Sunday Morning Book Thread 12-12-2021

Good morning to all you 'rons, 'ettes, lurkers, and lurkettes, wine moms, frat bros, and 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 this struggling actor would be allowed, as soon as he's done auditioning for the One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest reboot.

It Pays To Increase Your Word Power®

Usage:
20211212 book pic 02.jpg

In The Orangery by Charles Edward Perugini

The New York Times’ 1619 Project is Sooooo Bad...

Q: HOW! BAD! IS IT??

A: It's so bad that even rat bastard commies are trashing it.

(laughter and applause)

I'm referring to this book, The New York Times’ 1619 Project and the Racialist Falsification of History by David North and Thomas Mackaman. And when I say 'rat bastard commies', I ain't just whistling 'Dixie':

Published by Mehring Books, the work contains essays written on the World Socialist Web Site (WSWS), along with interviews of historians. Both Mehring and the WSWS are publishing arms of the International Committee of the Fourth International, an organization of Trotskyist Marxists. Like the racialist 1619 advocates they criticize, the Trotskyists have a motivating prejudice, a one-size-fits-all analytical tool to make sense of the world’s conflict and inequality. Racial Falsification’s critique of radical racialism is directed toward an end—communist revolution. Despite that, any weapon is a good weapon in a street fight.

So what this book argues is that you shouldn't look the entirety of human existence through the one-size-fits-all lens of race. No, what you should be doing is looking at the entirety of human existence through the one-size-fits-all lens of class:

North and Mackaman present the 1619 Project as a conscious effort to split the working class by aligning poor blacks with black cultural elites. Identity politics of this variety emerged with efforts such as the Combahee River Collective Statement of 1977, which was produced by middle-class black lesbians positing themselves—rather than the poor—as the most oppressed class, and therefore, the engine of revolutionary change. Communist revolution was thus subverted into a campaign for personal advancement and the empowerment of the black intellectual class, rather than for broad economic and social transformation.

Some of the old school commies are mighty peeved that identity politics has crept into their movement and co-opted the righteous peoples' revolution against the Scrooge McDuck capitalists. These original red-flag revolutionaries have no use for intersectionality, or the "struggles" of upper-class black feminist who think they're oppressed, or, for that matter, the whole panoply of LGBTXOBBQ victim groups all trying to board the 'Oppressed' train at the same time. "I'm the oppressed proletariat!" "No, I'm the oppressed proletariat!" "Shut up!" "No, you shut up!" SLAP! SLAP! I wish there were some way I could encourage this slap fight, because it would be so much fun to watch.

I wish it would be possible for both sides could lose.

I thought this bit from the Amazon blurb was curious:

An introduction by David North argues for the concept of objective truth, not only in the interpretation of history, but in science and art as well, against the relativization promoted under theories of racial identity, “whiteness,” and “critical race theory.”

Whoa. Since when do rat bastard commies believe in objective truth? I thought commies hold that truth is determined by the Party, not by any kind of objective reality that even the Party has to acknowledge. There is nothing above the Party. So 2+2=5 if the Party says it is.

So, despite all this, there might be some good stuff to be gleaned from this volume, but I doubt I'll pay $25 for it.

One more thing: Only a book written by rat bastard commies can get away with using the word 'racialist' unironically.

And for another look at this history of slavery in America:

Moron author Robert Zimmerman is a science guy (JJ Sefton linkw to him extensively in his Morning Reports) and from his blog, you can see that Bob's first love is space travel and, as soon as its feasible, interplanetary colonization. Since his goals are similar to of the first European settlers who came to America, Bob developed an interest in the origins of slavery and why it took root in one part of the country but not in other parts. So he started doing research and the results are contained in his latest book, Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space, which documents

...how slavery slowly became pervasive in the southern British colonies of North America, colonies founded by a people and culture that not only did not allow slavery but in every way were hostile to the practice. The book shows that slavery was never inevitable, and that the different response to the lure of slavery between the southern and northern colonies in America demonstrated this fact. While the evil of slavery grew and prospered in the south, in the north it was soundly rejected. Instead, the northern British colonies established free societies, so free that their descendants inevitably rose up to fight a war to end slavery in the south.

These are the same conflicts at the heart of today’s current events. Individual freedom, limited government, and personal responsibility are being constantly challenged by the modern cultural focus on power, race, identity politics, and a blind dependence on centralized government. By showing the contrast between those failed southern colonies and the rest of America, Conscious Choice will give modern Americans the historical background of their country that they need in order to make the right choices for the future.

Zimmerman is arguing that in order to explain the institution of American slavery, you must understand why it flourished in some places but not in others. Specifically, why didn't it take root in the North as it did in the South? Zimmerman has done some thorough research and has receipts.

E-book available for $3.99 on Amazon or directly from the e-book publisher.

Who Dis:

Last week's who dis was actor Julie Adams, best known for her lead role in Creature From the Black Lagoon, as noted by several astute morons.

Down the Memory Hole

It is unpossible that this is going to suck:

The estate of George Orwell has approved a feminist retelling of Nineteen Eighty-Four, which reimagines the story from the perspective of Winston Smith’s lover Julia.

Orwell’s 1949 novel is set in a dystopian future where...Big Brother rules supreme and the Thought Police stamp out any individual thinking. Winston Smith works at The Ministry of Truth, rewriting history to suit Big Brother’s narrative...

In Julia by Sandra Newman, the incidents of Nineteen Eighty-Four are seen through the woman’s eyes.

Funny how it doesn't seem to occur to the commie NPC Guardian editors that rewriting Orwell to suit the present political climate is, well, you know, just a teensy little bit... Orwellian?

No, comrade, it's going to be plusgood! You'll see!

It is the latest in a series of feminist retellings of classic stories, from Natalie Haynes’s reimagining of the Trojan war A Thousand Ships, and Pat Barker’s The Silence of the Girls, a version of the Iliad from the perspective of Briseis, to Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet, which centres on the life of Shakespeare’s wife, and Jeet Thayil’s Names of the Women, which tells the stories of 15 women whose lives overlapped with Jesus.

Doubleplusgood!

___________

Compare & Contrast:

Moron Recommendations

From my e-mail:

It occurs to me I should commend to the Book Thread the work of Walter R. Brooks, especially his Freddy the Pig series, which he wrote from 1927 to 1953. There are 26 books in the series. I started reading them at age 12, a bit late I guess, but they always delighted me and I’m trying to purchase the series from the publisher for when the grandchildren arrive (someday!). I’m sure others in the Horde either know about them or would like to!

The first book in the series is Freddy Goes to Florida:

Walter R. Brooks introduced Freddy the Pig in Freddy Goes to Florida. Freddy and his friends from Bean Farm migrate south for the winter, with every mile of the way a terrific adventure complete with bumbling robbers and a nasty bunch of alligators. This is vintage Freddy and the whole ensemble cast at their charming best.

The Kindle edition is $6.99. Sequels have titles such as Freddy Goes To The North Pole and Freddy the Detective.

Freddy the Pig even has a fan site.

(h/t to the lurker who sent me this)

___________

23 I read Stephen Baxter's The Raft where a group of human refugees are living on a makeshift spacecraft in a universe where the gravitational constant is radically different. Leads to some interesting effects. The nebula where the events take place is slowly dying so the main conflict is trying to escape to another nebula. However, the scarcity of resources is a problem. Naturally, Communism arrives to save the day! (not really, of course.) This novel shows that Communism really is an infectious disease that causes strife and division even in the ass-end of an alternate universe when humans are on the brink of destruction. Good stuff.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at December 05, 2021 09:13 AM (NQjQK)

The Amazon blurb for Raft is quite dense, so I will not reprint it here. Except for this:

A spaceship from Earth accidentally crossed through a hole in space-time to a universe where the force of gravity is one billion times as strong as the gravity we know. Somehow the crew survived, aided by the fact that they emerged into a cloud of gas surrounding a black hole, which provided a breathable atmosphere.

Sounds implausible, but what do I know? I haven't read it. Can't find an e-copy on Amazon, just the $6 paperback.

___________

391 Nearing the climax of Steven Hunter's excellent "The Master Sniper," the bad guy is Repp, SS nazi, end of WW2 Germany and Switzerland, he's a sniper with about a thousand kills.

An American captain and a Brit colonel, both in their respective intelligence branches, are trying to find him and puzzle out his mission, which is in play after the nazi surrender.

Very well-described gun tech for us gun nuts. Adolf Eichmann, in captivity the day of surrender, plays a role in the plot.

It is as good as Day of the Jackal.

Posted by: Mr Gaga at December 05, 2021 11:52 AM (KiBMU)

I can't improve on this description, so I'll just leave it at that. The hardcover edition of The Master Sniper is only $7.59, which sounds like a good deal for a 400+ page book. The Kindle edition $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 Whoa

Posted by: Clyde Shelton at December 12, 2021 09:01 AM (Do5/p)

2 Aloha, book freaks!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at December 12, 2021 09:01 AM (Dc2NZ)

3 I haz nooded. Tolle Lege!

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at December 12, 2021 09:02 AM (PiwSw)

4 Merle

Posted by: CN at December 12, 2021 09:02 AM (ONvIw)

5 Tolle Lege
Kind of just in-between books.

Posted by: Skip at December 12, 2021 09:02 AM (2JoB8)

6 I like the Godzilla haiku thing. That should be its own thread.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at December 12, 2021 09:03 AM (PiwSw)

7 The only thing you need to know is the location of the library.

Posted by: Einstein at December 12, 2021 09:04 AM (jYQlA)

8 That library is awful. So sterile and office-like.

Posted by: Cat Ass Trophy at December 12, 2021 09:04 AM (EfigE)

9 That is of course Merle Oberon.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at December 12, 2021 09:05 AM (Dc2NZ)

10 North and Mackaman present the 1619 Project as a conscious effort to split the working class by aligning poor blacks with black cultural elites.

-
Boy, you've got to buy a program to keep the players straight!

Posted by: Godzilla at December 12, 2021 09:05 AM (FVME7)

11 Happy reading everyone. Trying like mad to find my copy of Merton's The Seven Storey Mountain. Between my late Mom and MIL, and both my wife and I, we have everything he ever wrote - and dupes of many of them.

But do you think I can find the one I really want right now? It is on the shelves somewhere.

Damn it.

Posted by: Tonypete at December 12, 2021 09:06 AM (mD/uy)

12 How is pulchritude used in real life?

Because it's clunky and relatively obscure, pulchritude isn't often used in everyday conversation. When it is used, it's most likely for humorous effect - or because someone is raiding the thesaurus for synonyms for beauty.

https://bit.ly/3dLJCiQ

Pulchritude is in the eye of the beholder.
"American Pulchritude"
"Pulchritude and the Beast"

Posted by: Clyde Shelton at December 12, 2021 09:07 AM (Do5/p)

13 I'm busy with house and grandsons and only read a few of the Mary Wollstonecraft letters this week and am happy I have something I can put down.
I followed up on Vermont's cancellation of Dorothy Canfield Fisher and they did it, no more DCF award for children's books. They can't definitively link her to eugenicists, but it's the seriousness of the charge...and some karen's academic career, no doubt.

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 09:07 AM (ONvIw)

14 There go's Tokyo
Nature points out the folly of man
Go, go Godzilla

Posted by: BOC Haiku at December 12, 2021 09:07 AM (lfpt4)

15 Woot! Another recommendation from me! Raft was quite good as it details the the profound survival instinct in humanity that we are clever enough and resourceful enough to not only survive but flourish (eventually) in even the most hostile environments.

I just finished reading Flux, another Stephen Baxter book set in his Xeelee sequence of novels. This one involves genetically engineered humans living just inside the surface of a neutron star. It's never made clear just why they were created, other than it was part of some ancient war against the Xeelee. Much of the story is simply occupied with the main characters trying to survive natural disasters, which on a neutron star are very different than the swath of tornadoes we just recently experienced. It's a weird, weird book, simply because we don't have a real frame of reference for what these humans look like or experience. There are also some interesting race/class issues that are explored as well. Baxter likes to include social commentary in his novels and most of it is pretty well done. Not really much in the way of plot, but overall a generally good story all the same.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at December 12, 2021 09:10 AM (Ap6+r)

16 Merle Oberon's exotic looks came from her being Welsh / Sri Lankan.

Her car accident was the excuse for cancelling the 1937 production of I, Claudius with Charles Laughton in the lead role. You can find footage on youtube. It would have been epic.

Posted by: Ignoramus at December 12, 2021 09:10 AM (ZHVt1)

17 8 That library is awful. So sterile and office-like.
Posted by: Cat Ass Trophy at December 12, 2021 09:04 AM (EfigE)

Reminds me of the old Oxford Books in Atlanta but without the charming clutter.

Gotta have the charming clutter.

Posted by: Dr. Varno at December 12, 2021 09:11 AM (vuisn)

18 In "Albion's Seed" it was also pointed out that the South was colonized by Brits from southern England with a rigid class system and sense of privilege WRT the working class.

Unlike the Northeast, which was colonized by middle class merchants and farmers from northeast England with a strong religious egalitarianism and work ethic (root hog or die).

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at December 12, 2021 09:11 AM (Dc2NZ)

19 Why are youbspotlighting a municipal library? Thst is just another example of socialism creeping into our lives
It begins there and progresses to social parasites who have never worked a day in their lives eating high off the hog
You know who I am talking about
Children!! Why should my tax dollars go yo feed kids that are not my own?

Posted by: Kurt at December 12, 2021 09:11 AM (KBZbH)

20 16 Merle Oberon's exotic looks came from her being Welsh / Sri Lankan.

Her car accident was the excuse for cancelling the 1937 production of I, Claudius with Charles Laughton in the lead role. You can find footage on youtube. It would have been epic.
Posted by: Ignoramus at December 12, 2021 09:10 AM (ZHVt1)
---

I loved Sian Young's Livia, but the actress they had chosen was terrific!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at December 12, 2021 09:11 AM (Dc2NZ)

21 Merle Oberon's exotic looks came from her being Welsh / Sri Lankan.

Posted by: Ignoramus

She was excellent in The Scarlet Pumpernickel.

Posted by: Tonypete at December 12, 2021 09:12 AM (mD/uy)

22 Aloha, book freaks!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at December 12, 2021 09:01 AM

Is that the Aloha means "hello" Aloha, or the "Locke and Key" TV series meaning of "Aloha"?

They did a great job with this reference in the show. I think it was one of the first episodes where the kids' uncle was giving the finger to Key House. The youngest asked why he was doing that. Uncle explained that it was like Aloha and had different meanings, in this case, he was using it to say goodbye to the house.

In one of the last episodes of Season 2, the same kid captures one of the demons in a large glass and before saying goodbye, he gives the demon the double-bird salute and says "Aloha!" I was laughing for a good 5 minutes.

Posted by: Clyde Shelton at December 12, 2021 09:12 AM (Do5/p)

23 Re: The Master Sniper. I haven't read it and that's not my kind of book anyway, but shouldn't we have more stories where the villains are nasty commies and other leftists instead? The Nazi threat is over, the other leftists are here and real today.

0.02

Posted by: OrangeEnt at December 12, 2021 09:12 AM (7bRMQ)

24 She is gonna get in trouble for stealing that orange.

Posted by: Mister Scot (Formerly GWS) at December 12, 2021 09:13 AM (bVYXr)

25 That library is awful. So sterile and office-like.
Posted by: Cat Ass Trophy

When I first glanced at the picture, for reasons I can't really explain, it seemed to me to be an Escher like impossible building.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks Now With Pumpkin Spice! at December 12, 2021 09:13 AM (FVME7)

26 Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at December 12, 2021 09:11 AM (Dc2NZ)

Why does everyone give the FRench a pass? They were big time slave owners in Louisiana, and in the Indies.

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 09:13 AM (ONvIw)

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

Posted by: JTB at December 12, 2021 09:13 AM (7EjX1)

28 Good morning, everyone! I've started and stopped so many books in the last few weeks. But the one I'm still reading continuously is "Purgatory" by Dante, second in his Divine Comedy. I'm again falling behind the reading group so I'm going to be reading more of that today. Happy reading!

Posted by: CarolinaGirl at December 12, 2021 09:13 AM (Kh9rg)

29 Top of the morning.

Joan Collins, of course.

Pulchritude is one of my favorite rarely used, but much admired words !

Posted by: runner at December 12, 2021 09:13 AM (V13WU)

30 I also watched Episode 6 of The Wheel of Time series on Amazon. If Episode 5 was a dumpster fire, then Ep 6 took Ep 5 and dropped it into a pool of pure napalm. Then dropped all of that into the heart of a neutron star where the gravitational forces ripped apart the nucleons into component quarks, forming a quark-gluon plasma of terrible story from which there is no coming back.

EVERYTHING about this episode was just wrong, wrong, wrong, according to the lore that is well-established in the books.

It's just bad from start to finish. I'll keep watching it, though, just to see how they wrap up Season 1.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at December 12, 2021 09:13 AM (Ap6+r)

31 The McAllen library resembles my high school library very much.

Posted by: Tonypete at December 12, 2021 09:14 AM (mD/uy)

32 That is of course Merle Oberon.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes

I thought it was Heddy Lamarr.

Or was that Headley?

Posted by: Bozo Conservative...Living on the Prison Planet at December 12, 2021 09:14 AM (tjZg/)

33 Is that where they filmed The Breakfast Club?

Posted by: Dr. Varno at December 12, 2021 09:14 AM (vuisn)

34 That library is awful. So sterile and office-like.
Posted by: Cat Ass Trophy
---
Yeah, I don't like that library either. It does look like a sterile office building. To be fair, the library in which I work doesn't look much better...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at December 12, 2021 09:15 AM (Ap6+r)

35 Epic Rap Battles of History - JRR Tolkien vs. GRR Martin:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAAp_luluo0

"I cut my teeth in the trenches of the Somme
You LARPed your Santa Claus ass through Vietnam!"

