Sunday Morning Book Thread - 02-19-2023 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

(ht: MichiCanuck)

Welcome to the prestigious, internationally acclaimed, stately, and illustrious Sunday Morning Book Thread! The place where all readers are welcome, regardless of whatever guilty pleasure we feel like reading. Here is where we can discuss, argue, bicker, quibble, consider, debate, confabulate, converse, and jaw about our latest fancy in reading material, even if it's nothing more than the Material Data Safety Sheets for toxic chemicals that may or may not have been released (or created) near East Palestine, Ohio (stay safe OH/PA Morons!). As always, pants are required, especially if you are wearing these pants...

So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, polish off that box of Valentine's Day chocolates, and dive into a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?

PIC NOTE

Today's pic was inspired/suggested by MichiCanuck:

The Bruce Willis movie RED had a lot of filming done in Toronto, which often fills in as "generic US city" in movies. There's a scene where Bruce is looking for a Chinese reference book, and that scene was filmed in the Toronto Reference Library. See:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1245526/locations
I've been in the library several times and although it is a modern style design, it's not jarring and it's surprisingly bright and pleasant.
Posted by: MichiCanuck at February 05, 2023 12:27 PM (zgyK7)

BOOKS BY MORONS

We have two fantastic Books By Morons this week! First up, the long awaited book by A.H. Lloyd on Chinese military history:

My latest book - Walls of Men: A Military History of China 2500 B.C. to A.D. 2020 - is now live on Amazon!
Many of the Moron Horde have helped me with this book, both on the thread and behind the scenes. I hope they find it enjoyable and am deeply grateful for their help.
I have also dedicated it to the late great Oregon Muse who has been such a huge help to me and other independent authors. My book on the Spanish Civil War went to #1 because of him.
I know many folks deeply dislike Amazon and hate the idea of giving them more money but the fact of the matter is that boycotts at this point hurt our side more than Bezos. When our guys hit #1, it drives the left nuts and frankly independent authors get more out of the deal than Bezos does. Put simply, $1,000 in sales is something he doesn't even notice but it can really help a struggling author.
This also allows us to shift the dialog. The Moron Horde support for Long Live Death has put it on the map, and that allows us to shift the conversation. Hopefully the same will happen with Walls of Men. Put simply, we have to contest the battlespace while we still can.
Thank you again, and if you are interested, here is the blurb:
China is using its economic might and growing military strength to challenge America's long-standing hegemony. Yet besides the posturing and high-tech weapons, the West knows very little about China's military culture or history. This book helps fill that gap by offering a comprehensive yet compact study of China's military strengths and weaknesses, from the timeless maxims of Sun Tzu to the guerilla warfare pioneered by Mao Zedong.
Walls of Men provides a detailed examination of the factors shaping the Chinese way of war over more than 4,000 years. More than just a dry recitation of battles and rulers, this book is willing to challenge the conventional narratives. Why did China forfeit its edge in military technology? How could the declining Ch'ing Dynasty survive the Taiping Rebellion, sustaining a death toll greater than the entire U.S. population at the time? Was Chiang Kai-shek actually a gifted commander and strategist? What can China's most recent conflicts tell us about the state of its military power today? Has the Three Generation Problem of leadership finally been solved?
Only by studying the culture, geography, weapons, and beliefs of the dynastic cycles that have shaped China's history can we hope to understand the China of today.

Comment: We often do give Amazon a lot of crap, for many, many good reasons. But it's also true that one way to drive Leftists absolutely insane is to succeed in the marketplace where they have defined the rules. Being able to call yourself a "#1 Best Selling Author" in an Amazon category, no matter how long or short a time that might be, is a distinct feather in the Moron Horde cap!

Next up, we have another exciting entry in Vince Milam's Case Lee Series:

I'd appreciate it if you'd pimp my latest book - The Rhine River Job. [Amazon Link - PS]
It was released 1/31/23, and held, briefly, the #1 Amazon slot in a couple of genres. It still ranks high in Espionage Thrillers and Action Fiction.

----
She's known as the Gypsy. And teams with Case Lee for a mysterious client.
They uncover a crime family aligned with corrupt politicians and deadly shadowland spies.
Par for the course -- until those involved go too far.
And discover there are lines with Case and friends you'd best not cross.
Case and the Gypsy investigate a European crime syndicate when they expose criminal connections with US politicians and power players, while multiple espionage agencies maneuver for leverage. Are Case and the Gypsy being used as part of a larger plot, or obstacles to be removed?
From Amsterdam to Germany to France and back to the States, the trail twists and turns until a secret is revealed that changes everything. And lights the fuse.

Comment: I read Vince's last book,The Texas Job, last year and enjoyed it very much. This is an excellent action thriller series in the same vein as Lee Child or Brad Thor. You can find more Case Lee books at www.vincemilam.com

Congratulations to both A.H. Lloyd and Vince Milam for their achievements!

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MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

Like to put in a recommendation for a Fantasy book: Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock.
It's probably Horror/Fantasy, really. It's dark in the way folk tales and myths are dark. Which isn't surprising as the stories of the Celtic fringe come to life in it.
The book is incredibly well written. It won awards etc etc. And Holdstock seemed to know every Celtic myth and folktale.
But, I really liked it because Holdstock tried to show how a pre-Christian person experienced the world. I don't know if he was right, but he succeeded at something. And that something is the opposite of Tolkien.
He and Gene Wolfe both believed that pre-Christians saw and interacted with gods etc.
There's heavy Jungian personality integration stuff as well, if you're into that. Which makes perfect sense given what the author is trying to do.
It's ambitious and complex but not show off. Holdstock just operated at that level naturally. And was trying to work through deep issues.
Posted by: Thesokorus at February 12, 2023 09:38 AM (1ais2)

Comment: Interesting point about writing from a pre-Christian perspective. It can be hard for us in the Christian era, living in an "enlightened, rational" world, to fully understand what it's like to live in a world full of superstition, of gods and monsters. Or maybe not so hard, considering the irrational, unenlightened people ruining the world today. They would deny that they are superstitious, though, claiming to be the "reality-based" community.

+++++

My book this week has been Hamlet's Mill by Giorgio de Santanilla and Hertha von Dechend. It's in that narrow category of books which ride the fine line between crackpot and genius. Similar works include Campbell's Hero With A Thousand Faces, Graves's Greek Myths, and Julian Jaynes's Origin of Consciousness etc.
The basic premise is that lots of old myths and folktales are astronomical allegories, where Samson, for instance, is probably the Sun, and so forth. I think that's pretty solid.
They kind of get onto thin ice when they presume that all this has a common origin in some pre-agriculture, pre-literacy civilization which was the ancestor of cultures all over the world -- including the New World civs, somehow.
It's very erudite and I learned a lot about old myths and tales, but this would be a dangerous book to give to someone young and impressionable, who might not know where that fine line falls.
Posted by: Trimegistus at February 12, 2023 09:41 AM (QZxDR)

Comment: Sounds like another book that explores the ideas of superstitions and beliefs of humanity over time. Was there a race of "ancient aliens" that gifted humankind with knowledge? Why do we see commonalities among myths and legends? We'll never know...or if we ever did learn the truth, it will drive us mad...

+++++

Reading A History of the Ancient World by Chester G. Starr, 1965, 3rd edition 1982. He already has to address the revisionists in his preface to this edition, he basically just blows them off.
I'm enjoying it, and finally getting all the little kings and empires you read about in the Bible and elsewhere somewhat straight, like Sumerians, Assyrians and the like.
Got this decades ago helping a friend clean out his passed father's house. Also took a similar timeframe Herodotus, which I still have to get to, and another on the Persian Civilisation.
I'm enjoying these. Far removed from current events but still you see connections.
Posted by: From about That Time at February 12, 2023 09:42 AM (4780s)

Comment: It's probably nice to read a book about history where the author is really trying to figure out what happened and is not trying to subscribe to a particular agenda or ideology.

+++++

Completed my re-reading of Jane Eyre. The first read was in childhood and I have carted the book around for decades because it was one of the first two books ever gifted to me. I was surprised that I only remembered bits and pieces of the story, so the story line was fresh and held many surprises. (I am fairly certain that I did not fully appreciate the book back when I first read it because I did not understand and fully appreciate the social mores of the period.) The writing style took some getting used to and although it was wordy (as I suspect language was back then) the story was descriptive and enjoyable. On the plus side, I encountered several words I don't remember ever seeing before.
Posted by: Legally Sufficient at February 12, 2023 11:03 AM (hPMYc)

Comment: Supposedly *the* Gothic romance novel. It's always nice when you can revisit a childhood favorite book and then gain new appreciation for it due to your accumulated wisdom. And learning new words is always a good thing.

More Moron-recommended reading material can be found HERE! (637 Moron-recommended books so far!)

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ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION!

You may notice that the order of the contents varied a bit. A.H. Lloyd and Vince Milam both reached out asking for their books to be promoted on the Sunday Morning Book Thread. It was approximately one year ago that Vince Milam's last book, The Texas Job was promoted. And A.H. Lloyd has been keeping all of us up-to-date on Walls of Men.

As for me, the lowliest of COBs at this smart military blog, this weekend marks the 1-year anniversary ("COB-iversary?") of when I took over the Sunday Morning Book Thread from All-Hail Eris, who took over from OregonMuse after his unfortunate passing. We still miss him. OregonMuse is THE reason I started participating in the AoSHQ community.

The Sunday Morning Book Thread will always be dedicated to his memory.

Interacting with you all on Sundays is one of the most enjoyable times of the week for me. I'm very grateful for all of the praise, suggestions, and recommendations you've provided for this space over the past year. I'm also extremely grateful for the encouragement and support from fellow COBs.

THANK YOU!

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WHAT I'VE ACQUIRED THIS PAST WEEK

Forgotten Realms: The Harpers 01 - The Parched Sea by Troy Denning

Forgotten Realms: The Harpers 07 - Soldiers of Ice by David Cook

Forgotten Realms: The Harpers 14 - Stormlight by Ed Greenwood

Forgotten Realms: The Harpers 15 - Finder's Bane by Kate Novak & Jeff Grubb

Forgotten Realms: The Harpers 16 - Thornhold by Elaine Cunningham

Case Lee 11 - The Rhine River Job by Vince Milam

WHAT I'VE BEEN READING THIS PAST WEEK:

Star Wars: Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor by Matthew Stover -- This has a cartoonish supervillain. He wants to possess Luke Skywalker so that he can take over as the new Emperor of the galaxy. He finances holodramas about Luke's heroic adventures so that when he becomes Luke, he can take over the world through his reputation and stardom. It's a plot worthy of Pinky and the Brain. And it almost works.

Star Wars: Children of the Jedi by Barbara Hambly -- Just an awful book. Luke Skywalker may not be gay, but he's OK with falling in love with a female Force ghost inhabiting the AI of an Imperial superweapon. Meanwhile, Leia is punked by an Anakin Skywalker wanna-be.

Forgotten Realms: The Harpers 01 - The Parched Sea by Troy Denning

Case Lee 11 - The Rhine River Job by Vince Milam

That's about all I have for this week. Thank you for all of your kind words regarding the Sunday Morning Book Thread. This is a very special place. You are very special people (in all the best ways!). The kindness, generosity, and wisdom of the Moron Horde knows no bounds. Let's keep reading!

If you have any suggestions for improvement, reading recommendations, or discussion topics that you'd like to see on the Sunday Morning Book Thread, you can send them to perfessor dot squirrel at-sign gmail dot com. Your feedback is always appreciated! You can also take a virtual tour of OUR library at libib.com/u/perfessorsquirrel. Since I added sections for AoSHQ, I now consider it OUR library, rather than my own personal fiefdom...

PREVIOUS SUNDAY MORNING BOOK THREAD - 02-12-23 (NOTE: Do NOT comment on old threads!)

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 ne read this week

Posted by: rhennigantx at February 19, 2023 08:59 AM (BRHaw)

2 Hey there book fags!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at February 19, 2023 08:59 AM (Dc2NZ)

3 That library looks like it should have people movers going around and around.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 19, 2023 09:03 AM (Angsy)

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

Posted by: JTB at February 19, 2023 09:04 AM (7EjX1)

5 Yay book thread! Thanks perfesser. I do enjoy the squirrel, particularly with the pimp hat.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 09:05 AM (llXky)

6 I dig the space age feel of the Toronto Reference Library:

https://tinyurl.com/zmafhm7x

I like those clear study pods.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at February 19, 2023 09:05 AM (Dc2NZ)

7 I've started reading or rereading After Many a Summer by Alduous Huxley. I pulled out of collection so I've probably read it but I can't remember a thing.

Posted by: That Northern skulker at February 19, 2023 09:06 AM (eGTCV)

8 Question for A.H.: are Kindle Unlimited and paperback to only options for WoM? I prefer hardback or single volume Kindle.

Posted by: Archimedes at February 19, 2023 09:06 AM (eOEVl)

9 hiya

Posted by: JT at February 19, 2023 09:06 AM (T4tVD)

10 Picked up what I hope are some goodies at the library: 2 Ruth Rendells, one of which I have read; a Clive Barker "Hollywood ghost story," and a sequel to Dan Simmons's Summer of Night; and a Neil Gaiman fantasy novel.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 19, 2023 09:06 AM (omVj0)

11 Yay book thread! Thanks perfesser. I do enjoy the squirrel, particularly with the pimp hat.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 09:05 AM (llXky)
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Glad you can join us! Your book should be arriving at Casa Squirrel sometime tomorrow afternoon...Looking forward to reading it!

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 19, 2023 09:07 AM (BpYfr)

12 I would have been first but I got distracted

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 19, 2023 09:07 AM (Xlnez)

13 Congratulations on the anniversary, Prof!

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 19, 2023 09:08 AM (6H3ky)

14 Farewell to the Doom Patrol -- literally. When the original series came to an end, the writer killed the team in an explosion. (It didn't take for some of the members.)

This series was fun but frustrating; the characters were so much better than the Silver Age stories they were saddled with. And the writing! I thought Stan Lee was the master at chatting to the reader, but Arnold Drake outdid him with frequent usage of "Charlie" and "bubbes." I think that's Yiddish; does anybody here know?

One final note: I prefer reading comics in easy-to-hold trade paperbacks. This omnibus ran to nearly 1,100 pages. Didn't make for comfortable reading.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 19, 2023 09:08 AM (6H3ky)

15 Good Sunday morning, horde!

Has it been a year already? So much in the past year.

*raises cup to OM, and others dear to us who have passed.

Thank you, Perfessor, for continuing my favorite part of the week.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 19, 2023 09:09 AM (OX9vb)

16 Question for A.H.: are Kindle Unlimited and paperback to only options for WoM? I prefer hardback or single volume Kindle.

Posted by: Archimedes at February 19, 2023 09:06 AM (eOEVl)
---
I suppose I could do a hardback version. I don't really get how Kindle works, so I always do the default setting.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 09:09 AM (llXky)

17 I'm reading a short story called "Sacred Cow" in Analog magazine, a Larry Niven & Steven Barnes "Gil the ARM" crime story set in LA of 2126. A cow has been murdered. Yes, a cow -- but of a special kind: one genetically engineered to grow human transplant material like kidneys and replacement legs. (This is during the "organleggers" period of LN's Known Space.) Who would want to do such a thing? is the mystery, at least at the start here.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 19, 2023 09:09 AM (omVj0)

18 Lot of empty space in that library. If I want to hang out in a hotel lobby, I'll go hang out in a hotel lobby.

Posted by: Oddbob at February 19, 2023 09:10 AM (nfrXX)

19 That library looks like a shopping mall. This is not a knock; I love such designs.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 19, 2023 09:10 AM (6H3ky)

20 Tolle Lege, y'all.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at February 19, 2023 09:11 AM (PiwSw)

21 Tolle Lege
Finished Paul Kengor's Devil and Karl Marx Communism's Long March of Death, Deception and Infiltration.
It was a good review of the very despicable Karl Marx and Friedrich Engles moving then to Lenin and how the Soviets infiltrated Western religions but think best part from there covered how the Frankfurt School moved to the US turning Marxism from class warfare, unions to what today is Cultural Marxism.
Paul Kengor "Maybe the best we can say is that cultural Marxism, for lack of a better term, is essentially, and very simply, Marxism applied to cultural goals. To repeat: Marxism applied to cultural goals. This is distinguished from the classical Marxism applied to economics or class goals. It is Marxist theory affixed to culture, and thus referred to commonly and understandably as “cultural Marxism.”

Posted by: Skip at February 19, 2023 09:11 AM (xhxe8)

22 I read One Nation Under Blackmail, Vol. I: The Sordid Union Between Intelligence and Organized Crime That Gave Rise To Jeffery Epstein by Whitney Webb. Most of this book is dedicated to setting the historical background of intelligence organizations working with Mob figures to deal drugs and armaments and to launder money around the world. The blackmailing of politicians and business leaders is also covered.

The last few chapters begin to deal with Jeffery Epstein and with Robert Maxwell, Ghislaine's father. Epstein had CIA and Israeli intelligence connections. I believe volume II will be about Epstein blackmailing elites for his own profit and for the deep state. Not an easy read, but interesting.

Posted by: Zoltan at February 19, 2023 09:11 AM (Eo7K+)

23 Question for A.H.: are Kindle Unlimited and paperback to only options for WoM? I prefer hardback or single volume Kindle.

I don't understand what you mean by "single volume Kindle." I thought Kindle books were Kindle books and "Unlimited" meant that you could read it for "free" with your Prime subscription.

Posted by: Oddbob at February 19, 2023 09:13 AM (nfrXX)

24 Hey there book fags!
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread)

I'll have you know that I own a weedwhacker ! (unlike the pants guy)

Posted by: JT at February 19, 2023 09:13 AM (T4tVD)

25 Perfessor,

Congrats on the 1 year anniversary. You have done a superb job and you have done Oregon Muse proud. Your efforts are seriously appreciated.

Posted by: JTB at February 19, 2023 09:14 AM (7EjX1)

26 How far do Luke Skywalker books go?

"Luke Skywalker and the Hardy Boys; Nancy Drew decides."

Posted by: yep at February 19, 2023 09:14 AM (dqoCj)

27 I mentioned this on last night's ONT with regard to the narcotic ayahuasca. Reading:

Visionary: The Mysterious Origins of Human Consciousness, by Graham Hancock.

Rather than tell you what it's about, have a look at the entry on Amazon. Not my usual cup of tea (there's a pun there) but after getting through the first chapter, it continues to pique my curiosity:

https://tinyurl.com/zyx57ae6

(Amazon - direct product link, not an affiliate link)

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at February 19, 2023 09:15 AM (Fi8Wg)

28 2 weeks exactly to finish Devil and Karl Marx, now bookless again

Posted by: Skip at February 19, 2023 09:15 AM (xhxe8)

29 Perfessor,

Congrats on the 1 year anniversary. You have done a superb job and you have done Oregon Muse proud. Your efforts are seriously appreciated.
Posted by: JTB

I'll second that !

Posted by: JT at February 19, 2023 09:15 AM (T4tVD)

30 In Tom Rob's Smith's "Cold People" an armada of alien ships gives humanity one month to move to Antarctica before they wipe out all human life on the planet and take over. A mass migration ensues, and it's devil take the hindmost as each nation scrambles to get to their best and brightest to the most inhospitable place on Earth.

After an initial die-off under harsh conditions, some of those big brains realize humans need to be CRISPR'd into something adapted to the new reality, and "parahuman" children are bred with tougher constitutions that can take the cold, and more mental and emotional equilibrium. But some scientists are really tampering in God's domain and developing "humans" that are so alien they look upon the Normals as impediments. They turn on their would-be masters, as is a Creature's wont.

Smith's story is engrossing but also aggravating, with shades of enviro-weenie "we don't deserve our planet" crap, my least liked SF trope. It can be stiff and didactic. But it also celebrates *gag* the triumph of the human spirit and our innate adaptability and ingenuity, so there's that. It ended without resolution, so I assume a sequel is in the works.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at February 19, 2023 09:15 AM (Dc2NZ)

31 I finished Fly for Your Life, which has kind of a surprise ending - Stanford Tuck escapes from the POW camp and makes his way to the Eastern Front via Polish resistance. He had a Russian emigre nanny growing up so he's able to chat with the Soviets, who regard him with deep suspicion. He escaped with a fellow pilot, who is Polish but has to pretend he's the child of a mixed marriage, not an exile.

