Sunday Morning Book Thread 10-10-2021

Library of Otto Penzer, Owner, Mysterious Bookshop, NYC

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, worn by this guy who looks like a newly-minted grievance studies graduate going to his first job interview. He'll be hired by one of the social media behemoths and put in charge of the department that decides what is and what is not allowed to be said.

Pic Note:

Need a house to hold all of your books? Well then, build your own:

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a man in possession of a good 60,000 books must be in want of a very big house.

At some point in the mid-1980s, Otto Penzler, the indefatigable founder and proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop, the Manhattan store specializing in fictitious tales of crime and espionage and whodunits of a high order, could no longer ignore the evidence: His personal collection of first editions had outgrown his office, and cartons containing the overflow were stashed in a pal’s garage. They needed a room of their own.

So Penzler built his own house in Connecticut to his his ginormous book stash. Took him over a decade, burned through a ton of cash, and two wives, but he finally finished it.

But then:

Three years ago, Mr. Penzler put his collection up for auction. All that remain are reference books, copies of the anthologies he has edited and a small cache of rare books.

Yes, Mr. Penzler has discovered that indeed, all is vanity.

He is the editor of numerous mystery anthologies, and the latest one is due out on Oct 19th, The Big Book of Victorian Mysteries:

This collection brings together incredible stories from Arthur Conan Doyle, Thomas Hardy, Oscar Wilde, Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, and Guy de Maupassant among other legendary writers of the grand era of the British Empire. So brush off your dinner jackets and straighten out your ball gowns for these exciting, glitzy mysteries.

The Kindle edition is $14.99, and for a price like that, I have to wonder how much of the material is in the public domain. There's no Amazon preview, so I have no idea. Other Penzler anthologies include The Best American Noir of the Century and The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries.

Need More Pulp In Your Diet?

This link has been open in my browser for a number of weeks and I am just now getting to it. Welcome to the Pulp Magazine Project:

The Pulp Magazines Project is an open-access digital archive dedicated to the study and preservation of one of the twentieth century's most influential literary & artistic forms: the all-fiction pulpwood magazine. The Project also provides information on the history of this important but long neglected medium, along with biographies of pulp authors, artists, and their publishers. The site launched in July 2011, and has received over 1,500,000 page views from 192 countries around the world.

At the heart of the Project's mission is the archive itself. In July 2011, it began with a modest library of five representative first-generation titles from the early 1900s. As of March 2017, this number had grown to include over 400 individual issues, representing 85 different titles from the United States, England, and Australia. Over time, the archive will continue to expand, as new magazines are digitized, and new contextual materials added. Eventually, it will feature a broad range of pre-1923 titles, post-1923 titles where copyright has lapsed, and full volume runs of select titles from 1896 to 1946.

Here is the main archive, and it's packed full with pulpy goodness.

I've also been made aware of Travelyn Publishing, whose digital offerings "comprise both new original books written specifically for Travelyn Publishing, and old public domain books... primarily the latter."

Travelyn is very proud of the quality of its digital reproductions:

Our motivation for getting into this business was seeing so many poorly-formatted eBooks for sale. Even large, established publishers seem to consider digital books to be little more than afterthoughts, hardly worth their time and effort—for many publishers there seems to be no attempt to strive for quality...It’s like they don’t care. We care. We embrace the digital revolution and think eBooks are the cat’s meow.

Converting old books comes with its own issues and techniques. We hold our digital versions of public domain books up against any others with no fear of the comparison. Our conversion work is meticulous, utilizing a process designed to eliminate errors, maximize reader enjoyment, and recreate as much as possible the atmosphere of the original book even as we are adding the navigation and formatting necessary for a good digital book. However, while remaining faithful to a writer’s original words, and the spellings and usages of his era, we are not above correcting obvious mistakes. That’s why we have the audacity to claim that our re-publications are often better than the originals.

For example, I looked at the preview for Marching On: From the Rapidan to Cold Harbor: A Story of the Terrible Battles of the Wilderness, a Civil War novelette originally published in the 1880s, and it's not a photocopy or a poor quality OCR scan as many public-domain books are. It looks like somebody just typed the original text in a modern font. Or maybe it was OCRed in and then meticulously corrected. Whatever the case, it looks pretty good. And it's only $2.45 on Kindle.

Travelyn publishes a number of genres, including fiction, non fiction, pulp fiction, young adult ("youth") and more. And most every item seems to be less than $5.00.

Even if you don't buy anything, it's probably worth bookmarking.

Who Dis:

Last week's who dis was author Charles Dickens, reading to his family.

Moron Recommendations

75 I read this about 20 years ago, but am re-reading it now because it's such an excellent book. Written by Robert Massie, Nicholas and Alexandra chronicles the last Tsar, Nicholas Romanov, and the end to the Romanov dynasty during the Russian Revolution of 1917. A fascinating, and harrowing, true account of the private family life of the Romanovs, their children and the devastating influence of Rasputin on Alexandra amidst the upheaval of one of the most explosive events in the 20th century, imo. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Posted by: Lady in Black at October 03, 2021 08:38 AM (O+I8R)

This is actually the 3rd book in Massie's 'Romanovs' series. The first one was Peter the Great: His Life and World, then Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman, and series concluded with The Romanovs: The Final Chapter.

So Lady in Black read Nicholas and Alexandra: The Classic Account of the Fall of the Romanov Dynasty, which is

The story of the love that ended an empire.

In this commanding book, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Robert K. Massie sweeps readers back to the extraordinary world of Imperial Russia to tell the story of the Romanovs’ lives: Nicholas’s political naïveté, Alexandra’s obsession with the corrupt mystic Rasputin, and little Alexis’s brave struggle with hemophilia. Against a lavish backdrop of luxury and intrigue, Massie unfolds a powerful drama of passion and history—the story of a doomed empire and the death-marked royals who watched it crumble.

I kind of want to read the whole series myself now. The Kindle edition is $7.99.

___________

128 The other WWII book I read is called Nazi Millionaires The Search for Hidden SS Gold by Kenneth Alford and Theodore Savas. This book goes into details of the how the SS stole all sorts of things, especially gold. It also covers the Nazi counterfeit operations. It covers the movements of several SS officers in the last days of the war. Most of the stories take place in Southern Germany and Austria. Definitely would recommend, I mean, who doesn't like Nazi gold?

Posted by: prophet of the group W bench at September 19, 2021 08:45 AM (s37kI)

Good question. The book definitely sounds like a ripping good yarn:

During the final days of World War II, German SS officers crammed trains, cars, and trucks full of gold, currency, and jewels, and headed for the mountains of Austria. Fearful of arrest and determined to keep the stolen loot out of Allied hands, they concealed their treasures and fled. Most of these men were eventually apprehended, but many managed to evade capture. The intensive postwar Allied investigation that followed recovered only a sliver of this mountain of gold. What happened to the rest of it, and what fate befell these men?

Indeed. Where's Indiana Jones when we need him? I'll bet he could solve these mysteries. And recover all of the stolen artifacts to boot.

Actually, I thought most of it all ended up in South America.

The Kindle edition is $7.39.

___________

132 After 3 weeks of not being able to find a book that I wanted to read, I picked up Michael Chrichton's Pirate Latitudes.

I've mentioned before that some books grab you by the lapels and PULL you in.

Pirate Latitudes is such a book.

Posted by: JT at October 03, 2021 09:11 AM (arJlL)

I wish I had known about Pirate Latitudes last month so I could've pimped it up on "Talk Like a Pirate" Day. Dang. Oh, well. Anyway, the USA Today review says "Pirate Latitudes has the loot: Gore, sex, action", so you know it has to be a great book. The NY Times calls it "an irresistable tale of swashbuckling pirates in the New World—a classic story of treasure and betrayal."

The Caribbean, 1665. A remote colony of the English Crown, the island of Jamaica holds out against the vast supremacy of the Spanish empire. Port Royal, its capital, is a cutthroat town of taverns, grog shops, and bawdy houses. In this steamy climate there’s a living to be made, a living that can end swiftly by disease—or by dagger. For Captain Charles Hunter, gold in Spanish hands is gold for the taking, and the law of the land rests with those ruthless enough to make it. Word in port is that a galleon, fresh from New Spain, is awaiting repairs in a nearby harbor...

Well, shiver me timbers! The Kindle edition is $9.99.

Aarrrhhh!

___________

It Pays To Increase Your Word Power®

I think a good English translation of this word would be "morning report" or "morning rant".

Books By Morons

A lurking moron author has just released what appears to be his first novel, Peculiar Activities, the story of a young detective that finds an old conspiracy:

Junior Detective Henry Ike Pierce is hired to reassess cold-case killings. On the third day of his new job, a dismembered body appears in a local park. The corpse's desecration is like slayings from over two decades ago, and his boss assigns Henry to his first investigation. He must uncover the present-day killer while his boss pushes him to resolve crimes from the past. Henry seeks a killer within a community of rival ethnic groups, refugees from the 1990s Balkan wars. Rumors point to a killer called 'the hooded one.' As his investigation unfolds, the young man from western Virginia's coal country discovers that 'trust' has a flexible definition.

The Kindle edition is $5.99.

___________

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

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

Posted by: OregonMuse at 09:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Tolle Lege

Posted by: Skip at October 10, 2021 08:00 AM (2JoB8)

2 Rereading Shogun

Posted by: Vic at October 10, 2021 08:00 AM (mpXpK)

3 3rd

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion (YZG/i) at October 10, 2021 08:00 AM (YZG/i)

4
In before the riff-raff!

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at October 10, 2021 08:02 AM (b+3Gj)

5 Mmm, Catwoman.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at October 10, 2021 08:02 AM (2JVJo)

6 Horde summoned dutifully.
The latest Prager Rational Bible Deuteronomy should be out in hard copy this week so I will order it today, has been out in Ebook months ago but printing version has been delayed immensely.

Posted by: Skip at October 10, 2021 08:02 AM (2JoB8)

7 "...His personal collection of first editions had outgrown his office..."
---------

Good Lord!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Live! from the Dungeon of Discord at October 10, 2021 08:03 AM (Dc2NZ)

8 MP4 Johnson is right! Julie Newmar!

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at October 10, 2021 08:03 AM (PiwSw)

9 That's Julie Newmar. How the horde here missed her on the Who Dis last week or week before that, I'll never know....

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 10, 2021 08:03 AM (7bRMQ)

10 Catwoman

Posted by: Skip at October 10, 2021 08:03 AM (2JoB8)

11 It's Catwoman Julie Newmar!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Live! from the Dungeon of Discord at October 10, 2021 08:03 AM (Dc2NZ)

12 Julie Julie

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 08:03 AM (ONvIw)

13 Morning, Horde...How goes it? Thanks as always to OM for great book thread.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 10, 2021 08:03 AM (K5n5d)

14 New name for Morning Report: Hifunkify

Posted by: San Franpsycho at October 10, 2021 08:04 AM (EZebt)

15 Rereading Shogun
Posted by: Vic at October 10, 2021 08:00 AM (mpXpK)

See you in a week or two....

Posted by: OrangeEnt at October 10, 2021 08:05 AM (7bRMQ)

16 Forsooth, I like the barketh bunch

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 08:05 AM (ONvIw)

17 Where would we be if life had no books?

Posted by: grammie winger at October 10, 2021 08:06 AM (45fpk)

18 Did not read again this week. Spent too much time dealing with life.

Posted by: rhennigantx at October 10, 2021 08:08 AM (yrol0)

19 I'm really enjoying the Mary Shelley biography and, despite the Godwin's relative poverty, the incredible circle they socialized with due to dad's work. At this point, I do find it hard to accept that Mary's work was in anyway influenced or assisted by Percy.

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 08:08 AM (ONvIw)

20 Good Sunday morning, horde!

That is a beautiful library. Needs a couple of comfier chairs, but other than that--completely my cup of tea.

It's too bad he doesn't have family to leave it to. I would volunteer to be his family if I lived near.

Posted by: April -- dash my lace wigs! at October 10, 2021 08:08 AM (OX9vb)

21 I second the recommendation of Massie's Romanov books. I read "Nicholas and Alexandra" in high school and loved it--although it's a very sad story. Need to reread it. I've also read the Peter the Great and Catherine bios. I particularly liked the Catherine book. You really realize how much we supposedly "know" about her is just libelous gossip. I liked the Peter the Great book the least, but it's still excellent.

Posted by: Art Rondelet of Malmsey at October 10, 2021 08:08 AM (fTtFy)

22 Morning, 'rons and 'ronettes. Took a drive up to Avenue Victor Hugo Books in Lee NH yesterday (also got drunk, but that's another story). Gave four books to the owner and bought four - a short history of the early silent screen, a hard copy of Three Men in a Boat, a miscellany of stories about Victorian London and The Poet and the Murderer which is the story of forger Mark Hoffman, who not only forged a 'lost' Emily Dickinson poem, but created reams of forgeries connected to the Mormons, a situation from which he tried to distance himself by planting bombs to murder other collectors.

https://tinyurl.com/4fhndetx

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at October 10, 2021 08:08 AM (2JVJo)

23 Finished two books this week:

Night's Sorceries by Tanith Lee is a collection of short stories that take place in the Flat Earth. The stories all take place during the time in which Azhriaz, daughter of Night, was active in the world. Tanith Lee has an amazing capacity for descriptive writing. They are all hauntingly beautiful stories.

The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean is a hilarious romp through the periodic table. Lots of great back stories on how the different elements were discovered and why the periodic table looks the way it does. It also raises questions about the physical limitations of cramming neutrons and protons together to form new elements. Some of them might even be stable, with new and exotic properties. Very good book.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 10, 2021 08:09 AM (K5n5d)

24 Still reading Cherryh and Fancher's "Alliance Rising". It's a deep dive into the politics, tech, and culture of the growing divide between Earth the outer stars. Talky and dense, but I am loving it. I may have to reread all the Union-Alliance novels again.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Live! from the Dungeon of Discord at October 10, 2021 08:09 AM (Dc2NZ)

25 Dog 1: Hasten to setteth down, my liege Labrador.

Dog 2: Why prithee my good and faithful friend?

Dog 1: Here cometh the dog with the cold nose.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at October 10, 2021 08:09 AM (PiwSw)

26 Isn't Shogun a massive read, 400 pages +?

Posted by: Skip at October 10, 2021 08:09 AM (2JoB8)

27 created reams of forgeries connected to the Mormons, a situation from which he tried to distance himself by planting bombs to murder other collectors.

He sounds friendly.

Posted by: grammie winger at October 10, 2021 08:10 AM (45fpk)

28 Isn't Shogun a massive read, 400 pages +?
Posted by: Skip at October 10, 2021

***
I read it either just before or just after the Richard Chamberlain TV miniseries aired, so it's been 40 years . . . but yes, it is a long book.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at October 10, 2021 08:12 AM (c6xtn)

29 I'm reading F.A. Hayek's "The Road to Serfdom." I have the "Definitive Edition", published by the Univ. of Chicago, edited by Bruce Caldwell. I can recommend this particular version because Caldwell includes numerous footnotes to provide contextual information about people and events the modern American reader (like me) may not be familiar with.
Long story short: centralized economic planning, whether it's "communism," "fascism," or some other form, is bad because it inevitably limits liberty. I know we all already knew that, but Hayek was trying to warn the western democracies that the fascism they were fighting at that very moment was already well-entrenched, ideologically speaking, in the universities, bureaucracies, and legislative bodies.
The book also includes the first use of the term "social justice" which I've personally seen, and it's correctly noted that social justice is no justice at all.

Posted by: PabloD at October 10, 2021 08:12 AM (GNOwJ)

30 Posted by: Art Rondelet of Malmsey at October 10, 2021 08:08 AM (fTtFy)

As sad story, yet there are many who thought the dynasty "got what they deserved".

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 08:13 AM (ONvIw)

31 26 Isn't Shogun a massive read, 400 pages +?

Posted by: Skip at October 10, 2021 08:09 AM (2JoB

As I recall back when I first read it in the dead tree paperback version it was about 2" thick. I no longer have the paperback, I have the Kindle version.

Posted by: Vic at October 10, 2021 08:14 AM (mpXpK)

32 Progressed a bit further in "The Skylark of Space."

I'm enjoying it, in part because of inadvertent humor. The hero fires a machine gun at another spacecraft, spacing his shots to send a message in Morse code. And the villain, trying to calculate where in space his craft is (he was knocked unconscious in a fight, and the ship kept going while he was out), goes through numerous cigarettes. Smoking in a spaceship? Really!

Posted by: Weak Geek at October 10, 2021 08:14 AM (Om/di)

33 Isn't Shogun a massive read, 400 pages +?
Posted by: Skip at October 10, 2021

***
I read it either just before or just after the Richard Chamberlain TV miniseries aired, so it's been 40 years . . . but yes, it is a long book.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at October 10, 2021 08:12 AM (c6xtn)
---
Paperback edition is a respectable 1152 pages...Of course, that's barely a prologue for some fantasy series (Stormlight Archive, Wheel of Time, Malazan Book of the Fallen, etc.)

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 10, 2021 08:15 AM (K5n5d)

34 Penzler built a personal Bodleian! Beautiful room.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at October 10, 2021 08:15 AM (6Yh/m)

35 I read it either just before or just after the Richard Chamberlain TV miniseries aired, so it's been 40 years . . . but yes, it is a long book.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at October 10, 2021 08:12 AM (c6xtn)

I gave Anjin-san my heart. I gave him my soul. And it turns out he was only interested in cabin boys!

Posted by: Mariko at October 10, 2021 08:15 AM (7bRMQ)

36 This week's ead was A Judgement in Stone, a 1977 non-series crime story by Ruth Rendell. She is one of the greats of mystery/crime fiction and its intersection with literature. A marvelous storyteller and prose writer, a solid plotter, and an ability to turn a lens on human behavior and make it not only fascinating but explicable.
Judgement focuses on a woman who commits several murders, of her employers and their family no less, because . . . she cannot read or write.

Yup. As Rendell puts it at the end of the intro: "But there was much more to it than that."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at October 10, 2021 08:16 AM (c6xtn)

37 >>>Paperback edition is a respectable 1152 pages...
============

A quick read nonetheless. The whole series is good.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at October 10, 2021 08:17 AM (6Yh/m)

38 Smoking in a spaceship? Really!
Posted by: Weak Geek at October 10, 2021 08:14 AM (Om/di)
---
That's one of the charms of that old sci-fi pulp. EVERYONE SMOKED! In a spaceship!

You also see that in 1970s/1980s science fiction movies. I watched Outland (with Sean Connery) recently, and everybody smoked on an outpost on Io. Very bizarre, considering how precious breathable oxygen is in space.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 10, 2021 08:17 AM (K5n5d)

39 The Mary Shelley bio also reads to some extent like a Dickens novel, with complicated hidden love stories, and William Godwin always teetering on the edge of heading to debtors' prison.

I still find the cast of characters interesting, and find it hard to imagine a life where Coleridge drops by for dinner and reads his new work for the children.

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 08:18 AM (ONvIw)

40 I canceled Prime, so your tempting links no longer hold any sway over me!

I decided to go full paper for the rest of the year, since my leisure hours' screen-time is ridiculous. I divided a notebook into sections, and the first has a list of horde-recommended books.

