: creeper at March 07, 2021 10:09 AM (XxJt1)

166 Color me confused. As usual.

No matter. Found "My Dear Cousin" on Amazon and tapped, "Buy now with one click". Wasn't sure there was even a current credit card on file, but it flew. Thanks for the tip.
Posted by: creeper

(mebbe vmom will have to pay for it)

Posted by: JT at March 07, 2021 10:11 AM (arJlL)

167 Compared to the series, the book is pretty sparse. The series fleshes out a lot of stuff PKD never got into. If you're an "originalist" who doesn't like adaptions that mess with the source material or add stuff that just isn't there (I tend to be this way), you probably won't like it, but I enjoyed it, mostly. I just put the book out of my mind.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at March 07, 2021 09:59 AM (e074d)

As long as the additions stay within the original context of the story, I don't have any problem with them.

All all books and TV are two different media.

For instance, a lot of people hate Lynch's "DUNE", I pretty much love it. I pretty much love the LoTR movies and some people hate them with a fiery passion.

Meh, different media some thing gotta get added, some things gotta get shorthanded. That okay just stay true to the overall universe.

Posted by: naturalfake at March 07, 2021 10:12 AM (dWwl8)

168 I worked at Overstock for a few years doing software development. At one point, for about a month, even had my desk just outside Patrick Byrne's office. The place had a weird cult-like feeling with Byrne as gnostic guru-in-chief. He has a massive ego, is really into self-promotion, and makes sure you know he's smarter and better than you. Keep all that in mind when you listen to him.

Posted by: raoul ortega at March 07, 2021 10:12 AM (OafoN)

169 There have been small attempts at canceling Tolkien in the past, I wonder how long before there's a serious push.

Posted by: davidt at March 07, 2021 10:13 AM (5ZHS+)

170 Picked up three Dr Seuss books at Goodwill last week.
Not the currently banned titles, but I figure they will all end up getting banned eventually. The book pickers are out in force leaving the shelves in a mess.

Posted by: Ziba at March 07, 2021 10:08 AM (S1hrL)

As a kid, I was never much exposed to the Dr. Seuss books. Don't know why. So I am not really invested in bemoaning his "cancellation", other than that, on the very face of it, it's wrong. So I don't feel compelled to amass a Dr. Seuss collection at this late date.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 07, 2021 10:14 AM (mzC78)

171 Flash fiction. More dumbing down of women? Read a good book for an hour is time better spent
.Posted by: pep at March 07, 2021 10:07 AM (v16oJ)

..........
Did I sound like it was a virtue contest? Of course people will read what they want. My point was good writing opens up a different, dare I say it, aesthetic experience? A world of different and new ideas but maybe not for everyone. Still a free world when it comes to reading!

Posted by: Ziba at March 07, 2021 10:14 AM (S1hrL)

172 There have been small attempts at canceling Tolkien in the past, I wonder how long before there's a serious push.
I'm not so sure the Seuss banning isn't an inflection point. One gets the sense even the SJWs are embarrassed about it; something I didn't think was possible.

Posted by: pep at March 07, 2021 10:14 AM (v16oJ)

173 Upthread. Pnin (Nabokov) such a great book and yes somewhat autobiographical. Read it over 20 years ago but might re read. My lasting impression was that it was a bit sad at the end but I remember enjoying it.
Posted by: Ziba at March 07, 2021 10:01 AM (S1hrL)

There is an odd undercurrent of sadness to it despite Pnin being an oddly upbeat character. Although he never complained about it, and expressed feeling like the luckiest person in the world ending up here, Nabokov's was a sad life of forced displacement and having his father murdered while still having started out upper class.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at March 07, 2021 10:15 AM (y7DUB)

174 I will also endorse ]Six Frigates, which is a wonderful chronicle of the early U.S. Navy. The ups and downs, successes and failures, are presented well, with the historically documented excitement left speaking for itself. There is a lot of technical description concerning the construction, outfitting, and maintenance of sailing ships that is handled well enough not to put off a general reader, and to illustrate how high-tech the frigates were for their day. And yes, even the early debate about frigates and battleships versus a hundred gunboats as naval
building policy gets discussed in an intelligent fashion, with an eye to the geopolitical reality of c. 1800 CE.

Posted by: exdem13 at March 07, 2021 10:15 AM (W+kMI)

175 Remember, Ayers and Woodward are from the same small very wealthy area of DuPage County, Illinois when it was one of the top counties in the US.
Posted by: mustbequantum at March 07, 2021 09:52 AM (MIKMs)

I thought he was a Hyde Park hippie? Where in DuPage, Oak Brook?

I'm a boomer. Grew up in working class south side of Chicago. We didn't have the time or money to be "revolutionaries." Still loved the music, some of the drugs, and a definite anti-gov, don't trust 'em mindset. Remains to this day.

Posted by: ProfShade - Ashli Babbit report? at March 07, 2021 10:15 AM (BdDfF)

176 "Two Years I Wore The Mask".

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 07, 2021 10:17 AM (mzC78)

177 161 Picked up three Dr Seuss books at Goodwill last week.
Not the currently banned titles, but I figure they will all end up getting banned eventually. The book pickers are out in force leaving the shelves in a mess.

Posted by: Ziba at March 07, 2021 10:08 AM (S1hrL)

The Firemen in F 451 were not mandated by the Big Govt but by the do gooderers and nannies the demanded some ideas could not the thought!

Posted by: rhennigantx at March 07, 2021 10:17 AM (yrol0)

178 While doing some much needed housekeeping of old emails in my inbox yesterday, I came upon records of old orders to Amazon and Barnes and Noble back to 2004.

The wave of nostalgia hit me so hard I gasped aloud!

It's been a long time since I thought about how Amazon was mostly about books in the beginning. And I used to order books in person from Barnes and Noble.

I also had school age kids then and I remember many trips to Barnes and Noble and Books A Million where they would browse for over an hour. I cannot count how many birthday and Christmas and "just because" gifts I bought there.

Sadly, I cannot remember the last time I bought a book in person.

Posted by: Elinor, Who Usually Looks Lurkily at March 07, 2021 10:18 AM (ezUat)

179 Buyer's remorse.

Breaking911
@Breaking911
Pro-Life Evangelicals for Biden: "We feel used and betrayed."

-
Well, I'm gobsmacked! Joe's not pro-life?

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 07, 2021 10:19 AM (VVEnO)

180 Dr. Seuss books are great for language learning and the playful use of language is their appeal. Many children's books today lack that element and are lacking in pure imagination and are usually PC pedantic. I also like the drawings.

Posted by: Ziba at March 07, 2021 10:20 AM (S1hrL)

181 World Health Organization classic rewrite:

Richard Dana's Two Years Before the Mask (Mandates Expire)

Posted by: Muldoon at March 07, 2021 10:20 AM (m45I2)

182 The funny thing is, Seuss was pretty lefty in real life, and would be shocked.

I think his greatest legacy is that he taught a lot of kids to read.

Posted by: artemis at March 07, 2021 10:20 AM (AwPyG)

183 I'm mostly on board with the idea that American culture started took its turn for the worst in the 60s. But like someone wrote above, I'm not inclined to lay it on the shoulders of Steve Jobs or any individual in particular. I think every generation wants to be "rebels" and "find themselves" or whatever. Maybe there is blame to lay on the war-weary generation who didn't give the kids the reality check they needed. If my dad's generation had tried that shit, they'd have been told that they could go protest with their friends after the plowing was done and the barn roof was fixed and if they didn't like that, they could go get a job or join the army.

Posted by: Oddbob at March 07, 2021 10:20 AM (dP2ke)

184 I'm a boomer. Grew up in working class south side of Chicago. We didn't have the time or money to be "revolutionaries." Still loved the music, some of the drugs, and a definite anti-gov, don't trust 'em mindset. Remains to this day.
Posted by: ProfShade - Ashli Babbit report? at March 07, 2021 10:15 AM (BdDfF)

Ayers father was an exec at Commonwealth Edison, because nothing says revolutionary like having your daddy bail you out while your poorer "brothers" stayed behind bars.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at March 07, 2021 10:20 AM (y7DUB)

185 179- I have a different take on the story- think it's more a bunch of Lucys telling evangelical Charlie Browns that the football was jerked away on them too. This is what they wanted, and the post grift umbrage is theater for us rubes.

Posted by: Farmer Bob at March 07, 2021 10:22 AM (7o4Oo)

186 Getting away from so much re-reading, I got a copy of Tristam Shandy, which was mentioned here recently. It's one of those titles I should have read decades ago and didn't. I'm looking forward to starting it this week.
Posted by: JTB at March 07, 2021 09:51 AM (7EjX1)
I was the one who brought it up based on a comparison I saw someone in Goodreads make between it and Flann O'Brien's The Third Policeman. I'm certainly interested in reading it.
Speaking of rereads, someone in the middle of the week said they were doing so with Portrait of a Lady. I did so a few years ago and couldn't believe how much more I got out of it the second time for whatever reason because I wasn't particularly young, although perpetually immature, when I first read it.
Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at March 07, 2021 10:08 AM (y7DUB)

"Tristam Shandy" is one of the all-time great picaresque novels. WARNING: it is filled to the brim with digressions. So much so, that the story hardly gets told,

In a way, it's the Archaic Mach 1.0 version of "Gravity's Rainbow" or "Pale Fire".

You know what else is a great picaresque novel?

https://tinyurl.com/rucwducm

Posted by: naturalfake at March 07, 2021 10:22 AM (dWwl8)

187 The most destructive "radicals" were always rich kids like Ayers and bin Laden.

Posted by: Dr. Varno at March 07, 2021 10:22 AM (vuisn)

188 WHO rewrite of Arthur Koestler Social Distancing at Noon.

Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at March 07, 2021 10:22 AM (lgiXo)

189 I have acquired a lot of Osprey military history books over the years. Mostly for the illustrations. But I've decided its time to finally read through the text of them. I started with "French Musketeer." Apparently D'Artagnan was an actual historical member of the Musketeers. Interesting...

On a less academic note, I spent more money on yet more classic Conan the Barbarian comics. It was a bit of a gamble, since Roy Thomas is no longer the writer and editor of the comics I bought, but....the comic didn't end with him leaving, so it can't be too bad without him.

Posted by: Castle Guy at March 07, 2021 10:22 AM (Lhaco)

190 @178'

Fun fact: Amazon started because Bezos' then-wife had a pez dispenser collection, and wanted to be able to connect with other collectors.

Little did you know that pez dispenser collecting is a thing.

Posted by: artemis at March 07, 2021 10:23 AM (AwPyG)

191 Pro-Life Evangelicals for Biden: "We feel used and betrayed."

Well, they're half right. They were used but only because they wanted to be.

Posted by: Oddbob at March 07, 2021 10:24 AM (dP2ke)

192 In a way, it's the Archaic Mach 1.0 version of "Gravity's Rainbow" or "Pale Fire".

Interesting because I hated Gravity's Rainbow and am looking forward to rereading Pale Fire.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at March 07, 2021 10:25 AM (y7DUB)

193 Pro-Life Evangelicals for Biden: "We feel used and betrayed."

Oh, please.

Posted by: Jewells45 at March 07, 2021 10:25 AM (nxdel)

194 172 There have been small attempts at canceling Tolkien in the past, I wonder how long before there's a serious push.
I'm not so sure the Seuss banning isn't an inflection point. One gets the sense even the SJWs are embarrassed about it; something I didn't think was possible.
-----------
Tolkien's fan army is large enough, devoted enough, and educated enough to hold the line against SJW cave-trolls. In fact, his stories deal with what we would call "race relations", and has the universally popular result that only the Dark Lords benefit from division of peoples who ought to be united against him. So many critics of the SJW sort can be unmasked easily as people who never really read Tolkien's main works, and definitely didn't make it to The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales.

Posted by: exdem13 at March 07, 2021 10:25 AM (W+kMI)

195 Have been watching vintage film noir movies all week.
All based on obscure books by obscure writers. The plots and characters are great, as is the acting.
Diplomatic Courier and Pimpernel Smith were excellent.

Posted by: Ziba at March 07, 2021 10:25 AM (S1hrL)

196 I recommend reading the City Journal review of the Boomers book. The reviewer states that while the author makes good points, she vastly oversimplifies her subjects and the 60's. (And comparing herself to Strachey does not recommend itself to me, since Eminent Victorians, which dazzled readers in the '20's, is pretty dishonest about its' subjects.) For instance, I get very exasperated with Paglia. But, as the reviewer points out, Paglia does not have on rose-colored glasses when it comes to sex - Paglia has been warning young women for 30 years to be careful about the signals they send out to men.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&V at March 07, 2021 10:25 AM (HabA/)

197 Two Years I Wore The Mask

Two Years Before the Mask (Mandates Expire)

*****

AOP - fistbump

I prefer your version.

Posted by: Muldoon at March 07, 2021 10:26 AM (m45I2)

198 Yeah, I think the Tolkien fans are much like the gamers. the SJWs had no idea what they were up against.

Posted by: artemis at March 07, 2021 10:27 AM (AwPyG)

199 I'm not so sure the Seuss banning isn't an
inflection point. One gets the sense even the SJWs are embarrassed about
it; something I didn't think was possible.

Posted by: pep at March 07, 2021 10:14 AM

I am starting to think the same thing. Reading stuff from multiple people walking back their initial support for removing the books.

Posted by: Mister Scott (formerly GWS) at March 07, 2021 10:27 AM (JUOKG)

200 191 Pro-Life Evangelicals for Biden: "We feel used and betrayed."

Well, they're half right. They were used but only because they wanted to be.
Posted by: Oddbob at March 07, 2021 10:24 AM (dP2ke)

We have no idea how we worshipped that golden calf!

Posted by: Bete at March 07, 2021 10:27 AM (Ojki1)

201 It sounds like a stretch to say the War of 1812 shook the world especially when something alot bigger militarily happened in 1812 as well.

Posted by: andycanuck at March 07, 2021 10:27 AM (d6he9)

202 Cool library. Agnes Moorehead.
Reading now= The Fourth Secret of Fatima by Socci. Good and fascinating, but probably better to those who understand the hieirarchy of the Catholic Church.

Posted by: LASue, as legit the president as Biden at March 07, 2021 10:28 AM (Ed8Zd)

203 Mamma mia thats-a nice-a library.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at March 07, 2021 10:28 AM (9Om/r)

204 Dr. Seuss books are great for language learning and the playful use of language is their appeal. Many children's books today lack that element and are lacking in pure imagination and are usually PC pedantic. I also like the drawings.
Posted by: Ziba at March 07, 2021 10:20 AM (S1hrL)

No argument from me. His drawings are great. I'm just not taking this cancellation effort as a personal affront to me, because my exposure to Seuss was always peripheral. It's still wrong and evil.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 07, 2021 10:28 AM (mzC78)

205 Maybe there is blame to lay on the war-weary generation who didn't give
the kids the reality check they needed. If my dad's generation had
tried that shit, they'd have been told that they could go protest with
their friends after the plowing was done and the barn roof was fixed and
if they didn't like that, they could go get a job or join the army.
My Dad was selected out of HS to go to college and OCS. When he moved into his dorm, he was issued 2 uniforms and a rifle, and the near certainty he'd be in on the invasion of Japan. When I did, I brought a stereo, posters, etc. Compared to that, today's kids bring the Ritz with them. Every generation has it better than the last. I hope that trend continues, interspersed with summers full of manual labor, because that is an excellent education.