Not a nice portrait of the Soviets, but that's life. On the way home, Tuck meets the wife of a fellow pilot who is trying to get to the UK, they almost have an affair, but he decides it would be a mistake, and when he gets back to Blighty marries his girfriend at last.

Tuck is the antithesis of Bader, but they both respected each other. Neat to read their books consecutively. I'll probably stay on the RAF and move onto The Dam Busters.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 09:15 AM (llXky)

32 I don't understand what you mean by "single volume Kindle." I thought Kindle books were Kindle books and "Unlimited" meant that you could read it for "free" with your Prime subscription.

I may be wrong, but I thought you could buy a Kindle book or you could buy what is effectively the entire library of Kindle books for a monthly rate.

Posted by: Archimedes at February 19, 2023 09:18 AM (eOEVl)

33 Currently reading Larry Correia's "In Defense Of The Second Amendment". What I'm finding amazing is that the left / fascist anti-gun nuts haven't come up with a new argument over the last 20 years or so. And Larry knows and rebuts every one of them with sense and humor. And in case you're wondering he supports his arguments with 13 pages of footnotes. Highly recommended.

Posted by: TANSTAAFL at February 19, 2023 09:18 AM (WVJo4)

34 The Germans have decided to edit the works of Roald Dahl. Willy Wonka no longer sports a shit eating grin, just a clasic authoritarian ex slave owner scowl brought on by Oompa Loompa unionization and demandes for free sex changes.

Posted by: Reforger at February 19, 2023 09:19 AM (ZdOyb)

35 I don't understand what you mean by "single volume Kindle." I thought Kindle books were Kindle books and "Unlimited" meant that you could read it for "free" with your Prime subscription.

I may be wrong, but I thought you could buy a Kindle book or you could buy what is effectively the entire library of Kindle books for a monthly rate.
Posted by: Archimedes at February 19, 2023 09:18 AM (eOEVl)
---
Yeah, that's about how it works. I tried Kindle Unlimited for a month or so, but 99% of the content just didn't interest me, so I gave it up.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 19, 2023 09:19 AM (BpYfr)

36 Public libraries are symbols of socialism
Why should my taxes pay for books for others to read
I buy my own damn books

Posted by: Paul at February 19, 2023 09:20 AM (PA5cX)

37 Congrats on the 1 year anniversary.

Ditto that. Maybe you could add a feather to the pimp hat for each year.

Posted by: Oddbob at February 19, 2023 09:20 AM (nfrXX)

38 Paul Kengor "Maybe the best we can say is that cultural Marxism, for lack of a better term, is essentially, and very simply, Marxism applied to cultural goals. To repeat: Marxism applied to cultural goals. This is distinguished from the classical Marxism applied to economics or class goals. It is Marxist theory affixed to culture, and thus referred to commonly and understandably as “cultural Marxism.”

Posted by: Skip at February 19, 2023 09:11 AM (xhxe

---
Interesting that Marxism was originally very hostile to homosexuality. It's been retconned, but because socialism was "scientific," it also accepted the prevailing science that homosexuality was a mental disorder and a symptom of decadence.

The Chinese are very much on board with this notion.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 09:21 AM (llXky)

39 Happy Anniversary, Perfessor, you are a most worthy successor.

Posted by: Debby Doberman Schultz at February 19, 2023 09:23 AM (a4EWo)

40 The pharmacy informational pamphlets on tubes of monkeypox salve don't count as books, Paul.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at February 19, 2023 09:24 AM (oINRc)

41 Finished The Red and the Black by Stendahl. Barely worth the time it took to read. Started A. H. Llyod's Long Live Death. Full of things I did not know about the Spanish Civil War and I only just dove into it.

Posted by: who knew at February 19, 2023 09:24 AM (4I7VG)

42 I may be wrong, but I thought you could buy a Kindle book or you could buy what is effectively the entire library of Kindle books for a monthly rate.

OK, so I guess Kindle Unlimited is a separate subscription that just happens to be bundled into the Prime subscription whether you want it or not.

Posted by: Oddbob at February 19, 2023 09:25 AM (nfrXX)

43 Good morning, Eris.

I have read Tom Rob Smith's "Child 44" trilogy, and found them engrossing. I didn't know he was writing sci fi.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 19, 2023 09:26 AM (OX9vb)

44 Happy Book Thread Anniversary, Perfessor! Thank you for doing such a wonderful job! Your work (and that of Eris before you) in keeping this thread going is much appreciated, as are the recommendations of the esteemed horde.

Posted by: Hoplite Housewife at February 19, 2023 09:26 AM (V66kM)

45 Paul Kengor makes point how many of Ghey and sexual deviants were shunned out of the Communists until Marxism changed from class warfare to Intersectionaly Marxism. Sundowner and even AO-C still rail on class warfare but that has seems to be back burner now.

Posted by: Skip at February 19, 2023 09:26 AM (xhxe8)

46 Concerning the 'these pants' selection. The jokes and remarks write themselves. Especially if 'Dickie" is used as a diminutive.

Posted by: JTB at February 19, 2023 09:26 AM (7EjX1)

47
I'm going to start reading the Chronicles of Narnia to my three year old. She obviously can't really understand it. But she's pretty far behind on verbal skills, and I'm hoping that hearing a large number of more advanced words (and seeing them formed) will help with her speech therapy more than these baby "books" we've been reading.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at February 19, 2023 09:28 AM (oINRc)

48 Libraries make it possible for me to read much more than I can afford to buy, even now. If I find something I want to keep and re-read, then off to AbeBooks or somewhere. Bookstores nowadays -- or I should say, Barnes & Noble, as they seem to be the only choice -- are far too woke and PC in their offerings.

And there is hardly anything to be found older than 2000 except Agatha Christie reprints. Not long ago I went looking for some of the Ian Fleming Bonds; a new edition of them with colorful pulp-like covers came out around the time of Skyfall in 2012. Couldn't find a one at B & N.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 19, 2023 09:28 AM (omVj0)

49 This morning I found the recent Styxhexenhammer video about ahistorical revisionism regarding Roald Dahl. I think it is appropriate for the Book Thread.

https://www.bitchute.com/video/6cni13KE65Ni/

I don't even like Dahl, but the current Bowdlerization of classic childrens' literature is unconscionable.

Posted by: mustbequantum at February 19, 2023 09:29 AM (MIKMs)

50 Public libraries are symbols of socialism
Why should my taxes pay for books for others to read
I buy my own damn books
Posted by: Paul at February 19, 2023 09:20 AM (PA5cX)
-

I believe that initially public libraries were privately funded.

I agree. Especially with the woke crap their stocking on the shelves with no community say at all.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at February 19, 2023 09:29 AM (Fi8Wg)

51 Another thing I learned about Kindle Unlimited (from MP4 maybe?) is that if you download an Unlimited book, the author gets paid based on how much of it you actually read in the Kindle app.

Posted by: Oddbob at February 19, 2023 09:30 AM (nfrXX)

52 Libraries make it possible for me to read much more than I can afford to buy, even now. If I find something I want to keep and re-read, then off to AbeBooks or somewhere. Bookstores nowadays -- or I should say, Barnes & Noble, as they seem to be the only choice -- are far too woke and PC in their offerings.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at February 19, 2023 09:28 AM (omVj0)
---
I finally got into reading Waugh thanks to my public library. Dropped the kids off at an activity and decided to kill time reading through the stacks. They're woke, but it's a university town and their collection of Waugh was outstanding.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 09:30 AM (llXky)

53 Congrats A.H. Lloyd!

Posted by: Muldoon at February 19, 2023 09:31 AM (ykeLU)

54 I dropped by an out of the way used bookstore yesterday, and stumbled upon two interesting books in the bargain aisle. The Secret Conspiracy to Kill George Washington, and To Rescue the Republic, which is a semi-biography of Ulysses Grant, and how he tried to settle the disputed election of 1876. Both sound interesting.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 19, 2023 09:31 AM (jdU/e)

55 FIRST!!!!!

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at February 19, 2023 09:31 AM (Zz0t1)

56 If I find something I want to keep and re-read, then off to AbeBooks or somewhere.

FWIW, I've been having pretty good luck with Thriftbooks lately, at least for recent, non-collectable stuff.

Posted by: Oddbob at February 19, 2023 09:31 AM (nfrXX)

57 Where da books in that Cannuck lib? All e-book all the time, I suppose. Blech.

Posted by: Uggo at February 19, 2023 09:32 AM (klu5V)

58 Dash My Lace Wigs: There's a Child 44 trilogy? I read Child 44 and thought it was great. Now I have to go look for more books. Do you know the names of parts 2 and 3?

Posted by: who knew at February 19, 2023 09:32 AM (4I7VG)

59 I also read Saving Aziz: How the Mission to Help One Became a Calling to Rescue Thousands From the Taliban by Chad Robichaux with David L. Thomas. Robichaux served eight tours in Afghanistan as a Force Recon Marine. His interpreter on each tour was an Afghani named Aziz. These two were often alone on patrol searching for high-value targets. They saved each other's lives more than once.

When Biden's disastrous withdrawal began, Chad knew he had to get Aziz and his family out. He put together a team of other former special operations veterans, and they accomplished that task. Working with other NGO's, they saved over 17,000 U. S. citizens and green card holders, Christians, and Afghans who had worked for the U. S.; and unlike the flights organized by our State Department, each refugee was fully vetted.

This is an exciting story of dedication and courage, and shows what motivated Americans can accomplish if only government bureaucrats would get out of the way. An excellent book.

Posted by: Zoltan at February 19, 2023 09:33 AM (Eo7K+)

60 Paul Kengor makes point how many of Ghey and sexual deviants were shunned out of the Communists until Marxism changed from class warfare to Intersectionaly Marxism. Sundowner and even AO-C still rail on class warfare but that has seems to be back burner now.

Posted by: Skip at February 19, 2023 09:26 AM (xhxe

---
It's interesting how China went from reviling its heritage to celebrating it. Under Mao, the old Imperial dynasties were reviled as reactionary and some of the tombs were attacked. Now the Chicoms are cranking out docu-dramas which are available on Amazon. I watched one about one of the Ch'ing emperors that was fascinating. Too long-winded for me, but beautifully photographed and amazing to see them celebrating the last dynasty.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 09:33 AM (llXky)

61 Kindle unlimited does not give you free (subscribed) access to all kindle titles. I use it, because I find enough on kindle unlimited to justify the monthly fee. But many really great looking books are not offered with kindle unlimited. You have to buy them. I presume the authors decide which way their work can be sold.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 19, 2023 09:34 AM (OX9vb)

62 I actually finally read the Mike Leach book Geronimo. I was compelled to finish it as it was loaned to my by an elderly gentleman quite some time ago and I never read it. He recently passed away and in my guilt in never returning it to him, I read it.

It's actually an interesting to read because Geronimo was an incredible person that accomplished some pretty amazing things. Yes, he was a bloodthirsty killer that took hundreds of lives, but he was fighting for survival against human growth and change. Leach presents it and ties it to everyday life and how lessons can make you a better leader.

It made me want to learn more about Geronimo.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at February 19, 2023 09:35 AM (Zz0t1)

63 Reading updates - I read some recent Horde recs:
Languages of Pao by Jack Vance
Rocket to the Morgue by Anthony Boucher
Also read the latest Elfhame book from Holly Black

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 19, 2023 09:36 AM (Xlnez)

64 the spectrum on non heterosexual practice, serves as a new vanguard as Lenin would put it, although some elements are certainly lumpen,

Posted by: no 6 at February 19, 2023 09:36 AM (PXvVL)

65 Public Lieberries are way more than book suppositories where one can obtain reading materials on the cheap. They are places that warm the urban outdoorsmen in the winter, cool him off in the summer and have readily available restrooms that they can live in like small Holiday Inn Expresses while giving them access to Al Gore's Internet.

They are examples of tax money well spent.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at February 19, 2023 09:36 AM (R/m4+)

66 I don't even like Dahl, but the current Bowdlerization of classic childrens' literature is unconscionable.
Posted by: mustbequantum at February 19, 2023 09:29 AM (MIKMs)

In another life before being an author he was a British spy AGAINT the United States. An "Illegal" so to speak.

Sent here to help insure America was on the Allied side when it entered the war.

Posted by: Reforger at February 19, 2023 09:36 AM (ZdOyb)

67 Perfessor,

Congrats on the 1 year anniversary. You have done a superb job and you have done Oregon Muse proud. Your efforts are seriously appreciated.
Posted by: JTB

HEAR HEAR!!!

I do miss the hot chess chicks, tho.....

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at February 19, 2023 09:37 AM (Zz0t1)

68 if you download an Unlimited book, the author gets paid based on how much of it you actually read in the Kindle app.
Posted by: Oddbob at February 19, 2023 09:30 AM (nfrXX)

Right, so if you are reading a Moron's book on unlimited, but aren't really enjoying it, keep paging through it while you do something else, so they get paid.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 19, 2023 09:38 AM (OX9vb)

69 I have read Tom Rob Smith's "Child 44" trilogy, and found them engrossing. I didn't know he was writing sci fi.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 19, 2023 09:26 AM (OX9vb)
---

I'll check them out. From my library, which is great. I love libraries.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at February 19, 2023 09:38 AM (Dc2NZ)

70 Congrats, AH Lloyd!

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 19, 2023 09:38 AM (Xlnez)

71 Morning all! Thank you Squirrel!

For those of you looking for some fun reading for youngsters, my good friend Craig Bradley has published his second Peter Polo (Marco's kid brother) serial, "Peter Polo and the White Elephant of Lan Xang."

Posted by: goatexchange at February 19, 2023 09:39 AM (APPN8)

72 49 I don't even like Dahl, but the current Bowdlerization of classic childrens' literature is unconscionable.
Posted by: mustbequantum at February 19, 2023 09:29 AM (MIKMs)

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

So true. I often despair of my mother's tendency to hoard, but am grateful that she kept all of our childhood books. With all of the "helpful" editing, they'll likely be unrecognizable in a few years. Or deemed contraband.

Posted by: Hoplite Housewife at February 19, 2023 09:40 AM (V66kM)

73 As for me, the lowliest of COBs at this smart military blog,

*CharlieBrownsDildo has entered the chat

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at February 19, 2023 09:40 AM (Zz0t1)

74 like Stalin who found some aspects of the czars, helpful in his strategy, something whittaker chambers noted when the put the Romanovs' on the roof of the complex in Yalta, making him a greater czar

Posted by: no 6 at February 19, 2023 09:40 AM (PXvVL)

75 A.H.Lloyd come to think of it I think the Russians are doing same thing. The Soviets went all out destroying religion and anything of old nobility and Czars. In other reading as I always do including this last book, start looking into places and people I read about. Many Orthodox Churces have been restored, the Czar Nicholas family who were murdered seem to have been buried in a new Cathedral on spot they were buried.

Posted by: Skip at February 19, 2023 09:41 AM (xhxe8)

76 Finished The Red and the Black by Stendahl. Barely worth the time it took to read. Started A. H. Llyod's Long Live Death. Full of things I did not know about the Spanish Civil War and I only just dove into it.

Posted by: who knew at February 19, 2023 09:24 AM (4I7VG)
---
Glad you like it! So much of what is written about the Spanish Civil War is complete garbage. Chinese history has a few myths, but the biggest challenge there is just pulling everything together.

In Spain, it's just lie after lie.

Fun fact: Chiang Kai-shek got lots of military aid from the Nazis. Do an internet search for Nationalist Army 1935 or later and you'll see troops kitted out in German helmets. Neat Franco-Chiang nexus there.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 09:42 AM (llXky)

77 Or at least get to end where the review comes up and rate it.

Posted by: Skip at February 19, 2023 09:42 AM (xhxe8)

78 For all you Franco fans, I do highlight the similarities (and differences) between him and Chiang Kai-shek. Both get a raw deal from historians, both were anti-Communists before it was fashionable.

Franco won his civil war, but he also had an easier path to victory. For one thing, he didn't have Americans on his side. That's always a liability.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 09:43 AM (llXky)

79 Finished Down the Common, the novel about a year in the life of a medieval woman, recommended here by Sal and someone else we can't remember, lol. Written by a (an?) historian. Sal, you were right; it was hard to ration it out so it would last longer. It was so well written that it just carried you along.

Have been pondering it all week. The things that poor woman (the protagonist) didn't know, like how to grow or forage medicinal herbs. She had to ask the dame of the manor for some, instead. Her husband wasn't any broader; he knew how to do what he did, and that was it. Feudalism had stomped them down good and hard. There were glimmers, however, that the next generation would be a tad brighter. A very thought provoking book.

Posted by: skywch at February 19, 2023 09:44 AM (uqhmb)

80 My eyes suck this morning and the reading glasses aren't working so well today.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at February 19, 2023 09:44 AM (Zz0t1)

81 The library pic up top - I usually find those really high modern ceilings oppressive. Being on the side would be ok, but reading right under those skylights would give me a headache.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 19, 2023 09:44 AM (Xlnez)

82 In another life before being an author he was a British spy AGAINT the United States. An "Illegal" so to speak.

Sent here to help insure America was on the Allied side when it entered the war.
Posted by: Reforger at February 19, 2023 09:36 AM (ZdOyb)

-----------

"The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington" by Jennet Conant is an excellent book on this story.

Posted by: Hoplite Housewife at February 19, 2023 09:44 AM (V66kM)

83 Good morning Perfessor. Thanks so much for the book thread. Great job. I too miss OM. It was the OM book thread that hooked me on AoS. Now I have a question. Is it a sin to imagine wanting my slice of Heaven to be one where I can sit all day in a comfy chair reading and drinking bourbon and/or coffee. Because that is my idea of Heaven. Of course seeing all my relatives and friends who have passed before me and whom I miss dearly. Thanks again for a great thread.

Posted by: RetSgtRN at February 19, 2023 09:44 AM (RqUF/)

84 Do an internet search for Nationalist Army 1935 or later and you'll see troops kitted out in German helmets. Neat Franco-Chiang nexus there.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 09:42 AM (llXky)

Thank you for phrasing it this way instead of saying "google it."

Google is the devil and needs to die a painful death.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at February 19, 2023 09:45 AM (Zz0t1)

85 That's always a liability

----

Well yeah. If your fighting Communism, Communist "allies" won't be too helpful.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at February 19, 2023 09:45 AM (oINRc)

86 The pic of that library actually resembles the corporate HQ for the company I work for in Denmark. Very similar architecture.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at February 19, 2023 09:46 AM (Zz0t1)

87 Do you know the names of parts 2 and 3?
Posted by: who knew at February 19, 2023 09:32 AM (4I7VG)

The Secret Speech and Agent 6.

In The Secret Speech, agent Demidov is back, and the story revolves around a speech written by Kruschev stating that Stalin was a tyrant. Demidov struggles with living under Soviet tyranny, while remaining loyal to his country.

In Agent 6, Demidov goes to New York on a mission, but he's suspicious of the mission, given that he is Soviet. Why wouldn't he be?

These are really good books, and I think I will put them back into my rotation for re-read.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 19, 2023 09:47 AM (OX9vb)

88 Yes, thanks to Prof. Squirrel for continuing the beloved Book Thread. Much appreciated.

While I'd love to curl up with my puppy on my lap, at this time of the day he's more interested in chewing on shoes and the furniture than snoozing quietly.

However, I have had time in the evenings to begin reading my first PD James mystery "The Murder Room" and I'm enjoying it a great deal - enough to want to search out her other works. James is much better wordsmith than Christie and her characters - all of them - are more complex and subtle than Rex Stout's or Christie's. I like the genuine horror her dectectives have of murder, their realization of how terrible it is. In other detective stories, it's more like "OK, here's this stiff in the library, what a damn inconvenience" and 10 minutes later, Wolfe's upstairs with the orchids and Archie's paying bills. You never feel that sorry for the murder victim in a Nero Wolfe novel because Archie and Wolfe never do. That's not a criticism of Stout - his mysteries are focused more on the "how-done-it" they are not meant to be psychologically and spiritually deep.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&&&V at February 19, 2023 09:47 AM (HabA/)

89 I read a biography The Mystery of Lewis Carroll: Discovering the Whimsical, Thoughtful, and Sometimes Lonely Man Who Created "Alice in Wonderland" by Jenny Woolf. Unlike so many biographies, the author doesn't take a grain of supposition and blow it up to pure speculation. And she left out the condemnation of the subject due to 'modern' standards. None of the pedophile crap or criminal guesswork about Dodson as Jack the Ripper.