Speaking of which, the beginning of John Bellair's The House with a Clock in Its Walls is great.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at October 10, 2021 08:18 AM (/+bwe)

41 Nice Lieberry!

Those pants....comes with two free tubes of Astroglide.

The Who Dis is that broad that was in every SciFi TV show in the 60's.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at October 10, 2021 08:18 AM (R/m4+)

42 My fingers were skimming through Britbox when I saw a series called 'Vera', based on the crime novels by Ann Cleeves. Has anyone read these? I just grabbed the first in the series for free on Kindle Unlimited.

Posted by: grammie winger at October 10, 2021 08:19 AM (45fpk)

43 I've also read the Peter the Great and Catherine bios. I particularly liked the Catherine book. You really realize how much we supposedly "know" about her is just libelous gossip. I liked the Peter the Great book the least, but it's still excellent.
Posted by: Art Rondelet of Malmsey at October 10, 2021 08:08 AM (fTtFy)

Jay Winik writes well of both of them in The Great Upheaval, particularly how young Peter witnessed members of the Streltsy murder many of his relatives in the Kremlin. By the time he was sixteen he tortured and killed every fucking one of 'em.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at October 10, 2021 08:20 AM (y7DUB)

44 Julie Newmar. And she is more smoking hot than usual!

Posted by: RobertM at October 10, 2021 08:20 AM (qWhQP)

45 That second dude in the pants link is one fugly soiboy!

Posted by: rhennigantx at October 10, 2021 08:20 AM (yrol0)

46 You also see that in 1970s/1980s science fiction movies. I watched Outland (with Sean Connery) recently, and everybody smoked on an outpost on Io. Very bizarre, considering how precious breathable oxygen is in space.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 10, 2021 08:17 AM (K5n5d)

Also, IIRC, Alien, where people are smoking around the table right before the source of John Hurt's heartburn is revealed.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at October 10, 2021 08:21 AM (PiwSw)

47 I've been reading "respectable" fantasy and science fiction recently (Isaac Asimov, Tanith Lee, etc.) Now I'm moving on to a trashy fantasy series...Good author, interesting ideas, but definitely not in the same class.

The Prism Pentad by Troy Denning takes place in the 2nd Edition D&D Dark Sun world (Athas). In Book Two, the main heroes (a half-human/dwarf hybrid gladiator and his full human partner, a human psychic, and a half-elf sorceress) are trying to solidify their rule after they've deposed the sorcerer-king who attempted to claim godhood by transforming himself into a Dragon. It's a very, very weird series, which is why I enjoy it so much.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 10, 2021 08:21 AM (K5n5d)

48 Posted by: NaughtyPine at October 10, 2021 08:18 AM (/+bwe)

I did the same thing. Now, I buy used books off ebay.

Posted by: dantesed at October 10, 2021 08:22 AM (88xKn)

49 Those pants are fine. I would wear them to the next STNG convention when I dress up like my hero Wesley Crusher woo hoo!

Posted by: hopeless at October 10, 2021 08:22 AM (Tnijr)

50 Just finished Legend (story of MSGT Roy Benevides) by Eric Blehm. Going try an re-read Rules For Radicals before Corsicana. Nibbling at Hughes by Richard Hack, looks a little whoreywood-ish. Gotta get ready for church, see y'all later.

Posted by: Eromero at October 10, 2021 08:22 AM (0OP+5)

51 OM - I recently heard an interview with the author of a new book titled "True Raiders," which is about a 1909 British expedition to find the Ark of the Covenant. The book was released last month. I haven't read it, but I thought of it when you mentioned Indiana Jones above.

Posted by: PabloD at October 10, 2021 08:22 AM (GNOwJ)

52 Greetings:

Reading "The Viking Heart" by Arthur Herman.

Kind of a light read based on the impacts of Scandinavian culture on the USofA and the rest of the world. Traveling men indeed.

The author's a Hudson Institute guy but doesn't seem very interested in annoying the prevailing Progressive Zietgeist.

No mention yet of George Floyd or the current state of the state of Minnesota.

Posted by: 11B40 at October 10, 2021 08:23 AM (uuklp)

53 Also, IIRC, Alien, where people are smoking around the table right before the source of John Hurt's heartburn is revealed.
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at October 10, 2021 08:21 AM (PiwSw)
---
Yep. I watched that recently as well. I believe the film version of 2010: The Year We Made Contact also had a lot of smoking. The main ship was a Soviet Russian vessel.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 10, 2021 08:23 AM (K5n5d)

54 Speaking of smoking in space ...

"Thank You for Smoking," by Christopher Buckley, has a scene in which Big Tobacco's top lobbyist is in a discussion on how to get cigarettes featured in a space movie as part of product placement. One guy says all they'd have to do is add a couple of lines in the script about the scientific breakthrough that enables that.

Posted by: Weak Geek at October 10, 2021 08:23 AM (Om/di)

55 Julie Newmar. And she is more smoking hot than usual!
Posted by: RobertM at October 10, 2021 08:20 AM (qWhQP)

Even pre massive "cosmetic surgery" her looks changed a great deal from Time A to Time B.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at October 10, 2021 08:24 AM (y7DUB)

56 One guy says all they'd have to do is add a couple of lines in the script about the scientific breakthrough that enables that.
Posted by: Weak Geek at October 10, 2021 08:23 AM (Om/di)
---
They don't ever bother to explain it in the movies. It's just assumed that the on-board HVAC system deals with it. It's never mentioned.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 10, 2021 08:25 AM (K5n5d)

57 Purrrfect.

Posted by: Dr. Varno at October 10, 2021 08:25 AM (vuisn)

58 Mollie Hemingway's new book on the 2020 election was delivered from Barnes & Noble yesterday. I'm just getting started, I have very high expectations. If your book store does not have it up front and in a high profile location, please ask for it.

Posted by: motionview (prep train organize) at October 10, 2021 08:26 AM (+W8+H)

59
HIFUNKOGAI - alternate definition

This dude will bring a tear to your eye
He stinks to the heavens on high
He eats lots of leeks
Hasn't showered in weeks
An actual high funk o' guy!

Posted by: Muldoon at October 10, 2021 08:26 AM (5Woea)

60 Nobody smokes in the Star Trek universe, but they make up for it with the drinking. I wonder if that was a conscious decision, or whether the cigarette companies just weren't willing to pay for product placement on a show with mediocre ratings for the time.

Posted by: PabloD at October 10, 2021 08:27 AM (GNOwJ)

61 Geez, less than 25 comments in and I've added three to my TBR list.

MP4, The Poet and the Murderer looks fascinating.

I'm also going to check out The Disappearing Spoon, and Peculiar Activities is in my cart on amazon.

I shall have to quit my job if I'm ever going to read everything in my lists.

Posted by: April -- dash my lace wigs! at October 10, 2021 08:27 AM (OX9vb)

62 You! YES, YOU!!! Get some pants on! Don't make OregonMuse stop this Thread!!!

Posted by: AoSHQ Assistant Associate Book Thread Pants Monitor at October 10, 2021 08:28 AM (a3Q+t)

63 Any Robert Massie is good!

Tom Kratman has an alternate history book out now called the Romonov Rescue. Out of work German officers, zeppelins, can they rescue a doomed family?

Posted by: Dread0 at October 10, 2021 08:28 AM (ZP4Ww)

64 Greetings:

Library and February: "Say them right and you'll spell them right."

So spaketh Sister Mary Felice circa 1958. A real Sister of Mercy and my favorite piano teacher.

Her favorite punishment was subtracting 13 from 5000 all the way down with shown work. I don't think that she ever had anyone actually complete it.

Posted by: 11B40 at October 10, 2021 08:28 AM (uuklp)

65 As you might recall, in addition to "Shogun", James Clavell wrote "King Rat" about his time in a Japanese POW camp, and it's gripping. He also wrote "Tai Pan" about the early days of Hong Kong and the China trade, another excellent read.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at October 10, 2021 08:28 AM (6Yh/m)

66 I loved the entire Massie series. In fact, I can only hope they are historically accurate because I know little of Russian history other than what I learned reading those novels

Posted by: Huck Follywood at October 10, 2021 08:30 AM (6Yh/m)

67 Who dis looks like a young Julie Neumeyer.

Posted by: Star Trek at October 10, 2021 08:30 AM (xopIz)

68 I am currently reading "First Man Out", a biography of Admiral J.O. Richardson. He was the guy who saw Pearl Harbor coming, and argued vociferously for the fleet to be kept on the west coast. He was retired from active commands in '42, and was on the Navy Relief Society until '47.

If you ever want to have blind faith in the genius of the civil service and political class never forget that American Carrier Groups had successfully attacked Pearl Harbor for ten years before Dec 7th 1941.

Posted by: sven at October 10, 2021 08:31 AM (Lzpvj)

69 Greetings! I'm wrapping up my browse of The Encyclopedia of Ancient Civilizations, Arthur Cotterell, ed.

I picked it up for a couple of dollars at an estate sale and thought it would be nice to glance through. It was published in 1980 and is quite dated insofar as the timelines no longer hold up due to new archeological discoveries.

It also has that annoying German conceit that religion is evolutionary and each faith is a milestone in the path that leads to scientific secularism. I will not be hanging onto it.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 10, 2021 08:31 AM (llXky)

70 Talking of Trek:

Imagine how many complaints could have been leveled at McCoy for his constant disparagement of a superior officer.

Back to books.

Posted by: Weak Geek at October 10, 2021 08:32 AM (Om/di)

71 Another author, Craig Lockwood, who walked me through doing my first historical novel a decade ago, sent me a copy of one of his projects - "Hard-Boiled Surf Pulp Fiction". It's a collection of old-style pulp fiction adventures with a surfing theme, and illustrations.
https://tinyurl.com/9v2zstkv
Yowza - a bit pricy on Amazon, but it is a fun read.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at October 10, 2021 08:32 AM (xnmPy)

72 66 I loved the entire Massie series. In fact, I can only hope they are historically accurate because I know little of Russian history other than what I learned reading those novels
Posted by: Huck Follywood at October 10, 2021 08:30 AM (6Yh/m)

They're categorized as non-fiction, IIRC. So they are probably pretty accurate. The Nicholas and Alexandra book was very popular in a US that was anti-Soviet anti-Communist. I hope it gets a big revival.

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 08:32 AM (ONvIw)

73 I am trying to keep up with the "100 Days of Dante" series, and failing miserably. I am about half as fast as the series thinks I should be.

This week I also read "The Thin Man" by Dashiell Hammett, which is something I haven't read before, and it's a good read.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at October 10, 2021 08:33 AM (6Yh/m)

74 Started reading a book of Julio Cortazar short stories "We Love Glenda So Much". The title story is about a group of nutty fans, as in fanatics, of a movie star, who dote on her films to the point of identifying particularly weak scenes that aren't worthy of her talents. They manage to purloin all copies of her films and modify the offending scenes (this was surely written when digital editing made lots of things possible) to make her body of work perfect in their eyes.

But then they get thrown into a frenzy when she announces she's coming out of retirement and they decide there's only one way to keep her body of work perfect.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at October 10, 2021 08:34 AM (y7DUB)

75 Nobody smokes in the Star Trek universe, but they make up for it with the drinking. I wonder if that was a conscious decision, or whether the cigarette companies just weren't willing to pay for product placement on a show with mediocre ratings for the time.
Posted by: PabloD at October 10, 2021

***
The leads, Solo and Illya, did not smoke on The Man From U.N.C.L.E. True, Waverly smoked a pipe. And in the episode with Shatner, Nimoy, and Klemperer, Solo *lights* a cigarette to make a point to an adversary, but doesn't inhale it.

Their original communicators were cigarette cases. Norman Felton, the exec producer, issued a memo as they went into Season Two that they needed to find a new prop, as he felt they should not be encouraging smoking, even passively, among young viewers. Thus the origin of the pen communicators.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at October 10, 2021 08:34 AM (c6xtn)

76 Kindle Vella has a novel by Richard Stein (a lurker?) with a character named Alexandria Brown. Known locally as the princess of darkness, she is a lawyer who has never lost a case. How is that possible? She cheats. Sonway is the title. First three chapters free.

Posted by: Buck Joefiden at October 10, 2021 08:34 AM (p9xFh)

77 I'm still reading Norse Mythology. This week I learned of Blodughadda, the purple-haired one. She's kind of a mermaid shark I guess. Her daddy is a God, so my advise would be to steer clear. If you see her, just wave.

Posted by: f'd at October 10, 2021 08:35 AM (Tnijr)

78 I did the same thing. Now, I buy used books off ebay.
Posted by: dantesed at October 10, 2021 08:22 AM

Thank goodness I've never used eBay! I ordered magazines and visited Barnes & Noble this weekend, but the plan is to use the interlibrary loan system as much as possible.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at October 10, 2021 08:35 AM (/+bwe)

79 Imagine how many complaints could have been leveled at McCoy for his constant disparagement of a superior officer.

I've never read much Trek fiction, so I wonder if it was ever explained exactly why McCoy joined Starfleet. He always seemed to be a cantankerous old bastard who'd never be happy anywhere; the kind of doctor who'd tell you to stop smoking as he lit up his fifth Tareyton 100 of the hour.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at October 10, 2021 08:35 AM (2JVJo)

80 They don't ever bother to explain it in the movies. It's just assumed that the on-board HVAC system deals with it. It's never mentioned.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 10, 2021 08:25 AM (K5n5d)
---
We already had smoking in pressurized airplane cabins and in submerged submarines. It didn't seem remotely unusual.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 10, 2021 08:35 AM (llXky)

81 Where would we be if life had no books?
Posted by: grammie winger

Back to cave drawings....after we ran outta spray paint.

Posted by: JT at October 10, 2021 08:36 AM (arJlL)

82 Nobody smokes in the Star Trek universe . . .
Posted by: PabloD at October 10, 2021

***
SF writer Larry Niven, when he was a smoker, put smoking into a number of his early stories, saying that in the 26th century, the dangerous and addictive substances had all been removed from the sticks. A bit of wish-fulfillment. I met in 1985, and he actually carried his pipe in a special holster on his belt.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at October 10, 2021 08:37 AM (c6xtn)

83 hiya

Posted by: JT at October 10, 2021 08:37 AM (arJlL)

84 I've never read much Trek fiction, so I wonder if it was ever explained exactly why McCoy joined Starfleet. He always seemed to be a cantankerous old bastard who'd never be happy anywhere; the kind of doctor who'd tell you to stop smoking as he lit up his fifth Tareyton 100 of the hour.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at October 10, 2021 08:35 AM (2JVJo)
----
Interesting question...I do have quite a bit of Trek fiction (guilty pleasure in my younger years). I may have to go see if I can find an "origin" story somewhere in my collection. I know Kirk's and I think I know Spock's, but McCoy is a bit of a mystery.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 10, 2021 08:37 AM (K5n5d)

85 Thinking about it, having the medical doctor in military history and or stories at odds with the head officer a very usual theme

Posted by: Skip at October 10, 2021 08:38 AM (2JoB8)

86 We Love Glenda So Much sounds like a fabulous idea. I wish I'd thought of it.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at October 10, 2021 08:38 AM (2JVJo)

87 Kindle Vella has a novel by Richard Stein (a lurker?) with a character named Alexandria Brown. Known locally as the princess of darkness, she is a lawyer who has never lost a case. How is that possible? She cheats. Sonway is the title. First three chapters free.
===============

I presume she is also partial to thigh-high boots with stilletto heels and owns a collection of whips?

Posted by: Huck Follywood at October 10, 2021 08:38 AM (6Yh/m)

88 Been reading some old church cookbooks I picked up. They are the kind that are spiral bound and one of them has a story with each recipe. Quite the slice of life and a couple of recipes I want to try. Seems about half of each of the cookbooks are dessert recipes. Yummm

Posted by: Charlottr at October 10, 2021 08:38 AM (BoFYZ)

89 the plan is to use the interlibrary loan system as much as possible.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at October 10, 2021 08:35 AM (/+bwe)

I used to do that, as well as searching the stack at the local PL. Now I've had to give up paper books because I can't read the print. My paperwhite lets me set the font to +1 million, so no more holding an actual book in my hands. Sad.

Posted by: grammie winger at October 10, 2021 08:38 AM (45fpk)

90 70 Posted by: Weak Geek at October 10, 2021 08:32 AM (Om/di)

Yeah he pushed command indulgence to the limit.

Posted by: sven at October 10, 2021 08:38 AM (Lzpvj)

91 I decided to go full paper for the rest of the year, since my leisure hours' screen-time is ridiculous. I divided a notebook into sections, and the first has a list of horde-recommended books.

Posted by: NaughtyPine

I've pretty much gone full paper the last couple of years myself, just because I keep putting books on hold at the library.

I do need a notebook, as you've done. My husband teases me every time he finds another list on post-it notes, scrap paper, bookmarks, etc. I have a pile of them rubber-banded together in the desk drawer.

Posted by: April -- dash my lace wigs! at October 10, 2021 08:38 AM (OX9vb)

92 I don't think the pants guy owns a weedwhacker )if you catch my drift)

Posted by: JT at October 10, 2021 08:38 AM (arJlL)

93 Wasn't there smoking on the Blimp in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade?"

Posted by: JAS, AoSHQ addict at October 10, 2021 08:39 AM (xopIz)

94 We already had smoking in pressurized airplane cabins and in submerged submarines. It didn't seem remotely unusual.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 10, 2021 08:35 AM (llXky)
---
Good point--I watched The Hunt for Red October recently, which features A LOT of smoking Russians on the titular submarine...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 10, 2021 08:39 AM (K5n5d)

95 SF writer Larry Niven, when he was a smoker, put smoking into a number of his early stories, saying that in the 26th century, the dangerous and addictive substances had all been removed from the sticks. A bit of wish-fulfillment. I met in 1985, and he actually carried his pipe in a special holster on his belt.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at October 10, 2021 08:37 AM (c6xtn)

See also "synthahol"

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at October 10, 2021 08:39 AM (PiwSw)

96 Oh, boy - the local classical station is playing Beethoven's Fourth. One of my faves.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at October 10, 2021 08:39 AM (2JVJo)

97 We Love Glenda So Much sounds like a fabulous idea. I wish I'd thought of it.

Steal it. It's the moron way.

Posted by: grammie winger at October 10, 2021 08:39 AM (45fpk)

98
I've never read much Trek fiction, so I wonder if it was ever explained exactly why McCoy joined Starfleet. He always seemed to be a cantankerous old bastard who'd never be happy anywhere; the kind of doctor who'd tell you to stop smoking as he lit up his fifth Tareyton 100 of the hour.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at October 10, 2021

***
In Whitfield's Making of Star Trek, they reprinted some of the original guide material. Apaprently McCoy had decided to join Star Fleet after the unhappy end of his marriage, the union that had produced a daughter who would have been a grown woman at the time of the original series. "The Way to Eden" script began as a story about his daughter coming aboard the ship. Producer Freiberger felt that McCoy was Kirk's contemporary, though, and would not be old enough to have a grown daughter; so we got the "space hippies" story instead.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at October 10, 2021 08:40 AM (c6xtn)

99 Now that I think of it, the ship's doctor in the Battlestar Galactica reboot smoked like a chimney.

Posted by: PabloD at October 10, 2021 08:40 AM (GNOwJ)

100 I thought that all the drinking in Star Trek is synthohol. Get a buzz. but cannot get inebriated.

Posted by: JAS, AoSHQ addict at October 10, 2021 08:40 AM (xopIz)

101 27 created reams of forgeries connected to the Mormons, a situation from which he tried to distance himself by planting bombs to murder other collectors.