Posted by: pep at March 07, 2021 10:28 AM (v16oJ)

206 Already downloaded and started The Big Rig...looks good.

Posted by: FriscoYoda at March 07, 2021 10:29 AM (+56GQ)

207 Facts and logical arguments don't matter. The thing which is so far preserving Tolkien from the Fascist aunties is that Amazon is hoping to make money off of their Game of Thrones knockoff series "inspired by" Lord of the Rings.

It's gonna suck, we all know it's gonna suck, and once people start saying it sucks, then Tolkien fans and Tolkien himself will be dismissed as racist hater neckbeards. The space on the library and bookstore shelves will be put to better use housing the works of N.K. Jemisin and Nnedi Okorafor.

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 07, 2021 10:29 AM (QZxDR)

208 191 Pro-Life Evangelicals for Biden: "We feel used and betrayed."

Huh?

Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at March 07, 2021 10:29 AM (lgiXo)

209 I wonder if this beautiful library carries Kamala's books for children and the President to read. If not, they should be ordered to by order from the WH.Biden could write his glowing book review to put on the cover.
Posted by: Colin at March 07, 2021 09:04 AM (WIRN7)

Ya know, those Indians from India are really taking over! - J. Biden, totally not a racist or creep.

Posted by: LASue, as legit the president as Biden at March 07, 2021 10:30 AM (Ed8Zd)

210 Upthread. Portrait of a Lady (James). I read it twice also and it was much better the second time around!

Tristam Shandy -- a slog but worth it if you have the time. A. Trollope novels are good like that as well.

I try to read books under 500 pages these days, so that I can finish them and get started on a new title.

Posted by: Ziba at March 07, 2021 10:30 AM (S1hrL)

211 Greetings literate fappers. Got my copy of Beyond Order - 12 More Rules for Life by Dr. Jordan Peterson. I'm debating whether to re-read 12 RfL before I dive into his new work. He's a pretty smart guy and has been through a lot of bad things in his personal life lately.

He knows whereof he speaks.

Posted by: BackwardsBoy - Psychos Rule! No, really. They're in charge now. at March 07, 2021 10:31 AM (HaL55)

212 Pro-Life Evangelicals for Biden: "We feel used and betrayed."

Oh, please.
I'm impressed. This is the rarely-seen double virtue signal with a one and a half twist. High degree of difficulty.

Posted by: pep at March 07, 2021 10:32 AM (v16oJ)

213 Have been watching vintage film noir movies all week.
All based on obscure books by obscure writers. The plots and characters are great, as is the acting.
Diplomatic Courier and Pimpernel Smith were excellent.
Posted by: Ziba at March 07, 2021 10:25 AM (S1hrL)

I never thought of Pimpernel Smith as a noir, just a wartime thriller.

I honestly don't care for noir films - they have a sort of diseased morality to them that turns me off. I like stories where good fights evil, not where *everything* and everyone is just different degrees of evil.

Posted by: Dr. Mabuse at March 07, 2021 10:32 AM (82313)

214 190 @178'

Fun fact: Amazon started because Bezos' then-wife had a pez dispenser collection, and wanted to be able to connect with other collectors.

Little did you know that pez dispenser collecting is a thing.
Posted by: artemis at March 07, 2021 10:23 AM (AwPyG)

Wait, wut?

So Pez dispensers are the devil's artifacts that have destroyed commerce as we know it?

Posted by: Elinor, Who Usually Looks Lurkily at March 07, 2021 10:32 AM (ezUat)

215 152 The current strategy is to "deconstruct" Lovecraft, which means writing bog-standard Proggie stories of people being heroically oppressed, but with some HPL name-checks.
Posted by: Trimegistus at March 07, 2021 09:27 AM (QZxDR)

Yeah, I've felt for a long time that most, if not all, of the modern writers who play in Lovecraft's sandbox are simply not good enough writers or imaginative enough or understand exactly what Lovecraft was doing to either usurp him or even be worth reading.
The new relevant racist crowd is simply the latest and worst.
--------
I would say there have been some good writers in the past 30 years who knew how to write a good Cthulhu Mythos story. A couple of them even wrote a good Dreamlands story! But they've been crowded to the side by the SJW dross you've mentioned, with Lovecraft Country as the featured offender of note. Even before then, the number of stories that attempted to focus on the internal angst of the Lovecraftian protagonist without the external trigger being made manifest made for a decided lack of chilling horrors from Outside.

Posted by: exdem13 at March 07, 2021 10:32 AM (W+kMI)

216 Ken Kesey - One Flu, Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Posted by: Muldoon at March 07, 2021 10:32 AM (m45I2)

217 We have no idea how we worshipped that golden calf!
Posted by: Bete at March 07, 2021 10:27 AM (Ojki1)

That's one of my favorite parts of the Old Testament. Moses goes up on the mountain, leaving Aaron in charge. People come to Aaron, saying "Make us an idol." Aaron says "Okey dokey". Moses come back and yells at Aaron "What did you do, you moron!" Aaron says (and this is a verbatim quote from the Bible):

"So I said to them, 'Let any who have gold take it off.' So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf." Exodus 32:24 (ESV)

So it was the fire that done it!

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at March 07, 2021 10:33 AM (PiwSw)

218 AOP - fistbump

I prefer your version.
Posted by: Muldoon at March 07, 2021 10:26 AM (m45I2)

Horde Mind, Muldoon. It is a real thing, and I think hanging out here stretches the mental muscles.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 07, 2021 10:33 AM (mzC78)

219 208 191 Pro-Life Evangelicals for Biden: "We feel used and betrayed."

Huh?
Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at March 07, 2021 10:29 AM (lgiXo)

Anyone claiming this just felt Trump was declasse and are now trying to pretend they didn't go into their vote knowing what they would get. As if God is only going to look at their Twitter account rather than know their heart, but then again this is all more virtue signaling ala their church leader David French.

Posted by: Bete at March 07, 2021 10:33 AM (Ojki1)

220 It doesn't hurt that there have been a lot of hilarious mock-ups of Seuss covers going around the internet, making fun of covid, cancel culture, etc.

It's like Muldoon on steroids.

Posted by: artemis at March 07, 2021 10:34 AM (AwPyG)

221 Greetings:

At the risk of seeming contentious, "Library Girl",
somewhat afar from being "stacked", seems to have one of those Oriental physiques.

Posted by: 11B40 at March 07, 2021 10:34 AM (evgyj)

222 Mark Twain - The Adventures of Hack Up Every Phlegm

Posted by: Muldoon at March 07, 2021 10:34 AM (m45I2)

223 Everyone has worked with someone like Aaron.

Every office has one.

Posted by: artemis at March 07, 2021 10:35 AM (AwPyG)

224 Finally am rereading, because of the book club, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, a Nigerian writer who moved to the US and taught at Bard College. The first part of the book is about an African village where things existed in a kind of harmonious savagery where the main character, whose father was a major league fuckup, is driven to be the opposite of him through sheer force of physical nature and personality. At the end of the first part he inadvertently kills someone during the frenzy of a funeral and is banished. I think the second part of the book deals with life after the region was colonized. I wonder how the BLM types would regard this because there's no disguising the backwardness of the first part.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at March 07, 2021 10:35 AM (y7DUB)

225 M*A*S*K

Posted by: andycanuck at March 07, 2021 10:35 AM (d6he9)

226 Ken Kesey - One Flu, Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Posted by: Muldoon at March 07, 2021 10:32 AM (m45I2)

Heh!

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 07, 2021 10:36 AM (mzC78)

227 I'm amused by the super serious look my dog has when she approaches me with a toy.

Sorry, seriously off topic.

Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at March 07, 2021 10:36 AM (lgiXo)

228 (mebbe vmom will have to pay for it)
Posted by: JT

Hey!

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at March 07, 2021 10:36 AM (nUhF0)

229 Also, all the smugly smart Woke critics of Lovecraft frequently miss the point in their rush to hit their bullet points. For example, the tale "The Rats in the Walls", written as HPL was hitting his stride. Everything associated with Mister Delapore's background, the events of his ancestor fleeing to Virginia, the hidden cavern and its contents, and what it does to him. And they choose to narrow-focus in on the name of a cat.

Posted by: exdem13 at March 07, 2021 10:36 AM (W+kMI)

230 220 It doesn't hurt that there have been a lot of hilarious mock-ups of Seuss covers going around the internet, making fun of covid, cancel culture, etc.

It's like Muldoon on steroids.

Posted by: artemis at March 07, 2021 10:34 AM (AwPyG)

Powerline week in pictures: https://tinyurl.com/zf5u2tcf

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at March 07, 2021 10:37 AM (PiwSw)

231 Dickens - Great Expectorations

Posted by: Muldoon at March 07, 2021 10:38 AM (m45I2)

232 Playtime is always serious time!

Posted by: andycanuck at March 07, 2021 10:38 AM (d6he9)

233 @227

You are mistaking "super-serious" for "beseeching"

Posted by: artemis at March 07, 2021 10:38 AM (AwPyG)

234 So Pez dispensers are the devil's artifacts that have destroyed commerce as we know it?
Posted by: Elinor, Who Usually Looks Lurkily at March 07, 2021 10:32 AM (ezUat)

Ummmmmmmm........Yes.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at March 07, 2021 10:39 AM (R/m4+)

235 I am very much looking forward to reading Tom Holland's "Dominion" which is about Christianity's immense influence on Western Civilization and the world. Holland, a Brit who is normally focused on the history of Rome, says that after the words of Christ Himself, perhaps the single most amazing and revolutionary line in history is Paul's about how there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, but we're all united in Christ. Holland explains what an absolute bombshell that was in the ancient world and how it still shapes the Western world in ways people don't even think about. The entire concept of human rights, for instance, is a Christian idea that secularists refuse to recognize as Christian.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&V at March 07, 2021 10:39 AM (HabA/)

236 Powerline week in pictures: https://tinyurl.com/zf5u2tcf

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at March 07, 2021 10:37 AM

I posted the Come and Take it one on my facebook page and it's still there two days later. Pretty sure they are regretting the cancel over reach thing at this point.

Posted by: Mister Scott (formerly GWS) at March 07, 2021 10:40 AM (JUOKG)

237 For instance, I get very exasperated with Paglia. But, as the reviewer points out, Paglia does not have on rose-colored glasses when it comes to sex - Paglia has been warning young women for 30 years to be careful about the signals they send out to men.
Posted by: Donna&&&&&V at March 07, 2021 10:25 AM (HabA/)

Hurricane Camille's massive blind spot is about drugs, that the sixties were great except drugs fucked everything up. Drugs were an essential part of the sixties and you just can't go back and airlift them out and magically make it right. That and who she votes for are very frustrating.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at March 07, 2021 10:41 AM (y7DUB)

238 Greetings:

146 Bob from NSA informs me that several of you are not in compliance with Book Thread pants guidelines. Please rectify the situation, quietly, so as not to disturb the other Thread participants.

Clarification: Book Thread Pants Guidelines have been superseded by the Zoom Meetings Protocols.

Posted by: 11B40 at March 07, 2021 10:42 AM (evgyj)

239 "Pro-Life Evangelicals for Biden: "We feel used and betrayed."

Yum.

Posted by: the alligator at March 07, 2021 10:42 AM (Wql+a)

240 Posted by: Trimegistus at March 07, 2021 09:18 AM (QZxDR)

I really liked Piranesi too. Very different - almost spiritual.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at March 07, 2021 10:43 AM (nUhF0)

241 @235

and it had an enormous effect on trade and industry. Christians were willing to do business with anyone, just at the time when international trade was taking off.

There's a reason St Paul decided to start the church at seven major trading cities. A very smart guy

Posted by: artemis at March 07, 2021 10:43 AM (AwPyG)

242 75 I don't really think Seuss wrote in "intricate layers" to indoctrinate, but I guess it's popular or someone's doctoral dissertation to say so

=====
How much stupidity has been perpetrated just to sh*t out a dissertation? Universities are glutted with PhD candidates just because profs want peons to 'teach' freshmen, leaving the elect free for 'higher' pursuits.

Posted by: Vlad the Impaler, there is no longer politics, only ~~Zuul~~target practice at March 07, 2021 10:43 AM (d6mdH)

243 I didn't get much read this last week. I am almost done with A Distant Mirror, thanks to whoever suggested that last year. Its been a long, slow read because its a vast book and not one to be taken in large chunks but fascinating, educational, and frightening in some ways.

Instead I have been doing a lot of writing on a game supplement, almost done with the first draft of book 1 for GMs.

However I did want to share this, because its a great series of podcasts and in particular this one is about writing.

Chuck Dixon is one of the most prolific and excellent comic book (and novel) writers in our times. He's written pretty much every character you know, and is especially known for his excellent work on Batman and the Punisher, but a lot of other stuff

https://tinyurl.com/2pwur6xn

In this particular episode he talks about the time that he and many other writers working for DC at the time were sent to NYC to attend a work seminar on writing by Robert McKee. I've queued up the segment but all of the Ask Chuck Dixon bits are great because he's easy going, fun, self effacing, and a strong conservative who has been basically run out of mainstream comics for it.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 10:45 AM (KZzsI)

244 I am re-reading "The Jewish War" by Josephus. Yikes, those royals are bloodthirsty.

So, Herod the Great died four years before Jesus's birth. It was Archelaus who was king for the "slaughter of the innocents." He was removed by Caesar and Joseph brought the family back around 9 AD.

Posted by: JAS, AoSHQ addict at March 07, 2021 10:45 AM (2BZBZ)

245 "Pretty sure they are regretting the cancel over reach thing at this point."

There was another huge conservative purge at Twitter this week.

A silver lining: anyone who's left has been exposed as controlled opposition

Posted by: artemis at March 07, 2021 10:45 AM (AwPyG)

246 Greetings:

Re: "Six Frigates"

Author Ian Toll has also written a Navy-centric trilogy of World War II in the Pacific that a worthwhile 1500 or so page read. I'm finishing up "Twilight of the Gods", the third volume this week.

Posted by: 11B40 at March 07, 2021 10:45 AM (evgyj)

247 How much stupidity has been perpetrated just to sh*t out a dissertation?
Universities are glutted with PhD candidates just because profs want
peons to 'teach' freshmen, leaving the elect free for 'higher'
pursuits.

What's not to like? No real pressure, and easy access to lots of hot young people who are impressed by you. (only partly tic)

Posted by: pep at March 07, 2021 10:46 AM (v16oJ)

248 Pro-Life Evangelicals for Biden: "We feel used and betrayed."

What you should feel is ashamed and retarded because that's what you are: retarded and shameful.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 10:46 AM (KZzsI)

249 201 It sounds like a stretch to say the War of 1812 shook the world especially when something alot bigger militarily happened in 1812 as well.
-------
It was pretty earthshaking on our side of the globe. Bonaparte's strategic overreach was far away from
the then-current events in the English-speaking world, which was focused on the steady downspiral in Anglo-American relations. The Royal Navy had gotten complacent and overbearing, and the shock of losing a series of single-ship engagements to "a handful of fir-built frigates" forced changes in policy that had been let lie since the French and Indian War.