There isn't actually much to work with when it comes to Carroll. Much of his correspondence and family papers were destroyed by his very private family and he didn't seek notoriety for himself. What remains provides a picture of a private man, a protector and guide to his siblings (as the oldest male once his father passed) and just a very private man. Not so strange given the time and place. It has always seemed to me that Dodson/Carroll should be judged by his writings, drawings and photography and actual references. This biography provides that look into the man's culture and his actions, including charitable giving, to show a quiet, sociable man who has a taste for whimsy and creativity.

Posted by: JTB at February 19, 2023 09:47 AM (7EjX1)

90 .H.Lloyd come to think of it I think the Russians are doing same thing. The Soviets went all out destroying religion and anything of old nobility and Czars. In other reading as I always do including this last book, start looking into places and people I read about. Many Orthodox Churces have been restored, the Czar Nicholas family who were murdered seem to have been buried in a new Cathedral on spot they were buried.

Posted by: Skip at February 19, 2023 09:41 AM (xhxe

---
Russia is being Russian again. Very much celebrating their ancient heritage and faith. The church/state union has been restored (which has good and bad aspects).

Interesting that the Eastern Orthodox communion is coming apart over the Ukraine thing. National churches can be problematic.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 09:48 AM (llXky)

91 Is it a sin to imagine wanting my slice of Heaven to be one where I can sit all day in a comfy chair reading and drinking bourbon and/or coffee.
=====

I'm pretty sure there was an (in)famous Twilight Zone episode about that very wish.

Posted by: mustbequantum at February 19, 2023 09:48 AM (MIKMs)

92 As for me, the lowliest of COBs at this smart military blog,

*CharlieBrownsDildo has entered the chat
Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden

Uh-oh.....

Posted by: JT at February 19, 2023 09:50 AM (T4tVD)

93 Congrats on the 1 year anniversary. You have done a superb job and you have done Oregon Muse proud. Your efforts are seriously appreciated.
Posted by: JTB

Hear, hear!
Thank you, Perfesser!

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 19, 2023 09:50 AM (Xlnez)

94 I mentioned this on last night's ONT with regard to the narcotic ayahuasca.

******

Funny you mention this. I had never heard of ayahuasca until a couple nights ago.My wife and I were watching an episode of Brit series about a police detective in Amsterdam. The episode featured ayahuasca as a means to spiritual enlightenment via hallucination via a "guide" or shaman who leads you through the trip. It seems like a nasty drug with a degree of.nihilism underlying its use. The internet tells me it has been touted as helping to "heal" previous trauma. Similar to how psychedelic mushrooms (recently legalized in Colorado) have been touted as helping with PTSD.

Color me skeptical.

Posted by: Muldoon at February 19, 2023 09:51 AM (ykeLU)

95
Uh-oh.....
Posted by: JT at February 19, 2023 09:50 AM (T4tVD)

What? That CBD guy is MUCH more acceptable than CharlieBrownsDildo. You MUST agree.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at February 19, 2023 09:51 AM (Zz0t1)

96 I like our library system but have one complaint: Our closest branch shares its building with a community center and its acreage with a tennis center. On the weekends, finding a place to park is a challenge. Last Saturday, cars were lined along both sides of the street. More than once. I've had to park on the far side of the lot and traipse across the whole lot just to return a CD. There's a drop box at the lot's exit, but my car is too low; I have to get partly out of the car to use the box. It's annoying.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 19, 2023 09:51 AM (P8vrF)

97 am grateful that she kept all of our childhood books. With all of the "helpful" editing, they'll likely be unrecognizable in a few years. Or deemed contraband.
Posted by: Hoplite Housewife

This is why I purchase physical books. Plus, I am not reliant upon electricity to read. The bonus is that physical books are not as popular these days, so one can get very nice books at reasonable prices.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 19, 2023 09:52 AM (7L5ze)

98 Hiya Donna of the Ampersands !

Posted by: JT at February 19, 2023 09:52 AM (T4tVD)

99 TL

R version
Ayahuasca serves as a symbolic form of suicide.

Posted by: Muldoon at February 19, 2023 09:52 AM (ykeLU)

100 Well yeah. If your fighting Communism, Communist "allies" won't be too helpful.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at February 19, 2023 09:45 AM (oINRc)
---
It's wasn't the Communism, it was the stupidity. The US always acts like it knows best and lords it over people. "All the problems in Iraq will be fixed with elections!" is just the latest iteration.

The Nationalists lost the civil war before it even started and we had a big hand in that because we kept demanding cease-fires. All those did was give the Chicoms time to arm and train.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 09:52 AM (llXky)

101 Don't remember but seems not many Americans flew to Spain in late 30s to fight for Franco, it was all the Communists who went.

Posted by: Skip at February 19, 2023 09:53 AM (xhxe8)

102 Hey there book fags!
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at February 19, 2023 08:59 AM

We also serve, who hold and support, and we have our own contingent of AoSHQ enthusiasts and supporters.

Posted by: Book Shelves at February 19, 2023 09:54 AM (a3Q+t)

103 Good morning.
. I still miss OM. When I complained that his Who Dis never had men without shirts, he actually added Manly men to his morning post. After he posted one of my enthusiastic book reports on the front page, I fell in love.
That being said, Perfessor, you took on the job and I am thankful every Sunday morning. Congratulations! Do you get a raise? More quatloos? Upgraded dental plan?

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 19, 2023 09:54 AM (Y+l9t)

104 "The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington" by Jennet Conant is an excellent book on this story.
Posted by: Hoplite Housewife at February 19, 2023 09:44 AM (V66kM)

Yes it is.
I did a huge dig on British Intelligence a few years back. Some shady shit was going on with them and the KGB. I think most, if not all British spys were double agents with the USSR.

Posted by: Reforger at February 19, 2023 09:54 AM (ZdOyb)

105 A.H. needs to change from "ace endorsed" to "bestselling author."

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(2YtOq) at February 19, 2023 09:55 AM (2YtOq)

106 >>>@47 I'm going to start reading the Chronicles of Narnia to my three year old. She obviously can't really understand it. But she's pretty far behind on verbal skills, and I'm hoping that hearing a large number of more advanced words (and seeing them formed) will help with her speech therapy more than these baby "books" we've been reading. Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at February 19, 2023 09:28 AM (oINRc)
==============
Greetings, YD ... The cable TV series WORD PARTY might be helpful ... I believe it was originally on Netflix (when my granddaughter was born) but, these days, it could be available elsewhere ... The repetition of the songs seemed to have strengthened my granddaughter's verbal skills (while simultaneously driving my son nearly insane) ... Just a suggestion.

Posted by: Kathy at February 19, 2023 09:56 AM (JklXp)

107 The word I learned from Pliny this week is "pseudobunion". It means "bastard turnip". I'll leave it to yall to figure out how to use it in a sentence.

Posted by: fd at February 19, 2023 09:56 AM (iayUP)

108 And huge congrats to A.H. Lloyd and Vince Milam! I do not have the self-discipline to write a book - kudos to those that do and successfully publish. Additional bows to A.H. for the immense amount of research he had to wade through to produce such a sweeping history.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&&&V at February 19, 2023 09:57 AM (HabA/)

109 OK, so I guess Kindle Unlimited is a separate subscription that just happens to be bundled into the Prime subscription whether you want it or not.
Posted by: Oddbob at February 19, 2023 09:25 AM (nfrXX)

Kindle Unlimited gives you access to books that are available on KU. Not all Kindle books are - big publishers never put their books on KU - it's usually just independent writers.
KU is a monthly add on to Prime, I think around $10/month

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 19, 2023 09:57 AM (Xlnez)

110 The word I learned from Pliny this week is "pseudobunion". It means "bastard turnip". I'll leave it to yall to figure out how to use it in a sentence.
Posted by: fd at February 19, 2023 09:56 AM (iayUP)
-------------

Sounds like "pseudobunion" is the proper term for the lump on Fetterman's neck.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(2YtOq) at February 19, 2023 09:57 AM (2YtOq)

111 I saw Bastard Turnips open for Alicia Keys at the St Lucia Jazz Festival in '87.

Posted by: goatexchange at February 19, 2023 09:57 AM (APPN8)

112 Top Men:

A metal detectorist is suing the FBI, claiming he alerted them to 7 tons of Civil War-era gold and they took it away in a secret overnight dig

https://tinyurl.com/2t5r4y7j

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at February 19, 2023 09:58 AM (oINRc)

113 I enjoyed Child 44.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 19, 2023 09:58 AM (Xlnez)

114 This is why I purchase physical books. Plus, I am not reliant upon electricity to read. The bonus is that physical books are not as popular these days, so one can get very nice books at reasonable prices.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 19, 2023 09:52 AM (7L5ze)

Yes! They'll start with Dahl and start erasing and revising history. And the "copy" you purchase as an ebook can very well end up edited. I saw this happen with Windswept House. And it will keep going. I've been buying lots of hard copies, including things I never thought I'd actually buy, in order to preserve them.

Posted by: CN at February 19, 2023 09:58 AM (Zzbjj)

115 Don't remember but seems not many Americans flew to Spain in late 30s to fight for Franco, it was all the Communists who went.

Posted by: Skip at February 19, 2023 09:53 AM (xhxe

---
About 1,800 Americans served in the International Brigades. There were two battalions (named after Abraham Lincoln and George Washington to appeal to the rubes) but high losses forced them to be amalgamated.

The US was fairly neutral about Spain, selling non-military gear (like trucks) to both sides. Some leftists make a stink about Texaco selling oil to Franco, but Texaco actually had pre-existing contract with Spain and the Popular Front canceled it to buy from the Soviets. All Franco did was offer to honor it and pay them. Which he did.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 09:58 AM (llXky)

116 Congratulations on your one year anniversary Perfessor. You are doing a fine job and I am going to recommend a raise.

Posted by: fd at February 19, 2023 09:59 AM (iayUP)

117 It's wasn't the Communism, it was the stupidity. The US always acts like it knows best and lords it over people. "All the problems in Iraq will be fixed with elections!" is just the latest iteration.

-----

True, but with friends like Acheson and Lattimore, Chiang didn't need enemies, either.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at February 19, 2023 09:59 AM (oINRc)

118 *There's a drop box at the lot's exit, but my car is too low; I have to get partly out of the car to use the box. It's annoying.*

Tune in later today as we discuss First World Problems...

Posted by: Analogger at February 19, 2023 09:59 AM (VRzLW)

119 The word I learned from Pliny this week is "pseudobunion". It means "bastard turnip". I'll leave it to yall to figure out how to use it in a sentence.
Posted by: fd

The real trick would be incorporating it in a limerick.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 19, 2023 09:59 AM (D4wfO)

120 There isn't actually much to work with when it comes to Carroll. Much of his correspondence and family papers were destroyed by his very private family ...Posted by: JTB

*******

Which raises an interesting question:

Would you rather be memorialized (although likely inaccurately or distorted) or lost to the mists of time, erased from the memory of all but a small inner circle? Mythologic fame or eternal obscurity?

I prefer the latter.

Posted by: Muldoon at February 19, 2023 10:00 AM (ykeLU)

121 I have read a couple of the Vince Milham books. I bought the first one when there was a link to the $.99 book sale. I didn't know at the time that he was a member of the horde but started to suspect when I saw that his boat was called the Ace of Spades.
Exciting reads so highly recommended.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 19, 2023 10:00 AM (Y+l9t)

122 I'd like to give a shout out to the person who recommended the Cormoran Strike series by JK "Robert Galbraith" Rowling.

But, then, I'm a sucker for door stop books which are well written.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(2YtOq) at February 19, 2023 10:00 AM (2YtOq)

123 Dear Perfesser Squirrel,

I admire you tremendously. You took on a wildly popular feature and made it your own. Brave. My sincere thanks for reestablishing the Book Thread within the AoS umbrella.

Posted by: mustbequantum at February 19, 2023 10:00 AM (MIKMs)

124 Having a hard time finding a copy of Mythago Wood at the library. May do interlibrary loan

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 19, 2023 10:01 AM (Xlnez)

125 I had never heard of ayahuasca until a couple nights ago.My wife and I were watching an episode of Brit series about a police detective in Amsterdam. The episode featured ayahuasca as a means to spiritual enlightenment via hallucination via a "guide" or shaman who leads you through the trip. It seems like a nasty drug with a degree of.nihilism underlying its use. The internet tells me it has been touted as helping to "heal" previous trauma. Similar to how psychedelic mushrooms (recently legalized in Colorado) have been touted as helping with PTSD.

Color me skeptical.
Posted by: Muldoon at February 19, 2023 09:51 AM

You are too young to be so cynical. You could be on the bleeding edge of research into the new frontier of their therapeutic benefits in pediatric cardiology or limerickial generation. A whole new wave of lead-author Dr. Muldoon articles in the New England Journal of Medicine and Lancet could be yours!

Posted by: Duncanthrax at February 19, 2023 10:01 AM (a3Q+t)

126 I read about 4-5 books a month. I simply cannot afford to buy them, so I use the public library a lot. With many books I've checked out, I am glad I didn't pay money for them, so I feel no guilt by not finishing them.

Posted by: washrivergal at February 19, 2023 10:02 AM (Cje4N)

127 You're welcome Blake. They did get longer as the series progressed.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 19, 2023 10:02 AM (Y+l9t)

128 And huge congrats to A.H. Lloyd and Vince Milam! I do not have the self-discipline to write a book - kudos to those that do and successfully publish. Additional bows to A.H. for the immense amount of research he had to wade through to produce such a sweeping history.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&&&V at February 19, 2023 09:57 AM (HabA/)
---
Thanks! I hope folks like it. I tried to keep it moving and mostly hit the important parts. I've heard someone say that you never really finish writing a book, you just give up and that was the case.

I kept finding more sources, more stuff and I was getting worn out. I can't figure out how people can write 500 pages on a single topic.

*Remembers Man of Destiny series*

I mean with footnotes and stuff.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 10:02 AM (llXky)

129 I am not reliant upon electricity to read.

So you read only in the daytime or by firelight?

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 19, 2023 10:03 AM (P8vrF)

130 Just finished Tress of the Emerald Sea (Secret Project 1) by Brandon Sanderson. Absolutely loved it!

Posted by: What's a Seawolf? at February 19, 2023 10:03 AM (rwtYC)

131 119 The word I learned from Pliny this week is "pseudobunion". It means "bastard turnip". I'll leave it to yall to figure out how to use it in a sentence.
Posted by: fd

The real trick would be incorporating it in a limerick.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 19, 2023 09:59 AM (D4wfO)
----

Pseudobunion rhymes with Funyon, if that helps.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at February 19, 2023 10:03 AM (Dc2NZ)

132 "including things I never thought I'd actually buy, in order to preserve them."
Posted by: CN at February 19, 2023 09:58 AM (Zzbjj)

I do the same thing.

Posted by: Reforger at February 19, 2023 10:04 AM (ZdOyb)

133 In 1842 he was placed in charge of the Depot of Charts and Instruments, out of which grew the U.S. Naval Observatory and Hydrographic Office. To gather information on maritime winds and currents, Maury distributed to captains specially prepared logbooks from which he compiled pilot charts, enabling ships to shorten the time of sea voyages. In 1848 he published maps of the main wind fields of the Earth. Maury’s work inspired the first international marine conference, held in Brussels in 1853. He was U.S. representative at the meeting that led to the establishment of the International Hydrographic Bureau. Provided with worldwide information, Maury was able to produce charts of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans.

So they took his name off a building at the Navy Academy and renamed it after a Bad President.

1984 ain't a fucking HOW TO manual.

Posted by: rhennigantx at February 19, 2023 10:04 AM (BRHaw)

134 "Pseudobunions, maple syrup, and sous vide. Threat AND menace!"
-- next week's Food Thread title

Posted by: Duncanthrax at February 19, 2023 10:04 AM (a3Q+t)

135 Posted by: Kathy at February 19, 2023 09:56 AM (JklXp)

Thx! I'll check it out.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at February 19, 2023 10:05 AM (oINRc)

136 The real trick would be incorporating it in a limerick.
Posted by: Thomas Paine

*******

Nary an inconvenience.

Persistent Vegetative State - a limerick

There once was a fellow named Grunyon
Who discovered a large pseudobunion
It grew on his leg. A
bastardized rutabaga
Like a damned illegitimate onion!

Posted by: Muldoon at February 19, 2023 10:05 AM (ykeLU)

137 *Remembers Man of Destiny series*

I mean with footnotes and stuff.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 10:02 AM (llXky)
-------------

Takes a bit of time.

Posted by: William Shirer at February 19, 2023 10:06 AM (2YtOq)

138 Bastard cabbage is also known as turnip-weed, common giant mustard, ball mustard, wild turnip, wild rape and tall mustard-weed. It is designated a terrestrial noxious-weed seed in the state of Texas.

Posted by: rhennigantx at February 19, 2023 10:06 AM (BRHaw)

139 I have read a couple of the Vince Milham books. I bought the first one when there was a link to the $.99 book sale. I didn't know at the time that he was a member of the horde but started to suspect when I saw that his boat was called the Ace of Spades.
Exciting reads so highly recommended.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 19, 2023 10:00 AM (Y+l9t)
---
There are lots of little nods to the Moron Horde in his stories. Non Hordians will still enjoy the series as its full of action and adventure. Morons will just get the added bonus of those little acknowledgements...I'm already about 20% through The Rhine River Job...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 19, 2023 10:06 AM (BpYfr)

140 So this weekend didn't go as planned. We were supposed to take the daughter down to the college she wants to go to for an orientation type experience. Were leaving Friday night, coming back Saturday afternoon.

Then the call came. The 80 year old FiL was turning into his driveway off an increasingly busy highway in NE Texas and cut right in front of someone. This isn't the first time this has happened, but the previous was at night and the other driver fled the scene. This time, the other driver (an elderly gentleman as well) was taken to the hospital and his wife, with minor injuries, rode with him. It was 2 pm on a bright, sunny day. He says he just didn't see that car. The speed limit is 70 MPH on that road.

The wife took the trip to the college and I went to NE TX to assess the damage. The FiL is fine, but the truck is heavily damaged. The axle housing appears bent and the leaf spring on the passenger side is broken. The shocks are bent and the driveshaft was pulled from the transmission and is only attached at the rear. The bed is crushed into the frame and the exhaust pipe is even more bent than it was from the last time this happened. The wheel is bent.....

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at February 19, 2023 10:06 AM (Zz0t1)

141 Persistent Vegetative State - a limerick

There once was a fellow named Grunyon
Who discovered a large pseudobunion
It grew on his leg. A
bastardized rutabaga
Like a damned illegitimate onion!
Posted by: Muldoon at February 19, 2023 10:05 AM (ykeLU)
------

Hah!

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(2YtOq) at February 19, 2023 10:06 AM (2YtOq)

142 And huge congrats to A.H. Lloyd and Vince Milam! I do not have the self-discipline to write a book - kudos to those that do and successfully publish. Additional bows to A.H. for the immense amount of research he had to wade through to produce such a sweeping history.

Posted by: Donna&&&&&&&&V at February 19, 2023 09:57 AM (HabA/)

Try starting with a flash story, or a short story if you have an idea.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 19, 2023 10:06 AM (Angsy)

143 So you read only in the daytime or by firelight?

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 19, 2023 10:03 AM (P8vrF)
---
I've done some reading by candlelight now and again.

Not due to a power outage, just for a chance of pace. Great way to set a mood.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 10:07 AM (llXky)

144 Speaking of Roald Dahl, does anyone else think his kids books are pretty creepy? Specially Witches. It reads like a kids pov of getting caught up in a satanist ring like the Marina Abramovic conspiracy theories talk about.
And now you tell me he was a spy. HmmMMmmm...

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 19, 2023 10:07 AM (Xlnez)

145 I do the same thing.
Posted by: Reforger at February 19, 2023 10:04 AM (ZdOyb)

I'm busy converting people to this strategy. The Dahl editing is making the UK come to terms with this method of unconventional warfare (I also apply this term to Palestine, OH and the wave of food processing fires). Buying unedited hardcopies may be the way we save our culture and history from the CEOs and pols.