He sounds friendly.

Posted by: grammie winger at October 10, 2021 08:10 AM (45fpk)

Hoffman was basically a genius that turned to evil. He developed forgery techniques that were quite sophisticated and could fool experts. The controversial "White Salamander" letter that had Salt Lake City all abuzz in the 80s was his product.

Netflix had a 4-part documentary about Hoffman, Murder Among the Mormons that I recommend.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at October 10, 2021 08:41 AM (2Il/2)

102 @79 --

Alan Dean Foster addressed that in one of his "Star Trek: Log" books, based on the animated series.

McCoy asks Kirk, who posed the question, whether he could see McCoy dealing with hypochondriac old broads.

Posted by: Weak Geek at October 10, 2021 08:41 AM (Om/di)

103 Recently finished Neil Stevenson (of Cryptonomicon ) "Fall"

Would not recommend. It's not terribly bad, it's just... lazy.
There's a whole chunk on the characters traveling through, IDK, Jesus land? Completely pointless, added nothing to the story except to shout his snearing hatred of religious folks.

He left several interesting plot points unexplored; major characters in the second part just disappeared in the third and the major showdown at the end was basically "and then I realized all I had to do was hit CTL+ALT+DEL and end the "Zeus" process and everyone lived happily ever after "

Posted by: Lrrr at October 10, 2021 08:41 AM (/WSjp)

104 If you will indulge me for a moment, I have a small rant about a usage that I see seemingly everywhere I look, and it grates on my ear. Re: the word 'better.

"This was done to better serve our customers."

To me that sounds awkward as opposed to:

"This was done to serve our customers better."

Maybe I'm overthinking this. /mini rant off

Posted by: Muldoon at October 10, 2021 08:41 AM (5Woea)

105 Netflix had a 4-part documentary about Hoffman, Murder Among the Mormons that I recommend.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at October 10, 2021 08:41 AM (2Il/2)

Thanks OM.

Posted by: grammie winger at October 10, 2021 08:42 AM (45fpk)

106 Thinking about it, having the medical doctor in military history and or stories at odds with the head officer a very usual theme
Posted by: Skip at October 10, 2021 08:38 AM (2JoB

----
They have different priorities. Ship's doctor's first concern is the well-being of the crew. Ship's captain's first concern is the well-being of the vessel. He also has the responsibility to send crew into mortal danger if need be. This theme was played out quite nicely in an episode of ST:TNG when Troi was preparing for her bridge officer's exam.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 10, 2021 08:42 AM (K5n5d)

107 84 Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 10, 2021 08:37 AM (K5n5d)

Retconned to being destroyed by a divorce and one step ahead of alimony payments.

Even in mainline canon he is burnt out on Starfleet and goes on reserve duty and is a doctor happily working in Atlanta by Star Trek the Motion Picture where Kirk reactivates his commission leading Bones to say sarcasticaly "I've been drafted."

If McCoy did not love Kirk and Spock he would not have stayed IMHO.

Posted by: sven at October 10, 2021 08:42 AM (Lzpvj)

108 You wouldn't say:

This was done to higher make our profits.

Posted by: Muldoon at October 10, 2021 08:42 AM (5Woea)

109 I know Kirk's and I think I know Spock's, but McCoy is a bit of a mystery.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 10, 2021

***
Another reason I dislike JJ Abrams's take on Trek. He has McCoy being about the same age as Kirk and going through the Academy with him. Yet it was clear in the original series that McCoy never went to the Academy. In "Ultimate Computer" he did not know the cadet slang word "dunsil" -- Spock had to explain it to him.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at October 10, 2021 08:42 AM (c6xtn)

110 Interesting question...I do have quite a bit of Trek fiction (guilty pleasure in my younger years). I may have to go see if I can find an "origin" story somewhere in my collection. I know Kirk's and I think I know Spock's, but McCoy is a bit of a mystery.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 10, 2021 08:37 AM (K5n5d)
---
McCoy was a general practitioner from Georgia whose marriage ended in a bitter divorce. He decided he needed a radical change and did a crash course of "space medicine" and joined Starfleet.

That's according to The Making of Star Trek from 1968.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 10, 2021 08:42 AM (llXky)

111 Willowed on the twice dead tech thread.

Step One: Don't install Windows 11

---
. . . The lesson I learned is computing environments are so complex that you have better odds of winning a major lottery than having the upgrade work properly. The second lesson I learned is if you are going to upgrade the OS save yourself the grief and flatten the box to begin with and just start over because you're going to do that anyhow.

Posted by: LostInSpace at October 10, 2021 02:53 AM (/r+hx)

Once I got a NAS (Synology 2 Drive) and started storing/working from there, the whole OS upgrade new PC anxiety became a thing of the past. If you brick your computer and have to start over, all of your files are safe. Of course, back up your NAS.

Posted by: flounder at October 10, 2021 08:43 AM (KnJdm)

112 The only thing that was smoking in ST was Troi's thighs. Space Ho-oh!

Posted by: Riker at October 10, 2021 08:43 AM (Tnijr)

113 This was done to serve our customers butter

- Kerry Gold

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion (YZG/i) at October 10, 2021 08:44 AM (YZG/i)

114 Maybe I'm overthinking this.
Posted by: Muldoon at October 10, 2021 08:41 AM (5Woea)
=============

Also, the moron way.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at October 10, 2021 08:44 AM (6Yh/m)

115 Apaprently McCoy had decided to join Star Fleet after the unhappy end of his marriage, the union that had produced a daughter who would have been a grown woman at the time of the original series.
---
That explains why McCoy's daughter DOES show up in one of the expanded universe novels: Crisis on Centaurus.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 10, 2021 08:45 AM (K5n5d)

116 Good point--I watched The Hunt for Red October recently, which features A LOT of smoking Russians on the titular submarine...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 10, 2021 08:39 AM (K5n5d)
---
A friend of mine served on a "boomer" and said that by the end of the cruise the visibility was measured in inches. Not just the smoke, but also condensation. He said if you want to know what a submarine smells like, take old socks, cover them with grease, rub them in an ash tray and try to breath through them.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 10, 2021 08:46 AM (llXky)

117 Steal it. It's the moron way.
Posted by: grammie winger at October 10, 2021 08:39 AM (45fpk)

**grins**
I might just, at least the 'perfection' part. I'm still plotting out my next Theda Bara short story, The Girl From Sunday, and I haven't decided whether to make it realistic or supernatural.

I also wanted to write a movie post on Nosferatu, but unless I do that today, it won't get done.

And of course, I have editing to do on The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of while I wait for feedback from the fellow Morons I sent it to. I don't know whether it's "this is good" or "if I don't respond, perhaps MP4 will forget he ever sent it to me."

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at October 10, 2021 08:46 AM (2JVJo)

118 Those pants themselves are actually fine.

You just need to get rid of the shoes, the belt, the sweater, the eyeglasses, the checkered boxer shorts and the model.

Posted by: Muldoon at October 10, 2021 08:46 AM (5Woea)

119 Lrrr at October 10, 2021 08:41 AM (/WSjp)

Stephenson was my all time favorite sci-fi author. I quit Fall 1/3rd of the way through and literally tossed the hardcover in the trash.

Posted by: motionview (prep train organize) at October 10, 2021 08:47 AM (+W8+H)

120 My recollection is Joseph Smith himself was accused of forging currency in Ohio, and chased out of town.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at October 10, 2021 08:47 AM (6Yh/m)

121 n Whitfield's Making of Star Trek, they reprinted some of the original guide material. Apaprently McCoy had decided to join Star Fleet after the unhappy end of his marriage, the union that had produced a daughter who would have been a grown woman at the time of the original series. "The Way to Eden" script began as a story about his daughter coming aboard the ship. Producer Freiberger felt that McCoy was Kirk's contemporary, though, and would not be old enough to have a grown daughter; so we got the "space hippies" story instead.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at October 10, 2021 08:40 AM (c6xtn)
---
Right, to the "retconning" was to make McCoy younger, because Dee Kelly was visibly older than Shatner.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 10, 2021 08:48 AM (llXky)

122 A friend of mine served on a "boomer" and said that by the end of the cruise the visibility was measured in inches. Not just the smoke, but also condensation. He said if you want to know what a submarine smells like, take old socks, cover them with grease, rub them in an ash tray and try to breath through them.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 10, 2021 08:46 AM (llXky)
---
I watched a pretty cool YouTube video not long ago that demonstrated how submarines manufacture oxygen when the main systems go offline. They "burn" a giant candle and creates enough oxygen to hopefully allow them to breathe while they repair the system or surface.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 10, 2021 08:48 AM (K5n5d)

123 I served on a diesel boat, as a passenger. Yes, diesel. After even a couple weeks, when we disembarked, we would strip off our uniforms and dispose of them. No use cleaning them. Most of the crew smoked, we didn't make enough water to bathe.

Posted by: goatexchange at October 10, 2021 08:48 AM (6AH+Y)

124 I just started reading American Tabloid by James Ellroy.

Posted by: JT at October 10, 2021 08:49 AM (arJlL)

125 A friend of mine served on a "boomer" and said that by the end of the cruise the visibility was measured in inches. Not just the smoke, but also condensation. He said if you want to know what a submarine smells like, take old socks, cover them with grease, rub them in an ash tray and try to breath through them.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 10, 2021 08:46 AM (llXky)

Not condensation but lube oil vapor. They had electrostatic precipitators to remove a lot of the oil mist, but the ventilation systems would still drip with it, especially in the machinery spaces where the real men worked.

Posted by: flounder at October 10, 2021 08:49 AM (KnJdm)

126 BTW, the book we are referring to came out after Season 2 and before Season 3, and there is a lot of discussion about the "continuity bible" writers had to consult.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 10, 2021 08:49 AM (llXky)

127 retconning McCoy to be Kirk's age was stupid....

The Star Trek crew lost sight that these people were not destined by the hand of God to be buddies they were in fact thrown together accidentally by the G-1 gods.

Posted by: sven at October 10, 2021 08:49 AM (Lzpvj)

128 This was done to serve our customers butter
- Kerry Gold

****

Ha!

Posted by: Muldoon at October 10, 2021 08:50 AM (5Woea)

129 Someone is supposed to send me a book (AHEM !)

Posted by: JT at October 10, 2021 08:50 AM (arJlL)

130 Seems about half of each of the cookbooks are dessert recipes. Yummm
Posted by: Charlottr

And the other half is variations of potato-based casseroles, right? Also yum!

Posted by: April -- dash my lace wigs! at October 10, 2021 08:51 AM (OX9vb)

131 Not condensation but lube oil vapor. They had electrostatic precipitators to remove a lot of the oil mist, but the ventilation systems would still drip with it, especially in the machinery spaces where the real men worked.

Posted by: flounder at October 10, 2021 08:49 AM (KnJdm)
---
Yeah, it was like a mist. My pal was a nuke technician, so he sat like Homer Simpson and watched the needle.

He loved watching Crimson Tide and wanted to make a short film of the reactor crew just sitting there and listening to the various changes of command and demands for more or less power while sipping their coffee.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 10, 2021 08:52 AM (llXky)

132 yes when he wrote cryptonimicon (sic) it was a great tale, even large parts of the baroque cycle were fun, but the previous time travel and witchcraft book dragged, and this one seemed interminable,

Posted by: alien covenant was much worse at October 10, 2021 08:52 AM (hMlTh)

133 We Love Glenda So Much sounds like a fabulous idea. I wish I'd thought of it.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at October 10, 2021 08:38 AM (2JVJo)

Cortazar also wrote Blow Up so film intersecting with real life is a topic he found fascinating.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at October 10, 2021 08:52 AM (y7DUB)

134 They "burn" a giant candle and creates enough oxygen to hopefully allow them to breathe while they repair the system or surface.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 10, 2021 08:48 AM (K5n5d)

I don't recall the specific formulation, but it was some sort of chlorate that produced the oxygen.

NASA pdf

https://tinyurl.com/575pbvnz

Posted by: flounder at October 10, 2021 08:52 AM (KnJdm)

135 For the longest time, I never knew artemis was a dame.

The, for an equally long time, I never knew artemis was an author.

How come nobody never tells me nuttin' ?

Posted by: JT at October 10, 2021 08:52 AM (arJlL)

136 @127 --

A-men!

It bugs me that these people essentially threw away their Starfleet careers to stick with a beloved commander.

Also bugs me that they were all from Earth. Couldn't one of them have been born in a colony on another planet?

Posted by: Weak Geek at October 10, 2021 08:53 AM (Om/di)

137 A common occurrence in every Russian movie no matter the period is they smoke like a chimney and drink vodka like fish.

Posted by: Skip at October 10, 2021 08:53 AM (2JoB8)

138 BTW, the book we are referring to came out after Season 2 and before Season 3, and there is a lot of discussion about the "continuity bible" writers had to consult.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 10, 2021

***
I remember when it came out, in May or June of 1968. At that point I was not a fervid fan, but my best friend was. I bought 2 copies, 1 for him. It's not in great shape, but I still have mine.

David Gerrold's follow-up books from 1973 or so, his story of how "Tribbles" came to be, and his [i[The World of Star Trek, have a great deal of fascinating information about the show's production, and about Gerrold's writerly suggestions to improve the show should it ever return. Roddenberry listened, apparently. The "Away Team" concept of TNG was espoused by Gerrold some 14 years before the new show.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at October 10, 2021 08:54 AM (c6xtn)

139 He loved watching Crimson Tide and wanted to make a short film of the reactor crew just sitting there and listening to the various changes of command and demands for more or less power while sipping their coffee.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 10, 2021 08:52 AM (llXky)

Not a fan of that (primarily for the Hackman character) or HFRO. But they are well-made for mass consumption.

Posted by: flounder at October 10, 2021 08:55 AM (KnJdm)

140 Started reading a book of Julio Cortazar short stories "We Love Glenda So Much". The title story is about a group of nutty fans, as in fanatics, of a movie star, who dote on her films to the point of identifying particularly weak scenes that aren't worthy of her talents. They manage to purloin all copies of her films and modify the offending scenes (this was surely written when digital editing made lots of things possible) to make her body of work perfect in their eyes.
But then they get thrown into a frenzy when she announces she's coming out of retirement and they decide there's only one way to keep her body of work perfect.
Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at October 10, 2021 08:34 AM (y7DUB)

Last week, I forgot to mention Julio Cortazar's most famous short story, "Blow-up", esp since they made a famous movie from it.

"Blow-up" can be found in the Julio Cortazar short story collection, "Blow-Up and Other Stories".

Imagine that.

Ackshewallee, Cortazar wrote many short stories better than "Blow-up" IMO. But, it's still a good one.

Posted by: naturalfake at October 10, 2021 08:55 AM (5NkmN)

141 Three years ago, Mr. Penzler put his collection up for auction.

**

And made $1200.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Listen to this SC doctor tell you about ivermectin, spoilers, only two deaths at October 10, 2021 08:55 AM (6Y/Rl)

142 123 I served on a diesel boat, as a passenger. Yes, diesel. After even a couple weeks, when we disembarked, we would strip off our uniforms and dispose of them. No use cleaning them. Most of the crew smoked, we didn't make enough water to bathe.

Posted by: goatexchange at October 10, 2021 08:48 AM
This is one of the reasons I became a Seabee.

Posted by: Eromero at October 10, 2021 08:55 AM (0OP+5)

143 Fish drink vodka?

Fish drink?

Posted by: Weak Geek at October 10, 2021 08:56 AM (Om/di)

144 No use cleaning them. Most of the crew smoked, we didn't make enough water to bathe.

****

Hi-funk-o-gais!!!

Posted by: Muldoon at October 10, 2021 08:56 AM (5Woea)

145 The Star Trek crew lost sight that these people were not destined by the hand of God to be buddies they were in fact thrown together accidentally by the G-1 gods.
Posted by: sven at October 10, 2021

***
The people who wrote and produced the original Trek had been in the service, some in WWII, and knew how it really worked. The ones producing and writing the current iterations have gotten all their ideas about the service from . . . Star Trek.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at October 10, 2021 08:56 AM (c6xtn)

146 Those poor "pants" models!

They imagined themselves high-stepping in Armani, and instead they're wearing Garanimals designed by blind meth heads.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Live! from the Dungeon of Discord at October 10, 2021 08:57 AM (Dc2NZ)

147 I have an old cook book printed in 1944 on what to cook or how to cook with food rationing. Its a rather thick cook book and maybe it might be in demand again the way things are going.

Posted by: Colin at October 10, 2021 08:58 AM (DPoAr)

148 136 Posted by: Weak Geek at October 10, 2021 08:53 AM (Om/di)

Quite Earth is less than 1/10th the entire population of Homo Sapiens by the time of TOS.

They touch on the tension of "sticking with Kirk" versus "My own time to shine" with Sulu's largely trashed storyline in Star Trek 3, he was supposed to leave the Enterprise and serve as a first officer.

I was glad he had the Excelsior.

Star Trek's "genius writer class" post Roddenberry, Coon, and Fontana showed the appreciation of military order and discipline you would expect from hippies and moonbats.

Posted by: sven at October 10, 2021 08:58 AM (Lzpvj)

149 On topic, there's a book called Blind Man's Bluff about submarines and their development, use, and bravado of the crews. I'm very much a layman but it was accessible and written in a way that was enjoyable to read.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Listen to this SC doctor tell you about ivermectin, spoilers, only two deaths at October 10, 2021 08:58 AM (6Y/Rl)

150 >>>No use cleaning them. Most of the crew smoked, we didn't make enough water to bathe.

That's one thing we did do, as a first priority, second only to a few things like staying not-imploded and not detected or melted down.

Posted by: flounder at October 10, 2021 08:59 AM (KnJdm)

151 The ones producing and writing the current iterations have gotten all their ideas about the service from . . . Star Trek.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at October 10, 2021 08:56 AM (c6xtn)

**

Look, why WOULDN'T Picard have a robot if it wasn't for gay sex?

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Listen to this SC doctor tell you about ivermectin, spoilers, only two deaths at October 10, 2021 09:00 AM (6Y/Rl)

152 Fish drink vodka?

Fish drink?

Posted by: Weak Geek at October 10, 2021 08:56 AM (Om/di)

Like . . . well . . . fish.

Posted by: flounder at October 10, 2021 09:00 AM (KnJdm)

153 A common occurrence in ~~every Russian movie~~ Russia no matter the period is they smoke like a chimney and drink vodka like fish.
Posted by: Skip at October 10, 2021 08:53 AM (2JoB

Posted by: San Franpsycho at October 10, 2021 09:00 AM (EZebt)

154 Crap, phrased that wrong. Good thing I never claimed to be smart.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Listen to this SC doctor tell you about ivermectin, spoilers, only two deaths at October 10, 2021 09:00 AM (6Y/Rl)

155 Posted by: Muldoon at October 10, 2021 08:41 AM (5Woea)

"Better" modifies "serve," so the construction is correct.

Awkward, but correct.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at October 10, 2021 09:00 AM (Q9lwr)

156 An Otto Penzler fave was/is -

Bill Pronzini, who's written a gajillion mysteries, thrillers, and westerns. His most famous creation is "The Nameless Detective".