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at December 12, 2021 09:15 AM (Dc2NZ)

36 Didn't Foghorn Leghorn use "pulchitrude" in the cartoon?

Posted by: Mean Tweets at December 12, 2021 09:15 AM (BOJAx)

37 But the one I'm still reading continuously is "Purgatory" by Dante, second in his Divine Comedy.
Posted by: CarolinaGirl

You're also viewing the accompanying videos put out by 100 Days of Dante, correct?

Great stuff.

Posted by: Tonypete at December 12, 2021 09:15 AM (mD/uy)

38
I wish Kurt would meet the herpes girl. Maybe he already has and written about the experience in 'Chancrebury Tales'.

Posted by: Traitor Joe's Military Surplus at December 12, 2021 09:16 AM (dQvv7)

39 Pulchritude (sp?) was already m known to 'Rons who spent Saturday mornings watching bugs bunny court the mechanical rabbit at the dog track.

Posted by: 2009Refugee at December 12, 2021 09:16 AM (dtsIB)

40 Why does everyone give the FRench a pass? They were big time slave owners in Louisiana, and in the Indies.
Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 09:13 AM (ONvIw)
---

People expect less of the French.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at December 12, 2021 09:16 AM (Dc2NZ)

41 *why does krut hate Benjamin Franklin ?

Posted by: runner at December 12, 2021 09:16 AM (V13WU)

42 $25 is pretty steep for a book from a socialist publisher. The oppressed classes are going to have to scrimp and save to afford it.

Posted by: Geronimo Stilton at December 12, 2021 09:16 AM (sGnvY)

43 $25 is pretty steep for a book from a socialist publisher. The oppressed classes are going to have to scrimp and save to afford it.
Posted by: Geronimo Stilton

Tell me about it:

"Steal this Book"
--- Abbie Hoffman

Posted by: Tonypete at December 12, 2021 09:18 AM (mD/uy)

44 willowed...

News chyron here... "Gothic novelist Anne Rice dead at 80 due to complications from a stroke" so I guess it is true. [Unless I'm missing an earlier, Pixy thread reference.]

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at December 12, 2021 09:18 AM (UHVv4)

45 Didn't Foghorn Leghorn use "pulchitrude" in the cartoon?

Posted by: Mean Tweets at December 12, 2021 09:15 AM

I say, I say that woman has the pulchritude of a bowling ball.

Posted by: Foghorn Leghorn at December 12, 2021 09:18 AM (Do5/p)

46 People expect less of the French.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at December 12, 2021 09:16 AM (Dc2NZ)

I think they don't wallow in their past wrongs the way we do. They made a more recent but enduring mess in Guadeloupe and Martinique, and nobody seems to care.

Seems the biggest root of slavery might come from Paris.

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 09:18 AM (ONvIw)

47 Gothic novelist Anne Rice dead at 80

==

She'll be back...

Posted by: runner at December 12, 2021 09:19 AM (V13WU)

48 *too soon ??

Posted by: runner at December 12, 2021 09:19 AM (V13WU)

49 I just read the story of Merle Oberon's parentage on Wikipedia. Wow, her mother was all of 12 years old when the actress was born.

Busy week this week, and I fell further behind in reading Purgatorio. Did restart Jane Eyre, one of my favorite potboilers.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at December 12, 2021 09:19 AM (jZEpE)

50 Talking to Otters 6 bucks

Well hell! I paid 19 for my copy.

Posted by: rhennigantx at December 12, 2021 09:19 AM (yrol0)

51 Epic Rap Battles of History - JRR Tolkien vs. GRR Martin:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAAp_luluo0

"I cut my teeth in the trenches of the Somme
You LARPed your Santa Claus ass through Vietnam!"

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at December 12, 2021 09:15 AM (Dc2NZ)
---
My favorite ERB of all time! I'm glad you posted it, because if you didn't, I was going to!

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at December 12, 2021 09:20 AM (Ap6+r)

52 Pulchritude was already m known to 'Rons who spent Saturday mornings watching bugs bunny court the mechanical rabbit at the dog track.
-------------
I think W.C. Fields used it sometimes too although I may be conflating him with Bugs.

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at December 12, 2021 09:20 AM (UHVv4)

53 Biggest slavers were the Romans. But that was a very long time ago.

Posted by: runner at December 12, 2021 09:20 AM (V13WU)

54 Banish Kurt from the book thread please.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at December 12, 2021 09:20 AM (y7DUB)

55 Biggest slavers were the Romans. But that was a very long time ago.

Posted by: runner at December 12, 2021 09:20 AM

Pffft....they were pikers compared to us.

Posted by: China at December 12, 2021 09:21 AM (bVYXr)

56 Hey Captain Hate, have you read Speak, Memory?

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at December 12, 2021 09:21 AM (PiwSw)

57 Steal this book, comrade.

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at December 12, 2021 09:21 AM (UHVv4)

58 53 Biggest slavers were the Romans. But that was a very long time ago.
Posted by: runner at December 12, 2021 09:20 AM (V13WU)

I'm sure we don't know half of the history of slavery in North Africa and arab lands. The whole thing is so universal, that singling out the US is a fuckfaced thing to do.

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 09:22 AM (ONvIw)

59 Reading James Jones "From here to Eternity". 1300 pages. Expected more, don't feel really engaged. May be, I expected WWII book, not pre war army book.

Posted by: redmonkey at December 12, 2021 09:22 AM (0+Ppk)

60 Ok, of the "western world"...

Posted by: runner at December 12, 2021 09:22 AM (V13WU)

61 One of my favorite phrases was used by an old time newspaper to describe their new full color comics section: polychromatic effulgence.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at December 12, 2021 09:23 AM (Dc2NZ)

62 I'm sure we don't know half of the history of slavery in North Africa and arab lands. The whole thing is so universal, that singling out the US is a fuckfaced thing to do.

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 09:22 AM (ONvIw)

But so very, very useful!

Posted by: Leftists at December 12, 2021 09:24 AM (7bRMQ)

63 I found the Master Sniper in the Orangery painting.

Finished a couple of books, one is a Immanuel Velikovsky book written posthumously "In the Beginning" and the other is a book promoted by Amazon and turned out to be a good page turner: "Shorting the Grid: The Hidden Fragility of Our Electric Grid". Meredith Angwin, the author took a complex subject and made it understandable.

I didn't know if this person was all gung-ho on renewables (turns out that nuclear is her preference) and doesn't trash any fuel but properly shows why those energy sources are in place and how they have an effect on the grid. Turns out that the stars of the show in today's power generation fleet are terrible at resiliency and she uses her area (ISO-NE, NEPOOL) as an example.

Posted by: Reuben Hick at December 12, 2021 09:24 AM (+LCoQ)

64 That last cartoon is soooooo true. At least I'm sure it applies to most of the book thread Horde.

And I love the painting of the woman reading in the orangery. You can smell the fragrance of the trees.

Posted by: JTB at December 12, 2021 09:25 AM (7EjX1)

65 I'm in the middle of "Hellburner", a direct sequel to C.J. Cherryh's "Heavy Time" in the Company Wars series. A prototype Fleet ridership (these are in essence the fighter jets that protect the carriers) is being tested and the big debate is whether to depend on AI or programmed humans, since operating at top speeds is pushing the limit on human response time. And because they've got the space-born reflexes, this Earth-based project is forced to recruit the top pilots from the Belt and beyond -- from a population with no great allegiance to Sol. The ship is difficult to control and there was a fatal accident in the first shakedown.

It's very talky, tech-heavy, and political, about interservice rivalries and intersystem cultural divides that are really starting to manifest. I like how conversations reflect years and events we haven't even seen, yet somehow in her terse dialog you get a sense of the history behind each viewpoint.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at December 12, 2021 09:25 AM (Dc2NZ)

66 Tell us MORE, about this Talking to Otters book!

Posted by: gilbar at December 12, 2021 09:26 AM (9H0g+)

67 But so very, very useful!
Posted by: Leftists at December 12, 2021 09:24 AM (7bRMQ)

Yep, this is what all the academic flagellations get us. The French have the right idea with their "it's over (except for chlordecone) so STFU"

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 09:27 AM (ONvIw)

68 Biggest slavers were the Romans. But that was a very long time ago.
-----------------------
But they were overwhelmingly white so they don't count.

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at December 12, 2021 09:27 AM (UHVv4)

69 I'm not sure I want to know what's going on in an otter's mind when it...you know...swarms a victim.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at December 12, 2021 09:27 AM (Dc2NZ)

70 Finished a couple of books, one is a Immanuel Velikovsky book written posthumously.... Posted by: Reuben Hick at December 12, 2021 09:24 AM (+LCoQ)

Sounds like they way I'll write from now on.

Posted by: Anne Rice at December 12, 2021 09:28 AM (7bRMQ)

71 Some attitudes are better left in the past, and we're well without them. Case in point: the supposed shame of miscegenation. As if a child has any say as to whom its parents are!

In a 1950 Perry Mason book I just finished and an early Ellery Queen mystery, this concept is a means for blackmail. The Mason book focuses on the fear that an adopted baby has Japanese ancestry; the Queen story, black lineage. I'm not giving titles to avoid spoilers, even if these books are decades old.

Although I believe that there are more mixed-race couples in TV ads than in real life, I certainly do not think this should be controlled. It's what Inside the mind that counts.

When I finish my current Mason binge, I think I'll get something more contemporary.

Posted by: Weak Geek at December 12, 2021 09:28 AM (Om/di)

72 I'm sure we don't know half of the history of slavery in North Africa and arab lands. The whole thing is so universal, that singling out the US is a fuckfaced thing to do.

-
America was millennia late to the slavery game (if you don't count the ~~Indians~~ ~~Native Americans~~ First Peoples).

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks Now With Pumpkin Spice! at December 12, 2021 09:29 AM (FVME7)

73 Sounds like they way I'll write from now on.
Posted by: Anne Rice at December 12, 2021 09:28 AM (7bRMQ)

Worked for me!

Posted by: Hemingway at December 12, 2021 09:29 AM (ONvIw)

74 I like how conversations reflect years and events we haven't even seen, yet somehow in her terse dialog you get a sense of the history behind each viewpoint.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at December 12, 2021 09:25 AM (Dc2NZ)
---
I haven't read any of Cherryh's works, but it sounds like she is a very strong writer if she can use words efficiently to convey a lot of background information.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at December 12, 2021 09:29 AM (Ap6+r)

75 The French did a bang-up job in Haiti.

Posted by: Been Lurking, but clearly been posting too at December 12, 2021 09:30 AM (rDgjh)

76 America was millennia late to the slavery game (if you don't count the Indians Native Americans First Peoples).
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks Now With Pumpkin Spice! at December 12, 2021 09:29 AM (FVME7)

We need to stop wallowing like guilt pigs.

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 09:30 AM (ONvIw)

77 Do books count as durable goods??

Durable Goods Inflation Breaks All-Time 1970s High as Prices Jump 14.9%
Over the past 12-months, prices of durable goods are up 14.9 percent, higher than the record annual gain of 14.4 percent hit in May 1975.

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at December 12, 2021 09:30 AM (UHVv4)

78 69 I'm not sure I want to know what's going on in an otter's mind when it...you know...swarms a victim.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at December 12, 2021 09:27 AM (Dc2NZ)

Well, it's like when you get to the buffet and you're first in line and you smell the fragrant steam rising from the steam table....

Posted by: Stacy Abrams at December 12, 2021 09:31 AM (PiwSw)

79 75 The French did a bang-up job in Haiti.
Posted by: Been Lurking, but clearly been posting too at December 12, 2021 09:30 AM (rDgjh)

And the Haitian rebellion jumped here, where the French squashed it and executed the rebel leaders, but shhhhhh, let's blame everyone else.

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 09:31 AM (ONvIw)

80 Hey everyone!

My favorite use of 'pulchritude' was when Peter Ustinov deploys it at his gladiatorial school in "Spartacus" to compliment one of the Senators' wives who wants to see students face off.

Ustinov is also amazing as Nero in "Quo Vadis."

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 12, 2021 09:33 AM (llXky)

81 " I like the Godzilla haiku thing. That should be its own thread"

I demand equal time.

Flying above on leather wings
Triangle head follows the scent of gore
Is it bird or bat

Posted by: Gamera at December 12, 2021 09:33 AM (Tnijr)

82 If nothing else the closest championship finish in F-1 ever

Posted by: Skip at December 12, 2021 09:34 AM (2JoB8)

83 Is pulchitrude considered a rarely used word? It's been in my vocabulary for a long time.

Posted by: N.L. Urker, the Phillips screwdriver of the gods at December 12, 2021 09:34 AM (eGTCV)

84 NO one is wallowing.

Posted by: runner at December 12, 2021 09:34 AM (V13WU)

85 84. The US constantly wallows in guilt over slavery, and that's why it's such an industry. We take on responsibility for way too much.

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 09:35 AM (ONvIw)

86 I finished Shadowplay by Joseph O'Connor and, although it was extremely well written and thought out, it revealed what is so frustrating, at least to me, about historical fiction: namely not knowing how much was real and how much artistic embellishment. For example, I'm ready to believe that Dracula was a literary flop that only got a second life after the movie version created interest in the written version. This was pretty obviously hinted at when Stoker was portrayed as really enjoying movies when most people thought of them as a fad and couldn't find a bookstore that carried his work. It gave a good portrayal of the theatrical world back when that was the primary vehicle for popular culture and was very well written. It was another example of a book club selection being something enjoyable that it's extremely unlikely I'd have read on my own.

Has anyone here read it?

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at December 12, 2021 09:35 AM (y7DUB)

87 Ustinov is also amazing as Nero in "Quo Vadis."
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 12, 2021 09:33 AM (llXky)

He was the second best Poirot, too.

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 09:36 AM (ONvIw)

88 Ustinov is also amazing as Nero in "Quo Vadis."
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 12, 2021 09:33 AM (llXky)
---
I think his best performance was his appearance on The Muppet Show...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at December 12, 2021 09:36 AM (Ap6+r)

89 Reading James Jones "From here to Eternity". 1300 pages. Expected more, don't feel really engaged. May be, I expected WWII book, not pre war army book.

Posted by: redmonkey at December 12, 2021 09:22 AM (0+Ppk)
---
My father says that a big part of why that book was such a best-seller was that it had naughty bits in it.

It showed the seamy side of the Army, which wasn't common at the time. A lot of famous books were famous because they were racy, sort of high-brow pr()n - clear forerunners to 50 Shades of Gray.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 12, 2021 09:36 AM (llXky)

90 88. Damn. Missed that.

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 09:36 AM (ONvIw)

91 Damn. Missed that.

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 09:36 AM (ONvIw)

He appeared as both Statler and Waldorf!

Posted by: Him Jenson at December 12, 2021 09:38 AM (7bRMQ)

92 The US constantly wallows in guilt over slavery, and that's why it's such an industry. We take on responsibility for way too much.
Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 09:35 AM (ONvIw)

You know who was (and still is) balls deep in slavery?

Islam.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at December 12, 2021 09:38 AM (y7DUB)

93 I'm building up some momentum for Something Something Dragon, a military study of China from ancient times to the future.

Got 7,000 words so far, picking up more source material. Did a forehead slap this morning when I realized I live in a university town with student books stores selling history texts. Next week I'm off to SBS to pick up the required reading for HST 140 and HST 167.

A package arrived from a seller on ebay last week with the I Ching, Analects, Tao Te Ching in it. Also The Epic of Gilgamesh, which I wanted and they had a 'buy 3 get one free' deal so that rounded it out.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 12, 2021 09:38 AM (llXky)

94 It's only the Marxists who are pushing this wallowing in slavery

Posted by: Skip at December 12, 2021 09:39 AM (2JoB8)

95 He was the second best Poirot, too.
Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 09:36 AM (ONvIw)
---

James Coco was the best!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at December 12, 2021 09:39 AM (Dc2NZ)

96 It is the latest in a series of feminist retellings of classic stories,

*****

Great. I can't wait for Moby Vagina

Posted by: Muldoon at December 12, 2021 09:39 AM (m45I2)

97 Continuing with the 100 Days of Dante. The project has been a real success for me since I'm finally reading the entire Divine Comedy and actually delving into the meaning of the poem.

I don't need it to the same degree, but a similar program for Paradise Lost or The Canterbury Tales would be epic.

Posted by: JTB at December 12, 2021 09:39 AM (7EjX1)

98 Reading James Jones "From here to Eternity". 1300 pages. Expected more, don't feel really engaged. May be, I expected WWII book, not pre war army book.

Posted by: redmonkey at December 12, 2021 09:22 AM (0+Ppk)

One of my worst reading experiences.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at December 12, 2021 09:40 AM (y7DUB)

99 Nice government lieberry!

Those pants...that breechloader wears them when he does the walk of shame leaving his sugar daddy's apartment.

The Who Dis is I have no idea, but she's a looker.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at December 12, 2021 09:40 AM (R/m4+)

100 You know who was (and still is) balls deep in slavery?

Islam.
Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at December 12, 2021 09:38 AM (y7DUB)

And nobody gives a shit as they don't lash themselves and throw money at the problem, a current problem. We can't stop taking on responsibility for generations past! If the descendants of slaves are "down-trodden", they should get off their asses and stop avoiding education and responsibility.

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 09:41 AM (ONvIw)

101 One of my worst reading experiences.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at December 12, 2021 09:40 AM (y7DUB)
---
I remember talking to you about it. The movie is superb, though. One of my favorites.

That makes this another entry in "No, really, the film was better" series.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 12, 2021 09:41 AM (llXky)

102 FIRST!!!!!

Posted by: Sponge - Saying Jackson Sparks at December 12, 2021 09:42 AM (Zz0t1)

103 Print, is dead.

Posted by: Egon Spengler at December 12, 2021 09:42 AM (Zz0t1)

104
Pulchitrude is a great comic word as it doesn't sound at all like what it is describing.

So, it gives a type of characterization based on who and how they are using it.

Posted by: naturalfake at December 12, 2021 09:42 AM (5NkmN)

105 Orangery lady is cute. Thick....

Posted by: Sponge - Saying Jackson Sparks at December 12, 2021 09:42 AM (Zz0t1)

106 103 Print, is dead.
Posted by: Egon Spengler at December 12, 2021 09:42 AM (Zz0t1)

This is a true tragedy.