Posted by: CN at February 19, 2023 10:07 AM (Zzbjj)

146 Anyone who reads about Tolkien and CS Lewis knows that George MacDonald's Victorian era fantasies were an big influence on them. I finally got to a couple of his better known stories: "Phantastes" and "The Light Princess". Wish I had read them as a child. They are wonderful works of imagination and provide a richness missing from the Disney-style fairy tales we grew up with. The Light Princess is shorter and less complicated than Phantastes but the descriptive power is similar. I wasn't prepared for the subtle humor in The Light Princess but it adds a delightful layer. Phantastes is for an older audience but the richness and wonder of the realm he created would appeal to any age. There is a subtlety to his writing that allows the reader to flow, literally, into his stories to experience the wonders he envisions.

Next up, MacDonald's "Lilith" with an introduction by CS Lewis.

Posted by: JTB at February 19, 2023 10:07 AM (7EjX1)

147 Good morning, fellow book-rons! I had a very nice signing event at a local independent bookstore yesterday - two hours, in a moderately busy little place, with plenty of readers to engage with, even though I don't think they sold more than three or four of my own books. But I bought another local author's book, and my daughter dropped $100+ on some books which caught her fancy, which hasn't happened in the last couple of trips through a Barnes and Noble. It's called the Boerne Bookshop, at the back of a large new building on Main St. - and they are eager to stage events for local and indy authors. https://www.theboernebookshop.com/

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at February 19, 2023 10:08 AM (xnmPy)

148 Great comment on using Amazon - use it. Personally, I support my smaller town as much as I can, but I use Amazon as much.

Reading "Handsome Johnny: The Life and Death of Johnny Rosselli: Gentleman Gangster, Hollywood Producer, CIA Assassin".

The flow of the book is interesting, but it highlights man is inherently evil and has to be taught to live in society. The CIA - federal government - is nothing more than a constant RICO case as we see today.

Posted by: Danimal28 at February 19, 2023 10:08 AM (ryUqI)

149 I've done some reading by candlelight now and again.

Not due to a power outage, just for a chance of pace. Great way to set a mood.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 10:07 AM (llXky)
-----------------

Sigh. Yeah, that romantic dinner was a waste.

Posted by: Mrs. A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 10:08 AM (2YtOq)

150 I towed the vehicle back towards the barn and left it. I'm told it still runs and was running after the accident, but I didn't try it.

He's staying with us this week and keeps talking about wanting another vehicle. Um.........about that.

He's been driving vehicles since he was 12 years old, so those are going to be extremely difficult keys to pry from his hand.

I don't want to be responsible for him killing the next guy that happens along that road at the wrong time.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at February 19, 2023 10:08 AM (Zz0t1)

151 Was receive Book from Jim

Also t shirt from Nice Lady

Posted by: Official Library of Miklosistania at February 19, 2023 10:08 AM (56GZF)

152 I enjoyed Child 44.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 19, 2023 09:58 AM (Xlnez)

Wow, vmom! I didn't know you had that many!!!!

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 19, 2023 10:09 AM (Angsy)

153 vmom, I had to get Mythago Wood from interlibrary loan, myself. I got notification yesterday that it has arrived and is ready to pick up.

Now, how to work that in to my reading schedule? I'm going to have to leave AOSHQ by the wayside until I get some books read.

This week, I started Declare, by Tim Powers. It's interesting so far, but I am reading at bedtime and keep nodding off.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 19, 2023 10:09 AM (OX9vb)

154 For some context on buying physical books, I have purchased more than 140 books in the past year or so, 95 % hardback in good or better condition, and paid an average price of approximately $8 each. This is a great time to find books.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 19, 2023 10:09 AM (Se2yV)

155 Regarding M.F. Maury, per Wiki:

"On July 2, 2020, the mayor of Richmond ordered the removal of a statue of Maury erected in 1929 on Richmond's Monument Avenue. The mayor used his emergency powers to bypass a state-mandated review process, calling the statue a "severe, immediate and growing threat to public safety.""

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at February 19, 2023 10:10 AM (Dc2NZ)

156 That pseudobunion Biden said that we all want to take pictures of lynchings and make postcards of them.

Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at February 19, 2023 10:11 AM (TXFi7)

157 Don't blame the Germans for what is happening to Dahl's works.

Netflix owns the rights and the publisher Puffin in the UK is busy 'adapting' his works for 'modern audiences.'

Posted by: Anna Puma at February 19, 2023 10:11 AM (MjBRu)

158 Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 19, 2023 10:09 AM (Se2yV)

Yes. But I've noticed greater interest lately in vintage books, with wholesome kids' stuff being high on the list.

Posted by: CN at February 19, 2023 10:11 AM (Zzbjj)

159 There are lots of little nods to the Moron Horde in his stories. Non Hordians will still enjoy the series as its full of action and adventure. Morons will just get the added bonus of those little acknowledgements...I'm already about 20% through The Rhine River Job...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at February 19, 2023 10:06 AM (BpYfr)
---
When you know your audience, it's nice to do that. I threw in some footnotes that reference movies because I figured folks here would appreciate it.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 10:12 AM (llXky)

160 About 1,800 Americans served in the International Brigades. There were two battalions (named after Abraham Lincoln and George Washington to appeal to the rubes) but high losses forced them to be amalgamated.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 09:58 AM (llXky)

Sorta like MLK Day?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 19, 2023 10:13 AM (Angsy)

161 KU is a monthly add on to Prime, I think around $10/month

[ CarsonVoice ] I did not know that. [ /CarsonVoice ]

I'll have to figure out how to drop it. I use it, but not that much.

Posted by: Oddbob at February 19, 2023 10:13 AM (nfrXX)

162 "Bastard cabbage is also known as turnip-weed, common giant mustard, ball mustard, wild turnip, wild rape and tall mustard-weed. It is designated a terrestrial noxious-weed seed in the state of Texas.
Posted by: rhennigantx

Huh. I wonder if it's the same plant.
From "Natural History":

"The pseudobunion has the leaves of the turnip, and grows in a shrub-like form, about a palm in height; the most esteemed being that of Crete. For gripings of the bowels, strangury, and pains of the thoracic organs, some five or six sprigs of it are administered in drink"

Posted by: fd at February 19, 2023 10:13 AM (iayUP)

163 Wow, vmom! I didn't know you had that many!!!!
Posted by: OrangeEnt

Yes, it was delicious.
*sips Chianti*

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 19, 2023 10:13 AM (Xlnez)

164 Don't blame the Germans for what is happening to Dahl's works.

Netflix owns the rights and the publisher Puffin in the UK is busy 'adapting' his works for 'modern audiences.'
Posted by: Anna Puma at February 19, 2023 10:11 AM (MjBRu)

So they're cutting dicks and tits off little children?

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at February 19, 2023 10:13 AM (Zz0t1)

165 Persistent Vegetative State - a limerick

There once was a fellow named Grunyon
Who discovered a large pseudobunion
It grew on his leg. A
bastardized rutabaga
Like a damned illegitimate onion!
=====

I don't think there is a challenge to our own Poet Laureate, Muldoon.

Posted by: mustbequantum at February 19, 2023 10:14 AM (MIKMs)

166 well declare does take a while to take in, you are plunged into this world which is one half kipllng and lecarre, one half lovecraft and other mystic tales, the real question that powers was grasping at was the nature of the great evil that arose out of the Soviet Union, then he we went to the Great Game as the source material

Posted by: no 6 at February 19, 2023 10:14 AM (PXvVL)

167 He's been driving vehicles since he was 12 years old, so those are going to be extremely difficult keys to pry from his hand.

I don't want to be responsible for him killing the next guy that happens along that road at the wrong time.
Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at February 19, 2023 10:08 AM (Zz0t1)
===
I've dealt with elders many years and this is always a thorny issue.

No, you don't want to be responsible for that and its a darn shame FiL's truck got totaled.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at February 19, 2023 10:14 AM (EZebt)

168 Netflix owns the rights and the publisher Puffin in the UK is busy 'adapting' his works for 'modern audiences.'
Posted by: Anna Puma at February 19, 2023 10:11 AM (MjBRu)

This is all the diversity and body acceptance crowd at this point. Augustus Gloop can't be "fat" and nobody can be "ugly". Then will come the non-binary shit. It seems small but it's just a practice run before more serious censorship and revisionism.

Posted by: CN at February 19, 2023 10:14 AM (Zzbjj)

169 Muldoon, what's the name of the series?

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 19, 2023 10:14 AM (Y+l9t)

170 Hah! The Muldoon call works as advertised.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 19, 2023 10:15 AM (A8RWt)

171 I'll have to figure out how to drop it. I use it, but not that much.
Posted by: Oddbob

Sometimes they give it to you for free for a couple of months, usually when you purchase a new device or something.
Anyway, it should be under "membership" or "subscriptions" - something like that.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 19, 2023 10:15 AM (Xlnez)

172 I like that library up top. It feels open and airy. I grew up in a suburb of a large city. We had the smallest library of any town around us. While the surrounding towns were expanding and modernizing their libraries, we did nothing. When doing research for a school project I had to go to other libraries to find what I needed. Remember, this was way before computers and if you had to do an inter- library request it could be days before you could get what you needed. So off on my bike I went and I would spend hours on a Saturday at one of the surrounding libraries. Yes, I was strange kid.

Posted by: Retsgtrn at February 19, 2023 10:15 AM (RqUF/)

173 So they're cutting dicks and tits off little children?

Not yet. This modern 'culture' is getting worse than the Witch sizing up Hansel and Gretel for dinner.

Posted by: Anna Puma at February 19, 2023 10:16 AM (MjBRu)

174 120 ... "Would you rather be memorialized (although likely inaccurately or distorted) or lost to the mists of time, erased from the memory of all but a small inner circle? Mythologic fame or eternal obscurity?

I prefer the latter."

Good morning Muldoon,

I agree and believe Mr. Dodson would agree as well. He was apparently a modest private man, concerned with his own matters of family, friends and making a living. I think he would have regarded a desire for fame as something of a sin, or at least immodest.

Posted by: JTB at February 19, 2023 10:16 AM (7EjX1)

175 Yes. But I've noticed greater interest lately in vintage books, with wholesome kids' stuff being high on the list.
Posted by: CN at February 19, 2023 10:11 AM (Zzbjj)
-----------

speaking of vintage books, I recently read a fun little throwback of a murder mystery by John Rowland. Evidently, the British Library has reprinted some older and somewhat obscure authors and this one, "Murder in the Museum" was one of them. Great literature? Hardly. However, it certainly brought to life a period of time which was a bit more innocent.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(2YtOq) at February 19, 2023 10:16 AM (2YtOq)

176 Sorta like MLK Day?

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 19, 2023 10:13 AM (Angsy)
---
The idea was to make the Spanish Republic seem like an "embattled democracy" so the Comintern said they should use patriotic American names.

Almost all the volunteers were CPUSA, though.

The effect was somewhat ruined by the fact that the other International battalions were named after Communists. Also the fact that the Republic wasn't democratic at all.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 10:16 AM (llXky)

177 SEAMUS MULDOOON

Posted by: Too soon? at February 19, 2023 10:17 AM (56GZF)

178 I was thrilled last year to find a first edition hardback, book jacket and all, of Harriet the Spy. At a local thrift shop. My favorite second-half-of- 20th-century children's book. Checked carefully to make sure it wasn't signed by Fitzhugh, but guess you can't have everything, lol.

Posted by: skywch at February 19, 2023 10:17 AM (uqhmb)

179 The axle housing appears bent and the leaf spring on the passenger side is broken. The shocks are bent and the driveshaft was pulled from the transmission and is only attached at the rear. The bed is crushed into the frame and the exhaust pipe is even more bent than it was from the last time this happened. The wheel is bent.....
Posted by: Sponge

So glad your FiL is okay.

The truck damage will buff out. . .

Posted by: Tonypete at February 19, 2023 10:17 AM (qoGsy)

180 @148 --

I flipped through "Handsome Johnny" at B&N. It seems to make some assertions using only hearsay. I'm leery of it.

But the writing itself pulled me along. I might buy it someday.

Posted by: Weak Geek at February 19, 2023 10:18 AM (P8vrF)

181 Where does Philby pere and fils, fit into the picture, what was the greater significance of his story, yes the Brits had a host of operatives that were effectively 'on the other side, for the better part of 20 years,

Posted by: no 6 at February 19, 2023 10:18 AM (PXvVL)

182 But both Lincoln and Washington brigades were on Communists side

Posted by: Skip at February 19, 2023 10:18 AM (xhxe8)

183 I've dealt with elders many years and this is always a thorny issue.

No, you don't want to be responsible for that and its a darn shame FiL's truck got totaled.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at February 19, 2023 10:14 AM (EZebt)

Yeah, I was actually looking forward to getting that truck back, as it's in my name, but he insured it. It runs great for the miles on it and is a comfortable ride. Very peppy for a small block V8.

I could fix it, but don't have the time, space or money to do it. And he'll never drive it again. He's a very selfish individual and has no respect that it wasn't his truck. We dug high and low to find it 2 years ago after he blew up his last truck.

We loaned him a truck as I fixed his last one and told him not to abuse it since it wasn't his. He put 20,000 miles on it in 6 months.......He does nothing but ride backroads and drink beer......

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at February 19, 2023 10:18 AM (Zz0t1)

184 The Oompa-Loompas are now 'gender neutral'

I am waiting for Puffin to defend these changes with 'but Dahl already modified the story so why are you mad?"

Simple you feckless knob-goggling goblins of literature. Dahl DID it. Not some hack sensitivity readers and editors.

Posted by: Anna Puma at February 19, 2023 10:18 AM (MjBRu)

185 I liked "The Witches." And Angelica Huston portrayed the Top Witch perfectly.

Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at February 19, 2023 10:19 AM (TXFi7)

186 A helicopter with a shooter will fly over a portion of the vast Gila Wilderness in southwestern New Mexico next week, searching for feral cows to kill.

How do you shoot calves?

Just dont lead them as much!

Posted by: rhennigantx at February 19, 2023 10:19 AM (BRHaw)

187 Sponge, sorry to hear about the accident

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 19, 2023 10:19 AM (Xlnez)

188 He's been driving vehicles since he was 12 years old, so those are going to be extremely difficult keys to pry from his hand.

I don't want to be responsible for him killing the next guy that happens along that road at the wrong time.

Had a similar situation with my dad at about that age. He ran into a lamppost in a parking lot. Said that he didn't see it because it was hidden by the door pillar. He wasn't very appreciative of my argument that a kid on a bike is a lot smaller than a lamppost. We did get the keys away by basically making my wife a full-time driver for him and my mom.

Posted by: Oddbob at February 19, 2023 10:19 AM (nfrXX)

189 He does nothing but ride backroads and drink beer......
Posted by: Sponge

NTTAWWT

Posted by: Tonypete at February 19, 2023 10:19 AM (qoGsy)

190 Ace-Endorsed

Author

You magnificent moron, I read your book!

Posted by: Miklos Francisco Franco at February 19, 2023 10:19 AM (56GZF)

191
So glad your FiL is okay.

The truck damage will buff out. . .
Posted by: Tonypete at February 19, 2023 10:17 AM (qoGsy)

We're grateful as well, but he never once asked about the people in the other car........

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at February 19, 2023 10:20 AM (Zz0t1)

192 Duck tape and baling wire. That's all you need.

And an oxcetyline torch.

Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at February 19, 2023 10:20 AM (TXFi7)

193
NTTAWWT
Posted by: Tonypete at February 19, 2023 10:19 AM (qoGsy)

That point aside.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at February 19, 2023 10:20 AM (Zz0t1)

194 178 I was thrilled last year to find a first edition hardback, book jacket and all, of Harriet the Spy. At a local thrift shop. My favorite second-half-of- 20th-century children's book. Checked carefully to make sure it wasn't signed by Fitzhugh, but guess you can't have everything, lol.
Posted by: skywch at February 19, 2023 10:17 AM (uqhmb)

I recall that one well. Louise Fitzhugh was probably the Ole Golly to some kid in NYC or a teacher at a posh private school. Harriet was a peculiarly unsupervised kid for someone with a nanny, wasn't she? Spying in apartment buildings via the dumbwaiter?

Posted by: CN at February 19, 2023 10:20 AM (Zzbjj)

195 If anybody sees Dave Barry, tell him I said to write more novels !

And tell him to hurry up !

Posted by: JT at February 19, 2023 10:20 AM (T4tVD)

196 144 Speaking of Roald Dahl, does anyone else think his kids books are pretty creepy?

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 19, 2023 10:07 AM (Xlnez)

---------

Absolutely agree. I never really cared for his books. That said, he was a very complicated guy had quite a lot of tragedy in his life (losing his father & a sibling early in life and losing a young child). Undoubtedly affected his writing.

Also on my "creepy" list - Shel Silverstein (tho YMMV)

Posted by: Hoplite Housewife at February 19, 2023 10:20 AM (V66kM)

197 Duck tape and baling wire. That's all you need.

And an oxcetyline torch.
Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at February 19, 2023 10:20 AM (TXFi7)

Bailing wire was holding the exhaust pipe up after the last round......

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at February 19, 2023 10:20 AM (Zz0t1)

198 This week, I started Declare, by Tim Powers. It's interesting so far, but I am reading at bedtime and keep nodding off.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs!

That's actually on my to read pile right now

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 19, 2023 10:21 AM (Xlnez)

199 Not yet. This modern 'culture' is getting worse than the Witch sizing up Hansel and Gretel for dinner.

Posted by: Anna Puma at February 19, 2023 10:16 AM (MjBRu)
---
The often grisly side of German fairy tales makes sense when you understand just how badly the Thirty Years War screwed up Germany.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 10:21 AM (llXky)

200 Buying unedited hardcopies may be the way we save our culture and history from the CEOs and pols.
Posted by: CN at February 19, 2023 10:07 AM (Zzbjj)

Son asked me what I wanted him to do with all the books when I die. I told him read them.

I don't want to be responsible for him killing the next guy that happens along that road at the wrong time.
Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at February 19, 2023 10:08 AM (Zz0t1)

My Grandma just called the dealer and bought another car when we had to take hers away. She got away with it for about a week before the call she had put it into the ditch in front of her house. She had been driving since 1935.

Posted by: Reforger at February 19, 2023 10:21 AM (ZdOyb)

201 I think KU is a monthly add on but I don't think you need to be a Prime member. They did not have enough of what I want to read to bother with it. Besides I get almost all my Kindle books through my library. There is no way I either have the funds or the space to own books. Once I download the book to my IPad, I don't need either electricity or internet to read the book. As I am 29, I like being able to prop the IPad and clearly read the bright pages. Besides, I rarely reread books so no need to own them. Too much out there to explore to reread.
Just my style. I know others may differ.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 19, 2023 10:21 AM (Y+l9t)

202 Dang Sponge that sounds exactly like what my Dad went thru with his Dad. I'm glad he's ok, and yes it's going to be hard for him to stop driving. At least you have good examples of why it's time.

Posted by: fd at February 19, 2023 10:22 AM (iayUP)

203 183. I fondly recall taking my MIL's car away after she backed off the LIE.

Posted by: CN at February 19, 2023 10:22 AM (Zzbjj)

204 You magnificent moron, I read your book!

Posted by: Miklos Francisco Franco at February 19, 2023 10:19 AM (56GZF)
---
So...taking a break from the being dead thing?

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 10:22 AM (llXky)

205 not only in MI-6 but in MI-5 as well, of course awkward questions raised by Nigel West and Peter Wright well better left unsaid, the Nazis were the big bad, so naturally Stalin had to win, or score as many points in the match before the clock ran out,

one might argue the exercise, had great success in Western Europe, as he was able to seize East Germany but not the West, Germany then was the great industrial power house, that removing the Social Democrats from the picture, was supposed to insure,

Posted by: no 6 at February 19, 2023 10:23 AM (PXvVL)

206 infant cannibalism during the Thirty Years War?

Try reading "The Jewish War."

Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at February 19, 2023 10:23 AM (TXFi7)

207 My FiL had to crash into a parked police cruiser before he could be convinced to give up driving. He drove home after the crash and was honestly surprised the law showed up at the house later. He truly was a menace when on the road.

Posted by: Tonypete at February 19, 2023 10:23 AM (qoGsy)

208 My Zoom book club is reading Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke.

The past really is a different country. I was jarred a bit running into the description of a person as a Negro. I mean that was the proper term then and yet our conditioning is such that it is almost unseemly. I expect future versions of this book to get that excised even though the Clarke has his Negro characters for what looks like 50s era wokeness.

While I was jarred, I was not harmed nor traumatized, and have survived further reading.

Posted by: blaster at February 19, 2023 10:23 AM (pwExq)

209 I took my mother's car away when she got into the habit of ramming into things in parking lots. My daughter benefitted as I was able to repair it enough for her to have it as her first car.