However, it was one of his standalone thriller novels, which made me an instant fan-

"Nothing but the Night"

Available on Kindle for : $.1.99.

Posted by: naturalfake at October 10, 2021 09:01 AM (5NkmN)

157
This is one of the reasons I became a Seabee.
Posted by: Eromero at October 10, 2021 08:55 AM (0OP+5)

Construimus, Batuimus

Posted by: J at October 10, 2021 09:02 AM (0QmqQ)

158 Books about the making of ST:TOS are fascinating, especially in regard to the sets, costumes, scripts, and props.

Did I leave anything out?

I watch other much-loved shows -- thinking "WKRP in Cincinnati" -- and wonder how many of the sets were connected.

Posted by: Weak Geek at October 10, 2021 09:02 AM (Om/di)

159 "Thank You for Smoking," by Christopher Buckley, has a scene in which Big Tobacco's top lobbyist is in a discussion on how to get cigarettes featured in a space movie as part of product placement. One guy says all they'd have to do is add a couple of lines in the script about the scientific breakthrough that enables that.

Which sounds more like a dig at SF movie writing, or maybe SF writing in general, than at tobacco lobbying.

Posted by: Oddbob at October 10, 2021 09:02 AM (nfrXX)

160 @ motionview, I liked Cryptonomicon.

I knew I should have bailed on Fall when he insulted the reader with, "why should I bother telling you what the 'routine medical procedure' that killed the main character was?"

Neil really hates lawyers but ascribes them near magical powers to undo any legal document. So we get page after page of tedious lawyer stuff.

Posted by: Lrrr at October 10, 2021 09:03 AM (/WSjp)

161 "Look, why WOULDN'T Picard have a robot if it wasn't for gay sex?"

Especially one as about as stable as Win 95 on a C64.

Posted by: f'd at October 10, 2021 09:03 AM (Tnijr)

162 It bugs me that these people essentially threw away their Starfleet careers to stick with a beloved commander.

Apparently the only one to get his own command was Sulu, with the Excelsior. I believe all of the bridge crew were eventually promoted to the captaincy by ST6. Scotty, of course, never wanted to be anything other than an engineer, but one would think Uhura would have jumped at the chance for a command of her own.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at October 10, 2021 09:03 AM (2JVJo)

163 Need a house to hold all of your books? Well then, build your own:
__________

Typical NYT. You have to scroll almost to the bottom to see the one (1!) picture of the actual library. What shallow people our "intellectuals" are.

BTW, in the 30s or early 40s Evelyn Waugh noticed that the word "intellectual" was coming to mean something having nothing whatsoever to do with intellect.

Posted by: Eeyore at October 10, 2021 09:03 AM (7X3UV)

164 I don't know if this is actually from the series "bible" or if it's fan-canon, but the backstory I recall for McCoy was that he'd joined Starfleet after the death of his wife, and had an estranged daughter wandering around somewhere waiting to fall in love with Captain Kirk.

Posted by: Trimegistus at October 10, 2021 09:04 AM (QZxDR)

165 The people who wrote and produced the original Trek had been in the service, some in WWII, and knew how it really worked. The ones producing and writing the current iterations have gotten all their ideas about the service from . . . Star Trek.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at October 10, 2021 08:56 AM (c6xtn)
---
Yes, there was a notion that crews were not permanent lifelong things and given the nature of episodic TV at the time, that made it easy to sub in a new first officer if Nimoy got a big break, etc.

Everyone on the show was hoping for a better gig to come along.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 10, 2021 09:05 AM (llXky)

166 You know, I bet there are thousands of us who bought or built some sort of outbuilding in large part to keep from having to get rid of some books.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Listen to this SC doctor tell you about ivermectin, spoilers, only two deaths at October 10, 2021 09:05 AM (6Y/Rl)

167 Started reading Buddenbrooks by Mann. The good news is I don't hate it as much as The Magic Mountain but the bad news is so far it reads like a soap opera version of a family in decline or second rate Tolstoy. The scenes where Antonie is expected to be the family cash cow and get hitched to this drip of a husband for bidness purposes seemed unnecessarily heavy handed although when she finally realizes that "welp this is my fate so I gotta do it" it made a weird kind of sense. So far the overriding theme for me is that in the 1840s Germany wasn't a primo location.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at October 10, 2021 09:05 AM (y7DUB)

168 Star Trek's "genius writer class" post Roddenberry, Coon, and Fontana showed the appreciation of military order and discipline you would expect from hippies and moonbats.
Posted by: sven at October 10, 2021

***
Case in point: In the first Abrams film, Chekov gets a wild idea and *leaves his post without permission*. True, he helps to save the ship. But Kirk should at least have put him on report. Instead, we get no mention of his dereliction of duty. Lesson: "It's ok to leave your post if you have a really, really good reason."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at October 10, 2021 09:06 AM (c6xtn)

169 BTW, in the 30s or early 40s Evelyn Waugh noticed that the word "intellectual" was coming to mean something having nothing whatsoever to do with intellect.

Posted by: Eeyore at October 10, 2021 09:03 AM (7X3UV)

And it is infinitely worse today.

If somebody called me an intellectual I might just bop him in the nose.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at October 10, 2021 09:06 AM (Q9lwr)

170 I don't know if this is actually from the series "bible" or if it's fan-canon, but the backstory I recall for McCoy was that he'd joined Starfleet after the death of his wife, and had an estranged daughter wandering around somewhere waiting to fall in love with Captain Kirk.
Posted by: Trimegistus at October 10, 2021

***
Maybe from the fans. McCoy was supposed to be divorced and have a grown daughter.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at October 10, 2021 09:07 AM (c6xtn)

171 Uh, by 1665 "the vast supremacy of the Spanish empire" was dying fast. And galleons weren't really a thing anymore.

Posted by: Eeyore at October 10, 2021 09:07 AM (7X3UV)

172 Since we're on the subject of sci-fi, one of the things that made Babylon 5 work was the cast changes. It wasn't planned, but swapping out captains, having Garibaldi quit and getting a new chief of security, etc. gave it a more realistic feel than Star Trek's Eternal Enterprise Crew.

Of course a reboot is planned because the world sucks now.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 10, 2021 09:07 AM (llXky)

173 "Better" modifies "serve," so the construction is correct. Awkward, but correct.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo

*****

But maybe 'correct' isn't always right. Perhaps just another example of the endless nuance and variety of English language and the multitude of vernacular usages.

And anyway, it's not like I've fired off a string of irate letters to editors or blog owners about it.

Yet.

Posted by: Muldoon at October 10, 2021 09:08 AM (5Woea)

174 And anyway, it's not like I've fired off a string of irate letters in limerick form to editors or blog owners about it.

Yet.

Posted by: Muldoon at October 10, 2021 09:08 AM (5Woea)

Posted by: flounder at October 10, 2021 09:09 AM (KnJdm)

175 Nice house for books, too bad its in CT.

Posted by: Anna Puma at October 10, 2021 09:09 AM (ePR2H)

176 "This was done to serve our costumers better."

/Mid-Ohio Antique Armor Fabricators LLC

Posted by: Muldoon at October 10, 2021 09:09 AM (5Woea)

177 175 Nice house for books, too bad its in CT.
Posted by: Anna Puma at October 10, 2021 09:09 AM (ePR2H)

I approve of the empty shelves on the second floor.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at October 10, 2021 09:09 AM (PiwSw)

178 Wife is up. Time to go harass her.

Posted by: flounder at October 10, 2021 09:09 AM (KnJdm)

179 If we only (dreaming again) had a Capt Kirk type of person in the WH, the whole country would look much brighter. MSM would of course be their usual self. Star-fleet command of course would be as corrupt as our congress is today.

Posted by: Colin at October 10, 2021 09:10 AM (DPoAr)

180 Ackshewallee, Cortazar wrote many short stories better than "Blow-up" IMO. But, it's still a good one.
Posted by: naturalfake at October 10, 2021 08:55 AM (5NkmN)

I think Cortazar understood the nature of short stories better than most authors.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at October 10, 2021 09:11 AM (y7DUB)

181 "Lesson: "It's ok to leave your post if you have a really, really good reason."

They're more like suggestions than regulations
-Gen Milley

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice. Asymptomatic raycist at October 10, 2021 09:11 AM (3D/fK)

182 Apparently the only one to get his own command was Sulu, with the Excelsior. I believe all of the bridge crew were eventually promoted to the captaincy by ST6. Scotty, of course, never wanted to be anything other than an engineer, but one would think Uhura would have jumped at the chance for a command of her own.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at October 10, 2021 09:03 AM (2JVJo)
---
It's interesting to imagine if instead of trying to create Bridge Crew 2.0, Roddenberry and company had followed the original cast in separate but linked storylines as they go on to different assignments.

So Captain Uhura with Chekhov as first officer (she was senior in rank). Of course, as noted, no one after Roddenberry knew how the military worked, so it was perfectly fine for a crew to effectively "own" their ship.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 10, 2021 09:11 AM (llXky)

183 But maybe 'correct' isn't always right.

Posted by: Muldoon at October 10, 2021 09:08 AM (5Woea)

Agreed. I think that a simple sentence that clearly conveys its meaning is preferable to a grammatically correct one.

But, as you point out, it is the amazing complexity of English that allows so many ways of expressing even simple ideas.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at October 10, 2021 09:11 AM (Q9lwr)

184 I see by the other comments that I'm not the Fastest Nerd In the West by a long stretch.

Posted by: Trimegistus at October 10, 2021 09:11 AM (QZxDR)

185 If we only (dreaming again) had a Capt Kirk type of person in the WH, the whole country would look much brighter. MSM would of course be their usual self. Star-fleet command of course would be as corrupt as our congress is today.
Posted by: Colin at October 10, 2021

***
Right now I'd be happy with a Captain Ramius type.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at October 10, 2021 09:12 AM (c6xtn)

186 The people who wrote and produced the original Trek had been in the service, some in WWII, and knew how it really worked.�
---
Tying this to the pulp project in the main post:
As I get older and crankier, the garbage that is popular today stinks worse than a diesel sub at the end of deployment because:
1) writers don't have real-world experience any more, and
2) they're not forced to hone their craft in the pulp mines, scraping a living for years, before they find a diamond.

Posted by: Lrrr at October 10, 2021 09:12 AM (/WSjp)

187 yes roddenberry was in the airforce, apparently flew the hump at one point, that's where he met the inspiration for khan, then he was a LAPD officer, the longtime chief was supposedly as methodical as spock, who he wrote speeches for, lapd was designed along marines lines in the 50s,

Posted by: alien covenant was much worse at October 10, 2021 09:12 AM (hMlTh)

188 It's interesting to imagine if instead of trying to create Bridge Crew 2.0, Roddenberry and company had followed the original cast in separate but linked storylines as they go on to different assignments.

**

Jeez, imagine if some enterprising (ha) soul were to figure out how to do that sort of thing in this day and age. Imagine the money in that universe.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Listen to this SC doctor tell you about ivermectin, spoilers, only two deaths at October 10, 2021 09:12 AM (6Y/Rl)

189 Right now I'd be happy with a Captain Ramius type.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at October 10, 2021 09:12 AM (c6xtn)

Captain Kangaroo would be preferable to the current situation..

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at October 10, 2021 09:12 AM (PiwSw)

190 Dam it Jim..I'm a doctor. Not a writer. No one can survive a plot hole that large.

Posted by: Humphreyrobot at October 10, 2021 09:13 AM (IMmgC)

191 Fun fact: the Hindenburg had an actual Smoking Room on board, with an airlock door and an overpressure system to keep stray hydrogen out. Because in the 1930s NOBODY could go without a smoke for the hundred hour flight across the Atlantic.

Especially not Hugo von Eckener, the head of the Zeppelin company (who often took the controls because he was apparently a natural genius at airship piloting). I expect the smoking room was his idea.

Posted by: Trimegistus at October 10, 2021 09:15 AM (QZxDR)

192 Boker Tov Patriots

In fear for America and Freedom

Posted by: Nevergiveup at October 10, 2021 09:15 AM (Irn0L)

193 Speaking of Michael Crichton, someone decided to write a sequel to "The Andromeda Strain" called "The Andromeda Evolution" by Daniel H. Wilson.

The story is about Storm's son and a new Wildfire. This time it lands in Brazil.

Found it at a remnants store in hardcover for $3.99. Flipped through it and put it back after reading 'squad of fighters.' Yeah nevermind.

Posted by: Anna Puma at October 10, 2021 09:17 AM (ePR2H)

194 Still in the midst of Dantes Divine Comedy. Love it- what a treat Baylor is giving away for free.

Also still reading Paul. Not as compelling as I hoped. I think its meant for readers with some basic understanding of Paul and his history, and Im more if a beginner.

I also picked up a bunch of Betty McDonald books, including the Plague and I. I forgot she lived on Vashon and that she wrote some of my favorite kid stories ever. My kids loved Mrs Piggle Wiggle too

Posted by: LASue at October 10, 2021 09:17 AM (F/Hcm)

195 Gave up on a book that I just couldn't get into

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion (YZG/i) at October 10, 2021 09:17 AM (YZG/i)

196 The Disappearing Spoon is on Libby audio, so I've cued that up. Because it's time to cook the dog food.

Have a lovely day, horde!

Posted by: April -- dash my lace wigs! at October 10, 2021 09:17 AM (OX9vb)

197 A house devoted to books? Pah, in Korea they built an entire city devoted to books. Go big or go home!

https://tinyurl.com/xuc7wkum

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at October 10, 2021 09:17 AM (2xwBg)

198 I'm available!

Posted by: Captain Crunch at October 10, 2021 09:17 AM (Tnijr)

199 Jeez, imagine if some enterprising (ha) soul were to figure out how to do that sort of thing in this day and age. Imagine the money in that universe.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - Listen to this SC doctor tell you about ivermectin, spoilers, only two deaths at October 10, 2021 09:12 AM (6Y/Rl)
---
What the first series got right and the subsequent ones got wrong was that the "diversity" was supposed to be a fluke. Think of all the war movies where 'the squad' has a southerner, loud Brooklyn guy, quite midwesterner, maybe a Jewish kid.

It was the slice of America and the Enterprise was not supposed to be particularly unique. Then the writers got into this performative contest to see how weird and strange they could stretch things.

BTW, I think this is where the whole stupid "Diversity is our strength" crap really started. "It works on Star Trek, so it must be true!"

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 10, 2021 09:17 AM (llXky)

200 Everyone on the show was hoping for a better gig to come along.

That's an actor's life. They, like all of us, have only so much time.

Unlike most of us, they don't have long-term jobs.

Mark Evanier, a TV and comics writer, noted in one of the essays in his comics series Crossfire that the writing community was in awe of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" because it totaled seven years of steady work.

Actors and screenwriters were in the gig economy before the term was created. (All right, musicians too.)

This doesn't mean that we should consider them experts who should be heard, but I think we should cut them a break. Theirs is a hard life.

Posted by: Weak Geek at October 10, 2021 09:18 AM (Om/di)

201 But, as you point out, it is the amazing complexity of English that allows so many ways of expressing even simple ideas.

****

Which is why if I were to be stranded on a desert island with only four books I'd probably choose a Webster's unabridged dictionary, Roget's thesaurus, KJV Bible and Muldoon's Library of Limericks.

Posted by: Muldoon at October 10, 2021 09:18 AM (5Woea)

202 Yes, there was a notion that crews were not permanent lifelong things and given the nature of episodic TV at the time, that made it easy to sub in a new first officer if Nimoy got a big break, etc.

Everyone on the show was hoping for a better gig to come along.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 10, 2021 09:05 AM

They didn't make diddly squat doing the Star Trek original TV series, but they made big $$$$$ with the movie franchise. IIRC

Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at October 10, 2021 09:18 AM (JUOKG)

203 Orwell's review of Road to Serfdom:

https://tinyurl.com/43w5zn9x

Posted by: Eeyore at October 10, 2021 09:19 AM (7X3UV)

204 Dam it Jim..I'm a doctor. Not a writer. No one can survive a plot hole that large.

Posted by: Humphreyrobot at October 10, 2021 09:13 AM (IMmgC)
---
Hold my Romulan Ale.

Posted by: Star Wars at October 10, 2021 09:19 AM (llXky)

205 If we only (dreaming again) had a Capt Kirk type of person in the WH, the whole country would look much brighter. MSM would of course be their usual self. Star-fleet command of course would be as corrupt as our congress is today.
Posted by: Colin at October 10, 2021

At this point, I'd take Captain Caveman.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at October 10, 2021 09:19 AM (2JVJo)

206 And since I'm not into Trek trivia, I will surrender the field to the ST nerds and bid you all adios!

Posted by: Muldoon at October 10, 2021 09:20 AM (5Woea)

207 Where did the drawing of the Mother and Baby Boy come from? Beautiful thought....

Posted by: CloseTheFed at October 10, 2021 09:21 AM (LeNk3)

208 And since I'm not into Trek trivia, I will surrender the field to the ST nerds and bid you all adios!
Posted by: Muldoon at October 10, 2021

***
Muldoon, this is less about Trek trivia than it is about writing!

Well, okay, there's some trivia. But we were talking about writing!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at October 10, 2021 09:21 AM (c6xtn)

209 My fingers were skimming through Britbox when I saw a series called 'Vera', based on the crime novels by Ann Cleeves. Has anyone read these? I just grabbed the first in the series for free on Kindle Unlimited.
Posted by: grammie winger at October 10, 2021 08:19 AM (45fpk)

grammie, yes! I absolutely love the Vera series, have watched all 10 and am now reading her book series, on the 4th now. The characters' interactions and back stories are so well written I tend to not care about the actual crime solving.
Her other series, Shetland is wonderful as well. Learned so much about the Shetland Islands and Fair Isle. Such a different lifestyle. Intriguing characters, I've read two from this collection. Enjoying them so very much.

Posted by: Pony Tail at October 10, 2021 09:21 AM (tzZq2)

210 Which is why if I were to be stranded on a desert island with only four books I'd probably choose a Webster's unabridged dictionary, Roget's thesaurus, KJV Bible and Muldoon's Library of Limericks.
Posted by: Muldoon at October 10, 2021 09:18 AM (5Woea)

Why not the moron cookbook in case you meet exciting new rare species that make great chili?

Posted by: rhennigantx at October 10, 2021 09:21 AM (yrol0)

211 Uhura did command Enterprise for an animated episode, the Lorelei Signal.

Posted by: Anna Puma at October 10, 2021 09:21 AM (ePR2H)

212 A friend recommended Stephen King's "The Dark Tower," and even after I told her that I hate the leftist prick she said it was worth a read.

Eh. It was okay, but so derivative that it was embarrassing. I doubt I will continue reading the series....

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at October 10, 2021 09:21 AM (Q9lwr)

213 104
Maybe I'm overthinking this. /mini rant off
Posted by: Muldoon at October 10, 2021 08:41 AM (5Woea)

Hah! So, did you minor in German as an undergrad? You, the language where they put the root verb aaaaaall the way at the end of sentences and clauses?

Are you also a Big Fan of appositive phrases? Inquiring minds want to know!

Posted by: Iron Mike Golf at October 10, 2021 09:22 AM (8C7+r)

214
This doesn't mean that we should consider them experts who should be heard, but I think we should cut them a break. Theirs is a hard life.