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 09:43 AM (ONvIw)

107 Speaking of lousy books, I am again confronting the book group dilemma. Decided to join a local book group for the sake of conversing with other humans face to face, and am not enjoying the book at all. It is Manderley Forever, a life of Daphne Du Maurier, by Tatiana de Rosnay, and it just goes on and on and on without even the compensation of an attractive prose style. Hope I am rewarded with sparkling conversation at the book group meeting.

Posted by: Emily at December 12, 2021 09:43 AM (Uq4jl)

108 On a lighter note, prayers abundant for the people ravaged by the vicious storms that descended upon the east coast.

Posted by: Sponge - Saying Jackson Sparks at December 12, 2021 09:44 AM (Zz0t1)

109 Hope I am rewarded with sparkling conversation at the book group meeting.
Posted by: Emily at December 12, 2021 09:43 AM (Uq4jl)

How much does it delve into her husband, Boy Browning?

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 09:45 AM (ONvIw)

110 And nobody gives a shit as they don't lash themselves and throw money at the problem, a current problem. We can't stop taking on responsibility for generations past! If the descendants of slaves are "down-trodden", they should get off their asses and stop avoiding education and responsibility.

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 09:41 AM (ONvIw)
---
Recent African immigrants are amazed at the self-pitying attitude in the Black community. I went through Army basic with a guy from Sierra Leone. He joined up to earn citizenship so his family could escape from that hellhole.

Since I'd studied Africa and knew about the political situation, we got a long great and whenever someone complained about something, he'd shake his head and say in that wonderful accent of his "No, no, no, you DON'T KNOW, you just don't." You know, starvation, relatives hacked apart by machetes.

He won the prize for best soldier in the company, BTW.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 12, 2021 09:45 AM (llXky)

111 Biggest slavers were the Romans. But that was a very long time ago.
Posted by: runner at December 12, 2021 09:20 AM (V13WU)

Yup....long ago in the mists of time I asked a history prefesser of mine why the Romans didn't invent and use machines and other items.

He said they didn't need to, they had slaves in abundance.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at December 12, 2021 09:45 AM (R/m4+)

112 IT'S FUNNY BECAUSE
THAT IS HOW I DO BEGIN
BECAUSE IT'S FUNNY

Posted by: BEN ROETHLISBERGER at December 12, 2021 09:46 AM (FVME7)

113 John Candy was the best Poirot!!!

https://tinyurl.com/2p8vydk7

[11:30 minutes YouTube]

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at December 12, 2021 09:46 AM (UHVv4)

114 Good morning book friends.
I'm on vacation solo and brought 5 books figuring I would have a lot of reading time. One week in and I haven't finished the first book which I actually started last summer, Robin Hobb's Assassin's Quest, the third book in the Farseer Trilogy. I limited my reading to when I was at the pool as it was the only paperback book I owned.
Almost done and the story is dragging a bit even though I really liked the first two books.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at December 12, 2021 09:46 AM (YFZ4u)

115 Serious, you guys! The history of mankind should be totes rewritten from the perspective of the alpha female because alpha females have dominated, like, forever! Shut up!

Posted by: Dr. Bone at December 12, 2021 09:46 AM (BPuaD)

116 The etymology of 'pulchritude' is interesting. It stems from the Olde English word poultritude, which described a certain haughtiness of noblewomen during an era when the height of fashion revolved around wearing turkey feathers as adornment on hats.

Posted by: Muldoon at December 12, 2021 09:46 AM (m45I2)

117 I thought pulchitrude just meant big t --

checks title of thread

uhh ... large bosoms.

Posted by: Weak Geek at December 12, 2021 09:47 AM (Om/di)

118 I'm listening to Silence and Beauty by Christian Japanese-American artist Makoto Fujimara. It is a reflection on the life of novelist Shusaku Endo and his most famous novel Silence.
It's also about Christianity in Japan. Anyhow I find the book fascinating.

Posted by: N.L. Urker, the Phillips screwdriver of the gods at December 12, 2021 09:47 AM (eGTCV)

119 I haven't read any of Cherryh's works, but it sounds like she is a very strong writer if she can use words efficiently to convey a lot of background information. Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at December 12, 2021 09:29 AM (Ap6+r)
=====

I think she is currently underrated, but I think she won all the scifi marbles with one of her earlier works, 'Cyteen'. Start with that one.

Posted by: mustbequantum at December 12, 2021 09:47 AM (MIKMs)

120 Okay, book sorting dilemma...

I'm currently reading The Dark Shore by Adam Lee. It's good enough that I ordered the other books in the series from Amazon. However, it looks like Adam Lee is a pseudonym for A.A. Attanasio. Do I sort the books by the pseudonym (Adam Lee) or by the original name (A.A. Attanasio)?

Right now, the first book is stored in the "L" section of my library...Or do I sort by the name of the series (Dominions of Irth)? Sorting a library properly can be tough...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at December 12, 2021 09:48 AM (Ap6+r)

121 Hope I am rewarded with sparkling conversation at the book group meeting.
Posted by: Emily at December 12, 2021 09:43 AM (Uq4jl)

Trashing other peoples' selections, and indirectly impugning their tastes, is a responsibility I don't shirk.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at December 12, 2021 09:48 AM (y7DUB)

122 He won the prize for best soldier in the company, BTW.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 12, 2021 09:45 AM (llXky

I worked with any number of African immigrants and they hated how American blacks wasted their opportunities. They also took them to task for the fake African names like Keisha.

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 09:48 AM (ONvIw)

123 It's just bad from start to finish. I'll keep watching it, though, just to see how they wrap up Season 1.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel
----
Why, oh why, are you doing this to yourself????
I stopped after the first episode and barely got through that one!!

Posted by: lin-duh at December 12, 2021 09:49 AM (UUBmN)

124 I think I mentioned that I'd started The Charterhouse of Parma, and it gets better as it goes along (so far). Also started The Sleepwalkers attempting to explain the origins of WWI, highly recommended. And John DOs Passos' Travel Writings (from the Library of America), can't say much about it at this point but it's Dos Passos so I expect good things.

Posted by: who knew at December 12, 2021 09:50 AM (4I7VG)

125 Thee was an Orangerie(thought that was how it is spelled) in the botanic gardens near where I used to live. In the dead of winter it was warm and tropical and there were tables set up here and there in little private groves within the entirely glass building. It was fun to go when there was snow on the ground and read a book and imagine you were somewhere warm.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at December 12, 2021 09:51 AM (YFZ4u)

126 I think she is currently underrated, but I think she won all the scifi marbles with one of her earlier works, 'Cyteen'. Start with that one.
Posted by: mustbequantum at December 12, 2021 09:47 AM (MIKMs)
---

That's next on my list!

But I would start with "Downbelow Station", which sets up the players (and is a damn good read).

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at December 12, 2021 09:51 AM (Dc2NZ)

127 " I like the Godzilla haiku thing. That should be its own thread"
I demand equal time.
Flying above on leather wings
Triangle head follows the scent of gore
Is it bird or bat
Posted by: Gamera at December 12, 2021 09:33 AM (Tnijr)

Oh, fuck all y'all!

Angry god in stone
I watch your sinful heart act
Now shall I stab you

Posted by: Daimajin at December 12, 2021 09:51 AM (5NkmN)

128 I borrowed the book Geronimo by Mike Leach quite some time ago. Haven't read it yet. I really need to for the simple fact that I need to return the damn thing. Guy must think I'm an asshole for not returning it yet.

Posted by: Sponge - Saying Jackson Sparks at December 12, 2021 09:51 AM (Zz0t1)

129 I've never read anything by Grr Martin and I don't believe I ever will.

Posted by: N.L. Urker, the Phillips screwdriver of the gods at December 12, 2021 09:52 AM (eGTCV)

130 The Landmark Anabasis has been released.

Xenophon's true story of the Greek mercenary forces escape from the center of the Persian empire. Like all the Landmark series, loaded with maps and commentary. Not cheap, but it'll come down, I expect I'll buy a copy before it's out as a paperback.

The pace of Landmark releases has really slowed down. But the reading backlog is always getting bigger.

Eris will have me starting on C.J. Cherryh sometime soon.

Posted by: InspiredHistoryMike at December 12, 2021 09:52 AM (C/fpg)

131 Yup....long ago in the mists of time I asked a history prefesser of mine why the Romans didn't invent and use machines and other items.

He said they didn't need to, they had slaves in abundance.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at December 12, 2021 09:45 AM (R/m4+)

That and the morae of the times wouldn't allow mechanics to have any standing, except for engineers. Physical labor was abhorrent to the upper classes. They had all they needed to invent the modern bicycle, but their worldview wouldn't allow it. They had the ability to do so much but could because of their society. Of course almost all ancient societies were that way.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at December 12, 2021 09:52 AM (7bRMQ)

132 A spaceship from Earth accidentally crossed through a hole in space-time to a universe where the force of gravity is one billion times as strong as the gravity we know. Somehow the crew survived,

******

This blurb requires one not only to suspend disbelief, but to take disbelief out into the woods, shoot it in the head, burn the corpse, bury it in a deep hole, then dig it up, shoot it again, burn it again and bury it again.

Sounds like a book I might like to read.

Posted by: Muldoon at December 12, 2021 09:53 AM (m45I2)

133 I bought a C.J. Cherryh novel after I attended my first SF con. I never read it -- comics were my prime from of entertainment then -- and now I don't know whether I even have it. Can't even remember the title.

Posted by: Weak Geek at December 12, 2021 09:53 AM (Om/di)

134 I'm listening to Silence and Beauty by Christian Japanese-American artist Makoto Fujimara. It is a reflection on the life of novelist Shusaku Endo and his most famous novel Silence.
It's also about Christianity in Japan. Anyhow I find the book fascinating.

Posted by: N.L. Urker, the Phillips screwdriver of the gods at December 12, 2021 09:47 AM (eGTCV)
---
My wife has been watching anime for some weird reason and she says that there are lots of muted references to Christianity. I think it's interesting that Cowboy Bebop has one of its episodes use "Ave Maria" as part of the soundtrack and then a shootout in an abandoned cathedral.

(I'm referring to the animated one, not the abortive live-action series).

She speculates that there is a sort of residual spiritual guilt at work. The Japanese tried to wipe out Christianity but a remnant survived. There's also the war guilt - not that they care about what they did to China, but how all those soldiers and sailors fought to the death, only for the homeland to surrender.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 12, 2021 09:55 AM (llXky)

135 It's just bad from start to finish. I'll keep watching it, though, just to see how they wrap up Season 1.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel
----
Why, oh why, are you doing this to yourself????
I stopped after the first episode and barely got through that one!!
Posted by: lin-duh at December 12, 2021 09:49 AM (UUBmN)
---
Because I enjoy watching YouTube videos about the series. Some of the YouTubers are insane in their praise of the series (*cough*Daniel Greene*cough*). While others do a proper job of analyzing the series and pointing out the numerous faults and flaws (Knights Watch is great!). It's the same reason I forced myself to see The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker in the theater. I honestly couldn't believe someone could create something so deliberately awful.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at December 12, 2021 09:55 AM (Ap6+r)

136 South also had a lot of Scotch-Irish, West Country Englishmen, and Welsh. Basically all the Celts, because only an Englishman would be crazy enough to settle in New England.

Posted by: Trimegistus at December 12, 2021 09:55 AM (QZxDR)

137 James Coco was the best!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at December 12, 2021 09:39 AM (Dc2NZ)

Wrong! It was Dom DeLouise!

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at December 12, 2021 09:56 AM (xq1+U)

138
This blurb requires one not only to suspend disbelief, but to take disbelief out into the woods, shoot it in the head, burn the corpse, bury it in a deep hole, then dig it up, shoot it again, burn it again and bury it again.

Posted by: Muldoon at December 12, 2021 09:53 AM

I got suspended for disbelief a couple of times in high school.

Posted by: Traitor Joe's Military Surplus at December 12, 2021 09:56 AM (dQvv7)

139 Sounds like a book I might like to read.
Posted by: Muldoon at December 12, 2021 09:53 AM (m45I2)
---
I wasn't sure about it at first, but it gripped me from page one until the end. Yeah, you have to suspend disbelief. But Baxter is a pretty hard science fiction writer, so he grounds his stories within real-world physics (mostly), with some phlebotinum thrown in to solve certain problems.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at December 12, 2021 09:57 AM (Ap6+r)

140 I borrowed the book Geronimo by Mike Leach quite some time ago. Haven't read it yet. I really need to for the simple fact that I need to return the damn thing. Guy must think I'm an asshole for not returning it yet.

Posted by: Sponge - Saying Jackson Sparks at December 12, 2021 09:51 AM (Zz0t1)

Or he's an Indian Giver....

Posted by: OrangeEnt at December 12, 2021 09:57 AM (7bRMQ)

141
She speculates that there is a sort of residual spiritual guilt at work. The Japanese tried to wipe out Christianity but a remnant survived. There's also the war guilt - not that they care about what they did to China, but how all those soldiers and sailors fought to the death, only for the homeland to surrender.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 12, 2021 09:55 AM (llXky)

I'm glad they can put it aside, we could learn from them.

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 09:57 AM (ONvIw)

142 I hope I'm not praising C.J. Cherryh too much. I've always been a fan but it may not be to everyone's taste.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at December 12, 2021 09:57 AM (Dc2NZ)

143 I have no objection to a story being told from an alternate point of view. It just needs to be written by the original author. I'm thinking of Robert Asprin's later "Myth-Adventures" books.

Piggyback authors will get none of my money.

Posted by: Weak Geek at December 12, 2021 09:58 AM (Om/di)

144 Hillary Clinton, Bill DeBlasio, and Lindsay Graham on Sunday morning talkies.

Fair and Balanced.

And they wonder why nobody watches anymore.

Posted by: Auspex at December 12, 2021 09:58 AM (Xo3T0)

145 Also started The Sleepwalkers attempting to explain the origins of WWI, highly recommended.

-
Extremely detailed. 750 pages of extremely detailed. It begins with the murders King Alexander and Queen Draga of Serbia in 1903. The responsibility for starting WWI is one of those issues where the more you know, the less you understand. The only thing I know for sure is that it wasn't all Germany's fault.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks Now With Pumpkin Spice! at December 12, 2021 09:58 AM (FVME7)

146 South also had a lot of Scotch-Irish, West Country Englishmen, and Welsh. Basically all the Celts, because only an Englishman would be crazy enough to settle in New England.

*****

Well, not ALL the Celtic folks. The Cornish gravitated towards Iowa and Nebraska.

Posted by: Muldoon at December 12, 2021 09:58 AM (m45I2)

147 Finished 13 Days of Glory and started McCullough's 1776. I'm about halfway through, where Washington just got handed his ass on Long Island.

My one complaint is common to both books -- basically, dude do you even map? I get that historians like historical maps. They are source documents that show how the participants perceived the situation. But would it kill you to also include some cleanly drawn maps with modern typology so the reader can actually understand where the events being described happened? Tolkien's map of Middle Earth is more readable than some 18th century Brit's map of Long Island.

Posted by: Oddbob at December 12, 2021 09:59 AM (nfrXX)

148 She speculates that there is a sort of residual spiritual guilt at work. The Japanese tried to wipe out Christianity but a remnant survived. There's also the war guilt - not that they care about what they did to China, but how all those soldiers and sailors fought to the death, only for the homeland to surrender.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 12, 2021 09:55 AM (llXky)

You ever hear the story about the flight leader of the Pearl Harbor attack? Became a Christian evangelist after the war.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at December 12, 2021 09:59 AM (7bRMQ)

149 Chris Wallace just quit! See ya!

Posted by: Mean Tweets at December 12, 2021 09:59 AM (BOJAx)

150 But I would start with "Downbelow Station", which sets up the players (and is a damn good read).
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at December 12, 2021 09:51 AM (Dc2NZ)
---
I do have Downbelow Station on my Kindle for some reason. I think I got it cheap during a book deal. I'll have to give it a whirl.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at December 12, 2021 10:00 AM (Ap6+r)

151
I can make coffee at home that is better, tastier and cheaper than I can get it at a cafe. However, the books I try to write are terrible.

Posted by: Kindltot at December 12, 2021 10:00 AM (ZMraq)

152 I think I mentioned that I'd started The Charterhouse of Parma, and it gets better as it goes along (so far). Also started The Sleepwalkers attempting to explain the origins of WWI, highly recommended.

I absolutely hated The Charterhouse of Parma when the book group read it. I know it's a classic but nothing in it worked for me.

I read The Sleepwakers when I was too immature and lacking in insight to understood it. I've still got it in my bookshelf so someday a reread will happen.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at December 12, 2021 10:00 AM (y7DUB)

153 116 The etymology of 'pulchritude' is interesting. It stems from the Olde English word poultritude, which described a certain haughtiness of noblewomen during an era when the height of fashion revolved around wearing turkey feathers as adornment on hats.

Posted by: Muldoon at December 12, 2021 09:46 AM (m45I2)

You know, this is *almost* believable.

(h/t)

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at December 12, 2021 10:01 AM (xq1+U)

154 AHE - As I said, currently underrated. I am not tied to series order.

Posted by: mustbequantum at December 12, 2021 10:01 AM (MIKMs)

155
Well, not ALL the Celtic folks. The Cornish gravitated towards Iowa and Nebraska.

Posted by: Muldoon at December 12, 2021 09:58 AM

I wonder why the Cob puts up with your corny puns. I gotta get in his ear.