She, as expected, has rammed into a few things, but it's an old car and I don't care as long as she doesn't have a big wreck. Superficial damage is only cosmetic. Meh.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at February 19, 2023 10:24 AM (Zz0t1)

210 Finished the first Dune this week. Really enjoyed it. Last I read it was in high school, many years ago, and I was fascinated with it back then (I re-read it almost immediately back then).

It holds up very well. I plan on moving on to the second one, although, I do remember being disappointed in the direction of the second one after the rush of the first one.

Posted by: Biergood at February 19, 2023 10:24 AM (FQWHA)

211 207 My FiL had to crash into a parked police cruiser before he could be convinced to give up driving. He drove home after the crash and was honestly surprised the law showed up at the house later. He truly was a menace when on the road.
Posted by: Tonypete at February 19, 2023 10:23 AM (qoGsy)

People wait too long to stop dangerous drivers.

Posted by: CN at February 19, 2023 10:24 AM (Zzbjj)

212 My mom was smart enough to know it was time to not renew the driver's license. My brother was able to take her places.

Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at February 19, 2023 10:24 AM (TXFi7)

213 But both Lincoln and Washington brigades were on Communists side

Posted by: Skip at February 19, 2023 10:18 AM (xhxe

---
That was the point. By choosing those names, they tried to whitewash the degree of Communist support.

"We're not Communists, we're Republicans! Look, we even named our unit after Abraham Lincoln. Pay no attention to the commissar standing over my shoulder."

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 10:25 AM (llXky)

214 I will have to look up Walls of Men for research purposes. My current series is an alt-history set in China, and half the fun is figuring out where the timeline diverged. I've already got Buddha dying early and the family taking over the religion business, resulting in alternate Buddhism being the kind of thing not mentioned in polite society, much like brothels

A main plot point is the main character, from our world, is Making Changes in military mindset so this will be useful.

Reading this week -- Continuous Development Pipelines (for work), Defense of the Second Amendment, and Uncle Boris in the Yukon by Daniel Pinkwater. If you have not read any Daniel Pinkwater, he's amazingly silly and funny and would fit right in with this bunch.

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at February 19, 2023 10:25 AM (LEuDt)

215 NTTAWWT
Posted by: Tonypete at February 19, 2023 10:19 AM (qoGsy)

That point aside.
Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at February 19, 2023 10:20 AM (Zz0t1)

In Texas...before cup holders and ac were common in pu trucks...the beer was to keep your balls from overheating...or so I've heard.

Posted by: BignJames at February 19, 2023 10:25 AM (AwYPR)

216 CN @ 194, yes, but that doesn't seem to be that unusual in Manhattan at the time. Another book from that era that I love is The World of Henry Orient, and those young girls ran all over their section of the city.

Posted by: skywch at February 19, 2023 10:25 AM (uqhmb)

217
In Texas...before cup holders and ac were common in pu trucks...the beer was to keep your balls from overheating...or so I've heard.
Posted by: BignJames at February 19, 2023 10:25 AM (AwYPR)

It's how I was raised. The 2/65 A/C only cooled so much when its 102 outside.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at February 19, 2023 10:26 AM (Zz0t1)

218 I got a copy of The Moon Maid (with Frazetta cover, natch) from Abe Books. I find myself rereading a lot of the stories from my youth. Anybody else?

I'm more of a retrofuturist than a curmudgeon, so it's not (just) me getting older and shaking my cane at the modern world.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at February 19, 2023 10:27 AM (Dc2NZ)

219 Modern Westerns can be infuriating. I just read one where the protagonists, and all right-thinking supporting characters, were quick to criticize white frontiersmen for...well pretty much everything. But when they encountered a white woman who had been kidnapped by Indians, forced to marry, and brainwashed into wanting to stay with her captors....Well, that's just something that happens. There was no criticism or judgement laid upon her captors. Indeed, the only criticism was for the underlings (future antagonists) who found her, who should have just let her stay where she was.

The seeming moral of the story....let the kidnappers win, I guess. I can't wait to see that morality applied to other settings/genres.

Posted by: Castle Guy at February 19, 2023 10:27 AM (Lhaco)

220 not only in MI-6 but in MI-5 as well, of course awkward questions raised by Nigel West and Peter Wright well better left unsaid, the Nazis were the big bad, so naturally Stalin had to win, or score as many points in the match before the clock ran out,

one might argue the exercise, had great success in Western Europe, as he was able to seize East Germany but not the West, Germany then was the great industrial power house, that removing the Social Democrats from the picture, was supposed to insure,

Posted by: no 6 at February 19, 2023 10:23 AM (PXvVL)
---
Evelyn Waugh wrote that the SOE's primary goal was to install Communist governments.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 10:27 AM (llXky)

221 Re Dahl:
The article I saw was linked from Instapundit, I think -- presumably Dahl himself had agreed to or made some changes years ago (fiddling with the descriptions of the oompa-loompas, I think it said, and some others). But some of what the article listed is simply silly (nobody's gonna be fat here, and a lot of 'he said' switched over to 'she said' because huh?, etc. And mention of Kipling? Who? Kip-wha? Never heard of 'im, and you're not gonna hear of 'im either, at least not from these pages).

Selling the rights to Netflix probably accelerated the process of making the books 'safe and inclusive' but it would have been so nice if Puffin was getting twitchy about the content to see the estate not renew the publishing agreement after it expired and peddle the rights elsewhere or get a few good consultants who could set the estate up as the actual publisher. Oh well...

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 19, 2023 10:28 AM (a/4+U)

222 We need a Coolidge Brigade to fight Commies on home soil.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at February 19, 2023 10:28 AM (Dc2NZ)

223 In Texas...before cup holders and ac were common in pu trucks...the beer was to keep your balls from overheating...or so I've heard.
Posted by: BignJames

I seem to recall that in Texas one could drink while driving up until the 80s

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 19, 2023 10:29 AM (hSCJ/)

224 Color me skeptical.
Posted by: Muldoon at February 19, 2023 09:51 AM

There seems to be something broken in gatekeeping on research, generally. The first part of it is that there is huge amounts of state money being dumped into research which sucks up all the available talent for the "lucrative" state directed research that generally supports some politician or functionary's biases
The second is that the money goes away if the researcher finds something against what the granting agency is not funding for.
The third is that this sort of funding kills flexibility and agility. If a researcher finds a tangential line of research that does not pursue the main granted research line it doesn't matter how interesting it is, it is not likely to be pursued if it won't keep the grants coming.

Terrance Keeley has written extensively on the problems of public funding in science, I have not read them but he is an excellent lecturer and interview guest

Posted by: Kindltot at February 19, 2023 10:30 AM (xhaym)

225
216 CN @ 194, yes, but that doesn't seem to be that unusual in Manhattan at the time. Another book from that era that I love is The World of Henry Orient, and those young girls ran all over their section of the city.
Posted by: skywch at February 19, 2023 10:25 AM (uqhmb)

I think they were a bit older than Harriet, though. Plus the books are still fiction, so I doubt a "real" Mrs Welch would keep the nanny who encouraged this crap. My husband and his sister, pre-Harriet, did not have anywhere near that level freedom in NYC

Posted by: CN at February 19, 2023 10:30 AM (Zzbjj)

226 219 Modern Westerns can be infuriating

**

The Woke woke West

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 19, 2023 10:31 AM (Xlnez)

227 yes popular fronts are much the same, in Spain, Orwell who was on the side of the Republic, didn't understand why they spent more time persecuting Trotskyites and Anarchists instead of the main element which was the Phalangists, of course that was the point of the exercise, Dos Passos had his political awakening then, Hemingway stayed asleep, for another twenty years,

the echoes of the Civil War redounded to Cuba, Wayne Smith was one that felt the Republic didn't get a fair shake,
hence his castro fixation, that he displayed when he was in the Santiago consulate, Wieland and Rubbottom likewise,
as did Herbert Matthews on the outside,

Posted by: no 6 at February 19, 2023 10:32 AM (PXvVL)

228 I moved mom into an "independent living" facility and didn't move her car with her.

She made the mistake of mentioning selling her car since she wasn't using it to me. As I have power of attorney, I wasted no time getting rid of mom's car.

She wasn't happy when she found out.

Until the car was sold, I was sweating mom getting in an accident and wondering if I'd be liable, because I knew she shouldn't be driving.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(2YtOq) at February 19, 2023 10:32 AM (2YtOq)

229 got a copy of The Moon Maid (with Frazetta cover, natch) from Abe Books. I find myself rereading a lot of the stories from my youth. Anybody else?

Posted by: All Hail Eris,

I bought the entire Tarzan series from a guy a few years ago at a bargain price. As a youth I read the first 10 or 11 and thought they were the bees knees.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 19, 2023 10:34 AM (03/ff)

230 I guess I should mention the source of information I used for the three B-25Js that appeared in that World War II footage link I posted the other day.

B-25J "Mitchell" in Combat over Europe (MTO). Marek Katarzynski. Kagero, Lublin 2013. 80 pages.

Posted by: Anna Puma at February 19, 2023 10:34 AM (MjBRu)

231 Hot Coffee!!!...with selective "editing" going on with older classics...2016... Hidden Truth...Hans Schantz

Posted by: Qmark at February 19, 2023 10:35 AM (+t9Oi)

232 Just now read "a slice of pizza" in a novel? Why is pizza in slices while pies are in pieces?

Posted by: Mr Gaga at February 19, 2023 10:35 AM (KiBMU)

233 Broken research - saw a children's book series on fairy tales around the world.
Each book is a couple of different versions of the same fairy tale from different countries. Cool concept.
But the back of the book cites no sources, just suggestions for further reading.
One of the fairy tale versions I am pretty sure is made up, using names from a totally different tale.
Color me highly suspicious.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 19, 2023 10:35 AM (Xlnez)

234 He probably wasn't far wrong from his time in Egypt and later Greece, largely so of the OSS as well, even though they had a more varied skillset, they were often analytically driven to support left of center regimes, by the likes of Halperin and Adorno of the Frankfurt school, not to mention Duncan Lee in the ops area,

Posted by: no 6 at February 19, 2023 10:36 AM (PXvVL)

235 We didn't renew Mom's driver's license after her last fender bender. She was always a very good and conscientious driver so it was a clear indication of diminishing capabilities.

I like chauffeuring her around anyway.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at February 19, 2023 10:37 AM (Dc2NZ)

236 And the article re Dahl said, if memory serves, that Dahl's estate was on board with the changes, so nothing was going to keep those books intact. Dahl could be creepy, but it'd be nice to think that there was still room for that. Apparently not.

Perfessor, congrats on hitting the one-year mark. Doesn't seem like that long -- guess it really does fly when you're having fun.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 19, 2023 10:37 AM (a/4+U)

237 One final note: I prefer reading comics in easy-to-hold trade paperbacks. This omnibus ran to nearly 1,100 pages. Didn't make for comfortable reading.
Posted by: Weak Geek at February 19, 2023 09:08 AM (6H3ky)

I've actually come around to preferring omnibuses, despite the size. I like the sewn binding, and the way the book can just lay open in your lap (or on the table or wherever.) As opposed to paperbacks, usually with glued binding, which try to close unless actively held open. Omnis are especially nice when dealing with double page spreads. ...Although that probably wasn't a problem with books from the origianl Doom Patrol era...

Posted by: Castle Guy at February 19, 2023 10:38 AM (Lhaco)

238 Why is pizza in slices while pies are in pieces?

Posted by: Mr Gaga at February 19, 2023 10:35 AM (KiBMU)

Hmmm..could be doctoral thesis material.

Posted by: BignJames at February 19, 2023 10:38 AM (AwYPR)

239 The article I saw was linked from Instapundit, I think -- presumably Dahl himself had agreed to or made some changes years ago (fiddling with the descriptions of the oompa-loompas, I think it said, and some others).

In the original story, Willy Wonka bought the Oompa Loompas and he changed it to them volunteering to come home with him. That is about as woke as he was willing to go.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 19, 2023 10:39 AM (ccuoA)

240 The Woke woke West
Posted by: vmom

I stick by the old standards - Louis L'Amour in my case.

Years back I hadn't seen my elderly, widowed neighbor for a few days which was very unusual and as his car was in the driveway, I felt something was up. Tried the doorbell, peek in the windows, etc. - nothing. I let myself in with the key I had and called for him but as soon as I opened the door I figured it out. He was laying stretched out on his bed with a L'Amour book open on his chest.

It seemed like a fine way to go.

Posted by: Tonypete at February 19, 2023 10:39 AM (qoGsy)

241 *reads synopsis of The Moon Maid*

So akin to Kornbluth's Not This August.

The US flag as a totem... so that is where that came from for that Star Trek episode?

Posted by: Anna Puma at February 19, 2023 10:40 AM (MjBRu)

242 Hmmm..could be doctoral thesis material.
Posted by: BignJames at February 19, 2023 10:38 AM (AwYPR)
---------------

As a thesis, it would probably have more value than a lot of the tripe currently coming out of academia.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(2YtOq) at February 19, 2023 10:40 AM (2YtOq)

243 Dahl could be creepy, but it'd be nice to think that there was still room for that. Apparently not.
***
My conspiracy theory prone brain wonders if he was creepy on purpose, trying to alert kids to Bad Things Going On in the adult world that well-meaning parents are oblivious to.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 19, 2023 10:40 AM (Xlnez)

244 He was laying stretched out on his bed with a L'Amour book open on his chest.

It seemed like a fine way to go.
---

Not a bad way to leave this mortal coil.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at February 19, 2023 10:41 AM (Dc2NZ)

245 236. I'm sure Dahl's estate is onboard with making money. Just like the Agatha Christie estate is on board with any woke adaptation. Yes, I can see removing some of her racial comments, but making gays and lesbians where none exist, or turning Poirot into a Belgian priest seems completely unnecessary.

Posted by: CN at February 19, 2023 10:41 AM (Zzbjj)

246 Muldoon, my first information on Ayahuasca was from a guy I knew who had been contracted to act as security in South America for some Euorpeans who wanted the "Ayahuasca thing on Lake Titicaca in Peru. He said it was typical for the women to a) jump in the water b) take their tops off c) puke d) be incoherent.
He was never tempted from that experience to dabble.

If you get interested in the subject and want it in bite-sized pieces, Andrew Huberman, in Huberman Lab podcast, interviewed Dr. Matthew Johnson on research on psychedelics in medical clinical trials

Posted by: Kindltot at February 19, 2023 10:42 AM (xhaym)

247 The Woke woke West

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 19, 2023 10:31 AM (Xlnez)

Never in my stuff.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 19, 2023 10:42 AM (Angsy)

248 well woke is using their language, it's more a zombie cult of unreason, a powerful solvent on all the institutions that have stood the test of time,

like when the left branded the antisandinista faction, the contrarevolutionaries that was a rhetorical coup, before they fired the first shot,

Posted by: no 6 at February 19, 2023 10:42 AM (PXvVL)

249 Good on ya Eris !

Posted by: JT at February 19, 2023 10:43 AM (T4tVD)

250 what's the name of the series?
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) a

********

Van Der Walk - S1 Ep2

Posted by: Muldoon at February 19, 2023 10:43 AM (ykeLU)

251 If you get interested in the subject and want it in bite-sized pieces, Andrew Huberman, in Huberman Lab podcast, interviewed Dr. Matthew Johnson on research on psychedelics in medical clinical trials

Posted by: Kindltot at February 19, 2023 10:42 AM (xhaym)

No Carlos Castaneda on this?

Posted by: BignJames at February 19, 2023 10:44 AM (AwYPR)

252 They are "rewriting" - censoring, "offensive language" in Roald Dahl books. Tell me again that the West is NOT the former Soviet Union.

Posted by: runner at February 19, 2023 10:46 AM (V13WU)

253 Thanks Muldoon. I tend to like the European mystery series but I love Amsterdam so will be even more interesting to see if I recognize any of the background scenes.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 19, 2023 10:46 AM (Y+l9t)

254 BOOKS FOR CHEAP ... One of my sisters-in-law volunteers at a church which accepts all types of donated stuff and resells it to raise Missionary money ... SIL's focus is the mountain of books donated every year which, occasionally, accumulates to a point where "special" sales are needed to reduce the volume ... Typically, it's a $1/book event 2-3 times/year ... Then every Fall the church also hosts a closed event at which local teachers and/or school librarians (who registered ahead of time) can buy dozens of books for almost-free.

If anyone's looking for out-of-print books -- or less expensive than bookstore clearance prices -- attending a church book sale might be worthwhile.

Posted by: Kathy at February 19, 2023 10:46 AM (JklXp)

255 If you get interested in the subject and want it in bite-sized pieces, Andrew Huberman, in Huberman Lab podcast, interviewed Dr. Matthew Johnson on research on psychedelics in medical clinical trials
Posted by: Kindltot at February 19, 2023 10:42 AM (xhaym)
-----------

I personally researched the effects of psychedelics way back in the day. No need to read someone else's research when I have first hand experience.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(2YtOq) at February 19, 2023 10:46 AM (2YtOq)

256 He said it was typical for the women to a) jump in the water b) take their tops off c) puke d) be incoherent.
---

So Mardi Gras is a mind-expanding religious awakening thing.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at February 19, 2023 10:46 AM (Dc2NZ)

257 Question for Vince. Is it better to read the books in order?

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 19, 2023 10:47 AM (Y+l9t)

258 If you get interested in the subject and want it in bite-sized pieces, Andrew Huberman, in Huberman Lab podcast, interviewed Dr. Matthew Johnson on research on psychedelics in medical clinical trials
Posted by: Kindltot

*******

Thanks for the info. I really do not have any further interest. As my wife says, reality is challenging enough.

Posted by: Muldoon at February 19, 2023 10:48 AM (ykeLU)

259 I re-re-re-read Robert E. Howard's "Hour of the Dragon". First read it in the mod-60s and I've lost track of how many times I read it. Certainly adds up to a lot. It is Howard's only novel length Conan story. Along with his "Black Circle" and "A Witch Shall Be Born" stories, it is Howard at his best.

I still have my old paperbacks with the Frazetta covers but there's a reason I splurged for a well bound hardcover of the complete Conan tales actually written by Howard. I've read many of the Conan books written by others. None of them come close to Howard's rich descriptions and ability to create a sense of place and atmosphere.

Posted by: JTB at February 19, 2023 10:48 AM (7EjX1)

260 If anyone's looking for out-of-print books -- or less expensive than bookstore clearance prices -- attending a church book sale might be worthwhile.
Posted by: Kathy at February 19, 2023 10:46 AM (JklXp)

My area is full of these sales, but sadly ebooks have diminished the supply and now they include too many DVDs, and CDs. The space needed for books falls annually.

Posted by: CN at February 19, 2023 10:48 AM (Zzbjj)

261 no 6, yes--I need to not try to read it at bedtime. I get sleepy and lose my place, and forget what was going on the night before.

Declare gets moved to early evening reading. Which means, no horde. LOL

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 19, 2023 10:49 AM (OX9vb)

262 No need to read someone else's research when I have first hand experience.

The "My lived experience outweighs your research and data and so-called facts" is a pretty common trope on the left these days.

Posted by: Oddbob at February 19, 2023 10:49 AM (nfrXX)

263 My area is full of these sales, but sadly ebooks have diminished the supply and now they include too many DVDs, and CDs. The space needed for books falls annually.
Posted by: CN at February 19, 2023 10:48 AM (Zzbjj)
----------

Locally, swap meets and second hand stores are full of used books, cheap. As in 6 for $5 cheap.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(2YtOq) at February 19, 2023 10:50 AM (2YtOq)

264 "In The Witches, a paragraph explaining that witches are bald beneath their wigs ends with the new line: “There are plenty of other reasons why women might wear wigs and there is certainly nothing wrong with that." You can't make this sh!t up. Well, you can. But is was a satyrical take on modern (90s) sensibilities.

Posted by: runner at February 19, 2023 10:51 AM (V13WU)

265 I will have to look up Walls of Men for research purposes. My current series is an alt-history set in China, and half the fun is figuring out where the timeline diverged. I've already got Buddha dying early and the family taking over the religion business, resulting in alternate Buddhism being the kind of thing not mentioned in polite society, much like brothels A main plot point is the main character, from our world, is Making Changes in military mindset so this will be useful.