Posted by: Weak Geek at October 10, 2021 09:18 AM (Om/di)
---
Of course, and that's why you'd expect to see a ship's crew change out. The show was built to last but the ratings weren't there.

Roddenberry was trying to do exactly what MTM did, and get a decent run. You could have guest stars of the week, explore the crew, change the crew, etc. Sometimes it worked. Mostly it didn't.

And who could have guessed that it would define so many of those actors.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 10, 2021 09:22 AM (llXky)

215 Who's Dis is a 1+.

Posted by: Count de Monet, unvaccinated Kulak-American at October 10, 2021 09:22 AM (4I/2K)

216 Buck Foe Jiden

Posted by: Joe XiDen - Delta Delta Delta Can I Help Ya Help Ya Help Ya Variant at October 10, 2021 09:22 AM (KzV4I)

217 They didn't make diddly squat doing the Star Trek original TV series, but they made big $$$$$ with the movie franchise. IIRC
Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at October 10, 2021 09:18 AM (JUOKG)

Kirk made his big bux taking stock for the Priceline commercial vs. $$.

Posted by: rhennigantx at October 10, 2021 09:23 AM (yrol0)

218 So it looks as though I've lost the reference material I was going to use to write the Nosferatu movie post, so that's not going to get done. Guess I'll make another cup of tea and see if I can get some editing done on my book.

Hope you all have a lovely day.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at October 10, 2021 09:23 AM (2JVJo)

219 A friend recommended Stephen King's "The Dark Tower," and even after I told her that I hate the leftist prick she said it was worth a read.

Eh. It was okay, but so derivative that it was embarrassing. I doubt I will continue reading the series....
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at October 10, 2021

***
I ignore what I know about his politics and just enjoy his storytelling. Of course, that was easier when he didn't edge his political opinions into his stories, and left those to the various characters. But he is still a very solid writer.

No doubt "conservative" pundits in Dickens's day though of his as too liberal as well.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at October 10, 2021 09:23 AM (c6xtn)

220 They imagined themselves high-stepping in Armani, and instead they're wearing Garanimals designed by blind meth heads.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Live! from the Dungeon of Discord at October 10, 2021 08:57 AM (Dc2NZ)

Dang. Your pants comments are always way funnier than mine. I should hire you as a consultant.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at October 10, 2021 09:24 AM (2Il/2)

221 206 And since I'm not into Trek trivia, I will surrender the field to the ST nerds and bid you all adios!
Posted by: Muldoon at October 10, 2021 09:20 AM (5Woea)

/Spoiler Vader is Lukes Dad.

Posted by: rhennigantx at October 10, 2021 09:24 AM (yrol0)

222 A friend recommended Stephen King's "The Dark Tower," and even after I told her that I hate the leftist prick she said it was worth a read.

Eh. It was okay, but so derivative that it was embarrassing. I doubt I will continue reading the series....

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at October 10, 2021 09:21 AM (Q9lwr)
---
My wife read it and loved it. Although, she did say that it got seriously odd as King began to get high on his own supply. Something about how his minivan accident was part of the Dark Tower and parallel authors/universes...

I don't like King's writing style so it has zero appeal for me.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at October 10, 2021 09:24 AM (llXky)

223 I read the Dark Tower when I was in high school and really enjoyed it. I tried to re-read it a few years ago and I couldn't get more than 100 pages in because it seemed like something I should be in high school to enjoy.

Interestingly I did the same with the Cormac McCarthy westerns that I'd read around the same time and I enjoyed them even more.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - local SC doctor of 40 years calls in to radio show about ivermectin at October 10, 2021 09:24 AM (3DjGn)

224 Gave up on a book that I just couldn't get into
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion

And it was.........???

Posted by: JT at October 10, 2021 09:25 AM (arJlL)

225 My fingers were skimming through Britbox when I saw a series called 'Vera', based on the crime novels by Ann Cleeves. Has anyone read these? I just grabbed the first in the series for free on Kindle Unlimited.
Posted by: grammie winger at October 10, 2021 08:19 AM (45fpk)
===============

Am I misremembering when I recall Cleeves also wrote the stories on which BBC based the "Shetland" series? (Good TV, by the way). I think she did.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at October 10, 2021 09:25 AM (6Yh/m)

226 211 Uhura did command Enterprise for an animated episode, the Lorelei Signal.
Posted by: Anna Puma at October 10, 2021 09:21 AM (ePR2H)

Loved TOS and watched TNG a lot (reruns of AFN).

Never watched animated ST nor SW.

When you say "Uhura did command Enterprise", do you mean she was assigned in that duty position? I ask because there is a lot more to being "in command" than "left in charge" or "you have the conn".

Things like whatever Star Fleet uses for UCMJ and the fact that a starship captain has quite a bit if diplomatic duty and authority.

Posted by: Iron Mike Golf at October 10, 2021 09:26 AM (8C7+r)

227 Greetings:

Today's Maps in Books gripe:

How come one no longer sees map grids, like those on Saturday's chessboards, used in books so that authors can refer to a specific location especially on large two-page maps.

I recently read "Himalaya" by Ed Douglas and there was a great deal of wasted time trying to find places on a two-page spread of Asia.

Posted by: 11B40 at October 10, 2021 09:26 AM (uuklp)

228
Sometimes I think my life is like that Star Trek episode where if one of the crew (even Kirk) thought of someone they would appear. Not that these people appear in my life, but little nagging reminders of their existence. A license plate with an acronym, an article on the 'net, etc.

Posted by: Traitor Joe's Military Surplus, Vaccine and Massage Parlor at October 10, 2021 09:26 AM (dQvv7)

229 I remember liking the story, though, as I do a number of his ideas. I just don't care much for his writing style and I'm definitely not a horror or suspense demographic.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - local SC doctor of 40 years calls in to radio show about ivermectin at October 10, 2021 09:27 AM (3DjGn)

230 yes the kelvin timeline, what the new franchise requires is terrible, and each iteration gets worse, discovery which is set before tos, and lets not speak of picard,

roddenberry was a utopian living in the very pragmatic world of 1950s and 60s LA, ellison did point out to him in 'city of the edge of forever' where such wishfulment leads, to a nazi world and no star fleet

Posted by: alien covenant was much worse at October 10, 2021 09:27 AM (hMlTh)

231 221 206 And since I'm not into Trek trivia, I will surrender the field to the ST nerds and bid you all adios!
Posted by: Muldoon at October 10, 2021 09:20 AM (5Woea)

/Spoiler Vader is Lukes Dad.
Posted by: rhennigantx at October 10, 2021 09:24 AM (yrol0)

"Luke, Obi Wan never told you about the new Pontiac...on CNN"

---James Earl Jones audition tape

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at October 10, 2021 09:28 AM (PiwSw)

232 I did the same with Still Life with Woodpeckers by Tim (Tom?) Robbins, a book I loved in college.

Holy crap it's so bad.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - local SC doctor of 40 years calls in to radio show about ivermectin at October 10, 2021 09:28 AM (3DjGn)

233 You know, books that were well regarded and really, really bad upon revisiting would be a fun thread.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - local SC doctor of 40 years calls in to radio show about ivermectin at October 10, 2021 09:29 AM (3DjGn)

234 If you like reading McMurtry westerns and don't mind offbeat plotting with some twists, I recommend the Berrybender Narrative series.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at October 10, 2021 09:30 AM (6Yh/m)

235 228
Sometimes I think my life is like that Star Trek episode where if one of the crew (even Kirk) thought of someone they would appear. Not that these people appear in my life, but little nagging reminders of their existence. A license plate with an acronym, an article on the 'net, etc.
Posted by: Traitor Joe's Military Surplus, Vaccine and Massage Parlor at October 10, 2021 09:26 AM (dQvv7)

Acronyms are fickle.

*thinks back to an interrogation way back when*

Could be time to make a Bloody Mary ~~or three~~

Posted by: Iron Mike Golf at October 10, 2021 09:30 AM (8C7+r)

236 P.S. "... to better serve our customers." also involves a split infinitive, which may be why it grates on my ear.

(note: P.S. means "parting shot")

Posted by: Muldoon at October 10, 2021 09:31 AM (5Woea)

237 If somebody called me an intellectual I might just bop him in the nose.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at October 10, 2021 09:06 AM (Q9lwr)

I only use the word 'intellectual' sarcastically, and I usually spell it 'innerleckshul' to signal my contempt.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at October 10, 2021 09:32 AM (2Il/2)

238 Morning Readers!

Posted by: Cybersmythe at October 10, 2021 09:32 AM (ezpv1)

239 Right now I'd be happy with a Captain Ramius type.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at October 10, 2021 09:12 AM (c6xtn)

Captain Kangaroo would be preferable to the current situation..
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at October 10, 2021 09:12 AM (PiwSw)

Captain Underpants is on the bridge!

Posted by: Count de Monet, unvaccinated Kulak-American at October 10, 2021 09:33 AM (4I/2K)

240 I did the same with Still Life with Woodpeckers by Tim (Tom?) Robbins, a book I loved in college.

Holy crap it's so bad.
Posted by: Moron Robbie - local SC doctor of 40 years calls in to radio show about ivermectin at October 10, 2021 09:28 AM (3DjGn)

Second look at book burning?

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at October 10, 2021 09:33 AM (y7DUB)

241 (note: P.S. means "parting shot")
==========
America needs reasonable P.S. control

Posted by: The Junta, looking for some understanding at October 10, 2021 09:33 AM (6Yh/m)

242 Still chugging through Chernow's bio of Washington. We just won the Revolution, so yay.

Posted by: Trimegistus at October 10, 2021 09:34 AM (QZxDR)

243 I listened to Massie's book about Catherine last summer. It was far more than I expected. The turn of her life from naive minor German princess to jaded Russian queen was magnificently captured in his narrative.

Posted by: Mishdog at October 10, 2021 09:34 AM (cqAUI)

244 license plate with an acronym

*

No joke :

I tried to order a vanity plate for our muscle car a couple of months ago. Unavailable. We went to lunch this week and the plate was on an old junky 90s Nissan pickup that was in the parking lot, and the owner was walking out when I arrived. I struck up a conversation just because.

Out of the entire state of 11M people, the guy lives near my neighborhood. Literally within 4 miles of my home.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - local SC doctor of 40 years calls in to radio show about ivermectin at October 10, 2021 09:35 AM (3DjGn)

245 You know, books that were well regarded and really, really bad upon revisiting would be a fun thread.
Posted by: Moron Robbie - local SC doctor of 40 years calls in to radio show about ivermectin at October 10, 2021 09:29 AM (3DjGn)
---
A thread on "guilty pleasures" that are surprisingly good would also be an interesting read. I read a couple of Star Trek novels earlier this year and they were much better than you might expect. With novels, you can really expand a story beyond the limitations of a budget of a weekly television program.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 10, 2021 09:35 AM (K5n5d)

246 No joke :

I tried to order a vanity plate for our muscle car a couple of months ago. Unavailable. We went to lunch this week and the plate was on an old junky 90s Nissan pickup that was in the parking lot, and the owner was walking out when I arrived. I struck up a conversation just because.

Out of the entire state of 11M people, the guy lives near my neighborhood. Literally within 4 miles of my home.
----
Admit it, it was the "ASSMAN" wasn't it?

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 10, 2021 09:36 AM (K5n5d)

247 Am I misremembering when I recall Cleeves also wrote the stories on which BBC based the "Shetland" series? (Good TV, by the way). I think she did.
Posted by: Huck Follywood at October 10, 2021 09:25 AM (6Yh/m)

Yes, she did, very good TV and reading. Just love her characters and settings. The Shetland TV series has the most haunting, beautiful music. And the scenery, wow.

Posted by: Pony Tail at October 10, 2021 09:37 AM (tzZq2)

248 Captain Kangaroo would be preferable to the current situation..

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at October 10, 2021 09:12 AM (PiwSw)

Captain Underpants would be preferable to the current situation..

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at October 10, 2021 09:37 AM (2Il/2)

249 Admit it, it was the "ASSMAN" wasn't it?

*

Brandon

Posted by: Moron Robbie - local SC doctor of 40 years calls in to radio show about ivermectin at October 10, 2021 09:37 AM (3DjGn)

250 (goes to see if "brandon" is available because that would be a lot of fun)

Posted by: Moron Robbie - local SC doctor of 40 years calls in to radio show about ivermectin at October 10, 2021 09:38 AM (3DjGn)

251 After seeing several recommendations for it, I picked up "Facing the Mountain" by Daniel James Brown last week... and finished it in less than a week despite its rather impressive size. Highly recommend. Captivating non fiction that tells the story of the Japanese American soldiers in ww2. I laughed, I cried, I wrote a little review of it (link in nic) if anyone's interested. But it was well worth reading! Don't remember where I saw it recommended but if it was any of you morons, thank you!

Posted by: Sugar Plum etc at October 10, 2021 09:39 AM (whvMK)

252 they say trek was wagon train in space, but kirk was certainly more hornblower, in execution, the prime directive was a nice idea, but it was observed more often in absense,

Posted by: alien covenant was much worse at October 10, 2021 09:39 AM (hMlTh)

253 I think the asterisk name should be changed to dark star.

Posted by: Humphreyrobot at October 10, 2021 09:39 AM (IMmgC)

254 P.S. "... to better serve our customers." also involves a split infinitive, which may be why it grates on my ear.

Posted by: Muldoon at October 10, 2021 09:31 AM (5Woea)

Oh hell...I missed that.

"This was done better to serve our customers."

Ouch...that's awful.

or...

"This was done to serve better our customers."

Help!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at October 10, 2021 09:39 AM (Q9lwr)

255
Out of the entire state of 11M people, the guy lives near my neighborhood. Literally within 4 miles of my home.

Posted by: Moron Robbie - local SC doctor of 40 years calls in to radio show about ivermectin at October 10, 2021 09:35 AM

I swear the universe likes to fvck with us once in a while. One day it was LMT plate (licensed massage therapist) (very long story there) and the very next day it was LTL plate (less then load) - which was something I brought up and we discussed here, hours before.

Posted by: Traitor Joe's Military Surplus, Vaccine and Massage Parlor at October 10, 2021 09:41 AM (dQvv7)

256 "This was done to serve customers better"

Posted by: The Junta, looking for some understanding at October 10, 2021 09:42 AM (6Yh/m)

257 The other book I've read this past week was very disappointing. It's a collection of cocktail recipes from a New Orleans bartender, called Cocktail Dive Bar. The recipes are okay, I suppose, though most of them are his own original inventions rather than classic drinks. And instead of bothering to do research he writes whimsical alledgedly-funny fake origins for the drinks which feel like padding to me.

One thing I've noticed is that bartender drinks have a lot of weird ingredients in them -- specialized liqueurs or syrups, obscure items like fruit brandy, and such. Is that just a way to protect their business? Nobody but a fanatic would keep all that crap at home, so the drinks you make at home will be simple classics -- Martinis, G&T, Mimosas, Screwdrivers, etc.

Do bartenders (and liquor companies) come up with elaborate fad drinks to keep people going to bars?

Posted by: Trimegistus at October 10, 2021 09:42 AM (QZxDR)

258 Who dis on the couch has intentions which would probably be shushed if carried out in the public liberry.

Posted by: Downcast at October 10, 2021 09:44 AM (JjMWb)

259 In Original Trek, the Prime Directive made sense. Don't go around getting all Cortez on the locals. But it didn't have the weird aspect of concealing your existence from them, or anything like that.

The Next Gen and later version of the Prime Directive could only be invented by people steeped in post-1970s Western self-loathing and anomie.

Posted by: Trimegistus at October 10, 2021 09:45 AM (QZxDR)

260 some books should be 'thrown down with great force,' not merely not picked up again, in that category is something called 'nightmare scenario' about how Orange Man bad brought on the pandemic, of course, it dismisses wuhan institute in just a few paragraphs and ignores peter daszaks role entirely so pass,

Posted by: alien covenant was much worse at October 10, 2021 09:45 AM (hMlTh)

261 Bacon's in the pan

Posted by: JT at October 10, 2021 09:46 AM (arJlL)

262 Admit it, it was the "ASSMAN" wasn't it?
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 10, 2021 09:36 AM (K5n5d)

Ummmm....Yes.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at October 10, 2021 09:47 AM (R/m4+)

263 Set phasers on not sucide.

Posted by: Humphreyrobot at October 10, 2021 09:48 AM (IMmgC)

264 @226 --

Uhura took over after alien rays made all the men on the ship goofy.

The men on the planet had it worse -- the aliens were sapping their life energy.

"The Lorelei Signal"

Posted by: Weak Geek at October 10, 2021 09:48 AM (Om/di)

265 "to boldly go..."

"to better serve..."

Eh. Looks about the same to me.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at October 10, 2021 09:50 AM (2Il/2)

266 I also picked up a bunch of Betty McDonald books, including the Plague and I. I forgot she lived on Vashon and that she wrote some of my favorite kid stories ever. My kids loved Mrs Piggle Wiggle too

Posted by: LASue

I'm a little more than halfway through The Plague and I. It's wonderfully written and a nice escape from The Gulag Archipelago, which Kindltot encouraged me to take a little break from.

My grandfather knew Betty. Always said she was a hoot.

Posted by: nurse ratched at October 10, 2021 09:50 AM (U2p+3)

267 261 Bacon's in the pan

Posted by: JT at October 10, 2021 09:46 AM (arJlL)

Did you remember to heat up the pan?

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at October 10, 2021 09:51 AM (2Il/2)

268 of course it broke down often because the klingons don't have such qualms (there were as close to the Soviets) in this framework, so they aided fidel in latin america, large stretches of africa, from algeria to south africa, the middle east from syria to india, (of course nasser is an example of someone we gave fancy toys and gears to) much of our current problems in that region had to do with our reliance on the Saudis and Pakistan as proxies, against Egypt and India.

Posted by: alien covenant was much worse at October 10, 2021 09:51 AM (hMlTh)

269 The animated show was frustrating. Good stories alternated with utter garbage, and the animators apparently never bothered to watch the live-action show.

Posted by: Trimegistus at October 10, 2021 09:51 AM (QZxDR)

270 Julie as Catwoman... https://tinyurl.com/229b5uf9

Posted by: Lesko Brandon at October 10, 2021 09:52 AM (L2a8p)

271 I tried a few years ago to pick up "The Fellowship of the Ring," which I had read in high school.

After skimming two paragraphs with all the odd names, I decided I wasn't interested.

Sacrilege, I know.

Posted by: Weak Geek at October 10, 2021 09:52 AM (Om/di)

272 AHLloyd, if you're here, I ended up buying a copy of the Ford Madox Ford bio ,Trained for Genius". I don't know if it's the best version, but it's not a newer, PC version.

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 09:52 AM (ONvIw)

273 Bacon's in the pan

Posted by: JT at October 10, 2021 09:46 AM (arJlL)

Fish don't fry in the kitchen

Posted by: George Jefferson at October 10, 2021 09:53 AM (dQvv7)

274 Son called the other day to make sure I haven't sent all the kid books to the great dumpster on the farm. Grandson (4) was contributing to the conversation as well.

Rather poignant.