Posted by: Traitor Joe's Military Surplus at December 12, 2021 10:02 AM (dQvv7)

156 Not including maps is a big beef of mine. Is it the historian's fault, or the publisher's?

It seems to be getting worse. I wonder if publishers just assume everybody is next to a computer and can Gurgle it.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at December 12, 2021 10:02 AM (Dc2NZ)

157 I liked Johnny Depp (hammy as he was) In Poirots of the Caribbean

Posted by: Muldoon at December 12, 2021 10:02 AM (m45I2)

158 I think the first time I ever saw Pulchritude written was in a Heinlein book where he referred to one of the women protagonists going to the "Palace of Pulchritude'

Posted by: Kindltot at December 12, 2021 10:02 AM (ZMraq)

159 She speculates that there is a sort of residual spiritual guilt at work. The Japanese tried to wipe out Christianity but a remnant survived. There's also the war guilt - not that they care about what they did to China, but how all those soldiers and sailors fought to the death, only for the homeland to surrender.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 12, 2021 09:55 AM (llXky)

My denomination has a church in Tokyo. Very small, like maybe a couple of hundred in the congregation., after being there for decades. Whew. Talk about rocky soil.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at December 12, 2021 10:02 AM (xq1+U)

160 I've long been interested in plant propagation, partly to see if I can succeed and partly because I just enjoy small watching small plants grow and develop. I got out my old copy of "Pirating Plants" by Peter Tobey who describes it as 'a gardener's guide to getting something for nothing'.

The book deals with the many ways he propagates all sorts of plants from gathering seeds to transplanting good size trees and he shows the processes with his excellent pen and ink illustrations. Tobey has a casual but serious interest in the subject but keeps a sense of the ridiculous about some of his efforts. And he takes time t explain the fun philosophy behind his interest. There's a bit of a 'hippyish' approach in his writing but the information is solid and his interest is sincere.

Pirating Plants is a delightful book and I've enjoyed reading it for decades. It was a three dollar paperback when I got it in the late 1970s. But it got only one printing and has never been reissued. The used copies on Amazon start at about 45 buck, plus delivery, and go up to over 700. That's absurd of course. But a reasonable priced copy would be worth it.

Posted by: JTB at December 12, 2021 10:03 AM (7EjX1)

161 oddbob one thing I am constantly doing reading historical accounts of battles is looking up maps, Google Earth and street view on Google map. That also makes me wonder but as say even if it did I'm going the extra mile.

Posted by: Skip at December 12, 2021 10:03 AM (2JoB8)

162 As a child I read a YA novel called 10,000 Heroes about Xenophon's contingent retreating -- Greek [or Macedonian?] boy and local Kurdish girl befriend each other.

Today I only recall her teaching the Greek boy how to cook squirrel she'd killed using her sling. [Covered it in mud; place in fire until mud hardens; break apart and the fur/hair comes off in the baked mud; and eat -- I assume after gutting it first.]

And, no, it wasn't a girl-pwrrrr book as it was too early for that b.s. genre -- they both had their unique skills.

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at December 12, 2021 10:03 AM (UHVv4)

163 She speculates that there is a sort of residual spiritual guilt at work. The Japanese tried to wipe out Christianity but a remnant survived. There's also the war guilt - not that they care about what they did to China, but how all those soldiers and sailors fought to the death, only for the homeland to surrender.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 12, 2021 09:55 AM (llXky)

Fujimara believes Christianity has a more significant impact on Japanese culture than would seem likely considering only one percent of the population is Christian.
A hill in Nagasaki was called Martyr Hill after 12 Christians were crucified on it in 1697. It was ground zero for the atom bomb.

Posted by: N.L. Urker, the Phillips screwdriver of the gods at December 12, 2021 10:03 AM (eGTCV)

164 [Muldoon], I wonder why the Cob puts up with your corny puns.

Posted by: Traitor Joe's Military Surplus at December 12, 2021 10:02 AM (dQvv7

So do I.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at December 12, 2021 10:04 AM (xq1+U)

165 The cool thing about having stupid friends is that you can use words like pulchritude however you want, because they don't know what it means and just nod their head and try to understand it in the context of your sentence, a bit like learning the language in A Clockwork Orange.

Posted by: Bitter Clinger at December 12, 2021 10:06 AM (Jfduv)

166 The responsibility for starting WWI is one of those issues where the more you know, the less you understand. The only thing I know for sure is that it wasn't all Germany's fault.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks Now With Pumpkin Spice! at December 12, 2021 09:58 AM (FVME7)

The ultimate failure of diplomacy as everyone talked past each other. For such a consequential event, it should have never happened.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at December 12, 2021 10:06 AM (y7DUB)

167 Pulchritide looks too close to Putrid.

Posted by: Just a side note at December 12, 2021 10:06 AM (HaNEn)

168 Anne Rice is mort. Never read her.

Posted by: Rep. Dan Crenshaw at December 12, 2021 10:07 AM (4thlk)

169 Huh. I learn something new everyday here. I thought pulchritude was something dirty.

Posted by: Count de Monet at December 12, 2021 10:07 AM (4I/2K)

170 So do I.
Posted by: OregonMuse,

******

If you're referring to the Cornish quip, quite Frankly, so do I.

Posted by: Muldoon at December 12, 2021 10:07 AM (m45I2)

171 Pulchritide looks too close to Putrid.
Posted by: Just a side note at December 12, 2021 10:06 AM (HaNEn)
---
Yeah, it feels like an ugly, crude word to describe something wonderful (beauty).

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at December 12, 2021 10:07 AM (Ap6+r)

172
Pirating Plants is a delightful book and I've enjoyed reading it for decades. It was a three dollar paperback when I got it in the late 1970s. But it got only one printing and has never been reissued. The used copies on Amazon start at about 45 buck, plus delivery, and go up to over 700. That's absurd of course. But a reasonable priced copy would be worth it.

Posted by: JTB at December 12, 2021 10:03 AM

I probably have many hundreds of dollars of rhododendron on my property from figuring out how to 'pirate' them. In their case it's as easy as placing a large weight on top of a low-lying branch and waiting.

Posted by: Traitor Joe's Military Surplus at December 12, 2021 10:08 AM (dQvv7)

173 Best use of Pulchritude I ever saw: trailer for a Roger Corman exploitation flick called "Common Law Cabin" -- "The Movie that dares to ask the question 'How Much Loving Does a Normal Couple Need?'" featuring some starlet described as the "eppy-tome of Scandinavian Pulchritude!"

Posted by: Trimegistus at December 12, 2021 10:08 AM (QZxDR)

174 The cool thing about having stupid friends is that you can use words like pulchritude however you want, because they don't know what it means and just nod their head and try to understand it in the context of your sentence, a bit like learning the language in A Clockwork Orange.
Posted by: Bitter Clinger at December 12, 2021 10:06 AM (Jfduv)

Thanks, buddy!

Posted by: Count de Monet, the stupid friend at December 12, 2021 10:08 AM (4I/2K)

175 The word for next week will be "callipygian!" Oh yeah!

Posted by: Kim Kardashian at December 12, 2021 10:09 AM (PiwSw)

176 Still plugging away at "Astoria", about the ill-fated attempt to establish an American foothold in the Pacific Northwest. Remind me to never travel around the Horn with a paranoid martinet of a captain.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonquin_(1807_ship)

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at December 12, 2021 10:09 AM (Dc2NZ)

177 When you use satellite images to track progress of battles, you have to remember that the trees were much smaller then. Not as easy to hide behind.

Posted by: Weak Geek at December 12, 2021 10:09 AM (Om/di)

178 It's the same reason I forced myself to see The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker in the theater. I honestly couldn't believe someone could create something so deliberately awful.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at December 12, 2021 09:55 AM (Ap6+r)

I have a bone to pick with Rian Johnson and it's this:

This week I watched "Looper" again, which I thought was pretty great when I saw it in the theater. However, in light of "TLJ" I expected would upon revisiting, suck mightily.

I was wrong about that. "Looper" is a wonderfully written, well-directed and acted, heartfelt and overall positive SF movie though it accepts tragedy in life.

This guy should've been perfect for "TLJ", but wasn't and had to know better. The only thing I can think of is that he purposefully and maliciously distorted Star Wars for whatever personal or professional reason.

The "fymynyst view" attack on classic literature strikes me the same way. Though admittedly I'm very much against authors raping the dead for their characters, plots, and stories anyway. At least try to be original, dickweeds.

Posted by: naturalfake at December 12, 2021 10:09 AM (5NkmN)

179 Anne Rice is mort. Never read her.

Posted by: Rep. Dan Crenshaw at December 12, 2021 10:07 AM (4thlk)

Well, keep your eye on her books, they'll probably sell out soon.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at December 12, 2021 10:09 AM (7bRMQ)

180 I'm reading "Destruction Was My Beatrice," a history of the Dada art movement. Only about a quarter of the way in, but so far it's very good.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at December 12, 2021 10:09 AM (m0zqP)

181 I always say feminine pulchitrude, as opposed to just saying pulchitrude. Perhaps that's redundant.

Posted by: N.L. Urker, the Phillips screwdriver of the gods at December 12, 2021 10:10 AM (eGTCV)

182 Greetings:

Finished "Ambush Valley" by a guy named Hammel. A battle history of the 3/26 Marines along the DMZ in September 1967.

I'm a pretty disciplined reader but this book almost turned me into a page-turner. The author wrote it as a series of edited anecdotes from the survivors. Very tough days.

Only fail was no distance scales on the maps.

Posted by: 11B40 at December 12, 2021 10:10 AM (uuklp)

183 Before Eris started recent comments on C.J. Cherryh, I was really only aware that she'd inspired a lot of filk songs. Pride of Chanur did not appeal to me, but I think I'd like the Alliance-Union series.

My favorike filk song? possibly "a hym to breaking strain", a Kipling engineering poem. Too bad I missed the Music thread?

Posted by: InspiredHistoryMike at December 12, 2021 10:10 AM (C/fpg)

184
I think they don't wallow in their past wrongs the way we do. They made a more recent but enduring mess in Guadeloupe and Martinique, and nobody seems to care.
Seems the biggest root of slavery might come from Paris.
Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 09:18 AM (ONvIw)

The French can say, "at least we are not Belgium" and "The LeClerc expedition to Haiti was Bonaparte's fault, Victor Hugo is one of our best writers"

Posted by: Kindltot at December 12, 2021 10:10 AM (ZMraq)

185 173 Best use of Pulchritude I ever saw: trailer for a Roger Corman exploitation flick called "Common Law Cabin" -- "The Movie that dares to ask the question 'How Much Loving Does a Normal Couple Need?'" featuring some starlet described as the "eppy-tome of Scandinavian Pulchritude!"
Posted by: Trimegistus at December 12, 2021 10:08 AM (QZxDR)
---

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at December 12, 2021 10:10 AM (Dc2NZ)

186 Saral Silverman is hoisted on her own woke petard. She criticized Joy Reid so now she's attacked as a racist.

https://bit.ly/3pIyWqY

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks Now With Pumpkin Spice! at December 12, 2021 10:10 AM (FVME7)

187 Weak Geek but I'd average hight of a Civil War soldier was 5 -6 he could use a smaller tree to hide behind.

Posted by: Skip at December 12, 2021 10:11 AM (2JoB8)

188 I just purchased A Man at Arms by Steven Pressfield and the early biography (2011) of Rafa Nadal. Hoping Pressfield got his groove back. His last book and attempt at horror / mystery/ futurism blew chunks.

Posted by: Just a side note at December 12, 2021 10:11 AM (HaNEn)

189 I like the Godzilla haiku thing. That should be its own thread"
---
Godzilla in the West is generally interpreted as a cautionary tale about nuclear weapons/environmental destruction, but in Japan it was an expression of guilt for the surrender after so many of their troops had fought to the death.

Within a few years, Japan's economy has surging but with that newfound prosperity came guilt, and Godzilla was the embodiment of it, a vengeful spirit of the dead come to take back their prosperity.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 12, 2021 10:12 AM (llXky)

190 But I would start with "Downbelow Station", which sets up the players (and is a damn good read).

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at December 12, 2021 09:51 AM (Dc2NZ)

Her books are where I get the pronoun " stsho" for those who are confused as to which of the two human sexes they belong to naturally.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at December 12, 2021 10:12 AM (nC+QA)

191 Pulchritude looks too close to Putrid.
------------------------
It sounds like it has something to do with elephants! That's why I prefer nice ass".

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at December 12, 2021 10:13 AM (UHVv4)

192 Chris Wallace just quit! See ya!
Posted by: Mean Tweets at December 12, 2021 09:59 AM (BOJAx)

Truly? So you think I have a chance?

Posted by: Chris Cuomo at December 12, 2021 10:13 AM (4I/2K)

193 Thanks, buddy!

Posted by: Count de Monet, the stupid friend at December 12, 2021 10:08 AM (4I/2K)

"What's your problem with Biden."

"He's acting like he's uncircumscribed."

"I don't see what that would have to the decisions he makes."

Posted by: Bitter Clinger at December 12, 2021 10:13 AM (Jfduv)

194 This week I've been reading an original anthology edited by Maxim Jakubowski, of stories by modern crime writers about Professor Moriarty. Overall it's pretty good, but the stories do tend to fall into two main categories:

-- Fanboy stories about how Moriarty was utterly awesome, and fooled Holmes, and was a scientific genius who anticipated Einstein, and, and, and . . .

or

-- Revisionist stories about how Moriarty was Fighting The Power of the Man (who is usually Mycroft Holmes).

There's also the inevitable story with Irene Adler making fools of both Holmes and Moriarty, because I think that's now required by the UN Charter.

Posted by: Trimegistus at December 12, 2021 10:13 AM (QZxDR)

195 My favorite word for the internet is Ultracrepidarian.

Posted by: Just a side note at December 12, 2021 10:13 AM (HaNEn)

196 Anne Rice is mort. Never read her.
Posted by: Rep. Dan Crenshaw
-------------------
Put the patch over your other eye, Dan! Already mentioned!

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at December 12, 2021 10:14 AM (UHVv4)

197 There is a video out on the interwebs from a TV documentary from years ago where James Jones is living in Paris with his wife, drinking, shooting skeet, shopping etc. He bad mouths everyone and everything.

I think he talks about joining the Army and went into the Air Corps. But all he ever did in Hawaii was cut grass as Hollywood bigwigs were always visiting and the grass on base had to be kept trimmed and proper. He remarked how whole platoons pushed those old tymee push mowers all day everyday and he got sick of it so he transferred to a line company and ended up doing the same thing when not on field marches, training, etc.

He was crazy as a shit house rat by the way.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at December 12, 2021 10:14 AM (R/m4+)

198 Posted by: JTB at December 12, 2021 10:03 AM (7EjX1)

This reminds me of "rose rustling", where fans of old fashioned roses take clippings from roadsides and old gardens to propagate them.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at December 12, 2021 10:14 AM (Dc2NZ)

199 The "fymynyst view" attack on classic literature strikes me the same way. Though admittedly I'm very much against authors raping the dead for their characters, plots, and stories anyway. At least try to be original, dickweeds.
Posted by: naturalfake at December 12, 2021 10:09 AM (5NkmN)
-----
Yeah, it really comes off as badly-written fanfiction in most cases. Originality is HARD.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at December 12, 2021 10:14 AM (Ap6+r)

200 Fujimara believes Christianity has a more significant impact on Japanese culture than would seem likely considering only one percent of the population is Christian.
A hill in Nagasaki was called Martyr Hill after 12 Christians were crucified on it in 1697. It was ground zero for the atom bomb.

Posted by: N.L. Urker, the Phillips screwdriver of the gods at December 12, 2021 10:03 AM (eGTCV)
---
Didn't the Hiroshima bomb leave the Christian church there intact? One of the few buildings to survive?

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 12, 2021 10:15 AM (llXky)

201 173 Best use of Pulchritude I ever saw: trailer for a Roger Corman exploitation flick called "Common Law Cabin"

Posted by: Trimegistus at December 12, 2021 10:08 AM (QZxDR)

Gotta hand it to Roger. "Common Law Cabin" just sounds so, so dirty. I love it.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at December 12, 2021 10:15 AM (xq1+U)

202 As a lapsed Catholic, Anne Rice returned to the Church and wrote at least two historical fictions. "The Road to Cana" was very interesting.

When the Church would not sanction gay marriage, she left to join the Episcopalians.

Posted by: Been Lurking, but clearly been posting too at December 12, 2021 10:15 AM (rDgjh)

203 >>>I wonder why the Cob puts up with your corny puns. I gotta get in his ear.

>It's a-maizing. May the kernel of truth see to it that you get a fair hearing.

Posted by: Dr. Bone at December 12, 2021 10:15 AM (BPuaD)

204 Chris Wallace just quit! See ya!
Posted by: Mean Tweets at December 12, 2021 09:59 AM (BOJAx)

If this is true, I see him taking Fredo's spot.

Posted by: Sponge - Saying Jackson Sparks at December 12, 2021 10:15 AM (Zz0t1)

205 Still plugging away at "Astoria", about the ill-fated attempt to establish an American foothold in the Pacific Northwest.
----------------------
With explorers Statler and Waldorf??

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at December 12, 2021 10:16 AM (UHVv4)

206 I've got a handful of books I'm cycling through, a few chapters at a time. Monkey mind!

I'm enjoying Mike Duncan's "Hero of Two Worlds: The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution". The young Lafayette, who had hoped to make a name for himself in the military, was redlined from the army when drastic (and needed) reforms cut down on the number of nobles sponging off the army without doing much more than the occasional drill between drinking, gambling, and wenching. So an unemployed Lafayette jumped at the opportunity to bring some tactical expertise to the colonials (and also get back at the hated British).

LOL, he was so young at the outbreak of the revolution that he practically needed a permission slip from his parents!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at December 12, 2021 10:17 AM (Dc2NZ)

207 Yeah, it really comes off as badly-written fanfiction in most cases. Originality is HARD.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at December 12, 2021 10:14 AM (Ap6+r)

I did a bit of research into fan fiction after a previous book thread and LMAO when I read about fan fiction writers wanting to sue other fan fiction writers for borrowing their characters. Seriously? You get to "borrow" your ass off, but nobody else can?

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 10:18 AM (ONvIw)

208 in Japan it was an expression of guilt for the surrender after so many of their troops had fought to the death.