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at February 19, 2023 10:25 AM (LEuDt)
---
I don't know if Buddha was as important as Confucius. Certainly the arrival of Buddhism impacted Chinese culture and caused something of a crisis within the scholar-gentry, but they were able to reassert their dominance.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 10:51 AM (llXky)

266 I love Amsterdam so will be even more interesting to see if I recognize any of the background scenes.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at February 19, 2023 10:46 AM (Y+l9t)

Careful, the floor's wet in the Amsterdam.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 19, 2023 10:51 AM (Angsy)

267 If I was of a slightly paranoid frame of mind, I'd almost think that the ongoing woke-ification of older books (both by fiddling with the text and by changing the story/characters for film) was a deliberate attempt to steer people away from wanting to read them in the first place. Kinda like what they've managed to do at the box office.

Nah. Couldn't happen.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 19, 2023 10:52 AM (a/4+U)

268 The top pic makes me think there's a new game to be played here: $100M College Library or $10M Shopping Mall.

Posted by: Ken in NH at February 19, 2023 10:52 AM (4mefO)

269 He who piss in wind get wet leg. And not that shitty band, either.

-- -- Shit Confucius Say

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at February 19, 2023 10:53 AM (Zz0t1)

270 If I was of a slightly paranoid frame of mind, I'd almost think that the ongoing woke-ification of older books (both by fiddling with the text and by changing the story/characters for film) was a deliberate attempt to steer people away from wanting to read them in the first place. Kinda like what they've managed to do at the box office.

Nah. Couldn't happen.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 19, 2023 10:52 AM (a/4+U)
------------

People will no longer learn about the context of the times and think the current insanity is the way it has always been.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(2YtOq) at February 19, 2023 10:53 AM (2YtOq)

271 Dang. I got socks that say Dickies, but no pants.
Sigh...

Posted by: Diogenes at February 19, 2023 10:53 AM (anj39)

272 *rummages in abandoned ideas bin on computer*

No wonder I let this one drop by the way-side, way too much Go Nagai I think and Kekko Kamen. Plus no idea of what kind of world this exists in. What was I thinking?

"Yuki stands there for a second studying the fleeing criminal. With practiced ease she quickly removes her Cups of Justice and thus scandalizing again the good citizens of Newport City. With her chest bobbing free, she throws the Cups with their mithral
chains like a bolo in the direction of the criminal mastermind trying to beat feet. The Cups wrap round the fleeing man's ankles and he suddenly trips, going down hard on the pavement. Yuki sprints and soon has him in a leg scissor lock. As he struggles against her, she calmly untagles her Cups of Justice. The man screams for release and curses her but Yuki pays no mind, she straightens out tangled chains. As quickly as she had removed her Cups of Justice, she puts them back on just as quick. So when the police arrive, Yuki is once again fully costumed. If you call a golden half mask, golden Cups of Justice, golden bikini bottom, and golden Roman style sandals."

Posted by: Anna Puma at February 19, 2023 10:54 AM (MjBRu)

273 Ah well. This is fun but... stuff to do. Catch y'all later on the Food or Gun threads.

Posted by: Oddbob at February 19, 2023 10:54 AM (nfrXX)

274 I will second Sabrina Chase's recommendation of Uncle Boris in the Yukon. It was a great companion to my last ski trip to Utah. Haven't read any other of Pinkwater's books but should I stumble on one in a used book store I will grab it. I first heard him on NPR (when it was still worth listening to). If I remember right, he replaced Tom Bodette as their resident humorist when Bodette started doing motel ads.

Posted by: who knew at February 19, 2023 10:54 AM (4I7VG)

275 People will no longer learn about the context of the times and think the current insanity is the way it has always been.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(2YtOq) at February 19, 2023 10:53 AM (2YtOq)
---
The "burn all the books" phase tends to be relatively short. What comes next can last a while.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 10:58 AM (llXky)

276 I've started on the Flashman series. Rollicking good un-woke fun.

I read a couple when they first came out. I'm enjoying them even more now.

Posted by: ChupaMe at February 19, 2023 10:59 AM (BzvGd)

277 >>> 224 Color me skeptical.
Posted by: Muldoon at February 19, 2023 09:51 AM

There seems to be something broken in gatekeeping on research, generally. The first part of it is that there is huge amounts of state money being dumped into research which sucks up all the available talent for the "lucrative" state directed research that generally supports some politician or functionary's biases
The second is that the money goes away if the researcher finds something against what the granting agency is not funding for.
The third is that this sort of funding kills flexibility and agility. If a researcher finds a tangential line of research that does not pursue the main granted research line it doesn't matter how interesting it is, it is not likely to be pursued if it won't keep the grants coming.

Terrance Keeley has written extensively on the problems of public funding in science, I have not read them but he is an excellent lecturer and interview guest
Posted by: Kindltot at February 19, 2023 10:30 AM (xhaym)

He might not be the first one to mention this.

Posted by: Dwight E. at February 19, 2023 11:00 AM (llON8)

278 Daisy Jones and the Six. Amazon is releasing a mini-series based on the book. So naturally I pick up the book. All you 29 year old's have no idea about the 70's Music Scene. At 1st I thought it was an actual band back in the day. I'm like, How the hell did I miss a "hot redhead female lead vocalist". I mean I was aware for most of the 70's...kind of...pretty much .. most of the time. Hell, I would not have miss this! Elvis' grand daughter is the lead. She looks a lot like Priscila, mee-maw. Some one asked me if she was before, or after Michael Jackson. She id from someone who actually fucked Lisa Marie. The book is in a documentary interview thing. Author said loosely biased on Fleetwood Mac. I see a lot of Van Halen drama. Excellent read. The novel is the cake, and the movie is the icing IMHO.

Posted by: Paladin at February 19, 2023 11:00 AM (NWB8D)

279
The "burn all the books" phase tends to be relatively short. What comes next can last a while.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 10:58 AM (llXky)

I'm afraid it might. Anyway, congrats on the new book. How is EL recovering? It was weird to read about students wanting virtual sessions out of fear. I was there during the period when Donald Gene Miller was on the loose, and there was nowhere near this level of reaction.

Posted by: CN at February 19, 2023 11:01 AM (Zzbjj)

280
Congrats, AH Lloyd!!!

And thanks for keeping the literary fires burning at the HQ, Perfessor!!!

Posted by: naturalfake at February 19, 2023 11:02 AM (KLPy8)

281 Congratulations, A.H. Lloyd and Vince Milam! I wish I could read your books, but I detached my credit card from my amazon account after I realized most of my impulse buying was books bought on Sunday mornings. Funny, that.

I have been trying to read "Poster Girl" by Veronica Roth, after some rave reviews. The problem is that it's BASIC, as the kids say. It's a post-dystopia written in 3rd person, present-tense with a 5th-grade reading level. The setting is ennui and the mood is YA. The protagonist has things done to her, instead of doing, so far.

I thought at first that the characters' dialogue sounded the same because they were all in the same social group, but no, the author has everyone talk in a bookish manner. For example, a prison guard says, "Some left this for you. Gangly fellow." Who says 'gangly' and 'fellow'? An author, that's who.

Posted by: NaughtyPine at February 19, 2023 11:03 AM (/+bwe)

282 Terrance Keeley has written extensively on the problems of public funding in science, I have not read them but he is an excellent lecturer and interview guest
Posted by: Kindltot at February 19, 2023 10:30 AM (xhaym)

He might not be the first one to mention this.

Posted by: Dwight E. at February 19, 2023 11:00 AM (llON

---
Whenever you see a RAND Corporation research item, remember that their "studies" just actually advertorials. They find what they are paid to find.

Same with their wargames. Anyone who knows the first thing about wargaming knows that it is very easy to put a thumb on the scale and pre-determine the outcome.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:04 AM (llXky)

283 But, I really liked it because Holdstock tried to show how a pre-Christian person experienced the world. I don't know if he was right, but he succeeded at something. And that something is the opposite of Tolkien.

He and Gene Wolfe both believed that pre-Christians saw and interacted with gods etc.

There's heavy Jungian personality integration stuff as well, if you're into that. Which makes perfect sense given what the author is trying to do.

It's ambitious and complex but not show off. Holdstock just operated at that level naturally. And was trying to work through deep issues.

Posted by: Thesokorus at February 12, 2023 09:38 AM (1ais2)

This prompts me to share about a book a friend told me about yesterday, Return of the Gods, by Jonathan Cahn. He talks about the current elevated level of demonic activity. Here's an interview with Dr. James Dobson.

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

(I have not been keeping up with JCD recently and I hope his weak voice is just a temporary illness.)

Posted by: Emmie at February 19, 2023 11:05 AM (Emce2)

284 Sometimes I wonder if a 'burn all the books' phase would even be necessary. Just quietly manipulate things to the point where nobody wants to read them. Same result in the end without the bonfires that might make some people say 'Hey, wait a minute...'

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 19, 2023 11:05 AM (a/4+U)

285 I've been enjoying Andrew Wareham's "Call of the Sea" series. They're not Patrick O'Brian (no one else is), but they're pretty well-written, and available free if you have Kindle Unlimited.

I've been doing a deep dive in to Napoleonic Wars fiction in general over the last several years (both sea- and land-based). My old favorites, science fiction and fantasy, have largely become nauseatingly "woke" of late. Thus far, the Napoleonic stuff seems to be largely immune.

Speaking of Dahl, I saw someone asking why on earth they'd replace a reference to Kipling with one to Steinbeck.

That's easy. Kipling wasn't a communist, and Steinbeck was.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at February 19, 2023 11:05 AM (bW8dp)

286 Sometimes I wonder if a 'burn all the books' phase would even be necessary. Just quietly manipulate things to the point where nobody wants to read them. Same result in the end without the bonfires that might make some people say 'Hey, wait a minute...'
Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 19, 2023 11:05 AM (a/4+U)
----------------

I suspect one of the vulnerabilities of E Readers is the "stealth" edit. I would think it's possible to change not only the source material, but, the end point download, too.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(2YtOq) at February 19, 2023 11:06 AM (2YtOq)

287 I'm afraid it might. Anyway, congrats on the new book. How is EL recovering? It was weird to read about students wanting virtual sessions out of fear. I was there during the period when Donald Gene Miller was on the loose, and there was nowhere near this level of reaction.

Posted by: CN at February 19, 2023 11:01 AM (Zzbjj)
---
We're in an age of performative grief. So everyone is falling over themselves about how this is the Worst Thing Ever - never mind 30,000 dead in Syria and Turkey. Hey, at least they were remembered at Mass yesterday.

Obviously, it's a terrible thing to lose a child, I get that, but bad things happen all the time and the level of elite entitlement is turning my stomach. "Yeah, yeah, shootings in Flint and Detroit or even Lansing are one thing, but MY TOWN should be perfectly safe." That's the vibe right now.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:07 AM (llXky)

288 I am currently reading a series of short stories in the AC (After the Collapse) Universe.

https://tinyurl.com/AC-Universe-Justin-Oldham

Amazon Link

"Meh", the stories are divided into BC, DC, and AC phases and he is fond of the symposia as monologue device in the BC anthology.

BC (Before the Collapse) is essentially every fear of the modern epoch's march to AI and gene editing and gain of function made whole. Set in 2070ish the governments of the world and the corps driving the tech collude to give the pretense of regulation on the burgeoning fields.

DC is during the collapse, the AI and Genesplicing go OOPS I suspect it will use POV characters and news reports as monologue device.

AC is the survivors figuring out how to live, what happened, and what to do to the people most responsible for the implosion I'd wager.

It is funny how people get to the edge of getting it, but allow it to alter their current values not at all.

Posted by: sven at February 19, 2023 11:08 AM (Lzpvj)

289 If you have not read any Daniel Pinkwater, he's amazingly silly and funny and would fit right in with this bunch. - Sabrina Chase
=====

^^^Seconded!^^^

Posted by: mustbequantum at February 19, 2023 11:09 AM (MIKMs)

290 Sometimes I wonder if a 'burn all the books' phase would even be necessary. Just quietly manipulate things to the point where nobody wants to read them. Same result in the end without the bonfires that might make some people say 'Hey, wait a minute...'

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 19, 2023 11:05 AM (a/4+U)
---
The books have to be burned because it's so satisfying. That's the whole point - an emotional thrill from wrecking something now defined as evil.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:09 AM (llXky)

291 Sven

BC, DC, AC?

David Brin did it one novel - The Postman. Damn you Nathan Holm.

Posted by: Anna Puma at February 19, 2023 11:10 AM (MjBRu)

292 Obviously, it's a terrible thing to lose a child, I get that, but bad things happen all the time and the level of elite entitlement is turning my stomach. "Yeah, yeah, shootings in Flint and Detroit or even Lansing are one thing, but MY TOWN should be perfectly safe." That's the vibe right now.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:07 AM (llXky)

EL was never perfectly safe. They forget old Donald Gene, but it made you very careful, more than usual, for a while till he was apprehended. I knew one of the victims sister and they lost a child too, quite brutally.

Posted by: CN at February 19, 2023 11:11 AM (Zzbjj)

293
Looking Forward To Reliving A Nostalgic Future - a limerick

Utopian visions are nifty
Though a futuristic landscape is 'shifty'
For a dreamer like me
A perfect world would be...

...Anytown, U.S.A. 1950

Posted by: Muldoon at February 19, 2023 11:11 AM (ykeLU)

294 Speaking of despoilation

Since the Soviet Justice Wankers have lost their war to destroy the game []Hogwart's Legacy they are now going and ruining the ending.

Which begs the question, how do they know what the ending is? Did they play it?

Posted by: Anna Puma at February 19, 2023 11:12 AM (MjBRu)

295 ---
The books have to be burned because it's so satisfying. That's the whole point - an emotional thrill from wrecking something now defined as evil.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:09 AM (llXky)

Like demolishing statues

Posted by: CN at February 19, 2023 11:12 AM (Zzbjj)

296 The last few chapters begin to deal with Jeffery Epstein and with Robert Maxwell, Ghislaine's father. Epstein had CIA and Israeli intelligence connections. I believe volume II will be about Epstein blackmailing elites for his own profit and for the deep state. Not an easy read, but interesting.
Posted by: Zoltan at February 19, 2023 09:11 AM (Eo7K+)

Whitney Webb is convinced Trump is in bed (almost literally) with Epstein. She's also convinced Elon Musk is an Epstein related op.

She's got a lot of the goods when it comes to doing the research, I'm just not convinced in her conclusions.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 19, 2023 11:13 AM (XfBY/)

297 290 Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:09 AM (llXky)

The humiliation is the kink for the academic class who invariably decide their inability to score the most nailable chicks means the society needs burnt down. They purposefully poison the minds of the gullible to do their dirty work for them and then look shocked when they are the first ones destroyed. You can see it throughout history if you look which is why Goggle et al will soon make the pursuit of history by casual scholars impossible.

The killing fields of Kampuchea come to mind as my favorite modern example, although admittedly the Russian Revolution is my gold standard.

Posted by: sven at February 19, 2023 11:13 AM (Lzpvj)

298 A. H. Lloyd, oh yes Confucius gets squashed too

The Thousand Schools remain a Thousand, and everyone thinks the Confucian families are a bit weird and no woman wants to marry into one. They are insular and grumpy about how nobody recognizes their greatness ...

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at February 19, 2023 11:13 AM (M4gnG)

299 294 Posted by: Anna Puma at February 19, 2023 11:12 AM (MjBRu)

If the SJW dorks are to be believed the calls are coming from inside the house.

Remember the contention is the glee gang and the HeShes dominate the gaming industry.

Posted by: sven at February 19, 2023 11:14 AM (Lzpvj)

300 > Dang. I got socks that say Dickies, but no pants.

I tried some of those Dickies socks. They were warm enough, but way too big, at least for my peen.

Posted by: Guy Unclear on the Concept at February 19, 2023 11:14 AM (bW8dp)

301 Or Mao's Red Guards' war against the intelligentsia

Posted by: Anna Puma at February 19, 2023 11:14 AM (MjBRu)

302 Got things to do, but before I go, A. H. Loyd, I just wanted to mention that I started listening to Lord of Spirits podcast last week, and am finding it interesting. Thanks for mentioning it!

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 19, 2023 11:14 AM (OX9vb)

303 Since the Soviet Justice Wankers have lost their war to destroy the game []Hogwart's Legacy they are now going and ruining the ending.

Which begs the question, how do they know what the ending is? Did they play it?
Posted by: Anna Puma at February 19, 2023 11:12 AM (MjBRu)

Actual headline:

WIRED gives ‘Hogwarts Legacy’ a 1 out of 10, says it lacks the magic of queerness

Because being 'born that way' is magic.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at February 19, 2023 11:14 AM (Zz0t1)

304 This prompts me to share about a book a friend told me about yesterday, Return of the Gods, by Jonathan Cahn. He talks about the current elevated level of demonic activity. Here's an interview with Dr. James Dobson.

Posted by: Emmie at February 19, 2023 11:05 AM (Emce2)
---
Yeah, that's a big part of what is going on. There the "collective unconscious" is really just a spirit by another name. Spirits can animate crowds as well as individuals and if you think about it, the most powerful ones work that way. Zeus didn't just pal around with individuals, he got sacrifices from the whole polis.

The old gods were real and the ancients described what they saw.

And there's a reason why the Catholic Church in particular is being singled out. That's why FBI tried to brand people who like the Latin Mass as terrorists.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:15 AM (llXky)

305 Sven

Yeah I know... "the right wingers made us become terrorists bullying people to the point of crying"

Sure just like the Devil made you do things in grade school.

Posted by: Anna Puma at February 19, 2023 11:15 AM (MjBRu)

306 291 Posted by: Anna Puma at February 19, 2023 11:10 AM (MjBRu)

There is a strange synergy with a D20 rpg that may or may not have a vode game adaptation.

Imagine Twilight 2000 without the military bent, fast forwarded to modern tech or Fallout sans Mutants.

Posted by: sven at February 19, 2023 11:15 AM (Lzpvj)

307 Got things to do, but before I go, A. H. Loyd, I just wanted to mention that I started listening to Lord of Spirits podcast last week, and am finding it interesting. Thanks for mentioning it!

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at February 19, 2023 11:14 AM (OX9vb)
---
Glad you like it!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:16 AM (llXky)

308 Like demolishing statues

Like the Malachi Brothers from Happy days Demolition derbying Edsel's?

Posted by: Paladin at February 19, 2023 11:16 AM (NWB8D)

309 The killing fields of Kampuchea come to mind as my favorite modern example, although admittedly the Russian Revolution is my gold standard.
Posted by: sven at February 19, 2023 11:13 AM (Lzpvj)

Hey, give me a break. We had to use plastic bags for crying out loud.

Posted by: Zombie Pol Pot, A Friend Of Jimmy Carter at February 19, 2023 11:17 AM (R/m4+)

310
Like the Malachi Brothers from Happy days Demolition derbying Edsel's?
Posted by: Paladin at February 19, 2023 11:16 AM (NWB8D)

They were going to kill Pinky Tuscadero!!!

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at February 19, 2023 11:17 AM (Zz0t1)

311 Stealth edits:

There are probably ways to keep that from happening, I think, but they'd tend to involve software to strip DRM and the availability of an ereader that you load from your own computer files via cable rather than connecting it to the internet. Sounds like it would be cumbersome but probably do-able.

FWIW, I haven't noticed (yet) that 'updated' copies are being pushed to the kindle without notification. Maybe later...

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 19, 2023 11:17 AM (a/4+U)

312 A very happy COB-iversary Perfessor. May this be the first of many. You efforts here are appreciated.

Posted by: Diogenes at February 19, 2023 11:18 AM (anj39)

313 EL was never perfectly safe. They forget old Donald Gene, but it made you very careful, more than usual, for a while till he was apprehended. I knew one of the victims sister and they lost a child too, quite brutally.

Posted by: CN at February 19, 2023 11:11 AM (Zzbjj)
---
That's almost completely forgotten. Everyone's history now starts with when they turned 6. Zero perspective.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:18 AM (llXky)

314 305 Posted by: Anna Puma at February 19, 2023 11:15 AM (MjBRu)

We live in an era where the license to ignore the societal need for self-control is the ultimate high.

Plaintiff's exhibit one is the young lady in of course Florida who drew a pistol over a McDonald's free cookie.

https://tinyurl.com/Kookie-karen-the-Pistolera

Read the story and you would think it is a blonde Karen Wine Mom...notice no picture of the cookie bandit

If you research it it is plain why they omitted the pic.