Posted by: exdem13 at March 07, 2021 10:46 AM (W+kMI)

250 So, Herod the Great died four years before Jesus's birth.

Yeah the whole family was referred to as Herod, since they went by that as a title and family name

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 10:47 AM (KZzsI)

251 If Campi Flegrei (supervolcano) erupts, that library is toast (along with the city of Naples).

Posted by: zmdavid at March 07, 2021 10:48 AM (xqRaG)

252 Back to Paglia: I think she was fortunate enough to have some very encouraging teachers to facilitate her producing Sexual Personnae, the Finnegan's Wake of art history. I think she was able to bear down and do it in an academic bubble at the time while being influenced by the culture around her without experiencing the self destructive nature of it.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at March 07, 2021 10:49 AM (y7DUB)

253 If Campi Flegrei (supervolcano) erupts, that library is toast (along with the city of Naples).
A quick look at a map suggests the people who built Naples didn't really think it through. CF on one side, Vesuvius on the other. A good harbor isn't much help if you're on fire.

Posted by: pep at March 07, 2021 10:49 AM (v16oJ)

254 246 Greetings:

Re: "Six Frigates"

Author Ian Toll has also written a Navy-centric trilogy of World War II in the Pacific that a worthwhile 1500 or so page read. I'm finishing up "Twilight of the Gods", the third volume this week.
--------
I've skimmed those books, but haven't really decide to get them and plunge in. They seem really good too, on par with Six Frigates.

Posted by: exdem13 at March 07, 2021 10:49 AM (W+kMI)

255 Todays FOAD: Pro life evangelicals for Zhou Bi Den.

Posted by: rhennigantx at March 07, 2021 10:50 AM (yrol0)

256 Smashmouth was obliterating the Boomer mythology before it was cool:
"Twenty-five years ago, they spoke out and they broke out
Of recession and oppression and together they toked
And they folked out with guitars around a bonfire
Just singin' and clappin', man, what the hell happened?"

Posted by: Harrison Bergeron at March 07, 2021 10:50 AM (ljXWV)

257 116 Have a fairly big book on the 30 YearsWar by Petereading. I recently finished. It is a interesting period worth reading.

Posted by: Skip at March 07, 2021 10:50 AM (Cxk7w)

258 The movie "Adaptation" with Brian Cox was a film about Robert McKee and his story seminars, by the way.

Chuck Dixon wrote the comic book adaptation of Clinton Cash. He also did Alien Legion, The Nam in the 80s, a bunch of Simpson comics, and his action/intrigue series of Levon Cade books is being looked at for film adaptation. You can see more of his books here:

https://tinyurl.com/4c6h9s8j

Yeah, he invented the character Bane (along with an artist).

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 10:51 AM (KZzsI)

259 I thought he was a Hyde Park hippie? Where in DuPage, Oak Brook?
=====

Glen Ellyn. From what I recall, daddy was ComEd executive, but married to an Insull heiress. Serious money, like harvester. Woodward was judge's son from Wheaton. Again, serious money (think Cantigny McCormick married to east coast publisher). I just remember this from ancient gossip of who married whom. 'Coupon clippers' in those days were stockholders who lived on their dividends.

Posted by: mustbequantum at March 07, 2021 10:51 AM (MIKMs)

260 The push to get rid of Lovecraft comes from the Great Old Ones. They're tired of the libel.

Except for Cthulhu, who likes driving people insane when he can be bothered to get out of bed.

Posted by: callsign claymore at March 07, 2021 10:51 AM (6SCX/)

261 Smashmouth was obliterating the Boomer mythology before it was cool

Yeah but its a criticism of how they all went straight and became ordinary citizens, which a lot of other people were criticizing at the time (Pete Townshend, etc). "How dare you become the establishment! You should still be protesting hippie types!"

And sadly, a lot of them went back to that out of shame or nostalgia and we're paying the price for it.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 10:53 AM (KZzsI)

262 Dr. Seuss (Theodore Geisel) went to Dartmouth College, and he and his wife gave a huge amount of money, in particular to the medical school, which was renamed in their honor about 10 years ago.

I wonder whether Dartmouth will change the name! They are about as PC and disgustingly cancel-culture as any school in the country.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at March 07, 2021 10:53 AM (Q9lwr)

263 Ooops--that's The Deep Rig...not The Big Rig. At any rate, very interesting...

Posted by: FriscoYoda at March 07, 2021 10:54 AM (+56GQ)

264 JT @156 - the link on Amazon for My Dear Cousin is
(Tiny URL) https://tinyurl.com/msyjkzfx
It's also up in other formats at Draft2Digital.com under my author name, Celia Hayes.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at March 07, 2021 10:54 AM (xnmPy)

265 Pez collection story is Pierre Omidyar and eBay.

Posted by: SnailRacer at March 07, 2021 10:54 AM (NVsLg)

266 The 60's were a major "crack in culture", where useful culture wars were taken over by leftists. Fighting very real pollution became hate for all (even useful) chemicals. "Hey farmer farmer, put away the DDT now" -- useful to stop overuse of DDT, but total bans helped spread malaria. ... then Gore stole the CO2 hypothesis from his mentor, and turned it into completely fake Global Warming that lives (and kills) to this day. --
Same with racism -- a useful equal rights concept is turned to "diversity is our strength", then into the current "all white culture is evil, including Christianity and merit based systems". -- --
It is hard to measure what percent are now really "Woke" (true believers in TheNarrative) and how many are "Red-Pilled" (awake to the oligarch central control, and their efforts to divide us by force). imo they have not conquered a majority of minds, except maybe in some cities where pressure has been intense for a long time. Trump Won ... but that did not stop them.

Posted by: illiniwek at March 07, 2021 10:54 AM (Cus5s)

267 Did think this week while the Westerns like the Sackett series are fantastic for young readers, thought so far the Sharpe series I thought might be ok, but wouldn't on Sharpe's Havoc.

Posted by: Skip at March 07, 2021 10:54 AM (Cxk7w)

268 @254

"Blindman's Bluff" is a good telling of cold war-era submarine warfare

Posted by: artemis at March 07, 2021 10:55 AM (AwPyG)

269 Please, authors, post your websites! Keep us connected!

Here is mine
https://www.kestrelarts.com/

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 10:55 AM (KZzsI)

270 I thought "Pro-Life Evangelicals for Biden: "We feel used and betrayed" was a Babylon Bee article. I looked. It's not.

Posted by: JAS, AoSHQ addict at March 07, 2021 10:55 AM (2BZBZ)

271 Here is a debate between Holland and an atheist scholar, AC Grayling, that I strongly recommend. Holland (born in '6

, was raised Anglican, but as a child found Christianity dull compared to the glamorous Greek and Roman gods, who behaved like rock stars. His fascination with classical Rome grew to the extent that he has written several histories of that era, but he became aware that there was something deeply frightening and alien about ancient Greece and Rome - their lack of pity and compassion for the weak. Once he began to research Christianity, he became aware of just how soaked in Christianity the West is, although atheists like Grayling like to pretend the world was in darkness until the Enlightenment. (Grayling also comes across as a grimly humorless man in this clip.)

The "Unbelievable" podcasts are well worth watching: they match Christian thinkers vs. well-known atheists. The moderator is a Christian but does a very good job of being fair and the discussions remain civil and thoughtful. https://tinyurl.com/ckhvrr7w

Besides Holland, the Christians featured include John Lennox and NT Right; the atheists include Bret Weinstein and Steven Pinker.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&V at March 07, 2021 10:56 AM (HabA/)

272 Hurricane Camille's massive blind spot is about drugs, that the sixties were great except drugs fucked everything up. Drugs were an essential part of the sixties and you just can't go back and airlift them out and magically make it right. That and who she votes for are very frustrating.
Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at March 07, 2021 10:41 AM (y7DUB)

Coming in late to whatever discussion this is, I would argue drugs ARE one of the great downfalls of society.

I just wouldn't limit the list to only those that are illegal. Legal drugs, and the absolute, abject failure of a medical system is its focus on pills to solve everything. It's created a race of beings that have stopped looking inwards for solutions to their problems.

I'm not saying drugs aren't necessary, in some cases they are, but they NEVER should have been the first resort for damn near everything that ails us.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 07, 2021 10:57 AM (oQ94s)

273 270 I thought "Pro-Life Evangelicals for Biden: "We feel used and betrayed" was a Babylon Bee article. I looked. It's not.
Posted by: JAS, AoSHQ addict at March 07, 2021 10:55 AM (2BZBZ)

Despite media lies and coverups they are without excuse.

Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at March 07, 2021 10:57 AM (lgiXo)

274
Pro-Life Evangelicals for Biden: "We feel used and betrayed."

What you should feel is ashamed and retarded because that's what you are: retarded and shameful.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 10:46 AM (KZzsI)

Yup, this.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at March 07, 2021 10:57 AM (9Om/r)

275 @265

Oh, you're right! I got my massive tech billionaire founders mixed up!

Posted by: artemis at March 07, 2021 10:58 AM (AwPyG)

276 Chuck Dixon wrote the comic book adaptation of Clinton Cash. He also did Alien Legion, The Nam in the 80s, a bunch of Simpson comics, and his action/intrigue series of Levon Cade books is being looked at for film adaptation.
---

I was a big reader of Alien Legion back in the day. I checked to see if there was an omnibus (omnibi) but they are ridiculously expensive.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at March 07, 2021 10:58 AM (Dc2NZ)

277 Over at Powerline, Scott Johnson calls Biden "The gentleman from Madame Tussauds." Heh.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at March 07, 2021 10:59 AM (PiwSw)

278 St Paul could get it for you wholesale??

Posted by: andycanuck at March 07, 2021 10:59 AM (d6he9)

279 I thought "Pro-Life Evangelicals for Biden: "We feel used and betrayed" was a Babylon Bee article. I looked. It's not.
Posted by: JAS, AoSHQ addict at March 07, 2021 10:55 AM (2BZBZ)

What's next, an article: "The Black Community - We Still Gettin' Shot!"

Posted by: BurtTC at March 07, 2021 10:59 AM (oQ94s)

280 Every few days another group comes out announcing how disappointed they are with Biden. Uh huh, like that wasn't easy to see coming. Either they're dumb to the point of needing a nametag to remind themselves, or this is just a cynical way of trying to regain credibility now the Bad Orange Man appears safely out of power.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 10:59 AM (KZzsI)

281 I like how the used and abused evangelicals call out my Rep by name in their protest statement. Good luck with getting anything from that douche!

Posted by: weirdflunky at March 07, 2021 11:00 AM (cknjq)

282 Pro-Life Evangelicals for Biden: "We feel used and betrayed."

My money's on they're lying. They knew exactly what they were getting.

Posted by: Blanco Basura - moronhorde.com. Serving all Americans, even the Neanderthals. at March 07, 2021 11:01 AM (SchxB)

283 Said during week only remember about 6 Dr Suess titles as a kid, and even slightly above that age bracket.

Posted by: Skip at March 07, 2021 11:01 AM (Cxk7w)

284 164 As I kid, I would make Gloop or Gleep with the pen chains at the bank.
Posted by: Weak Geek at March 07, 2021 10:07 AM (J9wig)

Gloop and Gleep sound like failed names for laundry detergent.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 07, 2021 10:09 AM (mzC7

**********

Glop was a dish made in college which consisted of one can of Cream of Mushroom soup, a mystery meat, some egg noodles, and perhaps a few things found in the cupboard (best not to ask too closely about the latter) and was named for the sound it made when falling off of the serving spoon.

It could have been a failed laundry detergent, too.

Posted by: Blor Utar, from Zimtok-5 at March 07, 2021 11:01 AM (xxG/v)

285 I just wouldn't limit the list to only those that are illegal. Legal drugs, and the absolute, abject failure of a medical system is its focus on pills to solve everything. It's created a race of beings that have stopped looking inwards for solutions to their problems.

=====

Mary Baker Eddy.

Posted by: mustbequantum at March 07, 2021 11:02 AM (MIKMs)

286 Hurricane Camille's massive blind spot is about drugs, that the sixties were great except drugs fucked everything up. Drugs were an essential part of the sixties and you just can't go back and airlift them out and magically make it right. That and who she votes for are very frustrating.
Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at March 07, 2021 10:41 AM (y7DUB)

No, she's never taken drugs and has bemoaned the fact that so many bright people of her generation drugged themselves stupid. She says drugs (temporarily) give insight but it can't be communicated in any meaningful way. She has said pot can make men more passive, feminine and unambitious. So I don't think she's got a rosy view of drugs at all. She just takes the libertarian view that they should not be banned. And I agree, her political stances are really irritating.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&V at March 07, 2021 11:02 AM (HabA/)

287 What's next, an article: "The Black Community - We Still Gettin' Shot!"
To be followed by: "Transsexuals - Turns Out We Really Are Males, and Lopping Off Your Willy Isn't a Good Idea".

Posted by: pep at March 07, 2021 11:02 AM (v16oJ)

288 I was a big reader of Alien Legion back in the day. I checked to see if there was an omnibus (omnibi) but they are ridiculously expensive.

The art was amazing and the writing was tight. Sadly yeah the trades for a lot of those older properties are difficult to find and very expensive.

I am ashamed to admit that I rarely knew who the writers were in the comics I liked the most. I knew Claremont for the X-Men and I knew guys like Byrne and Miller who drew their own work, and that was pretty much it.

Dixon actually talks about that, how comic book writers are sort of invisible. He has gotten quite wealthy off his work (for example he gets small residuals from the Batman film that had Bane in it) but is virtually unknown except among hard core comic fans.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 11:02 AM (KZzsI)

289 @235: Re Holland's Dominion. He tells the stories and does precious little analysis (or i was too dense to see it).
http://tinyurl.com/2yuwda3a">Tim Keller's review (
http://tinyurl.com/2yuwda3a) in the Gospel Coalition spells out the consequences much better.

Posted by: yara at March 07, 2021 11:03 AM (N7mou)

290 Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 10:59 AM (KZzsI)

They were so rabidly against President Trump that they would do anything, include elect a doddering, senile fool as president, just to get rid of him. It's not just stupid, it is self-indulgent.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at March 07, 2021 11:03 AM (Q9lwr)

291 I have a few millennials in my orbit, and it's impossible to argue with their gods-who-live-in-their-smart-phones, so I try to avoid it.

However, I will say this: they are uneasy about Biden's age and how inept he seems (they are learning about Biden's shortcomings for the first time)

They are also nervously reassuring each other that the lockdowns will end soon.

Posted by: artemis at March 07, 2021 11:03 AM (AwPyG)

292 Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at March 07, 2021 10:41 AM (y7DUB)

Oops, I see I've misread what you wrote. My apologies, I'm still working on my first cup of coffee.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&V at March 07, 2021 11:03 AM (HabA/)

293 ahh... no links allowed.

Posted by: yara at March 07, 2021 11:03 AM (N7mou)

294 Pro-Life Evangelicals for Biden: "We feel used and betrayed."

Fuck them. They knew Biden supports abortion, but they didn't give a shit because they hated Trump.

Wish I really believed in hell, because that's where those bastards should burn.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at March 07, 2021 11:03 AM (2JVJo)

295 274 Pro-Life Evangelicals for Biden: "We feel used and betrayed."

What you should feel is ashamed and retarded because that's what you are: retarded and shameful.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 10:46 AM (KZzsI)

Yup, this.
----------
Exactly, they should all fell that way, all 1,000 of them.