Posted by: mustbequantum at October 10, 2021 09:53 AM (MIKMs)

275 to boldly do, like drake and cook, to cite two prominent maritime figures, we know what happened to the latter,

Posted by: alien covenant was much worse at October 10, 2021 09:54 AM (hMlTh)

276 Someone mention Parthian Shot?

Posted by: BignJames at October 10, 2021 09:55 AM (AwYPR)

277 Do bartenders (and liquor companies) come up with elaborate fad drinks to keep people going to bars?

Posted by: Trimegistus at October 10, 2021 09:42 AM (QZxDR)

Not as bad a the small beer companies. Row after row of odd names. Also winery's do the same thing. No hi fluting names on the labels. French wines not so much.

Posted by: Colin at October 10, 2021 09:55 AM (DPoAr)

278 Good Morning all.
Started the Screwtape Letters and just could not get into it. Maybe being Jewish, I just found the reverse moralizing boring. It did not seem clever to me at all.
Took it back to the library.

Posted by: sharon(willow's apprentice) at October 10, 2021 09:55 AM (Y+l9t)

279 Second the recommendation for Nicholas and Alexandra.

One of the things it illustrates is the problem when leadership is inherited--sort of like what we're seeing in the British royal family, nowadays.

The idea was that courage and leadership were inherited, but it really winds up with a lot of power resting with dopey people who love to be flattered.

Posted by: artemis at October 10, 2021 09:57 AM (AwPyG)

280 Rewrite!

"We did this to improve service to our customers."

And active voice, too!

Posted by: Weak Geek at October 10, 2021 09:57 AM (Om/di)

281 Bacon's in the pan

Posted by: JT at October 10, 2021 09:46 AM (arJlL)

Did you remember to heat up the pan?
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional

Is that how you do it ?

Posted by: JT at October 10, 2021 09:58 AM (arJlL)

282 I'm still working my way through the Bible - reading Ben Sira right now.

I've also started "Perfume" by Patrick Susskind, a novel whose main character, born in pre-Revolutionary Paris, has an incredible sense of smell, although he himself emits no odor at all. The author is very good at describing what it would be like to perceive the world almost entirely through scents, like a dog.

Posted by: Donna &&&&&&V at October 10, 2021 09:58 AM (HabA/)

283 @237...nothing wrong with being an "intellectual". Being part of the "intelligentsia" is another matter entirely.

Posted by: occam's brassiere at October 10, 2021 09:58 AM (V8JPv)

284 Started the Screwtape Letters and just could not get into it. Maybe being Jewish, I just found the reverse moralizing boring. It did not seem clever to me at all.
Took it back to the library.
=====

Good Omens (Pratchett, Gaiman) might work better for contemporary readers.

Posted by: mustbequantum at October 10, 2021 09:59 AM (MIKMs)

285 Hiya Donna of the Ampersands !

Posted by: JT at October 10, 2021 10:00 AM (arJlL)

286 The idea was that courage and leadership were inherited, but it really winds up with a lot of power resting with dopey people who love to be flattered.
Posted by: artemis at October 10, 2021 09:57 AM (AwPyG)
---
It seems to me that courage and leadership come from facing adversity and challenge. The successive generations, raised among the power elite, have never faced the same challenges as their forefathers.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 10, 2021 10:00 AM (K5n5d)

287 @274

Kids books that are prize-winning and recommended nowadays are awful, and it's not just the wokeness. They all seem pretty boring.

that's why I love it when people here recommend good kids books--we went through the Redwall series pretty quick

Posted by: artemis at October 10, 2021 10:00 AM (AwPyG)

288 Dr. Peter Breggin's book on the COVID conspiracy has finally been published. I preordered from his website and hope to get my copy soon, but see that it is on Amazon now. Title is COVID 19 and the Global Predators: We Are the Prey.
Breggin is a psychiatrist who has been battling big pharma for decades.

Posted by: Emily at October 10, 2021 10:00 AM (SB2fp)

289 Back in the 90's, Otto Penzler (or his publishing company, whatever) re-published a bunch of classic Sherlock Holmes pastiches and commentaries, in nice paperbacks, with a consistent look.

I remember I bought several of them at Media Play. Remember Media Play? Such a great store.

Anyway, one of the problems with some books is that they go out of print, and sometimes the used book market is not a cheap source.

So hooray for affordable reprints, yes? (Also e-books, but those don't look as nice on a shelf.)

Posted by: Lance McCormick, reminiscing at October 10, 2021 10:01 AM (3hX1d)

290 Good Omens (Pratchett, Gaiman) might work better for contemporary readers.
Posted by: mustbequantum at October 10, 2021 09:59 AM (MIKMs)
---
As long as you take into account the atheistic perspective of the authors.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 10, 2021 10:01 AM (K5n5d)

291 yes if alexander 3rd had lived, and not died 20 years ahead, they might have been able to keep an even keel, of course the managerial staff was always a problem, witte and stolypin were standouts, the other were largely cranks like pobestdenev or trepov, whose focus was too often on the jews and not real threats to the empire,

Colonialism really started over commercial interests as it was in the greek and roman days, to get materials, initially not raw materials but spices and foodstuffs, then it got complicated,

Posted by: alien covenant was much worse at October 10, 2021 10:03 AM (hMlTh)

292 Okay. The dog cartoon is funny. Once, I was having some conversation with a Taiwanese girl, whose English was just fine. and for some reason, I asked her what noise or word was used by the Taiwanese to designate a dog's bark. I do not recall what she said, but it was completely different than 'woof', 'bow-wow', 'arf', etc.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc, at October 10, 2021 10:03 AM (7yxmQ)

293 There's a t shirt Muldoon would like that says:

"I am silently correcting your grammar."

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

294 Julie Newmar holds patents on a bra and stockings, according to Wikipedia. Seems appropriate.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at October 10, 2021 10:05 AM (6Yh/m)

295 The Disappearing Spoon is on Libby audio, so I've cued that up.
Posted by: April
Thanks for all the great book ideas this week. Two post it notes worth. Libby has been a bit of a disappointment for me. Seems it often does not have my kind of books, plus not so many audio books. But this Disapppearing Spoon book sounds like my style, might bring me back to Libby. Related, the Periodic Table by Primo Levi was good. Read that many years ago.

Posted by: MikeM at October 10, 2021 10:05 AM (5Y7fX)

296 Good morning fellow Book Threadists. Hope everyone had a great week of reading.

Late to the thread. That brief hospital stay messed up my sleep patterns.

Posted by: JTB at October 10, 2021 10:05 AM (7EjX1)

297 Hi, JT!

Posted by: Donna &&&&&&V at October 10, 2021 10:06 AM (HabA/)

298 I picked a random Wierd Tales (Jul 193

from the Pulp Magazine link and found that it had as authors Henry Kuttner, H.P. Lovecraft, Edmond Hamilton, Clark Ashtn Smith, Robert Bloch, and Robert E. Howard.

Imagine having that sort of lineup on any current magazine, I would have trouble finding an anthology from the last decade with that sort of row of superstars

Posted by: Kindltot at October 10, 2021 10:07 AM (KbLYZ)

299 Started the Screwtape Letters and just could not get into it. Maybe being Jewish, I just found the reverse moralizing boring. It did not seem clever to me at all.
Took it back to the library.
Posted by: sharon(willow's apprentice) at October 10, 2021 09:55 AM (Y+l9t)

I'm Jewish and I loved it. But then I handed out many copies of A Grief Observed to patients for years.

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 10:07 AM (ONvIw)

300 @291

the world completely changed--and probably not for the better--when the heir to the British throne died at 21 in childbirth, along with her infant

It was Princess Charlotte of Wales, and it threw the succession into a mess. The doctor committed suicide, as a result. I always thought it would make a good historical fiction story, to start with the hypothesis that it was done on purpose, like the princes in the tower.

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

301 Continuing with the 100 Days of Dante. The lectures for each Canto have been just so-so except for a few. But the reading remains far more interesting and complex than I expected. Definitely worth the time. It's not just the screed I thought it would be.

Posted by: JTB at October 10, 2021 10:08 AM (7EjX1)

302 @293 --

Where can I get that?!

Posted by: Weak Geek at October 10, 2021 10:08 AM (Om/di)

303 perspective of the authors
=====

I'm pretty sure that the authors had no idea that they were truly writing a paean to Western Civilization's concept of Divinity.

Not knowing an author's perspective is a lot of fun. Unintended consequences and all that.

Posted by: mustbequantum at October 10, 2021 10:08 AM (MIKMs)

304 @302

I saw it in a catalog called "Signals" which has a lot of funny/snarky t shirts.

I imagine you can search for it, too

Posted by: artemis at October 10, 2021 10:09 AM (AwPyG)

305 Not knowing an author's perspective is a lot of fun. Unintended consequences and all that.
Posted by: mustbequantum at October 10, 2021 10:08 AM (MIKMs)
---
Sometimes it's best not to dwell on an author's perspective. Just enjoy the good stories they write. Separate the art from the artist and all that...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 10, 2021 10:09 AM (K5n5d)

306 Another one Muldoon would like:

"Bad puns are how eye roll"

Posted by: artemis at October 10, 2021 10:10 AM (AwPyG)

307 Hi, JT!
Posted by: Donna &&&&&&V

Posted by: JT at October 10, 2021 10:12 AM (arJlL)

308 I had a negative book experience yesterday. A neighbor, Taiwanese, told me about a book by Maurice Samuels, entitled You Gentiles. I thought it was one of those fraudulent things, as he was discussing the very negative sections, but it's real and quite a shocking viewpoint from a person who did not feel part of Western Society. The neighbor took it as a more contemporary thing and was under the impression that this book was the start of the Social Justice, de-Westernizing crap we're going through today.

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 10:12 AM (ONvIw)

309 Wasn't there a Prime video series based on Good Omens?

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at October 10, 2021 10:13 AM (Y+l9t)

310 Good morning fellow Book Threadists. Hope everyone had a great week of reading.

Late to the thread. That brief hospital stay messed up my sleep patterns.
Posted by: JTB

And your cane - fighting schedule.

Hiya JTB !

Regards to the Missus !

Posted by: JT at October 10, 2021 10:14 AM (arJlL)

311 @304 --

I'd love one, but I have too many T-shirts now.

You know how it is. A two-day kids' camp has to have a T-shirt.

So do the parents/wranglers.

Posted by: Weak Geek at October 10, 2021 10:14 AM (Om/di)

312 I treated myself to "Recipes From The World of Tolkien" by Robert Anderson. Recipes supposedly 'taken' (inspired) from the Hobbit and LOTR. The book is well made with fun illustrations. Haven't tried any of the recipes yet but some of them look like fun. The Lambas bread looks to be run of the mill cornbread and breakfast is regular oatmeal. But the idea was to have fun. The author divided the sections by Hobbit meal times: breakfast, second breakfast, elevenses, luncheon, etc.

17 bucks for the hardcover but it has been a fun read so far.

Posted by: JTB at October 10, 2021 10:15 AM (7EjX1)

313 Separate the art from the artist and all that...
=====

I keep recommending plays of GB Shaw. His 'villains' are superb.

Posted by: mustbequantum at October 10, 2021 10:16 AM (MIKMs)

314 My favorite word for the internet is Ultracrepidarian.

It sums it up in one word.

Posted by: Just a side note at October 10, 2021 10:16 AM (2DOZq)

315 Just switched my browser to Vivaldi. Thanks Pixy.
Next year when I move my phone from AT&T to Verizon I'll update my phone number to reflect MT not OH. Since I'll have to update a gazillion accounts I'm switching from gmail to another email. I know that google has all the info on me from the last 10 years but I don't need to add to it.
Anyone have a suggestion for email?
Just cannot get into reading. Hopefully when we're snowed in I'll try again.

Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at October 10, 2021 10:16 AM (2NHgQ)

316 Re-read Pournelle's West of Honor and starting on The Mercenary again. Guess I'll re-read the whole
CoDominium Series.

It's still a pretty damn good read.

Posted by: Somewhere South of I-80 at October 10, 2021 10:17 AM (Ocv6A)

317 The Art of War in the Middle Ages A.D. 378-1515
Charles Oman

Good book and free on Project Gutenberg.

Posted by: WiNO at October 10, 2021 10:18 AM (EpDzw)

318 This week began a short novel, 'The Vanishing Act', Jakobsen'. A rather odd book, in that it is, in essence, the diary of a 12 year-old girl who lives on a small island, along with her father, and two other rather eccentric adults.

Too complex to describe here, but there is a richness about the prose as the girl makes what are, at once, both childish, and, insightful observations about their cloistered lives.

A comment by a GoodReads reviewer -" there's not a lot of plot. It is more a philosophical examination of life and death, grief and love"

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc, at October 10, 2021 10:18 AM (7yxmQ)

319 I just re-read Steven Pressfield's Tides of War.

History does repeat itself as it mirrors a lot of what goes on today.

Posted by: Just a side note at October 10, 2021 10:18 AM (2DOZq)

320 I read "Blind Man's Bluff" about 20 years ago. Written by a lady. Great stuff.

Highly recommend.

Posted by: JAS, AoSHQ addict at October 10, 2021 10:18 AM (xopIz)

321 I loved the entire Massie series. In fact, I can only hope they are historically accurate because I know little of Russian history other than what I learned reading those novels

--

I was just offhandedly also wondering about accuracy, not because I have reason to doubt. I don't. Massie paints a sympathetic, naive portrait of Nicholas Romanov and rereading the book, my mind wandered wondering more about this man and his true self. He seemed like such a good-natured man, one who deeply loved his wife and family. One who didn't want to be Tsar, but had to be. One who meant no true harm to the Russian people. Alexandra struck me as being a person who, even before Alexis, was what I'd consider an introvert with depression issues. In nearly every portrait or photograph of her, young or older, the sadness appears palpable. They both would've been much better suited without the throne to which they were shackled.

Posted by: Lady in Black at October 10, 2021 10:20 AM (sVtYq)

322 MPPP, you will like Three Men In a Boat, it is about a bunch of friends taking a pleasure paddle down the Thames, with all the vicissitudes one would expect of three town clowns and their dog.

Jerome K Jerome wrote a number of books and short stories including one lampooning socialism called The New Utopia, which is also a time travel story.

He foreshadows Wodehouse in English letters

Posted by: Kindltot at October 10, 2021 10:20 AM (KbLYZ)

323 My grandfather knew Betty. Always said she was a hoot.
Posted by: nurse ratched at October 10, 2021 09:50 AM (U2p+3)

Thats awesome! Seattle was much smaller then.

Posted by: LASue at October 10, 2021 10:21 AM (F/Hcm)

324 Video series of 'Good Omens' was good from my point of view, but I am familiar with the book so I knew some of the tropes and enjoyed them. I don't know how it would come off for someone who is not familiar with the jokes. Very nice production with top-shelf acting.

Posted by: mustbequantum at October 10, 2021 10:21 AM (MIKMs)

325 I'm halfway through "The Titanic Secret", an Isaac Bell book by Clive Cussler and Jack Du Brul. It builds on Cussler's "Raise the Titanic" but a century earlier. It's been excellent. Cussler died before it was finished but I've always liked Du Brul's books, his own and the Cussler collaborations, so it holds up. This is the latest of the Isaac Bell series. It should be available at a lower price in a few months.

Posted by: JTB at October 10, 2021 10:22 AM (7EjX1)

326 Barbara Tuchman wrote a book about the 14th Century called "A Distant Mirror", drawing a lot of parallels to modern times.

A little hard to plow through, unless you like well-researched historical, and then you can have at it.

Posted by: artemis at October 10, 2021 10:22 AM (AwPyG)

327 it britain's case, they caught the car, with india, then they had to manage it,

Posted by: alien covenant was much worse at October 10, 2021 10:22 AM (hMlTh)

328 They both would've been much better suited without the throne to which they were shackled.
Posted by: Lady in Black at October 10, 2021 10:20 AM (sVtYq)

Probably, so. Russia would have been much better off with a British style monarchy.

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 10:22 AM (ONvIw)

329 For fans of Rob Kroese (The Saga of the Iron Dragon series), the first book of his newest series is available now.

https://badnovelist.com/?p=14

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at October 10, 2021 10:23 AM (PiwSw)

330 I liked the Prime series Good Omens a lot. Never read the book. I thought it very entertaining. Good cast. I like it when I don't know who the actors are.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at October 10, 2021 10:23 AM (Y+l9t)

331 I've also started "Perfume" by Patrick Susskind, a novel whose main character, born in pre-Revolutionary Paris, has an incredible sense of smell, although he himself emits no odor at all. The author is very good at describing what it would be like to perceive the world almost entirely through scents, like a dog.
Posted by: Donna &&&&&&V at October 10, 2021 09:58 AM (HabA/)

"Perfume" is one of the very few modern literary horror novels.

It deserved all the international acclaim it received when first published.

The movie version is pretty good as well.

Posted by: naturalfake at October 10, 2021 10:25 AM (5NkmN)

332 Jerome K Jerome wrote a number of books and short stories including one lampooning socialism called The New Utopia, which is also a time travel story.
=====

To Say Nothing of the Dog (Connie Willis).

Posted by: mustbequantum at October 10, 2021 10:25 AM (MIKMs)

333 309 Wasn't there a Prime video series based on Good Omens?

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at October 10, 2021 10:13 AM (Y+l9t)

Yes, and it was pretty good.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at October 10, 2021 10:25 AM (qskMS)

334 Someone mentioned highly impractical bartending guides. My sister has one of those - it came included in a set of Gourmet magazine cookbooks her late husband ordered. (That's funny in itself, because I never saw her husband - a fine cook - follow a recipe in his life.)

The bartending guide has beautiful photos - and then you read the recipes and they call for 3 drops of pomegranate juice, or saffron, or boiling and skinning fresh peaches or tools you've never even heard of. Considering that our guests are basically offered beer, wine, soda and the most basic of mixed drinks, like G &T's, the guide to fancy dancy drinks has gone unused.

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

335 310 ... Good morning, JT. Healing up faster than I expected. Yeah, the cane fighting is on hold for the moment but I'm looking at videos about it from a very comfortable chair. The cane has been ordered.

Mrs. JTB says Hi back at ya.

Posted by: JTB at October 10, 2021 10:26 AM (7EjX1)

336 @330

What's disconcerting about British TV is they have no problem casting the same famous actors in different roles on different programs. The butler on Downton Abbey is a mafia-like villain on a crime show.

It's like they have a small stable, and like it that way

Posted by: artemis at October 10, 2021 10:26 AM (AwPyG)

337 Good morning Hordemates.
Today is granddaughter of Diogenes #3's birthday. She turns ten. Wrapped up for her is a collection of Nancy Drew stories, plus Black Beauty.
I think she'll like them.

Posted by: Diogenes at October 10, 2021 10:27 AM (axyOa)

338 The movie version is pretty good as well.
Posted by: naturalfake at October 10, 2021 10:25 AM (5NkmN)

I remember the acclaim when it came out in the '80's, but didn't realize they had made a movie of it. I'll look it up when I'm done with the novel.

Posted by: Donna &&&&&&V at October 10, 2021 10:27 AM (HabA/)

339 Considering that our guests are basically offered beer, wine, soda and the most basic of mixed drinks, like G &T's, the guide to fancy dancy drinks has gone unused.
Posted by: Donna &&&&&&V at October 10, 2021 10:25 AM (HabA/)

A cousin had one of those guides and would serve a "drink of the evening" along with her usual stuff. I don't drink much, so I never learned to mix drinks at all

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 10:27 AM (ONvIw)

340 My grandfather knew Betty. Always said she was a hoot.
Posted by: nurse ratched at October 10, 2021 09:50 AM (U2p+3)

Thats awesome! Seattle was much smaller then.
Posted by: LASue

Pondattle ?