Posted by: sven at February 19, 2023 11:19 AM (Lzpvj)

315 And there's a reason why the Catholic Church in particular is being singled out. That's why FBI tried to brand people who like the Latin Mass as terrorists.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:15 AM (llXky)

I agree completely as they are Catholics who will not run with the modern LGTBQ and abortion crowd.

Posted by: CN at February 19, 2023 11:19 AM (Zzbjj)

316 Like the Malachi Brothers from Happy days Demolition derbying Edsel's?
Posted by: Paladin at February 19, 2023 11:16 AM (NWB8D)
-----------

reminds me of a story years ago: Guy said he kept his kids quiet by telling them they'd stop for ice cream every time they spotted an Edsel.

Questioner, "Wow, must make for a lot of stops!"

Father: "When was the last time you saw an Edsel?" (I want to say it was a Travis McGee story, but, I'm hazy on the when and where I read it)

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(2YtOq) at February 19, 2023 11:19 AM (2YtOq)

317 > Hey, give me a break. We had to use plastic bags for crying out loud.

At least we had machetes.

Posted by: Hutus and Tutsis at February 19, 2023 11:19 AM (bW8dp)

318 A. H. Lloyd, oh yes Confucius gets squashed too The Thousand Schools remain a Thousand, and everyone thinks the Confucian families are a bit weird and no woman wants to marry into one. They are insular and grumpy about how nobody recognizes their greatness ...

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at February 19, 2023 11:13 AM (M4gnG)
---
That's pretty alternative.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:21 AM (llXky)

319 Anyway the academic who winds up killing prosperity and functioning civilization is most often a superfically intelligent but socially awakward fool who hates mankind for slights endured in their youth.

I think they share a lot in common with the cuckold in the self-shame bit they just express it differently.

Look at Davey Fwench, that there is no research on this plane tells you a lot.

Posted by: sven at February 19, 2023 11:21 AM (Lzpvj)

320 That's almost completely forgotten. Everyone's history now starts with when they turned 6. Zero perspective.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:18 AM (llXky)

I'm glad he wasn't paroled. I hope he dies before 2031, when his sentence is over.

Posted by: CN at February 19, 2023 11:21 AM (Zzbjj)

321 Sven, that's almost exactly who I assumed it would be.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at February 19, 2023 11:21 AM (Dc2NZ)

322 Sven

The Entitled Class... never needs sun screen.

Posted by: Anna Puma at February 19, 2023 11:22 AM (MjBRu)

323 Like the Malachi Brothers from Happy days Demolition derbying Edsel's?

Posted by: Paladin at February 19, 2023 11:16 AM (NWB8D)
---
Top Gear dropping pianos on British Leyland vehicles.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:22 AM (llXky)

324 Top Gear hosts, "why won't this Toyota die already?"

Posted by: Anna Puma at February 19, 2023 11:23 AM (MjBRu)

325 Top Gear hosts, "why won't this Toyota die already?"
Posted by: Anna Puma at February 19, 2023 11:23 AM (MjBRu)
---------

That was a funny series. Dropped a building out from under the vehicle and still drove it into the show.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(2YtOq) at February 19, 2023 11:24 AM (2YtOq)

326 Trying to put it together, Marxism set out to destroy religion, the Soviets continued infiltrated Western churches, now the Eff Bee Eye is persecuted church people. Even A O-C was ranting about a Christian message in SB.
Seems to be a occurring situation.

Posted by: Skip at February 19, 2023 11:24 AM (xhxe8)

327 Leach presents it and ties it to everyday life and how lessons can make you a better leader.

It made me want to learn more about Geronimo.
Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at February 19, 2023 09:35 AM (Zz0t1)

I lucked out on a trip to Pullman a few years ago when Leach still coached at Washington State. Was able to pick up an autographed book by Coach Leach. An interesting guy.

Posted by: Diogenes at February 19, 2023 11:25 AM (anj39)

328 321 Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at February 19, 2023 11:21 AM (Dc2NZ)

322 Posted by: Anna Puma at February 19, 2023 11:22 AM (MjBRu)

The sad thing is they are simply the weapon chosen in this instance, and I have a sincere fear and soul-rending disgust that their weapon will have been victimized by the same party it always has.

The end of I, Claudius comes to mind which began with Claudius trying to research the Etruscan implosion and dying thinking of Rome's collapse.

Posted by: sven at February 19, 2023 11:25 AM (Lzpvj)

329 LOL, I'm watching "Something In The Dirt" and the stoner character calls Rosicrucians the "rose croutons".

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at February 19, 2023 11:25 AM (Dc2NZ)

330 Plaintiff's exhibit one is the young lady in of course Florida who drew a pistol over a McDonald's free cookie.
https://tinyurl.com/Kookie-karen-the-Pistolera
Read the story and you would think it is a blonde Karen Wine Mom...notice no picture of the cookie bandit
If you research it it is plain why they omitted the pic.
Posted by: sven at February 19, 2023 11:19 AM (Lzpvj)

I am amazed how fast food feeding troughs seem to bring out violent behavior in the ghetto denizens for one reason or another.

It would seem an overly expensive and federally enhanced study needs to be done to find the root causes.

Maybe it's all the bright colors and menus which fuel it.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at February 19, 2023 11:25 AM (R/m4+)

331 Broken research - saw a children's book series on fairy tales around the world.
Each book is a couple of different versions of the same fairy tale from different countries. Cool concept.
But the back of the book cites no sources, just suggestions for further reading.[ . . . ].
Color me highly suspicious.
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 19, 2023 10:35 AM (Xlnez)

Then again I have read a very well documented and footnoted book on Alexander Selkirk, the supposed original Robinson Crusoe, that was full of misunderstood references and no comprehension of the context the sources used.

The genesis of fairy tales are a step beyond the Brothers Grimm's research on Indo European languages that grew out of the decision to create a Volk Myth to support Pan Germanic nationality.
There are a lot of approaches to it, from Jungian archetypes, to collecting them and searching for inter cultural themes, and arranging them by distance.

Did you catch my long discussion on the Korean Tiger Grandma myth and possible correlation with Babylonian myth about Astarte retrieving her friend from the underworld? Lots of speculation.

Posted by: Kindltot at February 19, 2023 11:25 AM (xhaym)

332 Top Gear dropping pianos on British Leyland vehicles.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:22 AM (llXky)
-----------------

Heh. I had a Triumph Spitfire back in the day. Fun little car, except for the eating gears and electrics by Lucas part.

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(2YtOq) at February 19, 2023 11:26 AM (2YtOq)

333 I agree completely as they are Catholics who will not run with the modern LGTBQ and abortion crowd.

Posted by: CN at February 19, 2023 11:19 AM (Zzbjj)
---
Yeah, and they're getting angry that the social shaming isn't working. They can't pick on the kids at school because they're all going to the parochial ones. They can't cut funding for them because they already did that a century ago.

The new hotness in Michigan is the state Supreme Court declaring the Elliott-Larsen act now includes gays and trans, so presumably these people can apply for jobs at religious organizations to subvert them. But Obama already tried that and got a 9-0 smackdown.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:26 AM (llXky)

334 Looking at See Something, Say Nothing by most likely murdered Philip Haney, how our government is protecting Jihadist

Posted by: Skip at February 19, 2023 11:26 AM (xhxe8)

335 But Obama already tried that and got a 9-0 smackdown.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:26 AM (llXky)

When at first you don't succeed...
Hiding subversion is, IMO, why Windswept House was heavily edited.

Posted by: CN at February 19, 2023 11:28 AM (Zzbjj)

336 Finished "The Last Hill" by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin. An excellent book that records the history of the US Ranger 2nd Battalion during the Second World War. From Point du Hoc to May, 1945, it's a tale of courage, fortitude, and honor. Most history-minded folks have at least a passing knowledge of the 2nd Battalion's performance on D-Day, but the Huertgen-Hill 400 campaign was even more ferocious and costly. A read worth every penny.

Posted by: mrp at February 19, 2023 11:28 AM (rj6Yv)

337 One thing Paul Kengor did was change my mind on the more recent Popes in the 1900s, he says they have understood this Marxism to Cultural Marxism

Posted by: Skip at February 19, 2023 11:28 AM (xhxe8)

338 No Carlos Castaneda on this?
Posted by: BignJames at February 19, 2023 10:44 AM (AwYPR)

No, castaneda was a fiction writer

Posted by: Kindltot at February 19, 2023 11:29 AM (xhaym)

339 We're grateful as well, but he never once asked about the people in the other car........
Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at February 19, 2023 10:20 AM (Zz0t1)

Reminds me of the old joke: When I die, I want to go peacefully in my sleep, just like my grandpappy.

Not screaming in bloody terror like his passengers.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 19, 2023 11:29 AM (XfBY/)

340 Huertgenwald - the Green Hell.

Posted by: Anna Puma at February 19, 2023 11:29 AM (MjBRu)

341 Utopian visions are nifty
Though a futuristic landscape is 'shifty'
For a dreamer like me
A perfect world would be...

...Anytown, U.S.A. 1950
Posted by: Muldoon

Most of us weren't born yet !

You tryin' to tell us sumpin' Muldoon ?

Posted by: JT at February 19, 2023 11:29 AM (T4tVD)

342 329 LOL, I'm watching "Something In The Dirt" and the stoner character calls Rosicrucians the "rose croutons".
Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at February 19, 2023 11:25 AM (Dc2NZ)

Mmmmm, rose croutons would go well with rose ice cream.

Posted by: CN at February 19, 2023 11:29 AM (Zzbjj)

343 Trying to put it together, Marxism set out to destroy religion, the Soviets continued infiltrated Western churches, now the Eff Bee Eye is persecuted church people. Even A O-C was ranting about a Christian message in SB.
Seems to be a occurring situation.

Posted by: Skip at February 19, 2023 11:24 AM (xhxe

---
The secular/materialist explanation is that they must destroy all sources of authority that they do not control.

The spiritual explanation is that they are driven by demonic forces to attack God's people in whatever ways they can.

As is often the case, the explanations compliment each other.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:30 AM (llXky)

344 Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:26 AM (llXky)

I have the greatest admiration for those who stand up to this crap. Too many former religions have knelt to this stupidity, and its demonic ways

Posted by: CN at February 19, 2023 11:31 AM (Zzbjj)

345 Neo has a book thread going, reminds me still in middle of Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series I do want to finish

Posted by: Skip at February 19, 2023 11:32 AM (xhxe8)

346 Like demolishing statues
=====

Bonfire of the Vanities.

Posted by: mustbequantum at February 19, 2023 11:32 AM (MIKMs)

347 Did you catch my long discussion on the Korean Tiger Grandma myth and possible correlation with Babylonian myth about Astarte retrieving her friend from the underworld? Lots of speculation.
Posted by: Kindltot at February 19, 2023 11:25 AM (xhaym

I completely missed that
Was it in a previous book thread?

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 19, 2023 11:32 AM (Xlnez)

348 343 Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:30 AM (llXky)

We love to joke about their reading 1984, Brave New World, the Time Machine, Harrison Bergeron, and Animal Farm as how to manuals.....

the easiest way to sniff them out in the 80s was their always deciding that "Paradise Lost" was an actual loving paean to poor Lucifer.

Posted by: sven at February 19, 2023 11:33 AM (Lzpvj)

349 The current Ruling Class is running out of other people's money. That's why they're hiring more IRS agents, siccing the FBI on religious people, and blowing up foreign-owned pipelines.

It grimly amuses me that the propaganda press always avoids government spending when the inflation topic is mentioned. It's always greedy capitalists, day traders, the Federal reserve that are to blame, never the out-of-control government spending spigot.

Posted by: mrp at February 19, 2023 11:33 AM (rj6Yv)

350 When at first you don't succeed...
Hiding subversion is, IMO, why Windswept House was heavily edited.

Posted by: CN at February 19, 2023 11:28 AM (Zzbjj)
---
People without faith don't understand people who have it. They assume its affectation or a lifestyle choice or an expression of limited intellect/bigotry. Intelligent people of faith drive them nuts, especially when they make better arguments.

So they keep trying to find ways to afflict them, totally unaware that at some point, things could get out of hand. We're already at the first step - the Church is declaring "nice" is now off the table. Martyrdom is the hot topic and the everyone's talking about spiritual warfare.

It's not that much of gap to make the warfare less spiritual. Again, Spain 1936 comes to mind.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:34 AM (llXky)

351 Bonfire of the Vanities.
Posted by: mustbequantum at February 19, 2023 11:32 AM (MIKMs)

But substituting politics for religion, like the old bonfires of the vanities.

Posted by: CN at February 19, 2023 11:34 AM (Zzbjj)

352 > Bonfire of the Vanities.
Posted by: mustbequantum at February 19, 2023 11:32 AM (MIKMs)

Savonarola would make a great name for some kind of toasted sandwich.

Anyway, I dealt with that little fuckstain most thoroughly.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at February 19, 2023 11:34 AM (bW8dp)

353 A.H. Lloyd

Well each explanation fits their own world view framework.

Posted by: Anna Puma at February 19, 2023 11:34 AM (MjBRu)

354 "I wish I could read your books, but I detached my credit card from my amazon account after I realized most of my impulse buying was books bought on Sunday mornings. Funny, that."

I have the same problem, only it's driven by drinking too many cups of coffee. My Kindle is swamped with partially read books.

Two authors that I tirelessly read end-to-end even while sitting on the head are Ben McIntyre and H.W. Brands.

A couple of standouts:

"The Man Who Would Be King: The First American in Afghanistan" - McIntyre

The General vs. the President: MacArthur and Truman at the Brink of Nuclear War" - Brands

Posted by: Levin at February 19, 2023 11:34 AM (MGkPg)

355 Mmmmm, rose croutons would go well with rose ice cream.

Posted by: CN at February 19, 2023 11:29 AM (Zzbjj)
---
Or a garden salad with a raspberry dressing.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:35 AM (llXky)

356 354 - 'My kindle is swamped with partially read books.'

Don't feel like the Lone Ranger.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 19, 2023 11:37 AM (a/4+U)

357 Well each explanation fits their own world view framework.

Posted by: Anna Puma at February 19, 2023 11:34 AM (MjBRu)
---
I use both, and I'm finding the spiritual one is more predictive. How else to explain people who are casting aside all their previous values and logic? Okay, we can try to find a psychological explanation, but that's a pretty thin line between mind/spirit.

Look at the military. We've spent 20 years studying insurgencies, writing books on them, etc. and what does our genius leadership do? Having declared "pre-insurgency conditions," they then try to egg it on using the classic heavy-handed tactics that fan the flames. No "three cups of tea" for the Catholics! Give 'em an old-fashioned show of force in the center of town, that always works!

Either they just got stupid or darker powers are at work.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:39 AM (llXky)

358 Currently reading They Also Flew by Lee Arbon, about enlisted pilots 1912-1942.

Posted by: Eromero at February 19, 2023 11:39 AM (MF3yS)

359 It's not that much of gap to make the warfare less spiritual. Again, Spain 1936 comes to mind.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:34 AM (llXky)

It's getting scary enough with the non-conventional warfare. All the stuff I'm reading about the future of mRNA makes me think "chemical warfare".
Naomi Wolf's covid book, not because I would find it eye opening but to pass it on to someone who might.

I just started The Rescue, btw, last of the Lingard Trilogy.

Posted by: CN at February 19, 2023 11:40 AM (Zzbjj)

360 It may be a small matter in light of the current culture, but I am somewhat heartened that our nieces, nephew and their families are interested about discussing books, physical books, that I think are important. They are all young, in their thirties, and appreciate learning about various books, topics, and authors. A mention of Tolkien, CS Lewis, Shelby Foote, Tennyson poetry, etc., will have them asking questions or talking about why they enjoy them. They are busy with their work and raising families but still want to explore material beyond the latest cultural schlock. I find that encouraging.

Posted by: JTB at February 19, 2023 11:40 AM (7EjX1)

361 But substituting politics for religion, like the old bonfires of the vanities.

Posted by: CN at February 19, 2023 11:34 AM (Zzbjj)
---
I know a woman who had switched her faith 6 times. She has always, however, remained true to the Democrat Party, because that's her actual religion.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:40 AM (llXky)

362 357 Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:39 AM (llXky)

The Foggy Bottom Jug Band looks at the Tollybon as "friends not made yet", they do not look at normal Americans that way.

Forget it at your own peril.

Posted by: sven at February 19, 2023 11:42 AM (Lzpvj)

363 I completely missed that
Was it in a previous book thread?
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 19, 2023 11:32 AM (Xlnez)

No clue

Posted by: Kindltot at February 19, 2023 11:42 AM (xhaym)

364 For fun, reread Chess With a Dragon
by David Gerrold, Daniel Torres (Illustrator). My copy is the illistrated hard cover from 1987.

Very droll humor. It is short, and you don't think of the plot holes until later.

Posted by: NaCly Dog (u82oZ) at February 19, 2023 11:42 AM (u82oZ)

365 Or a garden salad with a raspberry dressing.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:35 AM (llXky)

Sounds good. Something to do with all those petals this summer, maybe. I bought kid2 a copy of Roses without Chemicals, by Kukielski, and sent 6 plants to arrive in March.

Posted by: CN at February 19, 2023 11:44 AM (Zzbjj)

366 Jennifer Jacob@JenniferJJacobs
The @VP’s blue-and-white plane is broken down. Kamala Harris will be flying back to the US from Germany on the C-17 support plane.

-
Kamala and other inanimate objects flown on cargo plane.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Not a Real Simulation at February 19, 2023 11:44 AM (FVME7)

367 “Forgotten mystery click.” Styx never went away.

Posted by: Phone A Friend at February 19, 2023 11:45 AM (glGDV)

368 366 Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Not a Real Simulation at February 19, 2023 11:44 AM (FVME7)

The plane was confused having a lighter than air object in its telemetry calculations.

Posted by: sven at February 19, 2023 11:45 AM (Lzpvj)

369 No matter how much anyone wanted them to.

Posted by: Phone A Friend at February 19, 2023 11:45 AM (glGDV)

370 For fun, reread Chess With a Dragon
by David Gerrold, Daniel Torres (Illustrator). My copy is the illistrated hard cover from 1987.

Very droll humor. It is short, and you don't think of the plot holes until later.

Posted by: NaCly Dog (u82oZ) at February 19, 2023 11:42 AM (u82oZ)

Wasn't he discussed last week in regards to kidloving? I'm not sure if he's friendly to it or not. I remember him from his ST book about TWT on TOS.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at February 19, 2023 11:46 AM (Angsy)

371 Either they just got stupid or darker powers are at work.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:39 AM (llXky)

I'll go with darker powers.

Posted by: CN at February 19, 2023 11:46 AM (Zzbjj)

372 There are some people.
They have a problem of some kind.
They try to solve the problem.
Various difficulties arise.
They fail to solve the problem.
Everyone dies.
Fin.

Posted by: All purpose plot at February 19, 2023 11:48 AM (UKe2c)

373 I know a woman who had switched her faith 6 times. She has always, however, remained true to the Democrat Party, because that's her actual religion.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:40 AM (llXky)

Switching one's "faith" sounds an awful lot like getting "married" over and over and over and over and over again.

You're not really doing it right.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 19, 2023 11:49 AM (XfBY/)

374 It may be a small matter in light of the current culture, but I am somewhat heartened that our nieces, nephew and their families are interested about discussing books, physical books, that I think are important. They are all young, in their thirties, and appreciate learning about various books, topics, and authors. A mention of Tolkien, CS Lewis, Shelby Foote, Tennyson poetry, etc., will have them asking questions or talking about why they enjoy them. They are busy with their work and raising families but still want to explore material beyond the latest cultural schlock. I find that encouraging.

Posted by: JTB at February 19, 2023 11:40 AM (7EjX1)
---
That is good news! I'm pleased my kids are also taking renewed interest in the classics and find current entertainment stupid and pointless. They hate the wokeness, which is nice.

One nice thing is that our entertainment is actually good and compelling. It sells itself. People see it and want more.

Watching woke crap takes effort.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:49 AM (llXky)

375 A book that explains the high death toll in Turkey and Syria from an earthquake is: The Cure for Catastrophe: How We Can Stop Manufacturing Natural Disasters by Robert Muir-Wood. There is an entire chapter on concrete building and how to prevent them from falling down. In addition, he contrasts corrupt third-world construction, like in Haiti, with Chili and Japan.

Being in a third world country during a big earthquake is bad ju-ju. Thousands of deaths verses, at most, hundreds.