Posted by: exdem13 at March 07, 2021 11:04 AM (W+kMI)

296 Now I know what a Kestrel is. Between American Kestrel and C.R. Taylor, I finally had to look it up. To be honest, I had no clue what the word meant. I said before I focused on my stuff and focusing made it seem that I was knowledgeable.

Posted by: Quint at March 07, 2021 11:04 AM (1FZFY)

297 Camille Paglia's big blind spot is sexual excess and her leftist politics. She sees each and every problem with the left the way we do, but still clings to it because she's a lesbian and right wingers are mean to her (translate: will not celebrate her lifestyle).

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 11:04 AM (KZzsI)

298 Its often said the 7 years war is considered the first world war, it should be the Napoleonic era could be the 2nd as warfare stretched from India, Africa, Europe, North and South America.

Posted by: Skip at March 07, 2021 11:04 AM (Cxk7w)

299 Hurricane Camille's massive blind spot is about drugs, that the sixties were great except drugs fucked everything up. Drugs were an essential part of the sixties and you just can't go back and airlift them out and magically make it right. That and who she votes for are very frustrating.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at March 07, 2021 10:41 AM (y7DUB)

She is all over the map, very good on some things, very bad on others. I think her chief virtue is her pushing back, and pushing back hard, against the feminist wokethink that is destroying classical scholarship. So in that narrow realm, she is absolutely superb. But yeah, you have to simply ignore her political opinions. She's nutty as a fruitbat.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at March 07, 2021 11:04 AM (e074d)

300 I dunno, I have to say that there are some amazing drugs out there, that make a life threatening illness just another walk in the park.

Posted by: artemis at March 07, 2021 11:04 AM (AwPyG)

301 Yes. It's a good 'un.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea
Thanks. Ordered.

Posted by: pep at March 07, 2021 11:05 AM (v16oJ)

302 Has super Christian David French acknowledged that Joe Biden might not be all that decent?

Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at March 07, 2021 11:05 AM (lgiXo)

303 279 I thought "Pro-Life Evangelicals for Biden: "We feel used and betrayed" was a Babylon Bee article. I looked. It's not.
Posted by: JAS, AoSHQ addict at March 07, 2021 10:55 AM (2BZBZ)

What's next, an article: "The Black Community - We Still Gettin' Shot!"
Posted by: BurtTC at March 07, 2021 10:59 AM (oQ94s)

Section 8 Housing Occupants Dont Like Section 8 Housing

Posted by: rhennigantx at March 07, 2021 11:05 AM (yrol0)

304 I picked Kestrel for my business name because a nickname variant for Christopher is "kester" which I think is kind of neat sounding. But because its close to keister, I figured I'd avoid that direct a name.

Another nickname/shortening is "Kit" as in Kit Carson.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 11:06 AM (KZzsI)

305 293 ahh... no links allowed.
Posted by: yara at March 07, 2021 11:03 AM (N7mou)

That all depends:

Long links: not allowed
Medium links: maybe allowed, maybe not allowed
Short links: allowed

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at March 07, 2021 11:07 AM (e074d)

306 She is all over the map, very good on some things, very bad on others. I
think her chief virtue is her pushing back, and pushing back hard,
against the feminist wokethink that is destroying classical scholarship.
So in that narrow realm, she is absolutely superb. But yeah, you have
to simply ignore her political opinions. She's nutty as a fruitbat.
Agree. She's a gadfly first, and an effective one, for people who really need it.

Posted by: pep at March 07, 2021 11:07 AM (v16oJ)

307 Though Dr Suess started in 50s, maybe didn't get very popular until later 60s?

Posted by: Skip at March 07, 2021 11:07 AM (Cxk7w)

308 Every few days another group comes out announcing
how disappointed they are with Biden. Uh huh, like that wasn't easy to
see coming. Either they're dumb to the point of needing a nametag to
remind themselves, or this is just a cynical way of trying to regain
credibility now the Bad Orange Man appears safely out of power.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 10:59 AM (KZzsI)

classic dem strategy. Win first, and then say whatever later. The same reason why they sometimes said Reagan and Bush were ok. It was to crap on the present Republican and improve their election chances. To them it is all about the win and to be honest, they are better at it.

Posted by: Quint at March 07, 2021 11:07 AM (1FZFY)

309 280 - it's the second. They never had any influence on the left, only on the right. They revealed themselves and are now trying to take cover again to regain influence. They are and always have been spies and saboteurs. Only a fool would take them at their word, but they're banking on Christian forgiveness and redemption so they can do it again. Really sorry? Take a vow of silence, poverty, and chastity, go to a monastery and spend your days in reflection.

.

Posted by: Farmer Bob at March 07, 2021 11:08 AM (7o4Oo)

310 302 Has super Christian David French acknowledged that Joe Biden might not be all that decent?
Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at March 07, 2021 11:05 AM (lgiXo)

"At least he doesn't post mean tweets."

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at March 07, 2021 11:08 AM (e074d)

311 Has super Christian David French acknowledged that Joe Biden might not be all that decent?

He's a pharisee, he will never admit he was wrong because then he would have to confess his sin and failure. His entire career is based on being the One Who Is Above It All, and his entire schtick is sophistry wrapped in moralism.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 11:08 AM (KZzsI)

312 "Pro-Life Evangelicals for Biden: "We feel used and betrayed."

Welcome to the club. That's the way I feel about the GOP.

If there's anything good that comes of this it will be the disappointment of the dumbasses who voted for that shit.

Posted by: the alligator at March 07, 2021 11:08 AM (Wql+a)

313 What you should feel is ashamed and retarded because that's what you are: retarded and shameful.

Certain folks get pissed off when I say this - but tough shit. Its true. A whole lot of religious folks confuse manners for morality.

Posted by: Roll Me Away at March 07, 2021 11:08 AM (sMMcg)

314 Tinyurl.com is free.
copy your long link into the box and presto! they give you a short link. For free.

Posted by: artemis at March 07, 2021 11:09 AM (AwPyG)

315
g'mornin', book-ish 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at March 07, 2021 11:09 AM (3BqF+)

316 I just wouldn't limit the list to only those that are illegal. Legal drugs, and the absolute, abject failure of a medical system is its focus on pills to solve everything. It's created a race of beings that have stopped looking inwards for solutions to their problems.

=====

Mary Baker Eddy.
Posted by: mustbequantum at March 07, 2021 11:02 AM (MIKMs)

Are we just throwing out random names for some reason?

Posted by: BurtTC at March 07, 2021 11:09 AM (oQ94s)

317 off reptilian sock

Posted by: f'd at March 07, 2021 11:09 AM (Wql+a)

318 Ho the book thread! I always love and hate the book thread because I spend a lot of money on the Amazon which only enriches the bastards. Too bad there aren't many alternatives.
And I found something out today. It's considered rude in the Mrs Hades household to drain the coffee pot and not make more. Unless she doesn't want more. Which I should know instinctively.
Or as she says, "I know my demands are unreasonable but that's no reason you can't fill them."

Posted by: GGE of the Moron Horde, NC Chapter at March 07, 2021 11:09 AM (CcOog)

319 A whole lot of religious folks confuse manners for morality.

A delusion that nobody in the Bible, especially Jesus, suffered from. Most of God's most useful warriors in the world were quite free of this problem as well.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 11:10 AM (KZzsI)

320 I dunno, I have to say that there are some amazing drugs out there, that make a life threatening illness just another walk in the park.

Used as a treatment most drugs are fine. Used as recreational entertainment is a problem.

Posted by: Blanco Basura - moronhorde.com. Serving all Americans, even the Neanderthals. at March 07, 2021 11:10 AM (SchxB)

321 I would be amazed if a single evangelical could have been convinced that Biden was the better candidate.

Like Christopher said, it's all an attempt to re gain credibility for whatever money laundering group they created.

Posted by: artemis at March 07, 2021 11:10 AM (AwPyG)

322 Dickens - Great Expectorations

Posted by: Muldoon at March 07, 2021 10:38 AM (m45I2)

"Rarnaby Budge" by Charles Dikkens. That's Dikkens with two k's, the well-known Dutch author...

Posted by: Additional Blond Agent, STEM guy at March 07, 2021 11:11 AM (ZSK0i)

323 @305: OM, I should've said, no anchor tags allowed

Posted by: yara at March 07, 2021 11:12 AM (N7mou)

324 "Rarnaby Budge" by Charles Dikkens. That's Dikkens with two k's, the well-known Dutch author...

I preferred his other book "A Sale of Two Titties."

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 11:12 AM (KZzsI)

325 Great Expectorations was the long lost baseball book no?

Posted by: Quint at March 07, 2021 11:12 AM (1FZFY)

326 The Dikkkens, you say!

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at March 07, 2021 11:13 AM (63Dwl)

327 For howclong will trumpets still be forced to day The Pledge of Allegiance ?

Posted by: Proud Moderate at March 07, 2021 11:13 AM (QX7AI)

328 Another reason I am looking forward to reading Dominion: Holland compares the import of the 1960's to the Reformation - he thinks the '60's were that consequential. And his thesis is that in the Christian DNA of the West there is the continual impulse to clear out corruption and return to the Light and the True Way. There was the Papal Schism, which was a fight within the Church, then the Reformation, which attacked the Church itself as hopelessly corrupt, and then the Enlightenment, which turned on Christianity itself. Holland sees the '60's as yet another attempt to reform institutions seen as corrupt and to universalize Christian concepts (without acknowledging them as Christian). I'll have to wait and actually read the book to see how he fleshes this idea out, but it intrigues me.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&V at March 07, 2021 11:13 AM (HabA/)

329 I preferred his other book "A Sale of Two Titties."

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 11:12 AM (KZzsI)

"Perhaps you should try W.H. Smith's?"

"I did. They sent me here."

"DID they."

Posted by: Additional Blond Agent, STEM guy at March 07, 2021 11:14 AM (ZSK0i)

330 #298 I've always called the SYW the "first world war" too, Skip. Although I see a case for the Naps too, I don't know. No inside India; more South America; N. America the same; although Europe more with larger conscript armies; naval similar.

Posted by: andycanuck at March 07, 2021 11:15 AM (d6he9)

331 For howclong will trumpets still be forced to day The Pledge of Allegiance ?

Posted by: Proud Moderate at March 07, 2021 11:13 AM (QX7AI)
how drunk are you?

Posted by: Quint at March 07, 2021 11:15 AM (1FZFY)

332 You've got something in your mouth PM. Spit it out before commenting.

Posted by: f'd at March 07, 2021 11:15 AM (Wql+a)

333 Posted by: JAS, AoSHQ addict at March 07, 2021 10:55 AM (2BZBZ)

What's next, an article: "The Black Community - We Still Gettin' Shot!"
Posted by: BurtTC at March 07, 2021 10:59 AM (oQ94s)

Section 8 Housing Occupants Dont Like Section 8 Housing
Posted by: rhennigantx at March 07, 2021 11:05 AM (yrol0)

As many have noted, it's damn near impossible to parody the current times. If you can think it, there's probably some group out there (verified twatter accounts) who are seriously saying it.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 07, 2021 11:16 AM (oQ94s)

334 And now I have purchased my books for next week I must be off to fulfill Mrs Hades unreasonable expectations. Later roonz and roonettez, fear no evil!

Posted by: GGE of the Moron Horde, NC Chapter at March 07, 2021 11:16 AM (CcOog)

335 302 Has super Christian David French acknowledged that Joe Biden might not be all that decent?
Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at March 07, 2021 11:05 AM (lgiXo)

French is one step away from declaring God to be hateful for the whole Sodom and Gomorrah thing and for not being as Holy as French himself is.

And it isn't a big step away either.

Posted by: Bete at March 07, 2021 11:16 AM (Ojki1)

336 @JackPosobiec

Wokies at Urban Dictionary zapped Blue Anon because it was too powerful!

Heh. Just saw that. I'm trying to figure out the pattern of who is permitted to remain on twitter (my 'suspended' folder is huge), but I don't get it.

Posobiec goes on to note the creation of blue-anon.com

Posted by: t-bird at March 07, 2021 11:16 AM (l0Lgi)

337 Are we just throwing out random names for some reason?
=====

Sorry. Mary Baker Eddy, founder of Christian Science. Disapproved general medications rather than good health. I am so old I remember a lot of Midwest cities had Christian Science Reading Rooms. From what I recall (elderly family members), there was nothing against medications, only using 'take a pill' as a way to avoid general mental and physical health.

Posted by: mustbequantum at March 07, 2021 11:17 AM (MIKMs)

338 Tom Clancy - Red Flu Rising

Posted by: Old Blue - Round Headed Bald Kid at March 07, 2021 11:17 AM (VNmG1)

339 Its one of the most carefully avoided facts in modern history study: the vast, positive, and important impact Christianity has had on human history and culture. As Holland says, its contradictory (sometimes people claiming Christianity did some evil and horrible, stupid stuff) but the overall true core message and philosophy of the faith is nothing but immensely positive to human existence and development.

I have said before, and still hold to it, that even if I didn't beleive God was real and the Bible was true, I'd support and encourage it because I see it as such a positive thing.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 11:19 AM (KZzsI)

340 Morning Horde. Got through with Give Me A Fast Ship by Tim McGrath, really a good read, so I thought I would stick around this era.

Currently reading 1812 by George C Daughan. Exensively covers the blue water naval engagemants, as well as the green water (Lake Ontario, Lake Champlain, etc.) battles.

Interesting read.

Posted by: Jak Sucio at March 07, 2021 11:19 AM (jvt6t)

341 So first doggo class was nice. Trainer left Merrill and went into Therapy dog training after her son suicided.

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 11:19 AM (ONvIw)

342 319 A whole lot of religious folks confuse manners for morality.

A delusion that nobody in the Bible, especially Jesus, suffered from. Most of God's most useful warriors in the world were quite free of this problem as well.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 11:10 AM (KZzsI)

Chasing out the money changers in the temple was so declasse.

Posted by: David French at March 07, 2021 11:20 AM (Ojki1)

343 Wokies at Urban Dictionary zapped Blue Anon because it was too powerful!

Amusing. A site which posts graphic descriptions of every conceivable sex act and perversion gets the vapors from a rather mild bit of satire. Protip: you guys aren't as brave and stunning as you think you are.

Posted by: pep at March 07, 2021 11:20 AM (v16oJ)

344 J.M. Barrie - Peter Pandemic

Posted by: Muldoon at March 07, 2021 11:20 AM (m45I2)

345 CRT, I met Dixon at a comics convention before he hit it big. He was writing Airboy for Eclipse Comics. He gave a copy to me. Don't recall whether I read it; I wasn't much into independent comics that weren't published by First.

A few years later, he's writing Batman stories. Still my favorite run of Detective.

And then ... what was that publisher in Florida? The one that opened the piggy bank to get so many big names -- and then went bust? I loved the work he did there.

Glad to see he's still writing.

Posted by: Weak Geek at March 07, 2021 11:20 AM (J9wig)

346 Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 11:04 AM (KZzsI)

She praised and defended Rush Limbaugh and he mentioned her on his show in a complimentary way. They met in the '90's and smoked cigars together. So it's difficult to make generalizations about her.