-
Always reinforce failure.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks Now With Pumpkin Spice! at December 12, 2021 10:18 AM (FVME7)

209
If this is true, I see him taking Fredo's spot.
Posted by: Sponge - Saying Jackson Sparks at December 12, 2021 10:15 AM (Zz0t1)

Good, bastard belongs with his donk buddies.

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 10:18 AM (ONvIw)

210 Oooh, thanks for the reminder about the Freddy the Pig series! Those were about the first books that I got from the library, to read over and over again, until my mother was quite exasperated and suggested that I try out some other books, now and again.
They were witty and amusing, if sometimes slightly fantastical. I need to get some of them for the Grandson, Wee Jamie.
(And also all the Borrowers books ... and Elizabeth Enright, and Edward Eager's Magic series...)

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at December 12, 2021 10:19 AM (xnmPy)

211 With explorers Statler and Waldorf??

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at December 12, 2021 10:16 AM (UHVv4)

Yes, that was a second attempt. But, that's another Astoria....

Posted by: OrangeEnt at December 12, 2021 10:19 AM (7bRMQ)

212 "What's your problem with Biden."

"He's acting like he's uncircumscribed."

"I don't see what that would have to the decisions he makes."
Posted by: Bitter Clinger at December 12, 2021 10:13 AM (Jfduv)

Yeppers. Wait a minute. Nope, I don't get it. *scratches head*

Posted by: Count de Monet, the stupid friend at December 12, 2021 10:19 AM (4I/2K)

213 Francis Xavier felt Japan was the Asian nation where Christianity was most likely to succeed. In fact there were an estimated 300,000 Christians within a few decades of the arrival of Jesuit missionaries. Nagasaki was established as a Christian city.
The Japanese shogonate felt Christianity was a threat to their culture so they decided to eliminate it and pretty much succeeded.

The most effective approach was to force Christians to repudiate their faith by stepping on images of Jesus or Mary and Jesus called fumier, which produced deep shame.

As an aside I think cancel culture forcing Christians to apologize for parts of historic Christian faith has a similar impact.

Posted by: N.L. Urker, the Phillips screwdriver of the gods at December 12, 2021 10:20 AM (eGTCV)

214 Godzilla in the West is generally interpreted as a cautionary tale about nuclear weapons/environmental destruction, but in Japan it was an expression of guilt for the surrender after so many of their troops had fought to the death.
Within a few years, Japan's economy has surging but with that newfound prosperity came guilt, and Godzilla was the embodiment of it, a vengeful spirit of the dead come to take back their prosperity.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 12, 2021 10:12 AM (llXky)

Yeah, no.

In Japan, Godzilla has always been about the atomic bomb and destruction it caused. A plague visited upon the innocent as it were.

Some of the later Godzilla movies play around with this a bit as in "we" brought about Godzilla's anger. But, in this case, "we" means the world.

You also see this in the "hates humanity ju-u-ust a little bit less than other monsters" in the Heisei Trilogy of Gamera.

Posted by: naturalfake at December 12, 2021 10:20 AM (5NkmN)

215 A small man is made of small thoughts.

Posted by: Victor Hugo at December 12, 2021 10:20 AM (jYQlA)

216 186 Saral Silverman is hoisted on her own woke petard. She criticized Joy Reid so now she's attacked as a racist.

https://bit.ly/3pIyWqY
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks Now With Pumpkin Spice! at December 12, 2021 10:10 AM (FVME7)

She can just call them all "nazis". But, yeah, she deserves it.

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 10:21 AM (ONvIw)

217 Always reinforce failure.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks Now With Pumpkin Spice! at December 12, 2021 10:18 AM (FVME7)

It works for us!

Posted by: Lincoln Project at December 12, 2021 10:21 AM (7bRMQ)

218 Greetings:

I find it interesting how rarely one hears about Japanese (People of the Sun ???) racism, especially around the beginning of August. Unless your Korean perhaps.

In his Pacifc War trilogy, Ian Toll addresses the 1945 Battle of Manila which the Japanese army refused to abandon. Interestingly, he wrote that the world would not forget all that destruction. Hah !!!

Posted by: 11B40 at December 12, 2021 10:21 AM (uuklp)

219 A "Supernatural Law" story arc had Dracula suing to regain title to a house he owned in New Orleans. In the meantime, it had been purchased by Anne Rice (not her name in the story but obvious).

When she met him, she begged to be turned. He refused, saying she wanted it too much.

Posted by: Weak Geek at December 12, 2021 10:22 AM (Om/di)

220 Didn't the Hiroshima bomb leave the Christian church there intact? One of the few buildings to survive?
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 12, 2021 10:15 AM (llXky)

It may have. I'm not sure. One of the disadvantages of listening to books is that you can't very easily flip back to refresh your memory.

Posted by: N.L. Urker, the Phillips screwdriver of the gods at December 12, 2021 10:22 AM (eGTCV)

221 I did a bit of research into fan fiction after a previous book thread and LMAO when I read about fan fiction writers wanting to sue other fan fiction writers for borrowing their characters. Seriously? You get to "borrow" your ass off, but nobody else can?
Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 10:18 AM (ONvIw)
---
Yeah, that makes no sense unless a fanfiction author is attempting to make a profit by borrowing those "original" characters. Fanfiction is a weird genre...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at December 12, 2021 10:22 AM (Ap6+r)

222 One reason I haven't read as much this week is that I spent quite a bit of time watching the YouTube World War Two Channel documentary series on Pearl Harbor minute-by-minute. They really do a great job of chronicling everything that was going on, plus lots of context and background.

And absolutely NOT revisionist history. They actually point out that the Japanese attacked America to keep America from interfering in their conquest of southeast Asia . . . thereby guaranteeing that America would interfere. Also that they used carriers to cripple America's battleship fleet . . . thereby demonstrating that battleships were no longer the key component of naval warfare. A classic example of operational brilliance in the service of strategic lunacy.

Posted by: Trimegistus at December 12, 2021 10:23 AM (QZxDR)

223 I did a bit of research into fan fiction after a previous book thread and LMAO when I read about fan fiction writers wanting to sue other fan fiction writers for borrowing their characters. Seriously? You get to "borrow" your ass off, but nobody else can?

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 10:18 AM (ONvIw)

It's like antifa calling on the police to protect them after the driver of a car they've been blocking has had enough of their sh*t.

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at December 12, 2021 10:24 AM (xq1+U)

224 Have any of the Fox hosts succeeded when they left Fox? Can't think of a single one that has a following elsewhere.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at December 12, 2021 10:24 AM (YFZ4u)

225 Always reinforce failure.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks Now With Pumpkin Spice! at December 12, 2021 10:18 AM (FVME7)

It works for us!
Posted by: Lincoln Project at December 12, 2021 10:21 AM (7bRMQ)

From the ashes of disaster grow the roses of success!
https://youtu.be/WOyIJVUaoeg

Posted by: Vulgaria Scientists at December 12, 2021 10:24 AM (4I/2K)

226 That library is awful. So sterile and office-like.
Posted by: Cat Ass Trophy at December 12, 2021 09:04 AM (EfigE)

Looks like the film set of THX1138.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at December 12, 2021 10:24 AM (VwHCD)

227 Yeah, that makes no sense unless a fanfiction author is attempting to make a profit by borrowing those "original" characters. Fanfiction is a weird genre...
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at December 12, 2021 10:22 AM (Ap6+r)

I've never read any, but first heard of it in relation to Star Trek TOS and all the stupid love stories from silly women.

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 10:24 AM (ONvIw)

228 Ann Rice of Interview with a Vampire fame has passed at 80.

RIP.

She led an interesting life.

Posted by: Sharkman at December 12, 2021 10:24 AM (M8yB3)

229 Sharon--still have heard back from you about the hat color!

Posted by: Ladyl at December 12, 2021 10:25 AM (TdMsT)

230 It's like antifa calling on the police to protect them after the driver of a car they've been blocking has had enough of their sh*t.
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at December 12, 2021 10:24 AM (xq1+U)

Except, antifa is worse than fan fiction.

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 10:25 AM (ONvIw)

231 I've never read any, but first heard of it in relation to Star Trek TOS and all the stupid love stories from silly women.

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 10:24 AM (ONvIw)

Yeah, one of the books by Gerrold or those three women talked about TOS fanfic. It was mostly, "I could get Spock to love me!" crap.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at December 12, 2021 10:26 AM (7bRMQ)

232 I watched "Looper" last night and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Was glad I didn't know Rian Johnson directed it until after I watched it.

Posted by: Dr. Varno at December 12, 2021 10:27 AM (vuisn)

233 212 "What's your problem with Biden."

"He's acting like he's uncircumscribed."

Posted by: Bitter Clinger at December 12, 2021 10:13 AM (Jfduv)

Wait, Joe Biden is Jewish?

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at December 12, 2021 10:27 AM (xq1+U)

234 Ladyl, have not gotten your email. So have no idea what to tell you. Are you sure you are sending it to me?

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at December 12, 2021 10:27 AM (YFZ4u)

235 https://tinyurl.com/uphv6n26

12 Jesuit Priests Hiroshima bomb.

Posted by: Been Lurking, but clearly been posting too at December 12, 2021 10:27 AM (rDgjh)

236 Posted by: Trimegistus at December 12, 2021 10:23 AM (QZxDR)

I think people forget that Japan's attack on the Philippines was simultaneous with Pearl Harbor. We were going to war regardless of Pearl Harbor.

Posted by: Just a side note at December 12, 2021 10:28 AM (HaNEn)

237 Sorry. 8 missionaries.

Posted by: Been Lurking, but clearly been posting too at December 12, 2021 10:28 AM (rDgjh)

238 Wait, Joe Biden is Jewish?
Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at December 12, 2021 10:27 AM (xq1+U)

He is not! Baruch Hashem!

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 10:29 AM (ONvIw)

239 Rewriting Orwell. Stuff you can't make up makes up itself. Or makes itself up. Synchronized parthenogenesis.

Posted by: klaftern at December 12, 2021 10:29 AM (taPSh)

240 In Japan, Godzilla has always been about the atomic bomb and destruction it caused. A plague visited upon the innocent as it were.

Posted by: naturalfake at December 12, 2021 10:20 AM (5NkmN)
---
Godzilla has evolved over time (as one would expect).

The problem with that interpretation is that it makes no sense. Godzilla was supposedly awakened by American atomic weapons testing in the South Pacific. So, having been roused from sleep, it goes and attacks...the only nation victimized by atomic weapons? Why wouldn't it wreck the US? Or Australia?

The answer is that huge numbers of Japanese died in the Coral Sea and environs, far from home. Most of the Japanese Navy was sunk there, and vast numbers of troops died in Guadalcanal and other islands they had no business being on in the first place.

The souls of those who died could not find peace after the surrender. Thus, seeing growing prosperity, they assumed a demonic form and 'came home' to vent their fury at the people who betrayed their courage.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 12, 2021 10:29 AM (llXky)

241
Yeah, one of the books by Gerrold or those three women talked about TOS fanfic. It was mostly, "I could get Spock to love me!" crap.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at December 12, 2021 10:26 AM (7bRMQ)

Pathetic to have to fall in love with a fictional character.

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 10:30 AM (ONvIw)

242 Good morning. Thank you for all the content.
I am on the fourth book of a series, by a team of writers, Scott McEwen, Thomas Koloniar, writing CIA/SEAL/Black ops thrillers.
First one was titled Sniper Elite. I am enjoying them.

Posted by: MikeM at December 12, 2021 10:31 AM (YsLaz)

243 Brieses, Achilles' fluff he plundered only to have Agamemnon steal her.

Yeah make her the central character...

Posted by: Anna Puma at December 12, 2021 10:32 AM (GVwBm)

244 "Pathetic to have to fall in love with a fictional character."

But they never fart in bed.

Posted by: Just Sayin' at December 12, 2021 10:33 AM (jYQlA)

245 Or Australia?
--------------------------
Didn't want to be subject to the lockdown rules.

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at December 12, 2021 10:33 AM (UHVv4)

246 Wife and I watched "Atlantic Crossing", a PBS series about Norway's Crown Princess Martha's sojourn (?exile) to the U.S. during WWII and her 'relationship' with FDR. Prompted me to start reading more about the Norwegian occupation by the Nazis, the Battle of Narvik, and the odd relations between Norway and England in the pre-war and early war years. I previously had little knowledge in that area.

Posted by: Muldoon at December 12, 2021 10:33 AM (m45I2)

247 I had to return the doorstop Clancy novel. Just wasn't willing to put in the time.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at December 12, 2021 10:33 AM (Dc2NZ)

248 But they never fart in bed.
Posted by: Just Sayin' at December 12, 2021 10:33 AM (jYQlA)

Fair enough, but it's still a form of arrested development.

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 10:34 AM (ONvIw)

249 No OM. Then he would be circumcised.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at December 12, 2021 10:34 AM (YFZ4u)

250 Vulcans are vegetarians so you don't want to be subject to a Vulcan Dutch oven, ladies.

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at December 12, 2021 10:34 AM (UHVv4)

251 Don't let the straight jacket fool ya.

The pants guy wouldn't own a weedwhacker even if his hands were free.

Posted by: JT at December 12, 2021 10:34 AM (arJlL)

252 Pathetic to have to fall in love with a fictional character.

It's safer that way.

Posted by: Boxed Wine Ladies at December 12, 2021 10:34 AM (4I/2K)

253 I think people forget that Japan's attack on the Philippines was simultaneous with Pearl Harbor. We were going to war regardless of Pearl Harbor.
Posted by: Just a side note

The scope of what Japan did in that week is still astonishing.

One might argue that they fixated on US possessions a little too much, if they'd just gone after the Dutch and Brit possessions that had the resources they needed.

Posted by: JEM at December 12, 2021 10:34 AM (sXovo)

254 237 Sorry. 8 missionaries.

Posted by: Been Lurking, but clearly been posting too at December 12, 2021 10:28 AM (rDgjh)
---
Article also remarks that the Nagasaki mission church was spared and no priests there died, either.

I suspect that was noticed.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 12, 2021 10:35 AM (llXky)

255 hiya

Posted by: JT at December 12, 2021 10:35 AM (arJlL)

256 Pathetic to have to fall in love with a fictional character.
Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 10:30 AM (ONvIw)
---

It happens.

Posted by: Dorothy L. Sayers at December 12, 2021 10:35 AM (Dc2NZ)

257 I once saw a piece of fan art depicting Spock in Messiah robes. Way too over the top for my taste.

Posted by: Weak Geek at December 12, 2021 10:35 AM (Om/di)

258
Pirating Plants is a delightful book and I've enjoyed reading it for decades. It was a three dollar paperback when I got it in the late 1970s. But it got only one printing and has never been reissued. Posted by: JTB at December 12, 2021 10:03 AM (7EjX1)

I am just starting on a gardening book, Grow or Die by David the Good, a guide to "survival gardening". When I get more that two chapters into it I will post a review.

He also has a book called Free Plants for Everyone about plant propagation, and his Yootuub channel talks a lot about sprouting tree seeds and plant nursery stock
He has other books on gardening in Florida, as well as books on growing plants out of their natural range, composting, and about running a home-based nursery.

Posted by: Kindltot at December 12, 2021 10:35 AM (ZMraq)

259
I started and finished, "Franklin Pierce in 'Death of a Vice President'" by Eric M. Hamilton, on my Kindle. It's a waste of time, albeit a short amount of time. I guess that I bought it at the same time that I bought the author's "An Inconvenient Presidency", his humorous look at how Al Gore (fictionally) compromised himself again and again out of winning the 2000 election. This latter work I enjoyed. The Pierce work was a tedious read, a remarkable feat for only being eighty pages in length. Story-wise then, thumbs down for Pierce; thumbs up for Gore. These may be e-book offerings only, so check.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 12, 2021 10:35 AM (3l5Yq)

260 Narvik is where audacious British skippers sank half of Germany's destroyers.

Posted by: Anna Puma at December 12, 2021 10:35 AM (GVwBm)

261 I previously had little knowledge in that area.
-------------------
Did Norway win WW2 in the books too like in the series??

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at December 12, 2021 10:36 AM (UHVv4)

262 172 ... "I probably have many hundreds of dollars of rhododendron on my property from figuring out how to 'pirate' them. In their case it's as easy as placing a large weight on top of a low-lying branch and waiting."

That's one of the techniques he plays with in the book. I should try it with a lilac bush in our yard.

Posted by: JTB at December 12, 2021 10:36 AM (7EjX1)

263 Narvik is where audacious British skippers sank half of Germany's destroyers.

Posted by: Anna Puma at December 12, 2021 10:35 AM (GVwBm)
---
I love Churchill's description of how HMS Warspite's guns "spoke with the voice of doom" as it blasted the German destroyers.

So evocative.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 12, 2021 10:37 AM (llXky)

264 "Franklin Pierce in 'Death of a Vice President'"
-----------------------
I just knew you couldn't trust that Commie sympathizer back in the States! That dick, Hunnicutt, helped too I bet!

Posted by: andycanuck (UHVv4) at December 12, 2021 10:38 AM (UHVv4)

265 Was the Norwegian army the one with the little red pocket knives?

Posted by: Just Wondering at December 12, 2021 10:38 AM (jYQlA)

266 Anne Rice is mort. Never read her.
Posted by: Rep. Dan Crenshaw at December 12, 2021 10:07 AM (4thlk)

of course you did, she wrote The Fountainhead

Posted by: Kindltot at December 12, 2021 10:38 AM (ZMraq)

267 Japan's attack in the Philippines happened about 12 hours after the attack at Pearl. Just when the bombers launched in the morning with no mission landed to refuel only to be smashed in the Japanese air attack.

Posted by: Anna Puma at December 12, 2021 10:38 AM (GVwBm)

268 It happens.
Posted by: Dorothy L. Sayers at December 12, 2021 10:35 AM (Dc2NZ)

Well she did have a messy life, but at least she created her own fantasy hero rather than swipe someone else's .