Posted by: JT at October 10, 2021 10:29 AM (arJlL)

341 @347

India was where all the good opium was harvested. It was then sent to China, to exchange for tea.

So it was a money-maker, for trade.

Posted by: artemis at October 10, 2021 10:29 AM (AwPyG)

342 The Enterprise crew should have been like O'Brian used the midshipmen in his books always moving up once leaving Aubrey's command.

Posted by: Skip at October 10, 2021 10:29 AM (2JoB8)

343 Russia was destined to be depressive because it was basically land locked in an inhospitable environment. That they managed to be the power they were says a lot.

Posted by: Just a side note at October 10, 2021 10:29 AM (2DOZq)

344 That painting of the young mother smiling but taking the arrows and shielding her child is just so F'ing appropriate these days. It got real dusty in here while I looked at it.

Posted by: JTB at October 10, 2021 10:29 AM (7EjX1)

345 Mrs. JTB says Hi back at ya.
Posted by: JTB

Posted by: JT at October 10, 2021 10:30 AM (arJlL)

346 253 I think the asterisk name should be changed to dark star.

you would

Posted by: Bomb #20 at October 10, 2021 10:30 AM (wMHCu)

347 Continuing with the 100 Days of Dante. The lectures for each Canto have been just so-so except for a few....
Posted by: JTB at October 10, 2021 10:08 AM (7EjX1)

I'd disagree with that. I find most of the lectures to be very insightful and informative. Admittedly, there are a few duds. But, most of them are great and I find reading them before the Canto makes for a much deeper and interesting read of that canto and the Inferno as a whole.

Posted by: naturalfake at October 10, 2021 10:30 AM (5NkmN)

348 Posted by: JTB at October 10, 2021 10:29 AM (7EjX1)

I know, I feel very much under attack.

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 10:31 AM (ONvIw)

349 Muldoon, this is less about Trek trivia than it is about writing!
Well, okay, there's some trivia. But we were talking about writing!
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at October 10, 2021 09:21 AM (c6xtn)

...we're talkin' 'bout practice.

Posted by: Allen Iverson at October 10, 2021 10:31 AM (BgMrQ)

350 A lot of fan fiction out there, about Star Trek.

Posted by: artemis at October 10, 2021 10:32 AM (AwPyG)

351 It's Catwoman Julie Newmar!
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Live! from the Dungeon of Discord at October 10, 2021 08:03 AM (Dc2NZ)

That photo has that faded Kodacolor look to it.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at October 10, 2021 10:33 AM (IUaKC)

352 Allen Iversen, you choker.

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

353 Julie Newmar

"Don't blame me, I was drawn this way!"

Posted by: Ignoramus at October 10, 2021 10:35 AM (ZHVt1)

354 Diogenes, what perfect choices for your granddaughter! She is very lucky to have you.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at October 10, 2021 10:36 AM (Y+l9t)

355 A lot of fan fiction out there, about Star Trek.

My first encounter with ST fanfic was in jr. high when a classmate showed me a one-pager he'd written. Oddly, he didn't seem to appreciate my unsolicited editing. After that, I didn't see any again until moving to N. CA after college and some friends introduced me to the world of SF cons.

Posted by: Oddbob at October 10, 2021 10:36 AM (nfrXX)

356 337 ... "Today is granddaughter of Diogenes #3's birthday. She turns ten. Wrapped up for her is a collection of Nancy Drew stories, plus Black Beauty."

That's great. We didn't have kids but are introducing our grand nephews (and sometimes their parents) to classics for their age. Treasure Island was a BIG hit. I was thrilled.

Posted by: JTB at October 10, 2021 10:36 AM (7EjX1)

357 JTB --

Glad to see you're out of the goddammed ranch.

Posted by: Weak Geek at October 10, 2021 10:37 AM (Om/di)

358 Posted by: JTB at October 10, 2021 10:29 AM (7EjX1)

One of the current phrases I hear a lot around town is "That's so white" or "that's so white of you". It makes me ill. I was telling someone I though was a friend, or at least we socialized pre-wuflu, about reading the Shelley bio, and I got "That's so white" in reply.
Are "white" people no longer allowed to enjoy their owl culture, or perhaps being Jewish I should only read non-European books. This whole thing sucks, and I'll read what I enjoy.

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 10:37 AM (ONvIw)

359 Diogenes, what perfect choices for your granddaughter! She is very lucky to have you.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at October 10, 2021 10:36 AM (Y+l9t)

Thanks.
Shes a smart kid but gets bored easily. Hopefully these will hold her interst.

Posted by: Diogenes at October 10, 2021 10:38 AM (axyOa)

360 You also see that in 1970s/1980s science fiction movies. I watched Outland (with Sean Connery) recently, and everybody smoked on an outpost on Io. Very bizarre, considering how precious breathable oxygen is in space.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at October 10, 2021 08:17 AM (K5n5d)

Well, any practical long-duration space ship or planetary outpost is going to have effective oxygen recycling. Tanks of algae, or something like that.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at October 10, 2021 10:38 AM (IUaKC)

361 I think I'll send my "friend" a link to that Maurice Samuel book, let her chew on that for a while.

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 10:38 AM (ONvIw)

362 Speaking of the depiction of the young mother, Ohio is advancing a school vouchers bill.

You'd think that now would be the perfect time for the red states to do so.

That would halt all the CRT nonsense pretty quick.

And hopefully you've heard that Merrick Garland's son in law publishes the CRT materials used by schools.

Posted by: artemis at October 10, 2021 10:39 AM (AwPyG)

363 Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 10:37 AM (ONvIw)

My polite reply would be ' well I am white so...'

Posted by: Just a side note at October 10, 2021 10:39 AM (2DOZq)

364 My polite reply would be ' well I am white so...'
Posted by: Just a side note at October 10, 2021 10:39 AM (2DOZq)

She would argue that point. She believes the "adjacent" shit.

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 10:40 AM (ONvIw)

365 Wasn't there smoking on the Blimp in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade?"
Posted by: JAS, AoSHQ addict at October 10, 2021 08:39 AM (xopIz)

Smoking was allowed on the German zeps in the smoking lounge. You had to surrender your lighter and no open flame was allowed; you used the electrical resistance lighters that were wired into the ship's electrical system

Posted by: Kindltot at October 10, 2021 10:40 AM (KbLYZ)

366 Ordered Dennis Prager Rational Bible Deuteronomy from Christian book as fighting Amazon for a hour for a real book is hair pulling. Says shipping tomorrow.

Posted by: Skip at October 10, 2021 10:40 AM (2JoB8)

367 My polite reply would be ' well I am white so...'

Look down at your arm with feigned shock and say "Sonofabitch! Now that you mention it..."

Posted by: Oddbob at October 10, 2021 10:41 AM (nfrXX)

368 @355

The internet has facilitated an explosion of fan fiction. I think Outlander has a least 20 different websites going.

I can't decide if it's weird or great.

Posted by: artemis at October 10, 2021 10:41 AM (AwPyG)

369 @358 --

I remember when that was a compliment.

Posted by: Weak Geek at October 10, 2021 10:42 AM (Om/di)

370 292 Okay. The dog cartoon is funny. Once, I was having some conversation with a Taiwanese girl, whose English was just fine. and for some reason, I asked her what noise or word was used by the Taiwanese to designate a dog's bark. I do not recall what she said, but it was completely different than 'woof', 'bow-wow', 'arf', etc.
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc, at October 10, 2021 10:03 AM (7yxmQ)
---

I think it's GAO GAO.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at October 10, 2021 10:43 AM (XItSe)

371 And hopefully you've heard that Merrick Garland's son in law publishes the CRT materials used by schools.
Posted by: artemis at October 10, 2021 10:39 AM (AwPyG)

I read that it calls Trump voters "white supremacists". I am disgusted. My father toward the end was tempted to vote for Gore in order to get the first Jewish VP. He ended up not doing so, and said "If the country is on an express train to hell, I'd rather the engineers NOT be Jewish". This is how I feel about Garland, Schumer, and some of the other members of Biden's cabinet. It scares me, personally, not just from a national perspective.

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 10:43 AM (ONvIw)

372 42 ... "My fingers were skimming through Britbox when I saw a series called 'Vera', based on the crime novels by Ann Cleeves. Has anyone read these?"

Hi grammie,
I got the entire set of Vera books for Mrs. JTB recently. She enjoyed the show on PBS and was curious about the books. She says it is very British and a bit darker than the Midsomer Murders series. Maybe because it takes place in the north of England and is darker in tone. Anyway, she is certainly enjoying the books.

(Anne Cleeves also wrote the "Shetland" series. Mrs. JTB liked the shows but hasn't read any of those books. Yet.)

Posted by: JTB at October 10, 2021 10:44 AM (7EjX1)

373 Well, any practical long-duration space ship or planetary outpost is going to have effective oxygen recycling. Tanks of algae, or something like that.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at October 10, 2021 10:38 AM (IUaKC)

I think the plans for Mars is to extract oxygen from the briny water and from the atmosphere with electrolysis and chemical extraction.

Posted by: Just a side note at October 10, 2021 10:45 AM (2DOZq)

374 Wasn't there smoking on the Blimp in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade?"
Posted by: JAS, AoSHQ addict at October 10, 2021 08:39 AM (xopIz)

The Hindenburg had a smoking lounge.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at October 10, 2021 10:46 AM (IUaKC)

375 One of the current phrases I hear a lot around town is "That's so white" or "that's so white of you". It makes me ill. I was telling someone I though was a friend, or at least we socialized pre-wuflu, about reading the Shelley bio, and I got "That's so white" in reply.
Are "white" people no longer allowed to enjoy their owl culture, or perhaps being Jewish I should only read non-European books. This whole thing sucks, and I'll read what I enjoy.
Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 10:37 AM (ONvIw)

The first time I heard "You're so white." and "That's so-o-o white of you." was in a comic book store uttered by this morbidly obese clerk who's complexion looked like his Irish/Icelandic Mom had been raped by a Polar Bear and directed at a slightly less morbidly obese guy.

That was 20 years ago!!! So, the progtards have been laboring long and hard to make this a thing.

It was stupid as hell. And made me laugh at the absurdity of it.

But, hey! Guess who won that cultural battle?

Posted by: naturalfake at October 10, 2021 10:47 AM (5NkmN)

376 374 Wasn't there smoking on the Blimp in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade?"
Posted by: JAS, AoSHQ addict at October 10, 2021 08:39 AM (xopIz)

The Hindenburg had a smoking lounge.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at October 10, 2021 10:46 AM (IUaKC)

The TV show Endeavour features a lot of smoking, and the amount is accurate from a 60s perspective.

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 10:47 AM (ONvIw)

377
It was stupid as hell. And made me laugh at the absurdity of it.

But, hey! Guess who won that cultural battle?
Posted by: naturalfake at October 10, 2021 10:47 AM (5NkmN)

They're legislating it now and the "burn it down" arsonist mentality makes me ill.

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 10:49 AM (ONvIw)

378 'Acting white' has been an insult by the agitators in the black community for a half dozen decades.

Posted by: Just a side note at October 10, 2021 10:49 AM (2DOZq)

379 378 'Acting white' has been an insult by the agitators in the black community for a half dozen decades.
Posted by: Just a side note at October 10, 2021 10:49 AM (2DOZq)

And look where it got them. This is partially why I find that "You Gentiles" book so offensive, as it stereotypes heavily.

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 10:50 AM (ONvIw)

380 321 Massie paints a sympathetic, naive portrait of Nicholas Romanov and rereading the book, my mind wandered wondering more about this man and his true self. He seemed like such a good-natured man, one who deeply loved his wife and family. One who didn't want to be Tsar, but had to be. One who meant no true harm to the Russian people.
Posted by: Lady in Black at October 10, 2021 10:20 AM (sVtYq)

I'm not familiar with the books, but based on my admittedly spotty understanding of early 20th century Russia that sounds accurate. Much like Louis XVI, his only real sin was that he wasn't the sort of ruthlessly effective autocrat that might have stabilized a decrepit empire.

Posted by: CppThis at October 10, 2021 10:51 AM (UewuT)

381 'Acting white' has been an insult by the agitators in the black community for a half dozen decades.
Posted by: Just a side note at October 10, 2021 10:49 AM (2DOZq)

I like the term "White Interlopers" myself.

Dr. Gurgles included.

Posted by: Al Sharpton, Idiot on TV at October 10, 2021 10:52 AM (R/m4+)

382 I have heard about the Bush family making a substantial part of their fortune from textbooks. Mandated by Common Core, etc. I think the brother was Neil.

Anybody know anything definitive?

Posted by: mustbequantum at October 10, 2021 10:53 AM (MIKMs)

383 Worst Black cultural thing to me that they are trying to shove down our throat is that the Kardashian butt is the pinnacle of butts.

Posted by: Just a side note at October 10, 2021 10:53 AM (2DOZq)

384 Anybody know anything definitive?
Posted by: mustbequantum at October 10, 2021 10:53 AM (MIKMs)

I never hear that, I did know about the extensive China links that he built for the Bush grift industry

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 10:55 AM (ONvIw)

385 Worst Black cultural thing to me that they are trying to shove down our throat is that the Kardashian butt is the pinnacle of butts.
Posted by: Just a side note at October 10, 2021 10:53 AM (2DOZq)

For Ghetto Booty, it is.

For folks who don't FUBU, not so much.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at October 10, 2021 10:56 AM (R/m4+)

386 383 Worst Black cultural thing to me that they are trying to shove down our throat is that the Kardashian butt is the pinnacle of butts.
Posted by: Just a side note at October 10, 2021 10:53 AM (2DOZq)

I think that's inconsequential. The fact that they get to literally "burn it down" is the worst.

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 10:56 AM (ONvIw)

387 One of the current phrases I hear a lot around town is "That's so white" or "that's so white of you". It makes me ill. I was telling someone I though was a friend, or at least we socialized pre-wuflu, about reading the Shelley bio, and I got "That's so white" in reply.
Are "white" people no longer allowed to enjoy their owl culture, or perhaps being Jewish I should only read non-European books. This whole thing sucks, and I'll read what I enjoy.
Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 10:37 AM

She sounds like an idiot. I'm sorry your area is so full of open racists who think there's virtue in spouting a line like that.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at October 10, 2021 10:56 AM (+P5bv)

388 Re reading Elmore Leonard's "Kill Shot."

Low-life killers seek to kill an innocent couple after a robbery gone bad, because the two can identify them.

They picked the wrong couple.

A number of Leonard books were done on film, and I wonder why so many good ones were not. Looking at the low-budget crap that Amazon and Netflix run, stuff they produce themselves, makes me wonder why they can't use better sources.

Posted by: Mr Gaga at October 10, 2021 10:57 AM (4ZE6o)

389 Bill Clinton and Barack Obama's net worth is each more than GW Bush's who inherited most of his.

Posted by: Just a side note at October 10, 2021 10:57 AM (2DOZq)

390 I think that's inconsequential. The fact that they get to literally "burn it down" is the worst.
Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 10:56 AM (ONvI

I said to me. I'm a guy

Posted by: Just a side note at October 10, 2021 10:58 AM (2DOZq)

391 For folks who don't FUBU, not so much.

That's another thing to not look up in the urban dictionary, isn't it?

Posted by: Oddbob at October 10, 2021 10:59 AM (nfrXX)

392 In one of the Harry Callahan Dirty Harry movies, he goes to the office of the black community leader/thug Mustapha. Lots of glaring and scowling at him by the crew. As he leaves, the door is held for him and he pauses and says with a wry smile, "mighty white of you."

Posted by: Count de Monet, unvaccinated Kulak-American at October 10, 2021 11:00 AM (4I/2K)

393 358 ... "One of the current phrases I hear a lot around town is "That's so white" or "that's so white of you". It makes me ill. I was telling someone I though was a friend, or at least we socialized pre-wuflu, about reading the Shelley bio, and I got "That's so white" in reply."

CN,
I agree. Whether from a friend or in casual conversation, no one has been stupid enough to say it to my face. Perhaps they realize I'll shove it back down their throats. LOUDLY.

I rarely use my size to intimidate people. But I'm too big, too old, and too tired to put up with that shit. Damn the consequences.

Sorry for the mini-rant. This is a real hot button topic for me.

Posted by: JTB at October 10, 2021 11:00 AM (7EjX1)

394
She sounds like an idiot. I'm sorry your area is so full of open racists who think there's virtue in spouting a line like that.
Posted by: NaughtyPine at October 10, 2021 10:56 AM (+P5bv)

Princeton area is very woke. And she was suggesting that I should get on the ethnic plantation, and start being against Western civ.
I feel bombarded. The Taiwanese neighbor who told me about "You Gentiles" was really quite negative. And the whole couple of weeks have been messy like this.

When I was in college, there were Jewish profs teaching English and French literature and none of this "acting white" shit was hurled against them.

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 11:01 AM (ONvIw)

395 >>> 50 Just finished Legend (story of MSGT Roy Benevides) by Eric Blehm. Going try an re-read Rules For Radicals before Corsicana. Nibbling at Hughes by Richard Hack, looks a little whoreywood-ish. Gotta get ready for church, see y'all later.
Posted by: Eromero at October 10, 2021 08:22 AM (0OP+5)

Excerpt from wiki: "After the battle, he was evacuated to the base camp, examined, and thought to be dead. As he was placed in a body bag among the other dead in body bags, he was suddenly recognized by a friend who called for help. A doctor came and examined him but believed Benavidez was dead. The doctor was about to zip up the body bag when Benavidez managed to spit in his face, alerting the doctor that he was alive."

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at October 10, 2021 11:01 AM (ACi07)

396 "The Hindenburg had a smoking lounge."

"these things blow up ... danger danger"
Archer

Posted by: illiniwek at October 10, 2021 11:01 AM (Cus5s)

397 Sorry for the mini-rant. This is a real hot button topic for me.
Posted by: JTB at October 10, 2021 11:00 AM (7EjX1)

Me, too. But I tend to worry a lot.

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 11:02 AM (ONvIw)

398 How much are the termination costs for the border wall contracts going to run?

Posted by: Fox2 at October 10, 2021 11:03 AM (qyH+l)

399

I said to me. I'm a guy
Posted by: Just a side note at October 10, 2021 10:58 AM (2DOZq)

I figured as much, and I assume you're joking anyway

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 11:03 AM (ONvIw)

400 Huh.... i actually use the "that's so white" insult on an infrequent basis, but mostly because i have just enough disdain for all the races of mankind in roughly equal proportions.

Posted by: Warai-otoko at October 10, 2021 11:04 AM (6FeV1)

401 I stopped reacting to racist bullshit a couple decades ago. They pull crap and say shot just to get a reaction. I refuse to acknowledge stupid racist crap. It's like it didn't even happen.

I will not give them the power to make me angry.