Unfortunately, we as a society have lost the ability to meet and debate and strongly disagree with each other while remaining friends. GB Shaw and Chesterton debated each other and disagreed with each other about everything, but they were friends. Shaw was genuinely grieved and gracious when Chesterton died. That doesn't happen much these days. Paglia at least tries to be fair to conservatives.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&V at March 07, 2021 11:20 AM (HabA/)

347 From what I recall (elderly family members), there was nothing against medications, only using 'take a pill' as a way to avoid general mental and physical health.

Church of Science officially teaches that all illness is in your head, because material existence is a lie and we're spiritual beings so you can faith your missing leg away, etc. Almost nobody in the organisation actually clings to that whole heartedly, but they feel guilty about going to the doctor.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 11:20 AM (KZzsI)

348 Apparently the Dumb Evangelicals for Biden are disappoint because the Biden campaign had courted them with the promise that they would work with them on the abortion issue, specifically the Hyde Amendment. Then once elected, all communication was cut and it looks like the Hyde Amendment is gonna go Splat without every consulting with the Dumbs.

Posted by: grammie winger at March 07, 2021 11:22 AM (45fpk)

349 One thing that 1812 covers is what an idiot Hamilton was. SO that he became a leftist icon in that ridiculous play does not surprise me.

Posted by: Jak Sucio at March 07, 2021 11:22 AM (jvt6t)

350 A site which posts graphic descriptions of every conceivable sex act and perversion gets the vapors from a rather mild bit of satire.

Its not even satire, its an accurate description of the conspiracy mongering rumor vaporers on the left. They're probably all left-leaning urbanites though so, heresy.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 11:22 AM (KZzsI)

351 347: There is a big Mary Baker Eddy hospice type place near me. It's interesting that people still follow this, but they do.

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 11:22 AM (ONvIw)

352 Sorry. Mary Baker Eddy, founder of Christian Science. Disapproved general medications rather than good health. I am so old I remember a lot of Midwest cities had Christian Science Reading Rooms. From what I recall (elderly family members), there was nothing against medications, only using 'take a pill' as a way to avoid general mental and physical health.
Posted by: mustbequantum at March 07, 2021 11:17 AM (MIKMs)

Ah, I don't have enough knowledge of her or even the CS concepts and philosophy. Whatever limited knowledge I have tends toward a metaphysical perspective on health and illness.

And that's not what I was intending to suggest at all. People have to take care of themselves. Even in the face of great illness and suffering, it's still possible to BE the instrument of recovery, if one is willing to put in the hard work.

Our modern world, people aren't willing to do that, it seems. So much of what's wrong with ME, I expect YOU to fix it, either by changing the world that offends me, or giving me something that is going to magically make everything all better.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 07, 2021 11:23 AM (oQ94s)

353 @339

If you feel you are answerable for your behavior, you tend to try to behave better.

Even non believers should understand this, but they can't allow for any power higher than themselves.

Posted by: artemis at March 07, 2021 11:24 AM (AwPyG)

354 Yeah Church of Science is one of those odd 1800s cults that for some reason still functions today. Unlike some, they haven't really changed their message or core ideas to match the times, either.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 11:24 AM (KZzsI)

355 Chuck Dixon is great. One of the few comic writers I seek out (Dan Abnett being another). I also like his Levon Cade novels.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Logan Tiberius Edwards (2012-2021) at March 07, 2021 11:24 AM (uxJPn)

356 Our modern world, people aren't willing to do that, it seems. So much of what's wrong with ME, I expect YOU to fix it, either by changing the world that offends me, or giving me something that is going to magically make everything all better.
Posted by: BurtTC at March 07, 2021 11:23 AM (oQ94s)

They have their own nursing programs

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 11:25 AM (ONvIw)

357 348 Apparently the Dumb Evangelicals for Biden are disappoint because the Biden campaign had courted them with the promise that they would work with them on the abortion issue, specifically the Hyde Amendment. Then once elected, all communication was cut and it looks like the Hyde Amendment is gonna go Splat without every consulting with the Dumbs.
Posted by: grammie winger at March 07, 2021 11:22 AM (45fpk)

An evil part of me wants to really rub salt in by saying since their tax money is going to abortions that those Evangel's are just as complicit in the abortion as the doctors involved, and since they voted for it to happen to ask them how they will stand in front of God and answer for their complicity.

Posted by: Bete at March 07, 2021 11:27 AM (Ojki1)

358 so you can faith your missing leg away, etc.
=====

I don't remember any oldster relatives saying anything remotely like that. However, Eddy founded that movement well before antibiotics and the usual remedy for mental or physical problems was opiates or drink.

Posted by: mustbequantum at March 07, 2021 11:27 AM (MIKMs)

359 She praised and defended Rush Limbaugh and he mentioned her on his show in a complimentary way. They met in the '90's and smoked cigars together. So it's difficult to make generalizations about her.

Yeah she's willing to reach out and talk to non-leftists but every election, no matter how godawful the left winger is and how much she praises the Republican, she always reaches left for that lever. Without fail. Its like a mental illness.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 11:27 AM (KZzsI)

360 Some of the people who signed on to Evangelicals for Biden really trouble me. President (or past-President) of Fuller Seminary and also Gordon Conwell Seminary.

Posted by: grammie winger at March 07, 2021 11:28 AM (45fpk)

361 *memory click*

Florida comics publisher was CrossGen.

Posted by: Weak Geek at March 07, 2021 11:28 AM (J9wig)

362 I'm glad it didn't happen due to what would have been a large loss of life but it's 'fun' to imagine 130-gun First Raters fighting it out on Lake Ontario if both sides hadn't been too busy trying to outgun each other instead of fighting it out.

Posted by: andycanuck at March 07, 2021 11:29 AM (d6he9)

363 I don't remember any oldster relatives saying anything remotely like that.

I have talked quite extensively and read quite a bit about the place. When I was teaching grown up* classes in church a lady from the CoS showed up and we had long talks, for example. It really messed her up to be raised in that environment.

(Adult sounds vaguely pornographic in this forum and I know how that would go)

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 11:29 AM (KZzsI)

364 Some of the people who signed on to Evangelicals for Biden really trouble me. President (or past-President) of Fuller Seminary and also Gordon Conwell Seminary.
Posted by: grammie winger at March 07, 2021 11:28 AM (45fpk)

Christianity Today went hard neverTrump and likely proBiden.

Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at March 07, 2021 11:29 AM (lgiXo)

365 Church of Science officially teaches that all illness is in your head, because material existence is a lie and we're spiritual beings so you can faith your missing leg away, etc. Almost nobody in the organisation actually clings to that whole heartedly, but they feel guilty about going to the doctor.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 11:20 AM (KZzsI)

The Catholic Church teaches that sex outside of marriage is a sin.

Lots of teenagers used to be in the back seats of the family station wagons, steaming up the windows. I'm sure lots of them felt guilty about it. For all I know though, these days in Frankie's Church, they have beds set up in the basements of churches, with condom dispensaries at the door.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 07, 2021 11:30 AM (oQ94s)

366 I don't remember any oldster relatives saying anything remotely like that. However, Eddy founded that movement well before antibiotics and the usual remedy for mental or physical problems was opiates or drink.
Posted by: mustbequantum at March 07, 2021 11:27 AM (MIKMs

The CS place near me does not even approve of OTC supplements or "shakes". It's interesting. The women who played Georgette on Mary Tyler Moore was an avid CS who went there for her end of life care.

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 11:30 AM (ONvIw)

367
I'm not saying drugs aren't necessary, in some cases they are, but they NEVER should have been the first resort for damn near everything that ails us.
Posted by: BurtTC at March 07, 2021 10:57 AM (oQ94s)

I will go on to say that many old folks' ills nowadays aren't from physical maladies or disease, but the moderate to sometimes severe side affects many of these "miracle" drugs produce.

Posted by: Justsayin' at March 07, 2021 11:30 AM (Fs5vw)

368 The hate for the Sneetches is all based on the wokies not wanting anyone to figure out that they are the monkey with the star on star off machine

Posted by: azjaeger at March 07, 2021 11:30 AM (3/XaG)

369 @360

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

Posted by: artemis at March 07, 2021 11:31 AM (AwPyG)

370 A Princess of SARS-CoV-2

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at March 07, 2021 11:32 AM (Dc2NZ)

371 Christianity Today went hard neverTrump and likely proBiden.

Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at March 07, 2021 11:29 AM (lgiXo)

Yes, the former head of Christianity Today also signed on with the Dumbs. It's disheartening to read the signature list. For instance, the granddaughter of Billy Graham.

Posted by: grammie winger at March 07, 2021 11:32 AM (45fpk)

372
After years of debating whether to do so, I bevan "reading" the unabridged "The Gulag Archipelago, 1918 - 1956, by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. I say "read", but I actually am listening to the Blackstone Audiobooks recordings on cassettes that someone posted to YouTube in eight separate audio-only videos that run for a total of 76-1/4 hours.

The reader is Frederick Davidson and his recording is still available (but at wholesale only?), but on CDs (59 discs) and sold as complete sets for each of the three volumes into which this work was divided.

Davidson is a superb reader for the work. Firstly, and much appreciated by me, it is his task to pronounce the Russian names correctly, not mine. Beyond that, he uses his voice, tone, and pace to create readily distinguishable audio cues for the three chief "narrators" in the work. Solhenitsyn himself is world weary and world wise, at times sarcastic, and does not hesitate to skewer those people who deserve it. The gulag's apparatchiks are peevish, delusionally stern, and vicious. The zeks are naively hopeful, often timid, aghast at their lot, and almost always resigned to their fates.

(1/2)

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at March 07, 2021 11:32 AM (pNxlR)

373 "African village where things existed in a kind of harmonious savagery .... he inadvertently kills
someone during the frenzy of a funeral and is banished. I think the
second part of the book deals with life after the region was colonized"

D'Souza does a video with Obama's half brother, who wished the Brits had stayed longer in Kenya (since they kept destroying themselves with internal war). This rather well spoken Obama bro' noted the success of what Brits built in South Africa -- which is now being destroyed -- whites murdered, under duress, or fleeing. I'm informed this is a common feeling in parts of Africa ... and indeed, we "invested" efforts there for decades, but lost SA first to Russia, now it is China moving in to control Africa. --
It makes our current DeepState sellout to China more baffling to me .. "they" must have a plan, hopefully it is not some WMD war, idk.

Posted by: illiniwek at March 07, 2021 11:33 AM (Cus5s)

374 Nice thing about being Presbyterian, we have no religious leaders. If you get three of us in a room, you will have at least four arguments.

Posted by: Quint at March 07, 2021 11:33 AM (1FZFY)

375 Franklin Graham has said some questionable stuff lately.

Truly a surprise

Posted by: artemis at March 07, 2021 11:33 AM (AwPyG)

376 Florida comics publisher was CrossGen.

Yeah, he talks about the CrossGen years and the stories he had in mind or was working on. It sounds like a terrific project, too bad it didn't continue.

I was around when Dark Horse comics started up, tried to get on as a writer or artist there. For some reason that one really took off and has done well, its been #3 in sales overall quite a few years. Having a lot of movie adaptation properties helped, plus that was the first place comics like Barb Wire and The Mask were, and they got movie treatments.

Also: Time Cop, Tank Girl, Umbrella Academy, Sin City, Rocketeer, Hellboy, Sin City, 300, RIPD, etc were all Dark Horse properties.

Sometimes it really works, but its super hard to get into the comics publishing business these days. Kids just aren't reading them any more

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 11:33 AM (KZzsI)

377 Unfortunately, we as a society have lost the ability to meet and debate and strongly disagree with each other while remaining friends.

Because their politics don't stop at my doorstep anymore. Politics dictates if I can go to a restaurant. Politics decides if I can travel for work. Pretty soon - politics will decide that I can't own a guy.

To Hell with friendly debate with anyone advocating those kinds of limits on me via politics. Talking time is officially over.

Posted by: Roll Me Away at March 07, 2021 11:33 AM (sMMcg)

378 I'm a little troubled by the pro-life identifier in pro-life evangelicals. Being pro-life should be baked in the cake.

Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at March 07, 2021 11:34 AM (lgiXo)

379
I will go on to say that many old folks' ills nowadays aren't from physical maladies or disease, but the moderate to sometimes severe side affects many of these "miracle" drugs produce.
Posted by: Justsayin' at March 07, 2021 11:30 AM (Fs5vw

If your mental state is due to an event or a behavior in your life, medication won't change it. But a bacterial illness typically needs an antibiotic, and if you're a type 1 diabetic you need insulin. I tried to tell people that God gave us the intellect and vision to help ourselves and others by making medications to use when needed.

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 11:34 AM (ONvIw)

380 378 I'm a little troubled by the pro-life identifier in pro-life evangelicals. Being pro-life should be baked in the cake.
Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at March 07, 2021 11:34 AM (lgiXo)

This^ times Eleventy.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at March 07, 2021 11:34 AM (PiwSw)

381 Franklin Graham has said some questionable stuff lately.

Truly a surprise

Posted by: artemis at March 07, 2021 11:33 AM (AwPyG)

Oh wow. He was practically glued to Trump's side.

Posted by: grammie winger at March 07, 2021 11:34 AM (45fpk)

382
Yeah she's willing to reach out and talk to non-leftists but every election, no matter how godawful the left winger is and how much she praises the Republican, she always reaches left for that lever. Without fail. Its like a mental illness.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor

Just as Alan Dershowitz.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at March 07, 2021 11:35 AM (63Dwl)

383 I'm not saying drugs aren't necessary, in some cases they are, but they NEVER should have been the first resort for damn near everything that ails us.
Posted by: BurtTC at March 07, 2021 10:57 AM (oQ94s)

I will go on to say that many old folks' ills nowadays aren't from physical maladies or disease, but the moderate to sometimes severe side affects many of these "miracle" drugs produce.
Posted by: Justsayin' at March 07, 2021 11:30 AM (Fs5vw)

Honestly, this is what truly horrifies me, that people get on this treadmill, and can never get off. Constantly taking more and more pills to solve problems that are created by the medical industrial complex.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 07, 2021 11:35 AM (oQ94s)

384 The Catholic Church teaches that sex outside of marriage is a sin.

The Bible teaches that. But its one of those doctrines like so many in the past that much of Christianity is being led by culture rather than the other way around.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 11:35 AM (KZzsI)

385 A gun - own a damn gun. I hate this fvcking phone.

Posted by: Roll Me Away at March 07, 2021 11:36 AM (sMMcg)

386
Pretty soon - politics will decide that I can't own a guy.

That's been illegal for some time.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at March 07, 2021 11:36 AM (63Dwl)

387 I would like to know what Moderate is so proud of.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin at March 07, 2021 11:38 AM (I58tH)

388 Tristam Shandy" is one of the all-time great picaresque novels. WARNING: it is filled to the brim with digressions. So much so, that the story hardly gets told,

In a way, it's the Archaic Mach 1.0 version of "Gravity's Rainbow" or "Pale Fire".

You know what else is a great picaresque novel?

https://tinyurl.com/rucwducm
Posted by: naturalfake at March 07, 2021 10:22 AM (dWwl

Thanks for the tip on Year of the Cat! Just downloaded it. Pale Fire is my favorite: a tip I received on the structure Nabokov used for the book: it is symmetrically laid out like a butterfly, and Shade and Kinbote are intertwined mirror images of each other.