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 10:38 AM (ONvIw)

269 I'm surprised there is not a sub category of fan fiction where everyone is turned gay.

Posted by: Just a side note at December 12, 2021 10:39 AM (HaNEn)

270 269 I'm surprised there is not a sub category of fan fiction where everyone is turned gay.
Posted by: Just a side note at December 12, 2021 10:39 AM (HaNEn)

There probably is.

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 10:39 AM (ONvIw)

271 The answer is that huge numbers of Japanese died in the Coral Sea and environs, far from home. Most of the Japanese Navy was sunk there, and vast numbers of troops died in Guadalcanal and other islands they had no business being on in the first place.

Much of which because the IJN and Army leadership were each going out of their way to screw each other and quite happy to facilitate the deaths of tens of thousands of of their intramural enemy to prove their point.

Posted by: JEM at December 12, 2021 10:39 AM (sXovo)

272 I'm surprised there is not a sub category of fan fiction where everyone is turned gay.

Posted by: Just a side note at December 12, 2021 10:39 AM (HaNEn)
---
There used to be, but now it's standard procedure for doing film adaptations.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 12, 2021 10:40 AM (llXky)

273 I would be the subject of Who Dis and it would be FABULOUS!

Posted by: Elton John at December 12, 2021 10:41 AM (jYQlA)

274 Kindltot, I hope you're joking.

Posted by: Weak Geek at December 12, 2021 10:41 AM (Om/di)

275 Anonosaurus Wrecks "The responsibility for starting WWI is one of those issues where the more you know, the less you understand." Couldn't have said it better myself (and wish I had said it). And I'm only about 170 pages into the 750 extreme details. I thought the Balkan wars of the 90s were a confusing mess, but that didn't involve much more than Serbia and Croatia. Pre WWI, the Romanians, the Bulgarians, and the Turks were part of the stew as well.

Posted by: who knew at December 12, 2021 10:42 AM (4I7VG)

276 Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 12, 2021 10:29 AM (llXky)

Well, all I can say is rewatch the first couple of Godzilla movies.

Godzilla even becomes a sort of guardian of Japan in the middle movies.

Your interpretation is nowhere to be found. But, hey, believe as you wish.

Posted by: naturalfake at December 12, 2021 10:42 AM (5NkmN)

277 Germany ( Hitler) wasted a lot of steel and other important resources building his super battleships. Fortunate for us.

Posted by: Just a side note at December 12, 2021 10:42 AM (HaNEn)

278 There used to be, but now it's standard procedure for doing film adaptations.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 12, 2021 10:40 AM (llXky)
---
Yep. The Amazon Prime Wheel of Time series is all over that...Rafe Judkins (the showrunner) even said on Twitter that the more fans complain about it, the more characters will suddenly switch teams.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at December 12, 2021 10:43 AM (Ap6+r)

279 I put the blame for WW2 on the Royalty system.

Posted by: Just a side note at December 12, 2021 10:44 AM (HaNEn)

280 275 Anonosaurus Wrecks "The responsibility for starting WWI is one of those issues where the more you know, the less you understand."

NaClyDog had a brilliant summation of WW1 described as a bar brawl he posted here once.

Posted by: Retief at December 12, 2021 10:44 AM (hgd+7)

281 I see nothing wrong with fanfic. We all spin tales in our heads derived from our favorite stories and shows.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at December 12, 2021 10:45 AM (Dc2NZ)

282 I love Churchill's description of how HMS Warspite's guns "spoke with the voice of doom" as it blasted the German destroyers.

So evocative.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd

The Oueen Elizabeths are still just about my favorite battleships, they were a huge leap forward and it's just a shame that their updates were so random and financed with three pence and pocket lint.

Posted by: JEM at December 12, 2021 10:45 AM (sXovo)

283 Merle Oberon was very pulchritudinous.

BTW, Walter R Brooks also wrong The Story of Freginald, about a bear. I loved it as a kid. It isn't mentioned at the wiki site, though.

Posted by: Eeyore at December 12, 2021 10:45 AM (7X3UV)

284 279 I put the blame for WW2 on the Royalty system.
Posted by: Just a side note at December 12, 2021 10:44 AM (HaNEn)

I blame France. Everyone should

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 10:45 AM (ONvIw)

285 Narvik is where audacious British skippers sank half of Germany's destroyers.
Posted by: Anna Puma

*****

Yep. The German occupation of Narvik was initially to be a naval transport of troops, but the main landing force was lost when the German flagship was sunk. The actual occupation of Narvik was carried out by German paratroopers from the inland side.

Britain sent some 25,000 troops to Narvik in Apr.-Maay '40, hoping to open a Northern Front to approach Germany via Sweden, but quickly pulled the troops back out as the situation in France deteriorated, leading to Dunkirk.

At least that's my superficial, amateurish understanding.

Posted by: Muldoon at December 12, 2021 10:45 AM (m45I2)

286 Anne Rice is mort.

I'da saved her but who wants to be 80 years old and sick for all eternity.

I'm nice like that.

Posted by: The Vampire LeStat at December 12, 2021 10:47 AM (5NkmN)

287 198 ... "This reminds me of "rose rustling", where fans of old fashioned roses take clippings from roadsides and old gardens to propagate them."

Hi Eris,

It's the same idea and approach. The idea of getting something useful and beautiful for free is appealing. And possibly preserving some plants adds to it.

Posted by: JTB at December 12, 2021 10:48 AM (7EjX1)

288
I finished Jack Carr's "The Terminal List", which is billed as a thriller. No lie about that -- it's a revenge epic carried out by a wronged Navy Seal whose command and family were wiped out by a money grubbing cabal of government and private business interests who carried out illegal testing of a PTSD- alleviating medication on the Seal team.

The author takes great pains to describe the protagonist's lethal gadgetry and weapons and, apparently, those in the know give him great credit for that. To me, for whom that was a mere detail, it really added nothing to the tale's telling. Like most thrillers, this is quickly read. The bad guys are clearly bad, and the good guys are clearly good (except for at the story's climactic encounter, during which the protagonist made an ethically questionable decision). I have Carr's second volume in my "to be read" queue.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 12, 2021 10:48 AM (3l5Yq)

289 145 Also started The Sleepwalkers attempting to explain the origins of WWI, highly recommended

Misha Glenny's 'The Balkans'

A must read.

Posted by: JEM at December 12, 2021 10:48 AM (sXovo)

290 I also learned where the King of Norway, Hakaan, kept his armies during 1940-45.

In his sleevies!

Posted by: Muldoon at December 12, 2021 10:50 AM (m45I2)

291 Germany ( Hitler) wasted a lot of steel and other important resources building his super battleships. Fortunate for us.

Posted by: Just a side note at December 12, 2021 10:42 AM

And that god awful excuse for an aircraft carrier they started building but never finished. A tremendous waste of scarce resources.

Posted by: Mister Scot (Formerly GWS) at December 12, 2021 10:51 AM (bVYXr)

292
She was excellent in The Scarlet Pumpernickel.
Posted by: Tonypete

Ah! the "go to / must have" ingredient when you are told to "... just make me the bloody sandwich!"

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 12, 2021 10:52 AM (3l5Yq)

293 Well, all I can say is rewatch the first couple of Godzilla movies.

Godzilla even becomes a sort of guardian of Japan in the middle movies.

Your interpretation is nowhere to be found. But, hey, believe as you wish.

Posted by: naturalfake at December 12, 2021 10:42 AM (5NkmN)
---
It's only true in the first move, after that the tone shifts.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 12, 2021 10:52 AM (llXky)

294 258 ... Kindltot,

Many thanks for mentioning the David the Good books and videos. They sound both interesting and fun.

Posted by: JTB at December 12, 2021 10:53 AM (7EjX1)

295 Working on the new Mel Brooks book. Still in 'poor New York Jewish kid' parts.

Posted by: JEM at December 12, 2021 10:53 AM (sXovo)

296 pi$$ wallace is out at fox news. Rumor has it he is heading over to cnn where he belongs.

Posted by: Mister Scot (Formerly GWS) at December 12, 2021 10:53 AM (bVYXr)

297 Misha Glenny's 'The Balkans'

A must read.
Posted by: JEM at December 12, 2021 10:48 AM (sXovo)

Just added that to my "want to read" list, which the Horde is very adept at expanding.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at December 12, 2021 10:53 AM (y7DUB)

298 Chris Wallace is leaving Fox

Posted by: Ignoramus at December 12, 2021 10:53 AM (ZHVt1)

299 Sorry, first movie. Yes, by the time you get Rodan and Mothra and stuff, it's a different story.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 12, 2021 10:54 AM (llXky)

300 Napolean freed the French slaves in the Caribbean. Then included language which prevented the former slaves from leaving their place of servitude because, you know, labor shortage.

Posted by: EdmundBurkesShade at December 12, 2021 10:54 AM (rI0Tt)

301 And that god awful excuse for an aircraft carrier they started building but never finished. A tremendous waste of scarce resources.

Posted by: Mister Scot (Formerly GWS) at December 12, 2021 10:51 AM (bVYXr)
---
Which of course wasn't needed but hey, it's all about the prestige, right?

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 12, 2021 10:55 AM (llXky)

302 Godzilla wakes up
squishiness between his toes
Puny civilians

Posted by: Muldoon at December 12, 2021 10:55 AM (m45I2)

303 Hitler would been wise to build a gator navy for use in Russia.

Posted by: Head puddi at December 12, 2021 10:55 AM (RO8oH)

304 Misha Glenny's 'The Balkans'

A must read.
Posted by: JEM at December 12, 2021 10:48 AM (sXovo)

Just added that to my "want to read" list, which the Horde is very adept at expanding.
Posted by: Captain Hate

It's pretty massive, ate just about every spare minute of a ten day cruise I was on

Posted by: JEM at December 12, 2021 10:56 AM (sXovo)

305 The author takes great pains to describe the protagonist's lethal gadgetry and weapons and, apparently, those in the know give him great credit for that. To me, for whom that was a mere detail, it really added nothing to the tale's telling. Like most thrillers, this is quickly read. The bad guys are clearly bad, and the good guys are clearly good
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot
Yup. Exactly how I would describe what is going on with Snipe Elite stories. Incredible detail, on different bits of equipment. Which will have the four people in the world who know about such things, nodding in appreciation, but which does not add much to the story for me.
I read all of Carr's books. Enjoyable.

Posted by: MikeM at December 12, 2021 10:56 AM (YsLaz)

306 Anyway, I think the First Emperor of China gets a raw deal in the history field. Guy was quite the soldier, smashing all his opponents and then deciding to keep conquering for the sheet fun of it.

First guy to unify China, and everyone's like "Well of course it got unified," like that was a foregone conclusion. He liked full-sized army men as well.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 12, 2021 10:57 AM (llXky)

307 Hitler would been wise to build a gator navy for use in Russia.

Posted by: Head puddi at December 12, 2021 10:55 AM

They had plenty of E boats they used in the channel which would have served them well on Russian rivers, but they simply could not build enough to go around, let alone get them to where they needed them to be.

Posted by: Mister Scot (Formerly GWS) at December 12, 2021 10:59 AM (bVYXr)

308
I finally was able to acquire "The Indispensables: The Diverse Soldier-Mariners Who Shaped the Country, Formed the Navy, and Rowed Washington Across the Delaware", by Patrick O'Connell, a book I had wanted to get for some time now (but not from Bezos' gulag -- fook them).

I found it at a local bookstore in my hometown in Upper Michigan and I paid more for it, but "fook Amazon" comes with a price and I am willing to pay it. This is another item in my "to be read" queue.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 12, 2021 10:59 AM (3l5Yq)

309 Chris Wallace is leaving Fox

Posted by: Ignoramus at December 12, 2021 10:53 AM (ZHVt1)

He should leave the frigging planet.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at December 12, 2021 11:00 AM (VwHCD)

310
My theory is that just about everyone in World War I acted out of a feeling of weakness rather than a desire for conquest.

- Britain was worried about the German naval build-up and what it would mean for their commerce.
- France was worried about the growing population imbalance with Germany, thus affecting the size of their army.
- Germany was worried about Russia's industrialization and railroad building.
- Russia was worried about internal revolution.
- Austria-Hungary was worried about Russian domination of the Balkan states as well as internal nationalist movements.
- Italy was just willing to sell themselves to the highest bidder.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at December 12, 2021 11:01 AM (/U27+)

311 This week I finished, on Dec. 6th,appropriately, The Final Secret of Pearl Harbor, by RAdm Robert A. Theobald. He wrote it to defend the two, Pearl Harbor commanding officers who were held responsible for not being properly prepared for the attack, Navy Admiral H.E. Kimmel and Armyh General Short. In it he masterfully lays out and then provides the evidence that President Roosevelt induced Japan to launch and attack on Pearl Harbor, deliberately ordered the Navy and Army Commanding Officers to withhold evidence from the Pearl Harbor officers so that the attack would remain secret, and unify the American people behind the war effort. The author doesn't argue as to whether that was needed, his intent is solely to exhonorate the two commanding officers, although his contempt for the politically motivated willful disregard of losses of personnel and property is clear. A wonderful read.
I saved this book from my MIL's house when she passed three years ago. My FIL, George Conklin, was a Marine radio grunt with AWS-8, island hopping across the pacific in front of the advance, an uncle, Elmer Glidden, was a Marine Corp pilot doing the same.

Posted by: From that time at December 12, 2021 11:01 AM (4780s)

312 I think the points been made in various quarters when Hitler decided to build a Navy, all the expertise and a lot of the industry involved in doing that was gone. So a lot of what they came up with was pretty much junk done with whatever resources they had at hand. But yeah the battleships were the worst of the bunch

Posted by: JEM at December 12, 2021 11:01 AM (sXovo)

313 I did what I call "half read" a book. You're not really interested enough in it to sit and read it cover to cover, but you sort of pick at it, skip around, read a bit here and there, get the general gist of it, and put it aside?

I did that with a book owned by my sister, Dr. Paul Offit's "Bad Advice" about junk medicine pushed by pols and celebs. It's pretty clear Offit is a lib, but he criticizes the junk science pushed by Dr. Oz, Oprah, Jim Carrey and others. He (like my own doctor) considers 90% of the supplements sold at Whole Foods useless and notes that most people who claim to be allergic to gluten are not. OTOH, he thinks Bill Nye is a shining beacon of truth and believes the covid vaccine should be mandatory, even for kids (although he doesn't think most people need boosters). Much of the book is a moment-by-moment account of his various appearances on TV and before Congress. I got quite enough of him after skimming around for an hour and didn't feel any need to really read the book.

Posted by: donna&&&&&&v at December 12, 2021 11:01 AM (HabA/)

314 Godzilla wakes up
squishiness between his toes
Puny civilians

Posted by: Muldoon at December 12, 2021 10:55 AM (m45I2)
---
Death ray breath melts tank
No on-board ammo explodes
Tamiya model

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 12, 2021 11:02 AM (llXky)

315 - Italy was just willing to sell themselves to the highest bidder.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at December 12, 2021 11:01 AM

Italy had dreams of rebuilding the Roman Empire, that got them into two wars.

Posted by: Mister Scot (Formerly GWS) at December 12, 2021 11:02 AM (bVYXr)

316 My read this week is "We Are the Nerds", by Christine Lagorio-Chafkin, which is a history of the web site "Reddit". I have never looked at the site, but I have a personal link because I knew one of Reddit's founders back before the site was started. The story that Lagorio-Chafkin tells is both interesting and appalling: interesting, because one sees at its genesis a site that has become globally popular; appalling, because to me it's like peeking through the window of a madhouse: the gibberings and gyrations of the inmates are amusing for a time, but in the end are depressing and disgusting. Recommended for those who are interested in such things.

Our current read-aloud is "The Lord of the Rings" - yes, the whole thing. We've read it twice before, the last time about a decade ago. Given our age, this is probably the last time we'll read this book aloud, so I'm savoring every paragraph: the man writes so very well!

Posted by: Nemo at December 12, 2021 11:02 AM (S6ArX)

317 It's pretty massive, ate just about every spare minute of a ten day cruise I was on
Posted by: JEM at December 12, 2021 10:56 AM (sXovo)

How would you compare it to Black Lamb and Grey Falcon?

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at December 12, 2021 11:02 AM (y7DUB)

318 Reading Marvel Classics--Classic literature turned into comics back in the 70's. They gave 'White Fang' to an artist who couldn't draw dogs. Not good at drawing a dog body, and had no understanding of how a dog's face works. The adaptation could have been good, but every page I was taken out of the story by one horrendous panel or another. They should have given that assignment to any other artist but the one they did. My disappointment was immeasurable, and my day was ruined....

Posted by: Castle Guy at December 12, 2021 11:02 AM (Lhaco)

319
Chris Wallace is leaving Fox
Posted by: Ignoramus

Taking the open and "reserved for anyone named 'Chris'" slot at CNN, is he?

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 12, 2021 11:03 AM (3l5Yq)

320 Is Chrissy Wallace getting Fredo's old time slot?

Posted by: Rusty Nail at December 12, 2021 11:03 AM (frr40)

321 Pants are now on, and the day beckons.

Adieu, book freaks!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at December 12, 2021 11:04 AM (Dc2NZ)

322 Apparently one big factor in the lethal rivalry between the IJN and the Japanese Army dates back to the end of the Samurai era. The Army officers were mostly from the Choshu or Yamaguchi Domain, while the Navy drew heavily from the Satsuma Domain -- which had already started doing overseas imperialism before Perry opened Japan. The two factions cooperated in bringing down the Shogunate, but then basically began fighting over which one would run the country afterward.

Posted by: Trimegistus at December 12, 2021 11:05 AM (QZxDR)

323 Any link to Chris Wallace leaving Fox? Who's reporting this?

Posted by: olddog in mo at December 12, 2021 11:05 AM (ju2Fy)

324 323 Any link to Chris Wallace leaving Fox? Who's reporting this?
Posted by: olddog in mo at December 12, 2021 11:05 AM (ju2Fy)

It's all over the place

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 11:05 AM (ONvIw)

325
My "Chris" comment was purely speculative...

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 12, 2021 11:06 AM (3l5Yq)

326 Liberals in 2022: James Bond in Dr No Penis starting...Janine Franco.

Liberals in 2023: Why doesn't anyone watch James Bond movies anymore?