Posted by: nurse ratched at October 10, 2021 11:04 AM (U2p+3)

402 WE HAZ NOOD

Posted by: Skip guy who says NOOD at October 10, 2021 11:06 AM (2JoB8)

403 Anyway, for those who want to read something that is growing in popularity in some minority communities here is a link to "You Gentiles" written by a Jewish guy in 1924:
https://tinyurl.com/swc4ncst

It's free, it's irritating, and it's being used as a Jewish Supremacy tome. From that perspective, I find it worrisome and I think he's more Zionist than imagining a larger "world of our own"

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 11:06 AM (ONvIw)

404
I will not give them the power to make me angry.
Posted by: nurse ratched at October 10, 2021 11:04 AM (U2p+3)

Well getting it from someone I thought was sensible and from my own background was a surprise.

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 11:07 AM (ONvIw)

405 Worst Black cultural thing to me that they are trying to shove down our throat is that the Kardashian butt is the pinnacle of butts.
Posted by: Just a side note at October 10, 2021 10:53 AM (2DOZq)

Pinnacle? Behomothic is more like it.

Posted by: Count de Monet, unvaccinated Kulak-American at October 10, 2021 11:08 AM (4I/2K)

406 Allen Iversen, you choker.
Posted by: artemis at October 10, 2021 10:34 AM (AwPyG)

I assume he's playing somewhere in Asia, assuming his skills haven't totally disappeared, after gambling away literally multiple millions.

I'd like to thank the fuckheaded Covidiots who run Pennsylvania, the same clowns who appointed that mentally ill freak in charge of the state's public health before Stinkfinger grabbed him up, for making Saint Lawrence's Catholic Church's annual fall beef roast a drive through event rather than eating family style. The food isn't so great so much as interacting with salt of the earth types that made the country great. Without knowing for sure I think it's a big MAGA area.

Posted by: Captain Hate Won't Forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at October 10, 2021 11:09 AM (y7DUB)

407 Orwell's review of Road to Serfdom:
https://tinyurl.com/43w5zn9x
Posted by: Eeyore at October 10, 2021 09:19 AM (7X3UV)

Orwell never believed in people or that often they just wanted to live, and never believed that "industrialists" might care that the "little people" be prosperous.

I don't think he understood markets

Posted by: Kindltot at October 10, 2021 11:10 AM (KbLYZ)

408 Back from mass - got my rosary blessed! Yay!

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion (YZG/i) at October 10, 2021 11:12 AM (YZG/i)

409 387 Are "white" people no longer allowed to enjoy their owl culture

not certain whether typo or editorial remark about avian aficionados.

Posted by: Anachronda at October 10, 2021 11:12 AM (wMHCu)

410 Orwell never believed in people or that often they just wanted to live, and never believed that "industrialists" might care that the "little people" be prosperous.

I don't think he understood markets
Posted by: Kindltot at October 10, 2021 11:10 AM (KbLYZ)

Our current industrialists, don't give a shit about "little people" and want to make them even more "little" economically.

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 11:12 AM (ONvIw)

411 409 387 Are "white" people no longer allowed to enjoy their owl culture

not certain whether typo or editorial remark about avian aficionados.
Posted by: Anachronda at October 10, 2021 11:12 AM (wMHCu)

Typo. My arthritis, I'm afraid.

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 11:13 AM (ONvIw)

412 late to the thread. dammit.
got lectured by my buddy last night for two hours about my white supremacy that i apparently have. he is half black, half hispanic. he and i work together and are very good friends.

he is totally blue pilled.

he challenged me to read white fragility by robin diangelo. i looked on amazon and was floored to see 37K reviews and its five star.
well, not floored. anyone actually read it and can give me the cliffs notes?

Posted by: Jack Burton, who says brandon, let's go. at October 10, 2021 11:15 AM (NlREX)

413 Posted by: Jack Burton, who says brandon, let's go. at October 10, 2021 11:15 AM (NlREX)

I'd find a new friend.

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 11:17 AM (ONvIw)

414 they say trek was wagon train in space, but kirk was certainly more hornblower, in execution, the prime directive was a nice idea, but it was observed more often in absense,
Posted by: alien covenant was much worse at October 10, 2021 09:39 AM (hMlTh)

Someone tallied it up and contrasted Iain Banks' Culture books against Star Trek universe and claimed that the Culture's intervention bureau, Special Circumstances, intervened in other culture's affairs less that the Federation under the Non Intervention Principal

Posted by: Kindltot at October 10, 2021 11:17 AM (KbLYZ)

415 Help!
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at October 10, 2021 09:39 AM (Q9lwr)

To improve our customer service.

Posted by: Kindltot at October 10, 2021 11:19 AM (KbLYZ)

416 Greetings:

Shall we delve into the various color strata within the "black" community and how they are addressed ???

Posted by: 11B40 at October 10, 2021 11:19 AM (uuklp)

417 411 409 387 Are "white" people no longer allowed to enjoy their owl culture

not certain whether typo or editorial remark about avian aficionados.
Posted by: Anachronda at October 10, 2021 11:12 AM (wMHCu)

Typo. My arthritis, I'm afraid.
Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 11:13 AM (ONvIw)

Oh.

*brings pet barn owl out of hiding*

Posted by: naturalfake at October 10, 2021 11:19 AM (5NkmN)

418
Oh.

*brings pet barn owl out of hiding*
Posted by: naturalfake at October 10, 2021 11:19 AM (5NkmN

LOL. Even if there was an "owl culture", I doubt it would be culinary

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 11:22 AM (ONvIw)

419
In one of his essays Orwell went after Mark Twain because he felt that Twain should've been the American Voltaire instead of wasting his talents on silly populist dreck -which says more about Orwell's unknowledge of American culture than Twain's brand of wit and humor.

Posted by: 13times at October 10, 2021 11:23 AM (JUq7n)

420 When I was in college, there were Jewish profs teaching English and French literature and none of this "acting white" shit was hurled against them.
Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 11:01 AM

I went to Michigan. I thought it ironic that one of my roommates embraced the "Western civ has got to go" because she studied for years at various prominent institutions of Western education and earned a PhD in accordance with the rules of a Western hierarchical structure. And expects to be called "Professor" because it's her due as a lesbian of color or something.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at October 10, 2021 11:23 AM (+P5bv)

421 Greetings:

The most important thing that I have read since the turn of this century is the Islamic tenet that "the Kuffar should feel himself subdued."

It explains pretty much all things being done by the agitocracy in all its versions.

Posted by: 11B40 at October 10, 2021 11:23 AM (uuklp)

422 Shall we delve into the various color strata within the "black" community and how they are addressed ???
Posted by: 11B40 at October 10, 2021 11:19 AM (uuklp)

My point in bring up the "that's so white" comment is that it's being hurled by someone who 3 years ago would have called herself "white" without hesitation and was not "woke". And she's minimally woke by local standards.

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 11:24 AM (ONvIw)

423 he challenged me to read white fragility by robin diangelo. i looked on amazon and was floored to see 37K reviews and its five star.
well, not floored. anyone actually read it and can give me the cliffs notes?
Posted by: Jack Burton, who says brandon, let's go. at October 10, 2021 11:15 AM (NlREX)

eh, trade reading assignments with him.

Something like: "The Slave Trade" by Hugh Thomas

He'll bail almost instantly on that idea.
And if he doesn't then he'll bail as soon as he finds his historically ignorant progtard assumptions challenged. And believe me, they will be.

Progtard Fragility as it were.

Posted by: naturalfake at October 10, 2021 11:25 AM (5NkmN)

424 Posted by: NaughtyPine at October 10, 2021 11:23 AM (+P5bv)

What is her reason for "Western Civ has got to go"? Does she prefer African civ, or Chinese Civ? Or anarchy?

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 11:25 AM (ONvIw)

425 344 That painting of the young mother smiling but taking the arrows and shielding her child is just so F'ing appropriate these days. It got real dusty in here while I looked at it.
Posted by: JTB at October 10, 2021 10:29 AM (7EjX1)

It would have been much better with the mother AND a father.

Posted by: Justsayin' at October 10, 2021 11:29 AM (Fs5vw)

426 It would have been much better with the mother AND a father.
Posted by: Justsayin' at October 10, 2021 11:29 AM (Fs5vw)

Probably, but it says a lot anyway.

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 11:31 AM (ONvIw)

427 anyone actually read it and can give me the cliffs notes?
Posted by: Jack Burton, who says brandon, let's go. at October 10, 2021 11:15 AM

White = privileged racist. Any attempt to mention one's immigration or poverty is just a sign of fragility. I started skimming when I realized the white author was a neurotic who sees people outside her tribe as tokens. There's a passage in which she describes joking about her co-trainer's hair. Instead of immediately apologizing, like a normal person, she contacts another white woman to help script an apology to present the following work week.

She wouldn't last two days in a multicultural business environment, and it's clear she never considers that multiracial families aren't even on her radar.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at October 10, 2021 11:34 AM (+P5bv)

428 I can't decide if it's weird or great.
Posted by: artemis at October 10, 2021 10:41 AM (AwPyG)

I have never seen one, but the answer is yes.

Posted by: Kindltot at October 10, 2021 11:35 AM (KbLYZ)

429 he challenged me to read white fragility by robin diangelo. i looked on amazon and was floored to see 37K reviews and its five star.
well, not floored. anyone actually read it and can give me the cliffs notes?
Posted by: Jack Burton, who says brandon, let's go. at October 10, 2021 11:15 AM (NlREX)

I can guess the cliff notes. And they are: They want to kill you.

Posted by: Justsayin' at October 10, 2021 11:36 AM (Fs5vw)

430 >>> 279 Second the recommendation for Nicholas and Alexandra.

One of the things it illustrates is the problem when leadership is inherited--sort of like what we're seeing in the British royal family, nowadays.

The idea was that courage and leadership were inherited, but it really winds up with a lot of power resting with dopey people who love to be flattered.
Posted by: artemis at October 10, 2021 09:57 AM (AwPyG)

Please clap.

Posted by: Jeb! at October 10, 2021 11:37 AM (ACi07)

431 I have never seen one, but the answer is yes.
Posted by: Kindltot at October 10, 2021 11:35 AM (KbLYZ)

I've never liked "fan fiction" and see it an attempt to benefit from someone else's imagination, often without their consent.
Granted, Jane Austen, is public domain, but the lazy piggybacking on her characters pisses me off and reflects poorly on the writers. Are we really so bankrupt of ideas?

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 11:38 AM (ONvIw)

432 I can guess the cliff notes. And they are: They want to kill you.
Posted by: Justsayin' at October 10, 2021 11:36 AM (Fs5vw)

As do the coming caravan of "warriors". We are at war, and this is not "welcoming the stranger", it's the destruction of an civilization

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 11:40 AM (ONvIw)

433 Finished rereading The End of Science by John Horgan. The book was written in the late 90's and updated in 2014-15.

The title is provocative - what he really means is that "Big Reveal" science is essentially finished and the remaining discoveries will consist of infill. Horgan goes after multiverse string theory proponents like Michio Kaku and Sean Carroll. In the late nineties he bet Kaku $1000.00 that no one would be awarded a Nobel prize for string theory or unification by 2020.

One interesting facet of the theory of the big bang is the notion of a low entropy universe and how low entropy drives cosmologists bonkers - so they patch the theory in an attempt to make sense of something they simply don't understand.

Posted by: 13times at October 10, 2021 11:45 AM (JUq7n)

434 Our current industrialists, don't give a shit about "little people" and want to make them even more "little" economically.
Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 11:12 AM (ONvIw)

a) the current industrialists's understanding is that their customer base is the government and each other, not the people who buy their products
ii) because of their special position they have never suffered for bad decisions, and
b) like Pol Pot they were educated in the most prestigious schools by educators who have no understanding of anything outside of how they want the world to be

Posted by: Kindltot at October 10, 2021 11:45 AM (KbLYZ)

435 b) like Pol Pot they were educated in the most prestigious schools by educators who have no understanding of anything outside of how they want the world to be
Posted by: Kindltot at October 10, 2021 11:45 AM (KbLYZ)

They assume away reality and frankly don't give a fuck about those they deem beneath them?

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 11:48 AM (ONvIw)

436 CN, FanFic is the new pulp. It is one of the only ways open today that talent can be trained up and get some sort of audience. A lot of it is dreck, and stupid dreck at that, notable for bad grammar, lousy spelling, incompetent plotting and forced dialogue that only serves to advance the hideous concept of a scene.

Some writers get better, but they all are motivated because they get rewarded.

Like us slapping out quick responses here. (Ace has polished my writing the way that writing phone notes on customers never did)

Posted by: Kindltot at October 10, 2021 11:51 AM (KbLYZ)

437 What is her reason for "Western Civ has got to go"? Does she prefer African civ, or Chinese Civ? Or anarchy?

***
Whatever helps her personally get ahead. She lost a job at a gay-lesbian nonprofit because she personally opposed Western civilization's emphasis on "coupledom" and couldn't understand the desire for same-sex marriage. She married a woman after the laws changed, of course. She was vocally anticapitalist until she got a job at Global Crossings after her website/message board couldn't pay the bills. Last I heard, Free Healthcare is a right. Student loan forgiveness should also be a right.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at October 10, 2021 11:51 AM (+P5bv)

438 They assume away reality and frankly don't give a fuck about those they deem beneath them?
Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 11:48 AM (ONvIw)

The consumers are ultimately not important in this world view, and can be sacrificed in attaining the ideal world. Because ultimately it is to benefit those same consumers, or at least those that survive what is necessary to create that ideal world.

Posted by: Kindltot at October 10, 2021 11:53 AM (KbLYZ)

439 Glad to hear it, VMom!

Posted by: Ann Wilson, aka Empire 1 at October 10, 2021 11:53 AM (JJatH)

440 Kindletot

I assume the monopolists will gladly let people sit in the cold and dark, starving.

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 11:57 AM (ONvIw)

441 Last I heard, Free Healthcare is a right. Student loan forgiveness should also be a right.
Posted by: NaughtyPine at October 10, 2021 11:51 AM (+P5bv)

And what do the freebie seekers want o contribute other than wants? IMO entertainment should be a right then, so screw the copyrights?

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 11:59 AM (ONvIw)

442 And what do the freebie seekers want o contribute other than wants? IMO entertainment should be a right then, so screw the copyrights?
Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 11:59 AM

For popular works, no doubt. She has an award-winning (small LGBTQ+ press iirc) medium, and university and LGBTQ+ presses have published her thin books about LGBTQ+ subjects. Those need copyright protections as well as inroads to becoming standard texts for classes!

Posted by: NaughtyPine at October 10, 2021 12:14 PM (+P5bv)

443 I met Julie Newmar at the San Diego Comicon in 1996. She was reflective, and shared some of her memories with me and my young companion at the time. He was eager to see other stuff, so we only lingered for about 10 minutes or so, but I did snap a pic of him with her.

Posted by: Miley, the Duchess, #SuperStraight #maskless (Mzdiz) at October 10, 2021 12:18 PM (Mzdiz)

444 Last I heard, Free Healthcare is a right. Student loan forgiveness should also be a right.
Posted by: NaughtyPine at October 10, 2021 11:51 AM (+P5bv)

Free books for students! Free tuition and housing, slash those professors' salaries, NOW!

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 12:25 PM (ONvIw)

445 (Ace has polished my writing the way that writing phone notes on customers never did)
Posted by: Kindltot at October 10, 2021 11:51 AM (KbLYZ)

***

You write notes on customers? So...tattoo artist?

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion (YZG/i) at October 10, 2021 12:37 PM (YZG/i)

446 You write notes on customers? So...tattoo artist?
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion (YZG/i) at October 10, 2021 12:37 PM (YZG/i)

Is BookHorde no longer in existence?

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 12:41 PM (ONvIw)

447 Never mind, it came right up in a different browser

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 12:43 PM (ONvIw)

448 You write notes on customers? So...tattoo artist?
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion (YZG/i) at October 10, 2021 12:37 PM (YZG/i)

"If you don't document it, it never happened"

however, "If I don't understand what you wrote, you didn't document it"

Posted by: Kindltot at October 10, 2021 12:46 PM (KbLYZ)

449 Is BookHorde no longer in existence?
Posted by: CN

It's there but not been updated for a while

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabamillion (YZG/i) at October 10, 2021 12:57 PM (YZG/i)

450 449. I was able to open it in Chrome, but not in Edge

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 01:09 PM (ONvIw)

451 450 I'm still upset be the idea that if you don't support antifa, you support nazis. I'm sick of nazi-everything

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 01:11 PM (ONvIw)

452 "If I don't understand what you wrote, you didn't document it"
Posted by: Kindltot
------

Hmm. There's another level, there's the 'I wrote this, and I don't understand it.' Happens to me sometimes in technical documents and software that I wrote.

One of the more darkly amusing moments for me was when I encountered a bit of complex assembly language, and in the comment field it said, 'This is just too complicated to explain'.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc, at October 10, 2021 01:16 PM (7yxmQ)

453 Would "Nazi" have become such a catchall term if it hadn't have been able to be boiled down into two syllables?

Posted by: Weak Geek at October 10, 2021 01:16 PM (Om/di)

454 453 Would "Nazi" have become such a catchall term if it hadn't have been able to be boiled down into two syllables?
Posted by: Weak Geek at October 10, 2021 01:16 PM (Om/di)

Sure. It was chosen not because it was catchy, but because it was a reliably hated group, to whom no punishment was too severe. You can say "Punch a nazi", you can't say "Punch a libertarian", for instance, without drawing scorn. Hence they equated Trump, and to a lesser extent Bush, with Hitler. Hate generated, problem solved.

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 01:34 PM (ONvIw)

455
Hmm. There's another level, there's the 'I wrote this, and I don't understand it.' Happens to me sometimes in technical documents and software that I wrote.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc, at October 10, 2021 01:16 PM (7yxmQ)

This is a good part of the reason medical records went electronic with minimal pushback.

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 01:36 PM (ONvIw)

456 To finish, naturally, I am not going to let my "friend" stop me from reading classics and biographies. It was simply jarring. If she has to go through a Jewish "roots" period or read BLM dreck, that's her prerogative and her current circle.

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 01:46 PM (ONvIw)

457 451 450 I'm still upset be the idea that if you don't support antifa, you support nazis. I'm sick of nazi-everything

Posted by: CN at October 10, 2021 01:11 PM (ONvIw)

If everyone's a nazi, then no one's a nazi.

They don't seem to realize this.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at October 10, 2021 03:43 PM (qfor/)

458 "317 The Art of War in the Middle Ages A.D. 378-1515
Charles Oman
"Good book and free on Project Gutenberg."

The version on Gutenberg is not bad, but there are two versions of Oman's The Art of War in the Middle Ages/A History of the Art of War in the Middle Ages. The first (the Gutenberg one) is the shorter original-I think it was his Oxford thesis-and runs about 140 pages. The much longer (nearly 1000 pages in two vols) is much more complete and contains considerable more detail. In general Oman is a good historian, but he researched and wrote in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and so some of his research and conclusions have been superseded by new data. Oman provides useful background, but he is by no means the final word on the Middle Ages, the Sixteenth Century or the Napoleonic Wars-I have his books on all those and more.

Posted by: Pope John the 20th at October 10, 2021 05:41 PM (Ap+cR)

459 With all the Star Trek comments I went browsing for any DS9 tie-in book featuring Garak the Cardassian spy-tailor. Really the best Trek character since the original series.

I found the book Stitch in Time written by Andrew J. Robinson the actor who played Garak. It's in autobiography form which promises to be awesome.

One of the best scenes in DS9 is on youtube "garak drinks root beer."

Posted by: 13times at October 10, 2021 06:09 PM (K3B2k)

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