Posted by: ProfShade - Ashli Babbit report? at March 07, 2021 11:38 AM (BdDfF)

389 For all my slamming on Christian Science (and there's probably several reading this that now hate my guts) I agree RE: drugs and modern medicine. Its in a terrible state. They hand out anti-depressants for anything they cannot easily identify. For the stuff they do know, they throw a pill at you to make the symptoms go away and pretend its fixed. And then another pill to deal with the side effects.

https://youtu.be/x-zxBNz3XbM

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 11:38 AM (KZzsI)

390 38 One last thing: I know she's only watercolors on a piece of paper, but I think I'm in love with the girl in the painting. The only possible improvement would be glasses.
Posted by: pep at March 07, 2021 09:17 AM (v16oJ)

Gingerphile!

Agree totally.

Posted by: Fox2! at March 07, 2021 11:39 AM (qyH+l)

391 386
Pretty soon - politics will decide that I can't own a guy.

That's been illegal for some time.
--------
A few years ago I would've replied that it would be better to own a girl instead of a guy. But #Pizzagate and further related scandals managed to ruin that idea too.

Posted by: exdem13 at March 07, 2021 11:39 AM (W+kMI)

392 Weak Geek, don't mention CrossGen. I still weep for their passing. Way of the Rat was great, and El Cazador should have been epic, were it not cut so tragically short...

Posted by: Castle Guy at March 07, 2021 11:39 AM (Lhaco)

393 A gun - own a damn gun. I hate this fvcking phone.
We were all wondering....

Posted by: pep at March 07, 2021 11:39 AM (v16oJ)

394 I suspect the pro-life evangelicals have a definition of pro-life that's been expanded to include open borders, a high minimum wage and killing babies that aren't wanted.
Yeah, I'm probably being unfair.

Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at March 07, 2021 11:40 AM (lgiXo)

395 389 For all my slamming on Christian Science (and there's probably several reading this that now hate my guts) I agree RE: drugs and modern medicine. Its in a terrible state. They hand out anti-depressants for anything they cannot easily identify. For the stuff they do know, they throw a pill at you to make the symptoms go away and pretend its fixed. And then another pill to deal with the side effects.

https://youtu.be/x-zxBNz3XbM
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 11:38 AM (KZzsI)

In part because some of the things that trouble people need real work to deal with. Pills are easier for doctors and many of the patients as well as they can be far easier and require less effort.

Posted by: Bete at March 07, 2021 11:40 AM (Ojki1)

396 Christopher Taylor: Holland says try to imagine the impact Christ's message had on a slave in Rome. You are the lowest of the low, your master has the absolute right to rape you or do anything he wants to you, and then you hear that there is a God who loves you and you are equal to a free person in His eyes. Is it any wonder Christians were willing to die for such a God? Nobody in the ancient world thought Apollo or Zeus loved them. You sacrificed to them so they wouldn't get pissed off at you. It was like a protection racket. OTOH, Holland says you can also see why most Jews had a different reaction. When they heard "there is neither Jew or Greek," we're all the same, they said, "But we don't want to be the same. We like being Jews, we don't want to be dissolved in this big universalist stew." (And of course, the idea that God became man was very strange to Jews, although not to the pagan world).

Posted by: Donna&&&&&V at March 07, 2021 11:40 AM (HabA/)

397 Twain..."Innocents Defrauded"

Posted by: creeper at March 07, 2021 11:42 AM (XxJt1)

398 391 386
Pretty soon - politics will decide that I can't own a guy.

'Scuse me, while I kiss this guy.
Some band

Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at March 07, 2021 11:42 AM (lgiXo)

399 385 A gun - own a damn gun. I hate this fvcking phone.
-----
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbfWXOPKFeg

Posted by: exdem13 at March 07, 2021 11:42 AM (W+kMI)

400 Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 11:38 AM (KZzsI)

I think it's a damn shame that some are moving away from 12 step programs due to the idea of "a higher power, AKA God. Sometimes faith and an instruction manual like the Commandments and other biblical instructions are curative. As a society, we have moved toward political "higher powers" so it's not a big shock that pharma and medical insurance has replaced our previous treatments.

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 11:42 AM (ONvIw)

401 IT'S FUNNY BECAUSE SHE'S A LIBRARY GIRL IN THE STACKS WITH A STACK OF BOOKS AND A FLAT CHEST SO IT SEEMS CONTRADICTORY TO SAY SHE'S STACKED! THIS CONTRADICTION TRIGGERS THE INCONGRUITY CENTER IN THE AMYGDALA, ELICITING A RESPONSE THAT WE INTERPRET AS "HUMOR" AND OUTWARDLY RESPOND TO WITH AN EMOTION CALLED "LAUGHTER".

Posted by: BEN ROTHLISBERGER at March 07, 2021 11:43 AM (m45I2)

402 Holy crap, Ben.

Posted by: artemis at March 07, 2021 11:44 AM (AwPyG)

403 In part because some of the things that trouble people need real work to deal with. Pills are easier for doctors and many of the patients as well as they can be far easier and require less effort.

And honestly most GPs, your "family doctor" type knows barely more than you do about medicine. They often just have no clue what the hell to do and Google offers this remedy.

The sad thing is that anti-depressants don't do a damned thing about depression, either. They just block certain chemicals that your brain is releasing because you are depressed. Its like numbing your broken arm: see, the break is fixed, it doesn't hurt any more!

You're still depressed, you just don't feel all the symptoms of it. Which is in my opinion why some (many?) people on AD medication kill themselves.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 11:44 AM (KZzsI)

404
"The Gulag Archipelago" (2/2)

The great drawback in this rendition of the audio version is the YouTube medium by which it is delivered. I do not and will not subscribe to YouTube, so listening to this is the only thing that I can do on my iPhone during that time. This isn't a problem for me, as I have found that focusing my attention on the performance really increases my enjoyment and understanding. I do have to remind myself to record stopping points in my listening so that when I return I can pick up where I left off.

I am guessing that the unabridged CDs, at $216 for the full set, probably have a way around that last problem and I would not be contributing to copyright infringement. As I am now only in the second video out of eight total, I may pony up and buy the CDs before much more time passes.

As for printed versions, the issue is whether they are abridged or not, and, given the length of the text, whether they are paperback versions or not. My experience with lengthy paperbacks is they usually are in tough shape by the time I finish reading them.

I do recommend this work and I'll likely discuss it more in weeks to come.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at March 07, 2021 11:45 AM (pNxlR)

405 Castle Guy, oh I agree regarding CrossGen.

El Cazador is the comic whose death I most regret.

Posted by: Weak Geek at March 07, 2021 11:46 AM (J9wig)

406 Jews had a different reaction. When they heard "there is neither Jew or Greek," we're all the same, they said, "But we don't want to be the same. We like being Jews, we don't want to be dissolved in this big universalist stew.

Jesus' message was kind of radical too: "all those laws and the temple were just looking forward to me, the great sacrifice and law-keeper in your place, now all of that is erased"

That would not be easy to take after 70 generations growing up that under the law.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 11:46 AM (KZzsI)

407 Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 11:38 AM (KZzsI)

I always found it funny sad that there is actually a real drug called Soma. It's a muscle relaxer and often abused so no longer prescribed as much as other muscle relaxers.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 07, 2021 11:46 AM (2DOZq)

408 Geez BEN, it wasn't THAT funny.

Posted by: Muldoon at March 07, 2021 11:47 AM (m45I2)

409 The BlueAnon thing doesn't work well as a meme, IMO. When your "loosely organized" movement includes every single elected member of both parties, all the spies, every teacher and professor, most of the military officers, most of the business leaders, and most of the Churches, it's not loosely organized, or a movement. It's just the highly organized Establishment that occupies the commanding heights of every institution, exercising its power.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at March 07, 2021 11:47 AM (3lW9V)

410 Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 11:46 AM (KZzsI)

He was pointing out the man made religious laws that had really nothing to do with God .

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 07, 2021 11:48 AM (2DOZq)

411 Nobody in the ancient world thought Apollo or Zeus loved them. You sacrificed to them so they wouldn't get pissed off at you. It was like a protection racket.

-
Paganism could be ready for a comeback. You could be spiritual without all that morality crap.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 07, 2021 11:48 AM (VVEnO)

412 Without fail. Its like a mental illness.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 11:27 AM (KZzsI)

I don't doubt her sincerity, but what would happen if she came out for conservative candidates? She'd be immediately dismissed as "alt-right," lumped in with Malkin and D'Sousa, etc.. and completely ignored by the media. I sometimes think that the only reason she and people like Christina Sommers cling so strongly to the Dems is to keep themselves from becoming completely marginalized.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&V at March 07, 2021 11:48 AM (HabA/)

413 Yeah, I'm probably being unfair.

Nope. I've met plenty that don't give a damn about my property rights, or the concept of a nation state. To them, every dollar they can funnel to a third world country - be it their money or mine - just builds them one more step on their stairway to heaven.

Is that all Evangelicals ? Nope. But it sure as shit is some Evangelicals.

Posted by: Roll Me Away at March 07, 2021 11:49 AM (sMMcg)

414 The Catholic Church teaches that sex outside of marriage is a sin.
--------------
The Bible teaches that. But its one of those doctrines like so many in the past that much of Christianity is being led by culture rather than the other way around.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 11:35 AM (KZzsI)

Sure, but the Catholic Church has a rulebook, beyond the Bible. So when a teenager goes to his priest and asks "Father, is it a sin to have sex outside of marriage," Father O'Brother is going to open the book at say "It says right here, 'Thou Shalt Not Take Mary Jane Rottencrotch In the Backseat Of Your Parents' Station Wagon."

Whereas in many Protestant churches, you'd get "First of all, don't call me Father, and second of all, have your read the Bible? What does it say? Do that. Now get out of here, ya knucklehead."

Posted by: BurtTC at March 07, 2021 11:49 AM (oQ94s)

415 I read Gulag Archipelago in high-school as well as the likes of 1984. Wonder if I should revisit them.

Posted by: Skip at March 07, 2021 11:50 AM (Cxk7w)

416 38 One last thing: I know she's only watercolors on a piece of paper, but I think I'm in love with the girl in the painting. The only possible improvement would be glasses.
Posted by: pep at March 07, 2021 09:17 AM (v16oJ)
Gingerphile!
Agree totally.
Posted by: Fox2! at March 07, 2021 11:39 AM (qyH+l)

Concur. She made me warm....like Mike Douglas did for Granny Klump.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at March 07, 2021 11:50 AM (R/m4+)

417 You're still depressed, you just don't feel all the symptoms of it. Which is in my opinion why some (many?) people on AD medication kill themselves.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 11:44 AM (KZzsI)

More often than not, people who are profoundly depressed attempt suicide at the point when treatment is increasing their energy. They are not feeling better, but they have the energy to act on the depression instead of experiencing anhedonia and being inactive. It is a dangerous point.

Are antidepressants always a good idea. Nope. If the depression is due to a tragic loss, meds change nothing, and grief therapy (I liked to pass out CS Lewis books) helps people see a "normal curve". If it's due to something that needs to change, help making changes works better than meds. Sometimes you have someone with a true chemical issue. It takes quite a bit to determine the "cause" in some cases.

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 11:51 AM (ONvIw)

418 Oops, I see I've misread what you wrote. My apologies, I'm still working on my first cup of coffee.
Posted by: Donna&&&&&V at March 07, 2021 11:03 AM (HabA/)

Thanks for writing this because I was reading your response and going "hmmmm". It's not like I've never done that...

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at March 07, 2021 11:51 AM (y7DUB)

419 It's just the highly organized Establishment that occupies the commanding heights of every institution, exercising its power.
Sort of like the CCCP in 1988.

Posted by: pep at March 07, 2021 11:51 AM (v16oJ)

420
IT'S FUNNY BECAUSE SHE'S A LIBRARY GIRL IN THE STACKS WITH A STACK OF BOOKS AND A FLAT CHEST SO IT SEEMS CONTRADICTORY TO SAY SHE'S STACKED!

You know what else is stacked?

Hotcakes, darling!

-- zombie Eva Gabor

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at March 07, 2021 11:51 AM (pNxlR)

421 It looks like the pay cut is affecting Ben's mind!

Posted by: andycanuck at March 07, 2021 11:51 AM (d6he9)

422 "It says right here, 'Thou Shalt Not Take Mary Jane Rottencrotch In the Backseat Of Your Parents' Station Wagon."

Even if she has pretty pink panties?

Nope. I've met plenty that don't give a damn about my property rights, or the concept of a nation state.

Remember it was Christians who fought hardest for prohibition. There is a section of Christianity that's as much for the big government as the left, just with them in control enforcing their laws.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 11:52 AM (KZzsI)

423 Skip, I went on a Solzhenitsyn binge a while back. It was good to reread them in light of today.

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 11:52 AM (ONvIw)

424
If your mental state is due to an event or a behavior in your life, medication won't change it. But a bacterial illness typically needs an antibiotic, and if you're a type 1 diabetic you need insulin. I tried to tell people that God gave us the intellect and vision to help ourselves and others by making medications to use when needed.
Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 11:34 AM (ONvIw)

I didn't say all drugs. I mostly refer to the tv drugs. You know, the drugs where half the advertisement is about side affects and contraindications.

BTW. Ocare's Pajama Boy does advertisements for Humira. And yes, he looks and acts just as effeminate as we so jokingly described him.

Posted by: Justsayin' at March 07, 2021 11:52 AM (Fs5vw)

425 Posted by: BEN ROTHLISBERGER at March 07, 2021 11:43 AM (m45I2)

Who are you and where's the real moron that socks as Ben?

Posted by: Blanco Basura - moronhorde.com. Serving all Americans, even the Neanderthals. at March 07, 2021 11:53 AM (SchxB)

426 Sometimes you have someone with a true chemical issue. It takes quite a bit to determine the "cause" in some cases.

Sure, and if that's how it was approached and understood that would be great: this helps you get on your feet so you can attack the root causes of your depression.

But its not usually. Its treated as a solution: take these and feel better, now you're not depressed! Except... you still are. Worse yet, they're handed out for things the doctor can't figure out and hopes are just depression.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 11:53 AM (KZzsI)

427 (and there's probably several reading this that now hate my guts)
=====

Never. My point was that so much of medicine and health is positive thinking. I have no faith whatsoever, but I would probably enjoy a positive take on end of life care. See, also, Little Sisters of the Poor.

Posted by: mustbequantum at March 07, 2021 11:54 AM (MIKMs)

428 I sometimes think that the only reason she and people like Christina Sommers cling so strongly to the Dems is to keep themselves from becoming completely marginalized.
Posted by: Donna&&&&&V at March 07, 2021 11:48 AM (HabA/)

There's that but if you want to be completely honest, it's not like the GOP hasn't offered up trash like McRINO and Rombley. Just because we held our nose and chose them doesn't mean they were good candidates.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at March 07, 2021 11:55 AM (y7DUB)

429 Re: return of Paganism. See the CS Lewis poem "Cliche Came Out of its Cage."

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 07, 2021 11:55 AM (QZxDR)

430 In part because some of the things that trouble people need real work to deal with. Pills are easier for doctors and many of the patients as well as they can be far easier and require less effort.
Posted by: Bete at March 07, 2021 11:40 AM (Ojki1)

Also, pharmaceutical companies sell drugs, not advice.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 07, 2021 11:55 AM (oQ94s)

431 In the Warren Ohio area we had Packard Electric, employing thousands, mostly women. Most of this was assembly line work, assembling automotive harnesses. Carpal tunnel syndrome raised it's ugly head, and most doctors in the area were writing scripts for opiates. Thousands of women, possibly addicted in Trumbull and Mahoning Counties. Trade in percocets was common bar room behavior.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin at March 07, 2021 11:56 AM (I58tH)

432 Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 11:52 AM (KZzsI)

To be fair it was women temperance movement who claimed Christianity. Never had an explanation for Jesus making wine.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 07, 2021 11:56 AM (2DOZq)

433 What is humor if not an inducement of dissonance on some level?

A play on words, ambiguous meaning?
An ironic twist?
A surprise ending, unexpected outcome?
A cringe joke?
An off-color comment?
A Bobcat Goldthwaite screech?