Posted by: 18-1 at December 12, 2021 11:06 AM (ESjRY)

327 Well, so much for the rumors that CNN was going to start doing real news.

Posted by: Paco at December 12, 2021 11:07 AM (njExo)

328 Life without Chris Wallace. Things may start getting better.

Posted by: Head puddi at December 12, 2021 11:07 AM (RO8oH)

329 Our current read-aloud is "The Lord of the Rings" - yes, the whole thing. We've read it twice before, the last time about a decade ago. Given our age, this is probably the last time we'll read this book aloud, so I'm savoring every paragraph: the man writes so very well!

Posted by: Nemo at December 12, 2021 11:02 AM (S6ArX)

I was in my 30's when I first read it, and wasn't sure there was enough time to finish it.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at December 12, 2021 11:07 AM (VwHCD)

330 Anyone who enjoys the Godzilla haiku might want to dig up Joe Lansdale's short story "Godzilla's Twelve Step Program."

Posted by: Just Some Guy at December 12, 2021 11:08 AM (JzDjf)

331 McAllen Texas. Some pretty good Mexican eateries, hometown of Tom Landry, and a nice library.

Posted by: Eromero at December 12, 2021 11:08 AM (0OP+5)

332 yes the backstory for moriarty is dubious, why would a mathematician become a criminal,

I found carr's second book, more interesting, the villain is typical, but the extent of his villainy, it's rather striking what they forced him to omit from the books, mostly data which is in the public record,

Posted by: no 6 at December 12, 2021 11:09 AM (hMlTh)

333 Word is that he's joining a new CNN streaming service.

He may be going head-to-head against Trump's New New Thing.

Posted by: Ignoramus at December 12, 2021 11:09 AM (ZHVt1)

334 Life without Chris Wallace. Things may start getting better.
Posted by: Head puddi at December 12, 2021 11:07 AM (RO8oH)

I started watching Fox News Sunday because of Tony Snow and stopped because of Wallace,

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at December 12, 2021 11:09 AM (y7DUB)

335 The left is trying to cancel The Lord of the Rings now.

They claim the orcs are black people (which shows how racist THEY are) and that the Hadrim are muslims (which is actually more or less right).

Posted by: 18-1 at December 12, 2021 11:09 AM (ESjRY)

336 Wallace and Grommit > Chris Wallace

Posted by: 18-1 at December 12, 2021 11:10 AM (ESjRY)

337
Call me a pedant, but in that painting there are (many) ripened oranges on the tree together simultaneously with (many) orange blossoms -- that does happen in nature?

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 12, 2021 11:10 AM (3l5Yq)

338 Morning.

McAllen!!! Awesome.

But I've never been to that library. My hometown's library (I live less than an hour away from McAllen) looks nice, but it's meh.

Posted by: Robert at December 12, 2021 11:11 AM (c+Msy)

339 Call me a pedant, but in that painting there are (many) ripened oranges on the tree together simultaneously with (many) orange blossoms -- that does happen in nature?

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 12, 2021 11:10 AM (3l5Yq)

Usually not, but that tree is the Orange Blossom Special.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at December 12, 2021 11:11 AM (7bRMQ)

340
Usually not, but that tree is the Orange Blossom Special.
Posted by: OrangeEnt

So she's a virtuoso fiddler?

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 12, 2021 11:13 AM (3l5Yq)

341
I've been reading some on the Battle of the Atlantic during World War II, both by Jonathan Dimbleby on the British effort and Samuel Eliot Morison on the US effort.

One interesting thing I learned was that escorts were either all British/Canadian or all US but not mixed. Apparently the communications of the two navies were sufficiently and unreconcilably incompatible to make working together too difficult.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at December 12, 2021 11:14 AM (/U27+)

342 Let me get this straight. In order to care about this Chris Wallace fellow, I'd have to care about Fox News. And in order to care about Fox News, I'd have to pay for cable.

Yeah, that's not happening.

Posted by: Just sayin' at December 12, 2021 11:14 AM (jYQlA)

343 So she's a virtuoso fiddler?

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 12, 2021 11:13 AM (3l5Yq)

You can tell by the way she's tucked her chin.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at December 12, 2021 11:14 AM (7bRMQ)

344 320 Is Chrissy Wallace getting Fredo's old time slot?
Posted by: Rusty Nail at December 12, 2021 11:03 AM (frr40)

----------

He'll need additional sexual harassment training if he's ever going to fill Chris Cuomo's big Italian loafers.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at December 12, 2021 11:14 AM (VxC1e)

345 seriously adapt a series, like gregg rucka's tara queen, which is set in the present day, and has zombie elements,

yes we were going to war probably that very week in 1941, the control faction was clearing the decks from singapore through the phillipines,

Posted by: no 6 at December 12, 2021 11:15 AM (hMlTh)

346
Italy had dreams of rebuilding the Roman Empire, that got them into two wars.
Posted by: Mister Scot (Formerly GWS) at December 12, 2021 11:02 AM (bVYXr)

"Italy has a healthy appetite but bad teeth." - Winston Churchill

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at December 12, 2021 11:15 AM (/U27+)

347 Saral Silverman is hoisted on her own woke petard. She criticized Joy Reid so now she's attacked as a racist.

This is why liberals do not want to think for themselves - often when they do they get in trouble. Better to repeat whatever CNN is saying and go back to your coke and hookers.

Posted by: 18-1 at December 12, 2021 11:15 AM (ESjRY)

348 337
Call me a pedant, but in that painting there are (many) ripened oranges on the tree together simultaneously with (many) orange blossoms -- that does happen in nature?

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 12, 2021 11:10 AM (3l5Yq)

Early in the season perhaps?

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at December 12, 2021 11:16 AM (FSu5s)

349 "Italy has a healthy appetite but bad teeth." - Winston Churchill

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at December 12, 2021 11:15 AM (/U27+)

A Brit said that??

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at December 12, 2021 11:16 AM (VwHCD)

350 I dropped Fox the Daltrey hired cheater Donna Brazile
Besides the hotties on OAN are nicer to watch

Posted by: Skip at December 12, 2021 11:16 AM (2JoB8)

351 There was a branch of the Claudii called the Pulchers. Publius Clodius Pulcher was famous in the Late Republic for various treacheries, mutinies, and sex scandals. Perhaps the man Cicero hated most, too.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at December 12, 2021 11:16 AM (2ABQr)

352 Call me a pedant, but in that painting there are (many) ripened oranges on the tree together simultaneously with (many) orange blossoms -- that does happen in nature?
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 12, 2021 11:10 AM (3l5Yq)

----------

Don't ask questions and just keep buying.

Posted by: Mortimer Duke at December 12, 2021 11:17 AM (VxC1e)

353 The Italian military significantly under performed during WWII, even taking into about the quality of their equipment - Italy had done a large refit of the their military in the early/mid 30s so there equipment was often lagging the major powers but...the real issues seems to be a number of their commanders had little interest in fighting.

Posted by: 18-1 at December 12, 2021 11:17 AM (ESjRY)

354
One interesting thing I learned was that escorts were either all British/Canadian or all US but not mixed. Apparently the communications of the two navies were sufficiently and unreconcilably incompatible to make working together too difficult.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh

How the Armed Forces of the British Empire's Insistence Upon Including Unnecessary "U"s in Their Vocabulary Nearly Derailed the Allies' War Efforts is a fascinating story just waiting to be told!

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 12, 2021 11:18 AM (3l5Yq)

355 Publius Clodius Pulcher was famous in the Late Republic for various treacheries, mutinies, and sex scandals. Perhaps the man Cicero hated most, too.

-
And he had two despicable children.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks Now With Pumpkin Spice! at December 12, 2021 11:19 AM (FVME7)

356 My theory is that just about everyone in World War I acted out of a feeling of weakness rather than a desire for conquest.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at December 12, 2021 11:01 AM (/U27+)

WWI happened because governments militarized their borders, and governments do what they always do with militarized borders. They cross them.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 12, 2021 11:19 AM (r2Iho)

357 Good morning, bookworms.

I'm currently reading "My Sister, the Father", by Meri Whitaker. It's about a lady who was ordained into the ministry and has served people ever since, primarily in the local area. She walks the talk and her experiences with people are fascinating. This would seem to be an odd choice for a heathen but she never preaches and I've enjoyed every word. It's available on Goodreads.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/ 9585554-my-sister-the-father

Remove space after show/

Posted by: creeper at December 12, 2021 11:19 AM (cTCuP)

358 "My theory is that just about everyone in World War I acted out of a feeling of weakness rather than a desire for conquest."

I would add one more item to your list of fears: British fear of conquest by Germany. Britain was very aware of its inability to feed its own population, and therefore of its vulnerability to naval blockade. Their fear was that the rising German navy would destroy the Home Fleet and then starve Britain into submission. The years before WWI saw a series of popular novels on the subject. For example, Saki's "When William Came" imagines a Britain under German domination; and William Le Queux's "The Invasion" (1905) describes the German invasion of Britain. (Both are available for free on gutenberg.org.) Nations in close proximity that are heavily armed and frightened of each other: war is almost inevitable.

Posted by: Nemo at December 12, 2021 11:20 AM (S6ArX)

359 It would be funny if an escaped zoo gorilla tore Wallace apart on the street in Manhattan... I'm laughing just thinking about it.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at December 12, 2021 11:20 AM (2ABQr)

360 The political lead up to WWII in the US was interesting.

FDR campaigned on "keeping our boys out of another European war" while attacking the German navy in the Atlantic "illegally".

I remember pointing that out to leftists back in the day and they'd tie themselves into knots...it was great actually.

Posted by: 18-1 at December 12, 2021 11:20 AM (ESjRY)

361 but...the real issues seems to be a number of their commanders had little interest in fighting.
Posted by: 18-1

Ahh, the Bearclaw/Miley gambit.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks Now With Pumpkin Spice! at December 12, 2021 11:20 AM (FVME7)

362 Word is that he's joining a new CNN streaming service.
He may be going head-to-head against Trump's New New Thing.
Posted by: Ignoramus at December 12, 2021 11:09 AM (ZHVt1)

Because goodness knows what is missing in this new media landscape is a progressive voice backed by serious money!! It will be as big as Air America, or the Pacifica Radio Network.

Posted by: Kindltot at December 12, 2021 11:21 AM (ZMraq)

363 Morning Book Buddies!

Posted by: Diogenes at December 12, 2021 11:21 AM (axyOa)

364 WWI happened because governments militarized their borders, and governments do what they always do with militarized borders. They cross them.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 12, 2021 11:19 AM (r2Iho)

So, we'll keep ours wide open!!!!11

Posted by: DNC and GOPe at December 12, 2021 11:21 AM (7bRMQ)

365 My tablet is bad, phone worse at changing what I write

Posted by: Skip at December 12, 2021 11:22 AM (2JoB8)

366 353 The Italian military significantly under performed during WWII, even taking into about the quality of their equipment - Italy had done a large refit of the their military in the early/mid 30s so there equipment was often lagging the major powers but...the real issues seems to be a number of their commanders had little interest in fighting.

Posted by: 18-1 at December 12, 2021 11:17 AM
And the Ethiopians would have whupped the Italians if not for Hitler's help, mon.

Posted by: Eromero at December 12, 2021 11:23 AM (0OP+5)

367 @345 --

At first I thought you were referring to Rucka's "Queen and Country" comics and novels, but those didn't have zombies.

As far as a TV adaptation -- that came first. It's called "The Sandbaggers." Rucka freely admits it was his source material.

Oh, just for you:

....................................

Posted by: Weak Geek at December 12, 2021 11:24 AM (Om/di)

368 It would be funny if an escaped zoo gorilla tore Wallace apart on the street in Manhattan... I'm laughing just thinking about it.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at December 12, 2021 11:20 AM (2ABQr)

Or this: https://tinyurl.com/38hbntca

Posted by: OrangeEnt at December 12, 2021 11:25 AM (7bRMQ)

369 352 Call me a pedant, but in that painting there are (many) ripened oranges on the tree together simultaneously with (many) orange blossoms -- that does happen in nature?
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at December 12, 2021 11:10 AM (3l5Yq)

Actually, it does. My Meyer lemon tree has a huge lemon on it and it's covered with blossoms (the smell of which is indescribable). If you've never had orange blossom honey you've never lived.

Posted by: creeper at December 12, 2021 11:25 AM (cTCuP)

370 As long as (some of us) are on the Balkans. I read Balkan Ghosts by Robert Kaplan when it was new in the 90s and found it pretty interesting. I inherited a new edition (2005) with additional material and plan on re-reading it one of these days. Perhaps I will revise my opinion, or not. A couple of reviews on Goodreads that I skimmed apparently blame this book for the Serbian-Croatian wars in during the Clinton years. Also, I read Black Lamb and Grey Falcon by Rebecca West when I was in high school back in the 70s. As I recall that was a great book about the area in the 30s. That is sitting on my kindle waiting for a reread as well.

Posted by: who knew at December 12, 2021 11:25 AM (4I7VG)

371 Three dead at funeral of Hamas member killed in Lebanon explosion

And And And wallace gone from Faux news.

Good news is breaking out all over

Posted by: Nevergiveup at December 12, 2021 11:27 AM (Irn0L)

372 Chris Wallace moving on from Fox.

Oh frabjous joy! Callo Callay!

Also; pulchritude is one of those direct from Latin words only a slight ending modification as English is wont to do.

Posted by: jakee308 at December 12, 2021 11:27 AM (wxm15)

373 Can I just say Greg Rucka is a super feminist SJW putz that censored his Wonder Woman cover artist, Frank Cho, because the original cover showed a bit too much rump?

That said his original Whiteout miniseries is freakin' excellent.

Posted by: Robert at December 12, 2021 11:28 AM (SUnqB)

374 "Italy has a healthy appetite but bad teeth." - Winston Churchill

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at December 12, 2021 11:15 AM (/U27+)

A Brit said that??
Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division

That's what really started the war.

Posted by: JT at December 12, 2021 11:28 AM (arJlL)

375 WWI happened because governments militarized their borders, and governments do what they always do with militarized borders. They cross them.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 12, 2021 11:19 AM (r2Iho)

So, we'll keep ours wide open!!!!11
Posted by: DNC and GOPe at December 12, 2021 11:21 AM (7bRMQ)

And lets totally send a bunch of ships and planes to the Black Sea, so the Roosians know we're totally super serious about... what is it we're serious about there?

Posted by: BurtTC at December 12, 2021 11:29 AM (r2Iho)

376 Reminder that the left, despite their protestations, is actually pro abortion.

A man posted a picture holding his infant child. It is captioned, "She wanted abortion but I didn't let her and she left us"

"oliver" tweeted this picture, saying, "The fact he feels so comfortable saying this publicly."

In the comments are many leftists LIVID at the idea of a woman not being allowed to kill the baby in the picture.

https://bit.ly/3GIc55T

Posted by: bonhomme at December 12, 2021 11:29 AM (i0wNm)

377 All this middlin' good news bothers me. Makes me wonder what Fate is stirring up for the New Year.

I'm superstitious like that. Sometimes that makes life less shiny.

Posted by: jakee308 at December 12, 2021 11:29 AM (wxm15)

378 Merle
Posted by: CN

If she had married Milton. she woulda been Merle Berle.

Posted by: JT at December 12, 2021 11:30 AM (arJlL)

379 Still don't believe FDR wanted war with Japan. He wanted war with Germany, and had no way to foresee that Hitler would choose to honor that treaty when he routinely broke others.

If you look at the military deployments, FDR was trying to do the minimum necessary in the Pacific, so that he could claim to be "doing something" about Japanese aggression without actually doing anything, and concentrating American resources in the Atlantic.

The Japanese could have grabbed Indonesia and Vietnam with nothing more than some harsh words from Washington, just as they were already running wild in China. But they talked themselves into believing that the Philippines were a threat to their empire, and so had to try to grab all the marbles at once.

Thereby ensuring that the US did get involved.

Posted by: Trimegistus at December 12, 2021 11:30 AM (QZxDR)

380 Godzilla wakes up
squishiness between his toes
Puny civilians

My daughter put me onto the movie "Shin-Godzilla": while the big green monster is trashing Tokyo, the bureaucrats debate who has jurisdiction over the monster: Is it Fisheries? Defense? Urban Planning? Health? It's a hilarious send-up of the worldwide bureaucratic mindset; and the scenes with Godzilla are well done too.

Posted by: Nemo at December 12, 2021 11:31 AM (S6ArX)

381 And lets totally send a bunch of ships and planes to the Black Sea, so the Roosians know we're totally super serious about... what is it we're serious about there?

Posted by: BurtTC at December 12, 2021 11:29 AM (r2Iho)

The grift. (wink)

Posted by: Joe B at December 12, 2021 11:31 AM (7bRMQ)

382 The Italian military significantly under performed during WWII, even taking into about the quality of their equipment - Italy had done a large refit of the their military in the early/mid 30s so there equipment was often lagging the major powers but...the real issues seems to be a number of their commanders had little interest in fighting.

Posted by: 18-1 at December 12, 2021 11:17 AM (ESjRY)
---
Italy wasn't postured for a major conflict and it showed. Between the adventure in Ethiopia and Spain, Italy had severely depleted its wartime reserve stocks.

As my book notes (ahem), Italy sent several divisions worth of 'volunteers' to Spain and though they drew them down after Guadalajara, the artillery was left with Franco, who badly needed it.

Add in the armored cars, trucks and aircraft, and one is looking at a major commitment.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 12, 2021 11:31 AM (llXky)

383 The Italian military significantly under performed during WWII, even taking into about the quality of their equipment - Italy had done a large refit of the their military in the early/mid 30s so there equipment was often lagging the major powers but...the real issues seems to be a number of their commanders had little interest in fighting.
Posted by: 18-1 at December 12, 2021 11:17 AM (ESjRY)

We are, how you say, lovers, not fighters.