The entire book was fascinating and easy to read. Lots to take away from his book. It was in the Cunard liner Queen Elizabeth's library, along with other well-selected books.

Posted by: NaCly Dog (u82oZ) at February 19, 2023 11:49 AM (u82oZ)

376 "She has always, however, remained true to the Democrat Party, because that's her actual religion."

Same with my eldest daughter. Note to self, run this observation by her, but well after her wedding.

Posted by: Levin at February 19, 2023 11:50 AM (MGkPg)

377 The Foggy Bottom Jug Band looks at the Tollybon as "friends not made yet", they do not look at normal Americans that way.

Forget it at your own peril.
Posted by: sven at February 19, 2023 11:42 AM (Lzpvj)

How much loot did we leave them in Afghanistan? And they're still not friends? ////ssss

Posted by: mrp at February 19, 2023 11:51 AM (rj6Yv)

378 Switching one's "faith" sounds an awful lot like getting "married" over and over and over and over and over again.

You're not really doing it right.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 19, 2023 11:49 AM (XfBY/)
---
She had four husbands, so yeah.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:51 AM (llXky)

379 The Guns of John Moses Browning, by Nathan Gorenstein.

And Stalin's War, by Sean McMeekin.

Need to return to the faster and uninterrupted approach to reading books that was the norm until a few months ago, stopping/starting is not the preferred pattern.

And waiting patiently on deck are a book by the commander of a German commerce raider in WWII, a bio of the US Navy's gunnery mastermind Admiral Lee, and Shirer's history of France's Third Republic (which has been nibbled at on/off for a long time).

Posted by: rhomboid at February 19, 2023 11:52 AM (OTzUX)

380 The cake: CodePink disrupts Biden's dinner

Icing on the cake:

Keith Olbermann@KeithOlbermann
Replying to @codepink
It's hard to believe you could dishonor the name "Codepink" but you have. You need to be yelling that at Putin, you naive children

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Not a Real Simulation at February 19, 2023 11:53 AM (FVME7)

381 Time to engage with the "real" world.

Later, my literary taters.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, Sans-Culottes (except for the Book Thread) at February 19, 2023 11:53 AM (Dc2NZ)

382 In addition, he contrasts corrupt third-world construction, like in Haiti, with Chili

Posted by: NaCly Dog (u82oZ) at February 19, 2023 11:49 AM (u82oZ)
---
Did the earthquake knock carrots into the chili?
(sorry, couldn't resist)

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:54 AM (llXky)

383 You tryin' to tell us sumpin' Muldoon ?
Posted by: JT

*********

Nah. Just that fifty is easier to rhyme than say sixty or seventy.

But once you get past my doggerel, consider the notion that there are some interesting parallels between utopian thinking and nostalgic thinking.

As well as some differences.

Posted by: Muldoon at February 19, 2023 11:54 AM (ykeLU)

384 I completely missed that
Was it in a previous book thread?
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 19, 2023 11:32 AM (Xlnez)

You were probably preoccupied. Most likely with stabbing.

Posted by: Stabbing has singularity of purpose and focuses the mind at February 19, 2023 11:54 AM (UKe2c)

385 > Switching one's "faith" sounds an awful lot like getting "married" over and over and over and over and over again.

I dunno. It sounds like a reasonable response to one's current church being taken over by the "woke", which seems to happen quite regularly nowadays.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at February 19, 2023 11:55 AM (bW8dp)

386 The cake: CodePink disrupts Biden's dinner

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Not a Real Simulation at February 19, 2023 11:53 AM (FVME7)
---
I've been wondering where they have been hiding. I guess they've been told to move at last.

Same people who put up "Give Peace A Chance" signs now have Ukraine flags in their yards. "Peace movement" indeed.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:55 AM (llXky)

387 Switching one's "faith" sounds an awful lot like getting "married" over and over and over and over and over again.

You're not really doing it right.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 19, 2023 11:49 AM (XfBY/)
---
She had four husbands, so yeah.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:51 AM (llXky)

Being addicted to the honeymoon phase of anything is a poor substitute for being anchored to things that give one's life meaning and purpose.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 19, 2023 11:56 AM (XfBY/)

388 Kindltot, found ir - it was last week's book thread

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 19, 2023 11:57 AM (Xlnez)

389 I dunno. It sounds like a reasonable response to one's current church being taken over by the "woke", which seems to happen quite regularly nowadays.

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at February 19, 2023 11:55 AM (bW8dp)
---
As a convert, I'm in no position to criticize someone who leaves one faith and finds another.

Or who keeps their old faith but has to leave a denomination because it is woke.

But when it keeps happening, that's a bit much.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:57 AM (llXky)

390 147: Only in Texas is Boerne pronounced “Burn-ee.” Of course, where else but Texas would you have a town named Boerne?!

Posted by: Jayhawkone at February 19, 2023 11:57 AM (mWQJy)

391 Switching one's "faith" sounds an awful lot like getting "married" over and over and over and over and over again.
-------------
I dunno. It sounds like a reasonable response to one's current church being taken over by the "woke", which seems to happen quite regularly nowadays.
Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at February 19, 2023 11:55 AM (bW8dp)

That's not giving up one's faith. That's stepping away from those who have given up theirs.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 19, 2023 11:57 AM (XfBY/)

392 Same people who put up "Give Peace A Chance" signs now have Ukraine flags in their yards. "Peace movement" indeed.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:55 AM (llXky)

Paucity of embedded reporters this time around.

Posted by: CN at February 19, 2023 11:58 AM (Zzbjj)

393 Well, it's getting to be that time. Thanks again, Perfesser! Great thread, thanks for the boost and thanks to everyone for the kind words.

Please, if you do grab a Moron book, LEAVE A RATING!

That helps a ton. Reviews are nice, but the rating thing is so easy, there's really no excuse.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:59 AM (llXky)

394 Being addicted to the honeymoon phase of anything is a poor substitute for being anchored to things that give one's life meaning and purpose.
Posted by: BurtTC at February 19, 2023 11:56 AM (XfBY/)

*nods sagely*
Hard drugs.

Posted by: Better than serial marriage at February 19, 2023 12:00 PM (UKe2c)

395 Nice pic of the Toronto Reference Library, btw

Posted by: CN at February 19, 2023 12:01 PM (Zzbjj)

396 You were probably preoccupied. Most likely with stabbing.

Posted by: Stabbing has singularity of purpose and focuses the mind

It's nice to be with people who understand.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 19, 2023 12:01 PM (Xlnez)

397 Same people who put up "Give Peace A Chance" signs now have Ukraine flags in their yards. "Peace movement" indeed.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:55 AM (llXky)

Bloody Hell

Posted by: Zombie John Lennon at February 19, 2023 12:02 PM (mR6Gs)

398 I know a woman who had switched her faith 6 times. She has always, however, remained true to the Democrat Party, because that's her actual religion.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:40 AM (llXky)

Probably like a lady I knew. Really nice and a good friend. But all those damned crystals. Everywhere!

Posted by: Diogenes at February 19, 2023 12:02 PM (anj39)

399 That's not giving up one's faith. That's stepping away from those who have given up theirs.

Posted by: BurtTC at February 19, 2023 11:57 AM (XfBY/)
---
My grandparents were lifelong Methodists, but they were forced out of the United Methodists precisely because they refused to change their beliefs and identify with the 'woke' crowd.

When my grandfather died, they held his funeral service at their old church and the place was packed.

His faith was stronger than his church.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 12:02 PM (llXky)

400 She had four husbands, so yeah.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:51 AM (llXky)

Being addicted to the honeymoon phase of anything is a poor substitute for being anchored to things that give one's life meaning and purpose.
Posted by: BurtTC at February 19, 2023 11:56 AM (XfBY/)

I sometimes wonder if the fact that wife and I were married in the living room of a JoP in Kentucky rather than fret about a wedding was a sign that we meant it. We're going on 36 years together. Life has not always been easy, but we've always faced the shitty times together.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, Southpaw at February 19, 2023 12:02 PM (UQUAY)

401 And waiting patiently on deck are a book by the commander of a German commerce raider in WWII, a bio of the US Navy's gunnery mastermind Admiral Lee, and Shirer's history of France's Third Republic (which has been nibbled at on/off for a long time).
Posted by: rhomboid at February 19, 2023 11:52 AM (OTzUX)

My recommendation would be to read the "Ching" Lee biography first, the Kraut's, second, and drop the Shirer tome into the nearest dumpster. I have the "Third Republic" on the bookshelf, having read it thirty+ years ago. I tried a re-read 10 years ago and did a hard stop. The socialist biasm was too much.

Posted by: mrp at February 19, 2023 12:03 PM (rj6Yv)

402 Per an article at Not the Bee, Spain just made it a criminal offense to kill a rat in your own home (50K Euro fine), but decriminalized having, ahem, "relations" with an animal as long as it wasn't injured to the point of needing veterinary care.

Franco's biggest mistake was leaving a single communist alive.

Posted by: PabloD at February 19, 2023 12:05 PM (6+pFt)

403 The @VP’s blue-and-white plane is broken down. Kamala Harris will be flying back to the US from Germany on the C-17 support plane.

-
Kamala and other inanimate objects flown on cargo plane.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Not a Real Simulation at February 19, 2023 11:44 AM (FVME7)
****
Huh!
I'd like to know the story behind this story. When was the last time that happened? Those planes don't break down all that much.

Posted by: Diogenes at February 19, 2023 12:05 PM (anj39)

404 CBD HAZ A NOOD

Posted by: Skip at February 19, 2023 12:05 PM (xhxe8)

405 How they got everyone on board with Ukraine and Gung Ho for WW3 is hard to figure out until you realize that Trump's First Impeachment centered around his phone call to Zalenskyy where he asked him to look into Biden's corruption.

So it's a Pavlovian response.

They would blow up the world to get a "win" over Trump

Posted by: JoeF. at February 19, 2023 12:06 PM (mR6Gs)

406 One thing I love about Texas is that there is a county called Deaf Smith. And that 18,000 people live there. On purpose.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, Southpaw at February 19, 2023 12:06 PM (UQUAY)

407 Huh!
I'd like to know the story behind this story. When was the last time that happened? Those planes don't break down all that much.
Posted by: Diogenes at February 19, 2023 12:05 PM (anj39)

They only have to break down once to get the desired outcome

Posted by: JoeF. at February 19, 2023 12:07 PM (mR6Gs)

408 NY Gov. Hochul Spotted Waving Chinese Flag While Marching Next to CCP Official

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NTTAWWT

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Not a Real Simulation at February 19, 2023 12:07 PM (FVME7)

409 I completely missed that
Was it in a previous book thread?
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 19, 2023 11:32 AM (Xlnez)

I can't find it. Basically one argument is that the Red Ridinghood and Tiger Grandma stories are related, but Red is waylaid by the wolf while taking treats to her grandmother, the Grandmother left the kids at home while she went and harvested millet and got paid in millet pancakes, and was shaken down by the same tiger multiple times, losing her food, clothing arms and legs and finally life
This is similar to the Sambo and the tigers story, and also the story of Astarte going through the seven gates of the Underworld, and having to pay a fee at each gate, losing all her clothes, while retrieving a friend from Gilgamesh.

Very old stories.

Posted by: Kindltot at February 19, 2023 12:07 PM (xhaym)

410 Per an article at Not the Bee, Spain just made it a criminal offense to kill a rat in your own home (50K Euro fine), but decriminalized having, ahem, "relations" with an animal as long as it wasn't injured to the point of needing veterinary care.

Franco's biggest mistake was leaving a single communist alive.
Posted by: PabloD at February 19, 2023 12:05 PM (6+pFt)

Plague.

Posted by: mrp at February 19, 2023 12:08 PM (rj6Yv)

411 They only have to break down once to get the desired outcome

Posted by: JoeF. at February 19, 2023 12:07 PM (mR6Gs)
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Ron Brown could not be reached for comment.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 12:08 PM (llXky)

412 Posted by: mrp at February 19, 2023 12:08 PM (rj6Yv)

This explains a lot. People on JRT fancier websites are getting a lot of hate over rat killing.

Posted by: CN at February 19, 2023 12:09 PM (Zzbjj)

413 Liberal Women's Rights Group Calls for Indefinite Suspension of CNN's Don Lemon

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Obviously homophobic racism.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Not a Real Simulation at February 19, 2023 12:10 PM (FVME7)

414 OK, now you have two versions . . .

Posted by: Kindltot at February 19, 2023 12:11 PM (xhaym)

415 There's a town in Texas named "Cut And Shoot".

Posted by: mrp at February 19, 2023 12:12 PM (rj6Yv)

416 It can be hard for us in the Christian era, living in an "enlightened, rational" world, to fully understand what it's like to live in a world full of superstition, of gods and monsters. Or maybe not so hard, considering the irrational, unenlightened people ruining the world today. They would deny that they are superstitious, though, claiming to be the "reality-based" community.

St. Anthony of the Desert tells us that the "gods" of the pagans are actually demons (i.e., the fallen angels). It certainly puts a different spin on the ancient rites requiring human sacrifice, infanticide, unrestrained sexual activity (particularly homosexuality and pedophilia), and Earth worship.

Fast forward 2000 years and we are again living in a pagan world. A decade ago, I would have scoffed at the idea, but the Evil One and his demons are real beings.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at February 19, 2023 12:13 PM (pJWtt)

417 that is, in the epic of gilgamensh astarte went to the underworld to recover a friend

Posted by: Kindltot at February 19, 2023 12:14 PM (xhaym)

418 When we were at the TXMOME we stayed in Gunbarrel City. Really nice lake there.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, Southpaw at February 19, 2023 12:14 PM (UQUAY)

419 I've already read The Hine River Job. Enjoyed it. I like the way the Case Lee books are written and have enjoyed them all. And I'm always disappointed when they end.

Thanks to this thread for pointing me to them. I think the first one was mentioned here when it came out. I've been following them since.

Posted by: JerseyDevilRider at February 19, 2023 12:15 PM (Tdf5l)

420
This explains a lot. People on JRT fancier websites are getting a lot of hate over rat killing.
Posted by: CN at February 19, 2023 12:09 PM (Zzbjj)

YT has a ton of rat-killing videos. It's a rural sport in Britain, what, with terrier packs and air-rifle snipers.

Posted by: mrp at February 19, 2023 12:15 PM (rj6Yv)

421 Bidens DOD Expands Woke Transgender Policies

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We all know that a man who thinks he is Napoleon is crazy.

We all know that a man who thinks he is a girl is completely normal, mentally healthy, and based.

What about a girl who think she is Napoleon.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Not a Real Simulation at February 19, 2023 12:15 PM (FVME7)

422 I buy my own damn books
Posted by: Paul at February 19, 2023 09:20 AM (PA5cX)

That's cute coming from the s/h/it without an original thought in his head.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at February 19, 2023 12:18 PM (pJWtt)

423 Reading updates - I read some recent Horde recs: ...
Rocket to the Morgue by Anthony Boucher...
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 19, 2023 09:36 AM (Xlnez)

That is a great novel. It's even more fun when you realize that the secondary characters in the story are fellow author's active in the 1940s science-fiction scene. Boucher originally wrote the book under the pseudonym of "H.H. Holmes" (the 19th century serial killer).

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at February 19, 2023 12:26 PM (pJWtt)

424 Haven't gotten around to Rocket to the Morgue yet (one of these years), but some of Boucher's short fiction is just delightful. "They Bite" is a nifty chiller, and he did a nice deal with the devil story called "Nellthu." Good stuff. I think NESFA Press has a volume of his complete short fantasy and sf available.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at February 19, 2023 12:39 PM (a/4+U)

425 People without faith don't understand people who have it. They assume its affectation or a lifestyle choice or an expression of limited intellect/bigotry. Intelligent people of faith drive them nuts, especially when they make better arguments.

So they keep trying to find ways to afflict them, totally unaware that at some point, things could get out of hand. We're already at the first step - the Church is declaring "nice" is now off the table. Martyrdom is the hot topic and the everyone's talking about spiritual warfare.

It's not that much of gap to make the warfare less spiritual. Again, Spain 1936 comes to mind.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:34 AM (llXky)

I've heard it argued that the only just war is a religious war. I'm waiting for another Pope to declare a Crusade.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at February 19, 2023 01:00 PM (pJWtt)

426 Well each explanation fits their own world view framework.

Posted by: Anna Puma at February 19, 2023 11:34 AM (MjBRu)
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I use both, and I'm finding the spiritual one is more predictive. How else to explain people who are casting aside all their previous values and logic? Okay, we can try to find a psychological explanation, but that's a pretty thin line between mind/spirit.

Look at the military. We've spent 20 years studying insurgencies, writing books on them, etc. and what does our genius leadership do? Having declared "pre-insurgency conditions," they then try to egg it on using the classic heavy-handed tactics that fan the flames. No "three cups of tea" for the Catholics! Give 'em an old-fashioned show of force in the center of town, that always works!

Either they just got stupid or darker powers are at work.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at February 19, 2023 11:39 AM (llXky)

One of my priests actually called-out the Federal Government and the FBI for casting a blind eye on the attacks on crisis pregnancy centers and heavy-handed arrests of pro-life activists during his homily at Mass, today.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at February 19, 2023 01:08 PM (pJWtt)

427 So when the police arrive, Yuki is once again fully costumed. If you call a golden half mask, golden Cups of Justice, golden bikini bottom, and golden Roman style sandals."
Posted by: Anna Puma at February 19, 2023 10:54 AM (MjBRu)

This type of outfit has been often referred to as "The Basic Female Adventuring Kit."

Posted by: Brewingfrog at February 19, 2023 01:10 PM (Y90Az)

428 That is a great novel. It's even more fun when you realize that the secondary characters in the story are fellow author's active in the 1940s science-fiction scene.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop

Yes, I had to look up the correlation beforehand to get an idea of who's who.
Also looked up seven decade rosaries.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 19, 2023 01:11 PM (Xlnez)

429 Also looked up seven decade rosaries.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at February 19, 2023 01:11 PM (Xlnez)

The Seven Sorrows of Mary. That is a devotion I have not yet attempted.

I pray the standard Rosary, and also the Divine Office. I also pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop is now an engineer at February 19, 2023 01:18 PM (pJWtt)

430 You don't have to write for The Onion to come up with ways to bring money in, but if your scheme means you drag a half-breed rutabaga, you might's well invoke Damon Runyon.

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at February 19, 2023 01:23 PM (jYCXf)

431 Posted by: JTB at February 19, 2023 09:47 AM (7EjX1)

I read that biography a few weeks and enjoyed it very much.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at February 19, 2023 02:33 PM (VyzMJ)

432 "This is a great time to find books."
[Posted by: Thomas Paine at February 19, 2023 10:09 AM (Se2yV)]

Bruce Gudmundsson once told me that we live in the golden age of military history. I'd amend that to read that we live in a golden age for reading (not readers, as far too many today can't or won't read). Pretty much everything ever published (books definitely, magazines and newspapers to some extent) is available for the reader, and much of it is easily available and dirt cheap or free. Between hard copies, pdfs and kindle books (mostly for ephemera or to have spare copies I can easily access from my phone) I get hundreds of books a year-many of the hard copies come from remainder distributers and used book stores, the pdfs for free from Gutenberg and Archive mostly, and lots of $.99 to $2.99 kindles, so my average cost is only a few bucks a book; some of the military history are small press and limited run items, so they can be expensive and drive up the average a bit. Anyway, as Robt Heinlein once said, it's raining soup, grab a spoon.

Posted by: Pope John 20th at February 19, 2023 04:09 PM (cYrkj)

433 Oh, and as for the Tony Boucher mysteries (Rocket to the Morgue, etc), some of the Sister Ursula and Fergus O'Breen mysteries and "The Complete Werewolf and Other Stories" (with the story "They Bite") are available in cheap (@ $.99 to $2.99) kindle books from Rain Bird through Amazon-just do a search for Boucher kindle books on Amazon.

Posted by: Pope John 20th at February 19, 2023 04:15 PM (cYrkj)

434 This past week I started Burroughs' Venus cycle.
In many ways it is more enjoyable than his Moon cycle and maybe as good as his Mars cycle.
However, it has a substantial drawback (one that at least put me off): a shout-out to the KKK in the first book.
If one can get over it and think it was just a thing people did at the time, it is a very interesting story of adventure, with whose politics it is not necessary to agree.
There is a more interesting version of Galt's Gulch.

Posted by: PG at February 19, 2023 04:59 PM (84jHt)

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