Is there an example of humor that is not dissonant?

Posted by: Muldoon at March 07, 2021 11:56 AM (m45I2)

434
Never. My point was that so much of medicine and health is positive thinking. I have no faith whatsoever, but I would probably enjoy a positive take on end of life care. See, also, Little Sisters of the Poor.
Posted by: mustbequantum at March 07, 2021 11:54 AM (MIKMs)

Most if not all medicine is end of life care.

There. That's my philosophical take for the day.

Posted by: Justsayin' at March 07, 2021 11:58 AM (Fs5vw)

435 @433

Knock knock jokes?

Posted by: artemis at March 07, 2021 11:58 AM (AwPyG)

436
I didn't say all drugs. I mostly refer to the tv drugs. You know, the drugs where half the advertisement is about side affects and contraindications.

BTW. Ocare's Pajama Boy does advertisements for Humira. And yes, he looks and acts just as effeminate as we so jokingly described him.
Posted by: Justsayin' at March 07, 2021 11:52 AM (Fs5vw)

I didn't say you did. The CS place near me doesn't even believe supplements are acceptable in their facility. It's an interesting philosophy, but not for me. Some illnesses are curable and should be cured, IMO. As for arthritis meds like humira, some people suffer greatly, others need to learn to tolerate a bit of pain and learn non-pharmaceutical ways to relieve pain (some just need to lose 50)

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 11:58 AM (ONvIw)

437 Have to get ready for church. Thanks again for my favorite thread, OM. I truly look forward every week to the Book Thread. Sorry to go on so much about "Dominion" which I haven't even read yet, but I spent a long time yesterday binge watching Tom Holland interviews and debates on YouTube and got excited about buying and reading his book. It's inspiring to me, I guess, that a Brit historian born in the '60's, who grew up with very little interest in Christianity, could come to the realization that Christianity is the most revolutionary idea in history and end up embracing it wholeheartedly.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&V at March 07, 2021 11:58 AM (HabA/)

438 I'd like to think that my fat ass was all in my mind but a good deal of it seems to be in my chair.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 07, 2021 11:58 AM (VVEnO)

439 Is there an example of humor that is not dissonant?
Posted by: Muldoon at March 07, 2021 11:56 AM (m45I2)

Three Stooges

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 07, 2021 11:58 AM (2DOZq)

440
Skip, I went on a Solzhenitsyn binge a while back. It was good to reread them in light of today.
Posted by: CN

The often quoted remark about whether Soviet state security personnel would have been so keen about their work had there been a chance they would not return alive from their labors occurs early in the work and is powerful and relevant to today.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at March 07, 2021 11:58 AM (pNxlR)

441 There is a subtype of humor which isn't dissonant: the observational or (for lack of a better term) "Garrison Keillor" style -- depicting human behavior. The laugh is one of recognition.

Not seen often these days.

Posted by: Trimegistus at March 07, 2021 11:59 AM (QZxDR)

442 #327. Can't you at least learn how to type a coherent sentence?

I'm so tired of these discount trolls. You'd think Soros would spend the extra buck to get better quality, but I guess not.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at March 07, 2021 11:59 AM (e074d)

443 Three Stooges

********

A bonk on the head or a poke in the eyes is not dissonant?

Posted by: Muldoon at March 07, 2021 11:59 AM (m45I2)

444 Is there an example of humor that is not dissonant?
Posted by: Muldoon at March 07, 2021 11:56 AM (m45I2)

It's a harmony of violence

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 07, 2021 12:01 PM (2DOZq)

445 Is there an example of humor that is not dissonant?
Posted by: Muldoon at March 07, 2021 11:56 AM (m45I2)

Not sure you'd call it "humor," but a baby laughing. The baby's experience is dissonant, but yours is not?

Or an animal doing some type of trick? I don't know. There are things we laugh at that are not necessarily, technically "humor."

Posted by: BurtTC at March 07, 2021 12:01 PM (oQ94s)

446 Can't you at least learn how to type a coherent sentence?

I'm so tired of these discount trolls. You'd think Soros would spend the extra buck to get better quality, but I guess not.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at March 07, 2021 11:59 AM (e074d)

Would raising the minimum wage improve troll quality?

Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at March 07, 2021 12:01 PM (lgiXo)

447 My latest magazine reading project is reading two issues of Reader's Digest each month -- the current issue, plus an issue from 50 years ago. I have a stash of RD from 1968-78 that I liberated from the old family homestead about 10 years ago, and I've been reading through them in real time each month. I'm currently reading the March 1971 issue, where I found this timely item:

2020 Vision

Pretending he was the Secretary of the Interior in the year 2020, Richard D. Lamm, a Colorado state representative and associate professor of law at Denver University, delivered this speech to a group interested in ecology:

Hikes on wear-resistant forest paths are by reservation only, with a five-year delay from application to permission. Lots will be drawn to select 100 youngsters each year to sleep under a tree in a national park. I regret there are no longer any birds, but political necessity has made it more important to house people than to preserve wildlife. People vote. Birds don't.

(continued below)

Posted by: DynamiteDan at March 07, 2021 12:01 PM (Wj55q)

448 Garrison Keillor. Not dissonant, true, but not funny either. YMMV

Posted by: Muldoon at March 07, 2021 12:02 PM (m45I2)

449 You know what else is stacked?

Hotcakes, darling!

-- zombie Eva Gabor
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at March 07, 2021 11:51 AM (pNxlR)

******

Lisa Douglas stacked hotcakes in Hooterville.

Posted by: Elinor, Who Usually Looks Lurkily at March 07, 2021 12:02 PM (ezUat)

450 Is P.G. Wodehouse dissonant? Is the concept of stupid elites dissonant?

Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at March 07, 2021 12:03 PM (lgiXo)

451 A bonk on the head or a poke in the eyes is not dissonant?
Posted by: Muldoon at March 07, 2021 11:59 AM (m45I2)

"A paddle, whack, or slap on the backside" is assonant.

Posted by: hogmartin at March 07, 2021 12:03 PM (t+qrx)

452 The best humor comes from exploiting shared experience, I think. The type where everybody recognizes the situation

Posted by: artemis at March 07, 2021 12:03 PM (AwPyG)

453 Would raising the minimum wage improve troll quality?
Posted by: Northernlur

-----

Doubtful. They seem to prefer hiring desperate foreigners who need a few rupees for scrofula treatments. American trolls get paid in Asness Chairs and stuff.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at March 07, 2021 12:03 PM (3lW9V)

454 There is a subtype of humor which isn't dissonant: the observational or (for lack of a better term) "Garrison Keillor" style -- depicting human behavior. The laugh is one of recognition.

Not seen often these days.
Posted by: Trimegistus at March 07, 2021 11:59 AM (QZxDR)

Late night talk show hosts:

"Hey everybody, Trump is stupid!"

*Uproar of laughter from the audience.*

Posted by: BurtTC at March 07, 2021 12:03 PM (oQ94s)

455 Would raising the minimum wage improve troll quality?

Doubtful. More likely it would mean fewer trolls that repeat themselves more often because they no longer have other trolls to steal from. It would eventually descend into nothing but cut and paste CCP talking points.

Posted by: Blanco Basura - moronhorde.com. Serving all Americans, even the Neanderthals. at March 07, 2021 12:04 PM (SchxB)

456 To be fair it was women temperance movement who claimed Christianity. Never had an explanation for Jesus making wine.

I think that's where the ridiculous "it was mistranslated, that's supposed to mean grape juice" thing came from.

Would raising the minimum wage improve troll quality?

You know none of those guys pay minimum wage. Every politician "fighting for raising the minimum wage" pays their campaign workers and interns peanuts, if anything.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 12:04 PM (KZzsI)

457 441 There is a subtype of humor which isn't dissonant: the observational or (for lack of a better term) "Garrison Keillor" style -- depicting human behavior. The laugh is one of recognition.

Not seen often these days.
Posted by: Trimegistus at March 07, 2021 11:59 AM (QZxDR)

The big problem with that take is Garrison Keillor was never funny.

Posted by: Justsayin' at March 07, 2021 12:04 PM (Fs5vw)

458 But its not usually. Its treated as a solution: take these and feel better, now you're not depressed! Except... you still are. Worse yet, they're handed out for things the doctor can't figure out and hopes are just depression.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 11:53 AM (KZzsI)

Well that's a problem. All patients should receive a medical work up before you prescribe anything. You don't want to treat hypothyroid, a vitamin deficiency, Lyme disease or a brain tumor with an antidepressant, do you? Depressions can also be caused by medication. If you say you feel depressed and the doctor hands you a prescription for wellbutrin without doing tests or a medical assessment, see someone else. I do understand that insurance gets pretty stingy, but a good advocate can shame them into "yes"

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 12:04 PM (ONvIw)

459 Remember it was Christians who fought hardest for prohibition. There is a section of Christianity that's as much for the big government as the left, just with them in control enforcing their laws.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 11:52 AM (KZzsI)

Also, as Paglia points out - feminists. The temperance movement was dominated by women like Carrie Nation and most of the early feminists supported it. Their argument was that drink corrupted working class men, who beat their wives and spent their money boozing. Paglia has noted that we are still living with the consequences of Prohibition - it strengthened organized crime, which basically set up the template for the international drug trade. Thanks for nothing Carrie Nation!

Posted by: Donna&&&&&V at March 07, 2021 12:04 PM (HabA/)

460
Garrison Keillor. Not dissonant, true, but not funny either. YMMV
Posted by: Muldoon

Below average

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at March 07, 2021 12:04 PM (63Dwl)

461 Out of curiosity has it always been a figure of speech to add the letter o to children and canines and call them kiddo and doggo or is it a recent phenomenon about which I wasn't alerted? Women seem to use it more.

Not that I'm complaining...

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at March 07, 2021 12:05 PM (y7DUB)

462 @460
Kudos

Posted by: artemis at March 07, 2021 12:05 PM (AwPyG)

463 448 Garrison Keillor. Not dissonant, true, but not funny either. YMMV
Posted by: Muldoon at March 07, 2021 12:02 PM (m45I2)

Not dissonant? Every time I hear the guy, I think "I'd like to pop that smug little prick right in the puss" and my BP spikes. Now that's dissonant!

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at March 07, 2021 12:06 PM (e074d)

464 I worked at Overstock for a few years doing software development. At one point, for about a month, even had my desk just outside Patrick Byrne's office. The place had a weird cult-like feeling with Byrne as gnostic guru-in-chief. He has a massive ego, is really into self-promotion, and makes sure you know he's smarter and better than you. Keep all that in mind when you listen to him.
Posted by: raoul ortega at March 07, 2021 10:12 AM (OafoN)
---------

Thank you for this - it's very interesting. As soon as I saw that the book was by Byrne, I wondered about it. He kind of went nuts in the same way (but not to the same degree) as Lin Wood, I think, with regard to the election stuff as time went on. I remember him saying he was in meetings with Trump at the White House and he was flatly contradicting others who said they were there and reported what was said.

I've no idea who was right and who was wrong but I got the impression he was a little bit out there. I wonder what he's up to now.

Posted by: bluebell at March 07, 2021 12:06 PM (/669Q)

465
Here in Delaware, the "pain doctors" lobby worked their magic and got their clients centrally placed in the whole system for dispensing pain medications. Only they, not your PCP, can issue such prescriptions. You have to visit them every four weeks for a perfunctory exam, a pee in a cup, and then get your scripts. The overcharging on their part -- for example, billing for a 25 minute visit when the patient saw medical personnel for maybe 10 minutes, tops -- has Mrs. K on the warpath. Our AG may be hearing about this real soon now.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at March 07, 2021 12:06 PM (pNxlR)

466 Their argument was that drink corrupted working class men, who beat their wives and spent their money boozing.

The sad thing is that they were right most of the time. Drinking was horrendously out of control and destroying society in the 19th century, Prohibition was not the answer, but the more you read about the situation and behavior then, the more understand why someone might think so.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 12:07 PM (KZzsI)

467 Out of curiosity has it always been a figure of speech to add the letter o to children and canines and call them kiddo and doggo or is it a recent phenomenon about which I wasn't alerted? Women seem to use it more.

Not that I'm complaining...
Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget

I thought that's how you speak Spanish?

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 07, 2021 12:07 PM (2DOZq)

468 Or an animal doing some type of trick? I don't know. There are things we laugh at that are not necessarily, technically "humor."

******

Good point. Baby laughter makes one feel good on an elemental level, but not humor in and of itself.

Cute animal tricks I think involve the dissonance of a human-like aspect of the animal's action.

Perhaps humor as we experience it involves an internal reconciliation of the dissonance. By acknowledging that the dog's expression is humanlike but not human, we are able to see it as humorous.

Posted by: Muldoon at March 07, 2021 12:07 PM (m45I2)

469 =====

Never. My point was that so much of medicine and health is positive thinking. I have no faith whatsoever, but I would probably enjoy a positive take on end of life care. See, also, Little Sisters of the Poor.
Posted by: mustbequantum at March 07, 2021 11:54 AM (MIKMs)
------------

Can't be quantified. Many whine o's and grouches live to a ripe old age.

Posted by: Braenyard, Patriot dog, starving the beast at March 07, 2021 12:08 PM (k0ZDc)

470 Paglia has noted that we are still living with the consequences of Prohibition - it strengthened organized crime, which basically set up the template for the international drug trade. Thanks for nothing Carrie Nation!
Posted by: Donna&&&&&V at March 07, 2021 12:04 PM (HabA/)

Prohibition and the 17th Amendment are my only qualms about Article V; signs that mass insanity can temporarily take hold. Plus no Prohibition, no Kennedys...

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at March 07, 2021 12:08 PM (y7DUB)

471 Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 12:07 PM (KZzsI)

The rate of liver Cirrhosis went down more than 200% IIRC.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 07, 2021 12:09 PM (2DOZq)

472 @433
Knock knock jokes?
Nope.Knock knockWho's there?BananaBanana who?knock knockWho's there?
OrangeOrange who?Orange you glad I didn't say banana
It subverts the paradigm, or some such bs.