Posted by: General Luigi at December 12, 2021 11:33 AM (4I/2K)

384 Japan attacking BOTH the British Empire and the US when they couldn't first knock out the Chinese first was the height of arrogance.

Sure they needed the resources of Indonesia which means war with Britain but...adding the US too?

Posted by: 18-1 at December 12, 2021 11:34 AM (ESjRY)

385 Still don't believe FDR wanted war with Japan. He wanted war with Germany, and had no way to foresee that Hitler would choose to honor that treaty when he routinely broke others.

Posted by: Trimegistus at December 12, 2021 11:30 AM (QZxDR)
---
Yeah, I find the attempts to rehabilitate Short and Kimmel really weak. Sorry, you presided over one of the greatest military disasters in history. You're done. Finished.

Don't try to dazzle me with some sort of 3-D chess that FDR was playing, it was obvious that the world was getting dangerous and the prudent thing was to raise the alert level. Which they were told to do.

I guess one could argue that the whole victim mentality for failure thing started with Pearl Harbor. Nothing's ever anybody's fault now.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 12, 2021 11:34 AM (llXky)

386 Chris Wallace is out? Chris Wallace is out?!?!?

Cool. I wonder what scumbag fox replaced him with.

Say...I hear Chris Cuomo is available.

Posted by: Robert at December 12, 2021 11:34 AM (hUCW7)

387 They claim the orcs are black people (which shows how racist THEY are) and that the Hadrim are muslims (which is actually more or less right).
Posted by: 18-1 at December 12, 2021 11:09 AM (ESjRY)

Fuck the left

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 11:35 AM (ONvIw)

388 I am still working my way thru The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Rhodes. My high schoo! Physics is keeping me up on the technical stuff but his research into the personal histories of the key players of nuclear physics is amazing and the chapter on the migration out of europe by scientists in the '30's is fascinating. A great read!

Posted by: Diogenes at December 12, 2021 11:35 AM (axyOa)

389 And lets totally send a bunch of ships and planes to the Black Sea, so the Roosians know we're totally super serious about... what is it we're serious about there?

Posted by: BurtTC at December 12, 2021 11:29 AM (r2Iho)

The grift. (wink)
Posted by: Joe B at December 12, 2021 11:31 AM (7bRMQ)

What I learned just yesterday, because these people are making me have to pay attention to all this, is that when we overthrew the elected government in Ukraine, we helped to install in the new governing coalition, actual nazis. True and loyal descendants of nazis from WWII, who still seem to practice all the nazi stuff.

Obama did that, and ever since I guess it's been our policy to bluster and threaten, if Putin even blinks in the general direction of trying to have any influence there. In spite of the fact that he has every right to the port at Sebastopol.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 12, 2021 11:35 AM (r2Iho)

390 I guess in the alternate history where Japan does not attack the US in '41 it delays formal American entry into WWII - probably meaning Germany is somewhat more successful in the east, but that America nukes a bunch of German cities when it does enter the war.

Posted by: 18-1 at December 12, 2021 11:36 AM (ESjRY)

391 @388 Is Vannevar Bush in it.

Posted by: Ignoramus at December 12, 2021 11:36 AM (ZHVt1)

392 Japan attacking BOTH the British Empire and the US when they couldn't first knock out the Chinese first was the height of arrogance.

Sure they needed the resources of Indonesia which means war with Britain but...adding the US too?

Posted by: 18-1 at December 12, 2021 11:34 AM (ESjRY)
---
Or, you know, they could have decided not to piss off all their trading partners by engaging in a futile effort to conquer China.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 12, 2021 11:36 AM (llXky)

393 Sorry, you presided over one of the greatest military disasters in history. You're done. Finished.

Hey I just asked President Biden for a couple of more medals and I'm thinking I'm getting them for Festivus!

Posted by: Gen Milley at December 12, 2021 11:38 AM (ESjRY)

394 oh fdr had animus for japanese going back to the 20s, maybe his father's china trading days had something to do with it,

I guess its a matter of motivation, taking greece or north africa, is something different then defending the homeland,

Posted by: no 6 at December 12, 2021 11:38 AM (hMlTh)

395 Obama did that, and ever since I guess it's been our policy to bluster and threaten, if Putin even blinks in the general direction of trying to have any influence there. In spite of the fact that he has every right to the port at Sebastopol.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 12, 2021 11:35 AM (r2Iho)
---
Russia has held the Crimea longer than we've held Texas.

Bringing this back to the 1930s, the problem back then wasn't appeasement, it was talking tough and then backing down *every single time.*

Mussolini was anti-Hitler but when he invaded Ethiopia (which was obvious because of the shipping involved), the Brits could either accept the shame of selling out Ethiopia or blockade Mussolini - which he would have been helpless to stop.

Instead, they jawboned harmlessly - which is what we are doing now.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 12, 2021 11:39 AM (llXky)

396 Sure they needed the resources of Indonesia which means war with Britain but...adding the US too?
Posted by: 18-1 at December 12, 2021 11:34 AM (ESjRY)

Those in the Japanese Military felt, correctly or not, that a War with the British and Dutch would drag the US in anyway and they were worried about the US Pacific Fleet on their flank and the Phillippines smack in the middle of their advance

Posted by: Nevergiveup at December 12, 2021 11:40 AM (Irn0L)

397 Obama did that, and ever since I guess it's been our policy to bluster and threaten, if Putin even blinks in the general direction of trying to have any influence there. In spite of the fact that he has every right to the port at Sebastopol.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 12, 2021 11:35 AM (r2Iho)

We have to bluster and threaten because we actually have no real way to stop it without military action. These credentialed clowns installed in office think they're so smart and the rest of the world is so dumb that they can get their way by acting tough. Problem is, dummies, the world can see your stupidity and they will react accordingly.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at December 12, 2021 11:40 AM (7bRMQ)

398 << I did that

Posted by: Tootin' Uncle Joe Biden at December 12, 2021 11:40 AM (Xrfse)

399 Fuck the left

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 11:35 AM (ONvIw)

That just rolls of the tongue great, don't it? lol

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at December 12, 2021 11:40 AM (VwHCD)

400 It will be as big as Air America, or the Pacifica Radio Network.
Posted by: Kindltot at December 12, 2021 11:21 AM (ZMraq)

PRN has been around for awhile. Air America, not so much. I think it only last, what, 2-3 years?

Air America: Conceptualized by the ignorant, operated by maladroits. What could possibly go wrong?

Posted by: OregonMuse, AoSHQ Thought Leader, Pants Monitor & Social Distancing Professional at December 12, 2021 11:41 AM (FSu5s)

401 Those in the Japanese Military felt, correctly or not, that a War with the British and Dutch would drag the US in anyway and they were worried about the US Pacific Fleet on their flank and the Phillippines smack in the middle of their advance
Posted by: Nevergiveup at December 12, 2021 11:40 AM (Irn0L)

They should have just paid off the US politicians. That seems to work.

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 11:41 AM (ONvIw)

402 NOOD. Sunday Ace

Posted by: IrishEi at December 12, 2021 11:41 AM (0TVNF)

403 Or, you know, they could have decided not to piss off all their trading partners by engaging in a futile effort to conquer China.

Yes Japanese diplomatic strategy was...terrible. They pissed off the Commonwealth, and the USSR, and the US. They ended up allying with Germany after pissing everyone else off.

I guess they believed conquering and exploiting China would be easy based on their experience in Korea but...again that shows a failure in understanding the problem. China has more people, more land, a diverse terrain not all easily accessible from the sea in many places, and at least on real "friend" on the world stage in the US.

Posted by: 18-1 at December 12, 2021 11:42 AM (ESjRY)

404 I read Balkan Ghosts by Robert Kaplan when it was new in the 90s and found it pretty interesting. I inherited a new edition (2005) with additional material and plan on re-reading it one of these days. Perhaps I will revise my opinion, or not. A couple of reviews on Goodreads that I skimmed apparently blame this book for the Serbian-Croatian wars in during the Clinton years.

Slick read that book as much as he did the Bible that he ostentatiously carried to church during his Monica problems. Unless the book said "bomb the fuck out of the Serbs from high altitude and call it humanitarian relief" he wasn't influenced by it at all.

Posted by: Captain Hate won't forget Michael Byrd Murdered Ashli Babbitt at December 12, 2021 11:42 AM (y7DUB)

405 What I learned just yesterday, because these people are making me have to pay attention to all this, is that when we overthrew the elected government in Ukraine, we helped to install in the new governing coalition, actual nazis. True and loyal descendants of nazis from WWII, who still seem to practice all the nazi stuff.

Obama did that, and ever since I guess it's been our policy to bluster and threaten, if Putin even blinks in the general direction of trying to have any influence there. In spite of the fact that he has every right to the port at Sebastopol.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 12, 2021 11:35 AM
And did the same in a stable (if crazy) Lybia.

Posted by: Eromero at December 12, 2021 11:42 AM (0OP+5)

406 402. Chris Wallace is not worth it, Ace

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 11:42 AM (ONvIw)

407 Anyway, I'm planning on buying a couple of cheap Canfield Fisher books, just because I doubt she was a nasty racist, and because I liked Understood Betsey as a child. It needs preserving.

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 11:43 AM (ONvIw)

408 Obama did that, and ever since I guess it's been our policy to bluster and threaten, if Putin even blinks in the general direction of trying to have any influence there. In spite of the fact that he has every right to the port at Sebastopol.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 12, 2021 11:35 AM (r2Iho)

We have to bluster and threaten because we actually have no real way to stop it without military action. These credentialed clowns installed in office think they're so smart and the rest of the world is so dumb that they can get their way by acting tough. Problem is, dummies, the world can see your stupidity and they will react accordingly.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at December 12, 2021 11:40 AM (7bRMQ)

We only have to bluster and threaten... if we think it's any of our business... which it isn't.

Unless you are part of the grift, so I guess we're back to Biden and his need for his son's gainful employment.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 12, 2021 11:44 AM (r2Iho)

409 Unless you are part of the grift, so I guess we're back to Biden and his need for his son's gainful employment.
Posted by: BurtTC at December 12, 2021 11:44 AM (r2Iho)

I thought Hunter was the next Rothko!

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 11:45 AM (ONvIw)

410 Unless you are part of the grift, so I guess we're back to Biden and his need for his son's gainful employment.

Posted by: BurtTC at December 12, 2021 11:44 AM (r2Iho)

May the circle be unbroken....

Posted by: Jen Ps at December 12, 2021 11:45 AM (7bRMQ)

411 Or, you know, they could have decided not to piss off all their trading partners by engaging in a futile effort to conquer China.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 12, 2021 11:36 AM (llXky)

Once the decision was made to intervene in China to support Japanese economic interests there, the Diet had little control over what the Military considered necessary to support their activity.

Posted by: Kindltot at December 12, 2021 11:46 AM (ZMraq)

412 AOSHQ: Come for the hoity-toity literature, stay for the dissection of the Godzilla mythos.

Posted by: Dr. Bone at December 12, 2021 11:47 AM (BPuaD)

413 https://www.newsbusters.org/update chris wallace announces hes leaving fox news sunday

He is leaving his show to cryptically to pursue a endeavor " beyond politics

So now he is just going to hide he is working for the Democrats Propaganda Ministry

Posted by: Skip at December 12, 2021 11:47 AM (2JoB8)

414 Why does everyone give the FRench a pass? They were big time slave owners in Louisiana, and in the Indies.
Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 09:13 AM (ONvIw)

Haiti.

Posted by: Fox2! at December 12, 2021 11:48 AM (qyH+l)

415 Since I'm writing a book about China...

One of my sources says that KMT got a bum rap in the Chinese Civil War and that the conventional narrative is false. Chiang Kai-shek was corrupt, but no more so than the norm. The reason the Chi-coms were able to roll back the KMT was that their best units were worn out from fighting the Japanese, which they did with more success than people realize.

A big problem was Washington insisting that there could be some kind of power-sharing agreement between him and Mao. They did this everywhere, and everywhere the Commies were given breathing space, they overthrew the government.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 12, 2021 11:48 AM (llXky)

416
Haiti.
Posted by: Fox2! at December 12, 2021 11:48 AM (qyH+l)

HAiti, Guadeloupe, Martinique....

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 11:49 AM (ONvIw)

417 416. And Louisiana

Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 11:49 AM (ONvIw)

418 By the time a man turns fifty he must choose one of two things to become passionate about: WWII history or smoked meats.

Posted by: Just sayin' at December 12, 2021 11:49 AM (jYQlA)

419 So now he is just going to hide he is working for the Democrats Propaganda Ministry

Posted by: Skip at December 12, 2021 11:47 AM (2JoB

Psaki should beware!

Posted by: BignJames at December 12, 2021 11:51 AM (AwYPR)

420 Once the decision was made to intervene in China to support Japanese economic interests there, the Diet had little control over what the Military considered necessary to support their activity.

Posted by: Kindltot at December 12, 2021 11:46 AM (ZMraq)
---
No question, but the generals got ahead of themselves. If - and it's a big if - Japan wanted to conquer China, they were not going to do it quickly. A province-by-province annexation strategy had the best chance of success. By going all-in in 1937, they managed to get both the US and the USSR ranged against them.

Stalin cut back on the Spanish Republic because he had to shore up his eastern flank. The flow of Polycarpovs stopped because he re-directed them to China, where Soviet pilots flew Nationalist aircraft against the Japanese.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 12, 2021 11:52 AM (llXky)

421 By the time a man turns fifty he must choose one of two things to become passionate about: WWII history or smoked meats.

Posted by: Just sayin' at December 12, 2021 11:49 AM (jYQlA)
---
Spanish Civil War. There's a great book about it, you know...

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at December 12, 2021 11:52 AM (llXky)

422 By the time a man turns fifty he must choose one of two things to become passionate about: WWII history or smoked meats.

Posted by: Just sayin' at December 12, 2021 11:49 AM (jYQlA)

Not interested in WWII, but smoking meats....

Posted by: Don Lemon at December 12, 2021 11:52 AM (7bRMQ)

423 Reports are that Wallace will float over to CNN +, their new streaming platform.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at December 12, 2021 11:53 AM (BFigT)

424 Back from a brisk and cold constitutional with the lovely and impervious to cold Mrs naturalfake.

Lessee what's up thread.

Posted by: naturalfake at December 12, 2021 12:06 PM (OMayC)

425 Not a Godzilla expert, but I still remember the scene set in America, on a rich guy's ranch. You could tell it was a rich guy because there was a bottle of Johnnie Walker on the table. And it was obviously a ranch because through an open window you could hear a cow moooowing!

Little touches of authenticity like that really make a movie special!!

Posted by: Ray Van Dune at December 12, 2021 12:12 PM (9EsIa)

426 HAiti, Guadeloupe, Martinique....
Posted by: CN...FJB at December 12, 2021 11:49 AM (ONvIw)

The Leclerc expedition to re-conquer Haiti for the France wound up in the end with the express goal of genocide

Posted by: Kindltot at December 12, 2021 12:23 PM (ZMraq)

427 And that god awful excuse for an aircraft carrier they started building but never finished. A tremendous waste of scarce resources.
Posted by: Mister Scot (Formerly GWS) at December 12, 2021 10:51 AM (bVYXr)

Given Goering's alleged propensities, can you imagine what a Luftwaffe/Kreigsmarine Tailhook would have been like?

Posted by: Fox2! at December 12, 2021 12:39 PM (qyH+l)

428 Pulchritude s such an ugly word to describe beauty. It sounds like a word for vomit or that slime you see at the ocean.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at December 12, 2021 12:53 PM (KZzsI)

429 Ref the recommendations.

Raft: Read it a few months ago. It's ok. Baxter's first novel and he gets MUCH better.
Part of his Xeelee novels. BTW, those can be read in any order and I'm having a ball with them right now.

Master Sniper: Very good. Shares some characters with his Bob Lee Swagger novels. And those are amazing. Most of Hunter's stuff is very good. Only tried 2 of his books that I didn't like.

Posted by: ArthurK at December 12, 2021 01:45 PM (aDtdJ)

430 ref #380.

Shin-Godzilla is amazing! The entire movie is intended as a satire against the Japanese govts. response to the Fukushima nuclear accident. Those parts are funny and the action scenes are mind-blowing.

Posted by: ArthurK at December 12, 2021 01:49 PM (aDtdJ)

431 I tend to arrive late and, as a consequence, my few posts tend to be toward the end of the day and likely overlooked. I'm skipping to the end of the thread without reading the intervening posts, so if someone else has already posted this info forgive me.

Anyway, nearly half of the Freddy the Pig books are available for free at Faded Page at, faded page dot com slash sc slash brooks.

Posted by: Pope John the 20th at December 12, 2021 01:59 PM (KMrXU)

432 Some book crossovers on the KMT regarding the Soviet agreement to allow Soviet pilots to attack Japanese forces from Chinese airbases. I think it was Barbara Tuchman who wrote that Stilwell traveled to the outskirts of the main Soviet airbase and was sniffing about for usable intelligence - going as far as digging through refuse looking for proof of soviet ammunition crates or any marked boxes for that matter. He failed to find material things like that but found plenty cocky-insolent soviet pilots shifting about.

Posted by: 13times at December 12, 2021 07:37 PM (+FavS)

433 Liked The Master Sniper. Complicated but plausible plot line(s).

Ruth Downie, Brit. Her Medicus series features a Roman army doctor in second-century occupied Britain. Wild tribes not taken over yet, intrigue among top dogs in the island, importunate relatives on the continent, serious Roman medicine and good characterization.

Rosemary Sutcliff....YA hist fic. If you can do without the sex, it's okay for adults as well.

Posted by: Richard AUBREY at December 12, 2021 07:57 PM (dSnnl)

434 "The book shows that slavery was never inevitable, and that the different response to the lure of slavery between the southern and northern colonies in America demonstrated this fact."

I hope that he mentioned that many in the northern colonies (including the Quakers and Rhode Island, etc) were heavily involved in the slave trade...

Posted by: the last to post at December 13, 2021 01:15 AM (HRTV7)

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