Posted by: pep at March 07, 2021 12:09 PM (v16oJ)

473 I think there would be a market for books lampooning today's elites the way Wodehouse lampooned upper class twits.

Posted by: Northernlurker, surgite at March 07, 2021 12:09 PM (lgiXo)

474
The big problem with that take is Garrison Keillor was never funny.
Posted by: Justsayin'

There was a wistfulness in his stories, IMHO, but that was always in dissonance with my understanding that he, personally, was a smug and condescending liberal prick.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at March 07, 2021 12:09 PM (pNxlR)

475 Nood dildo.

Posted by: Baron Munchausen at March 07, 2021 12:10 PM (C1NyB)

476 And I suppose knock knock jokes are usually a play on words, just like Muldoon says--dissonant

Posted by: artemis at March 07, 2021 12:10 PM (AwPyG)

477 465: The whole "pain" specialist thing was spawned by The Joint Commission, which decided that "pain is what a person says it is", which is not always true. But TJC worked its charm on Medicaid and Medicare as to lower payments if pain was not adequately managed, and the post hospital surveys made a great big deal out of "acceptable" levels of pain. I remember having a big argument with the creator of one of these surveys about the stupidity of not accepting addiction as a reason to want meds even if no pathology existed.

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 12:10 PM (ONvIw)

478 I watch some keto videos frequently, and one theme is how BigPharma (or whomever) ignores "The Science" as they make so much money treating diabetes, or heart disease, "depression", or even cancer. ...

It is becoming clearer that "They" like us to be healthy enough to be consumers, but sick enough to always need their drugs. The cancelling of alternative cheaper treatments to Covid would seem to be representative of this trend. But the Covid Shutdown had a wider agenda behind it, such as the attack on small business, and a weapon against Trump.

Posted by: illiniwek at March 07, 2021 12:11 PM (Cus5s)

479 Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 12:10 PM (ONvIw)

I saw that phenomenon everyday in my job. It was more than aggravating. Workers Comp claims.

Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 07, 2021 12:12 PM (2DOZq)

480 If you say you feel depressed and the doctor hands you a prescription for wellbutrin without doing tests or a medical assessment, see someone else.

In my case it was a full workup and the doctor unable to explain what is wrong. He knew something was, but couldn't figure it out (I even overheard him talking to another doctor about it) and he sort of ashamedly prescribed me an antidepressant on the theory that maybe i just was bummed or something.

I know people mock Chronic Fatigue Syndrome here but its not a joke to live with. The problem is that its not common and almost totally misunderstood. I like to put it this way: if .1% of the population got headaches and nobody else did, they'd mock you for that, too. "Your head hurts? WHAT A PUSSY! STOP MALINGERING!!!!"

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 12:12 PM (KZzsI)

481 Can't you at least learn how to type a coherent sentence?

I'm so tired of these discount trolls. You'd think Soros would spend the extra buck to get better quality, but I guess not.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional

Arizona State U. Dean: Grading student's writing assignments based on quality / accuracy "is racist and promotes white language supremacy"

https://bit.ly/3boItgZ

-
Writing coherent sentences would be disqualifying.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Tyrannosaur Wrangler at March 07, 2021 12:13 PM (VVEnO)

482 I think there would be a market for books lampooning today's elites the way Wodehouse lampooned upper class twits.

Well there are BUYERS for it, but not publishers or stores that would take it.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 12:14 PM (KZzsI)

483
I saw that phenomenon everyday in my job. It was more than aggravating. Workers Comp claims.
Posted by: Sebastian Melmoth at March 07, 2021 12:12 PM (2DOZq)

I actually had a Joint Commission person say to may face that a person who experienced pain could never become an addict. It pissed me off. Sometimes people who experience pain are frightened by it's return and take the discomfort that occurs when stopping meds as a signal that agony will follow.

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 12:14 PM (ONvIw)

484 I didn't say you did. The CS place near me doesn't
even believe supplements are acceptable in their facility. It's an
interesting philosophy, but not for me. Some illnesses are curable and
should be cured, IMO. As for arthritis meds like humira, some people
suffer greatly, others need to learn to tolerate a bit of pain and learn
non-pharmaceutical ways to relieve pain (some just need to lose 50)

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 11:58 AM (ONvIw)
But for real? people should learn to tolerate pain? Some Arthritics should just up and lose 50 pounds? I am sure if you have severe RA, just dropping 50 is pretty damn easy.
To be honest, a religion that says anything about medication is questionable to me. Check out any Civil War hospital and see how many were asked their religion. Look it is a free country and we can worship as we like. I personally don't need a pastor telling me whether I can take medication. But to each his own.

Posted by: Quint at March 07, 2021 12:15 PM (1FZFY)

485
Not that I'm complaining...
Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at March 07, 2021 12:05 PM (y7DUB)

Whatchu trying to start here, boyo?

Posted by: Justsayin' at March 07, 2021 12:17 PM (Fs5vw)

486 2020 Vision
(continued from #447)

The right to bear unlimited children is hereby revoked. Some ask about religious objections, but the law has dealt with this before. Religious freedom didn't keep the Water Rationing Act of 1986 from applying to Baptists.

You remember that we had to outlaw the internal-combustion engine after the disaster of the Los Angeles smog inversion of 1978. And in the controversial Multiple Houses Act, Congress prohibited building single-family residences after 1990.

With 400 million Americans, we can't allow you the freedom your fathers had with 200 million in 1970.

This Administration still thinks there is a chance to save man. The President is doing all she can.

As cynical as we are about today's crises, I suppose it could have been a lot worse -- at least, in yesterday's imaginations . . .

Posted by: DynamiteDan at March 07, 2021 12:17 PM (Wj55q)

487 I'm funny like a communist clown.

Posted by: Garrison R.R.R.R.R. Keillor at March 07, 2021 12:21 PM (W4eKo)

488 Prohibition and the 17th Amendment are my only qualms about Article V; signs that mass insanity can temporarily take hold.

Either we're self governed or not. Leaving it all up to the political class has turned out like hammered shit. Bring on Article V - and dissolve this shotgun marriage all at the same time.

Posted by: Roll Me Away at March 07, 2021 12:21 PM (sMMcg)

489 But for real? people should learn to tolerate pain? Some Arthritics should just up and lose 50 pounds? I am sure if you have severe RA, just dropping 50 is pretty damn easy.
To be honest, a religion that says anything about medication is questionable to me. Check out any Civil War hospital and see how many were asked their religion. Look it is a free country and we can worship as we like. I personally don't need a pastor telling me whether I can take medication. But to each his own.
Posted by: Quint at March 07, 2021 12:15 PM (1FZF

It's not easy, but do you keep upping meds to avoid weight loss. I have arthritis, I tolerate some pain but I found that diet and exercise were more helpful than most meds. As I said, some suffer greatly, others are unwilling to try to make healthy changes.

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 12:22 PM (ONvIw)

490 Prohibition and the 17th Amendment are my only qualms about Article V; signs that mass insanity can temporarily take hold. Plus no Prohibition, no Kennedys...
Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Ashli Babbitt at March 07, 2021 12:08 PM (y7DUB)

Nowadays the left would turn an Article V convention into a disaster. It should have been done during the Carter years.

Posted by: Justsayin' at March 07, 2021 12:23 PM (Fs5vw)

491 Oops, I see I've misread what you wrote. My apologies, I'm still working on my first cup of coffee.
Posted by: Donna&&&&&V

!

Posted by: JT at March 07, 2021 12:24 PM (arJlL)

492 I picked Kestrel for my business name because a nickname variant for Christopher is "kester" which I think is kind of neat sounding. But because its close to keister, I figured I'd avoid that direct a name.

Another nickname/shortening is "Kit" as in Kit Carson.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor

I bet you dodged more than a few bullets there.

Posted by: JT at March 07, 2021 12:27 PM (arJlL)

493 It's not easy, but do you keep upping meds to avoid
weight loss. I have arthritis, I tolerate some pain but I found that
diet and exercise were more helpful than most meds. As I said, some
suffer greatly, others are unwilling to try to make healthy changes.

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 12:22 PM (ONvIw)

that is true. the answer should not always be pills, if you can live a better, healthier lifestyle, then that should be done. But the thing with arguments or discussions as these, as to me they are just discussions and never personal. But the thing with these discussions is we normally all go in with a certain viewpoint. At times that can cloud our judgement.

I will offer you a very different perspective based on some legit reality. What do you do when someone is in severe pain AND likely addicted to the pain meds that help them? Do you stop relieving the pain because they are addicted? Does it even matter if someone in chronic pain for life is addicted? I mean, if they need the pain relief, what does it matter in the end?

Posted by: Quint at March 07, 2021 12:29 PM (1FZFY)

494 I know there are those that don't need it and those that abuse the system or were abused by the system. I only mention this to give a full perspective. I guess better doctors are the real answer. It isn't likely easy but that is the way it should be.

Posted by: Quint at March 07, 2021 12:31 PM (1FZFY)

495 Many of the people being described as truly needing anti-depressants are the people that need to be institutionalized.

Posted by: Justsayin' at March 07, 2021 12:34 PM (Fs5vw)

496 I will offer you a very different perspective based on some legit reality. What do you do when someone is in severe pain AND likely addicted to the pain meds that help them? Do you stop relieving the pain because they are addicted? Does it even matter if someone in chronic pain for life is addicted? I mean, if they need the pain relief, what does it matter in the end?
Posted by: Quint at March 07, 2021 12:29 PM (1FZFY)

Addicts can be severely injured and be in pain, yes, you treat the pain. If someone has true chronic pain, yeah, you treat it, but when the person presents to you as bent over in agony and then goes and plays football or hockey, you start to question it. This varies by the person. As for someone with cancer pain, it doesn't matter if they have a potential for addiction, does it? I mean as long as they don't get behind the wheel or start using chainsaws. There is a balance to be met, and some people just like the feeling they get from opiates. Often the difference becomes clear. For example the person asking for oxycontin for menstrual pain, or the person who is 18 months post arm fracture, might be looked at differently than someone with bone cancer, no?

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 12:37 PM (ONvIw)

497 I gotta call bullshit on the Boomer blame game. Most Boomers were average Joes & Jills from the newly minted post-war middle-class. In the early 60's only about 30% went to college. They finished high school, got jobs, married, had kids, bought homes and paid taxes, lots of taxes. They didn't do drugs or protest. They carried on as their parents had; adding to the country's wealth and pretty much minding their own business.

Their children the Gen-Xers produced the current crop of ninnies, but they too were and are a productive class of Americans.

Posted by: Shanks for the memory at March 07, 2021 12:41 PM (TdCQk)

498 Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 12:37 PM (ONvIw)

I hear ya. Again, no one wants to treat a person with pills they don't need it. To give a final example on this, and again this as real as it can get. Say if someone takes a patch for chronic pain. The patch could be methadone or whatever. If their patch was not replaced, it could cause a physical reaction, an addiction reaction. But this person never drank, smoked or used drugs in her life. My point is if you are in true chronic pain, addiction is likely part of the treatment, your body gets used to it.

In know way am I discounting the fact that people get addicted and do whatever to keep the high. I only offered that as a perspective because I saw it up close. It would have been nice if there was something the person could have done to fix things. Again, just a different perspective on offer.

Posted by: Quint at March 07, 2021 12:46 PM (1FZFY)

499 Greetings:

I recently had a bit of a nip and tuck done by a dermatologist. She gave me a scrip for oxycodone and seemed worried enough about it that I reported back to her about it.

I had taken one day of but it didn't seem to have much effect. I asked her if she wanted the remainder back but she said she couldn't take them back.

I used the 325 Tylinol instead and it was adequate.

Posted by: 11B40 at March 07, 2021 12:53 PM (evgyj)

500 457 441 There is a subtype of humor which isn't dissonant: the observational or (for lack of a better term) "Garrison Keillor" style -- depicting human behavior. The laugh is one of recognition.

Not seen often these days.
Posted by: Trimegistus at March 07, 2021 11:59 AM (QZxDR)

The big problem with that take is Garrison Keillor was never funny.
Posted by: Justsayin'

I would classify much of Seinfeld's stand up material as observational.

Posted by: mot at March 07, 2021 12:55 PM (jad3h)

501 Greetings:

1973 is one of my historical quirks. Abortion taught our women folk that they could be irresponsible and suspension of the military draft taught something very similar to our young men.

Posted by: 11B40 at March 07, 2021 12:56 PM (evgyj)

502 CN you are looking at it as every third guy that walks in the door. And I get that, it is a big deal. I am looking at it from the perspective of one person through lived experience. Really there is a happy medium. I guess my point in the end it addiction is to the worst thing ever for some. Chronic pain the rest of their life is the worst thing ever. But you are right too. Most don't need the pain they have AND addiction. I want to be clear there that I understand what you are saying.

Posted by: Quint at March 07, 2021 12:58 PM (1FZFY)

503 I would classify much of Seinfeld's stand up material as observational.

Posted by: mot at March 07, 2021 12:55 PM (jad3h)

no we watch people watch comedians. I am not sure what that says for this society, but it can't be good.

Posted by: Quint at March 07, 2021 01:05 PM (1FZFY)

504 i'd get the election book, but only if it was a hard copy...

i don't own a "kindle", or anything like that, and, last i heard, they can delete "your" reading material any time they decide they want to.

Posted by: redc1c4 (*OTUS Zhou Bai-Din Cheated) at March 07, 2021 01:32 PM (3posT)

505 I would classify much of Seinfeld's stand up material as observational.

Most of Brian Regan's stuff is observational too. He's not pulling a fast one on you and making you laugh from surprise or contrast, he's showing how absurd most of life is and how we make fools of ourselves.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 07, 2021 01:53 PM (KZzsI)

506 ... last i heard, they can delete "your" reading material any time they decide they want to.

Posted by: redc1c4 (*OTUS Zhou Bai-Din Cheated) at March 07, 2021 01:32 PM (3posT)

It is known.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at March 07, 2021 03:35 PM (e074d)

507 I used the 325 Tylinol instead and it was adequate.

Posted by: 11B40 at March 07, 2021 12:53 PM (evgyj)

One time I had one of those soft-tissue back injuries, the kind that hurts a lot and heals slow. I was prescribed oxy which I took for the first few weeks. It worked great (about 20 minutes after taking 1 tablet, the pain just sort of melted away), but it gave me really, really bad constipation. For that reason, I hated the stuff and was glad when I could back it down to Tylenol.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at March 07, 2021 03:40 PM (e074d)

508 Posted by: raoul ortega at March 07, 2021 10:12

Thanks for that viewpoint. I was thinking of buying "The Deep Rig", anyone read it? I'm gonna wait til next week's book thread to see if anyone recommends it.

Currently reading Mike Lindell's autobiography. he was apparently one lucky, crazy dude in his younger yrs.

Posted by: Farmer at March 07, 2021 04:26 PM (55Qr6)

509 Who dis, Agnes Moorehead. I thought she sucked as an actress, but I think I recognize her.

Posted by: robert sjoberg at March 07, 2021 05:59 PM (UBRR0)

510
One time I had one of those soft-tissue back injuries, the kind that hurts a lot and heals slow. I was prescribed oxy which I took for the first few weeks. It worked great (about 20 minutes after taking 1 tablet, the pain just sort of melted away), but it gave me really, really bad constipation. For that reason, I hated the stuff and was glad when I could back it down to Tylenol.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at March 07, 2021 03:40 PM (e074d)

Most people are told to keep colace on hand for this problem when taking opiates. Why substitute a pain in the ass for pain in the back? I ruptured a disc years ago and survived on ibuprofen as I did not want to be considered impaired at work.

Posted by: CN at March 07, 2021 09:35 PM (ONvIw)

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