Sunday Morning Book Thread - 05-21-2023 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

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 (the unofficial Moron guide for rebuilding civilization). Here is where we can discuss, argue, bicker, quibble, consider, debate, confabulate, converse, and jaw about our latest fancy in reading material. As always, pants are required, especially if you are wearing these pants...

NOTE: I was alerted last night that *some* of you might be forgoing pants:

Honey, nobody wears pants in the book thread. Hell, Brian Lamb and guests go commando -- it's the only way to let your book flag fly!
Posted by: All Hail Eris at May 20, 2023 08:56 PM (nFB2T)

So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, pour yourself a tall glass of ice-cold lemonade, and dive into a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?

PIC NOTE

Last week I featured my cat Hexie on the undusted shelves of my gaming library. That seemed get some humorous reactions. Today I'm featuring my cat Allie, who guards my proper library room. She doesn't like being around the other kitties, and they sometimes chase her, so she gets to stay by herself. She has all the comforts she needs and I go in and interact with her multiple times a day. She also gets to watch kitty television on a computer monitor, as well as a bird feeder hanging outside the window. Note that in my main library, I pull the books flush with the front edge of the shelf. This makes it easy to read the spines when I am looking for something. Though when Allie jumps down off the shelves she pushes in some of the books with her paws. It also conceals the fact that these shelves are also not being dusted...

We'll be returning to regularly scheduled libraries from around the world next week...

CARE AND FEEDING OF BOOKS

Tonypete had an excellent question last week:

Physical book question - I have a number of very old volumes that have some mold on the edges and covers. Any suggestions how to remove gently? These are not rare or valuable books, I just want to clean them up a bit.
Posted by: Tonypete

Naturally, the Horde being the source of all wisdom that it is, a response was forthcoming in short order:

advice from a library preservation expert:
https://bit.ly/3Mnj5dY
https://bit.ly/3M0aoVz
Posted by: screaming in digital at May 14, 2023 09:56 AM (aBJcM)

If you don't want to click on those links, let me sum up: basically, the secret is to freeze books, which forces the mold spores to go dormant. Then clean the books with denatured alcohol, page-by-page, if necessary. This *should* kill most of the mold spores, but mold is pretty tenacious, so you still want to keep the books in a relatively cool, dry environment (<60% humidity). Heat and moisture can cause the mold to return quite quickly.

I don't think I have any moldy books in my house, but there might be a few in my garage. Of course, I do have quite a few well-worn paperback books from days gone by (e.g., 1960s, '70s, '80s, etc.) which are showing their age. I haven't always treated them as well as I should, either. Fortunately, there are methods you can use for protecting paperback books as well. You can't undo existing damage (usually), but you can always prevent them from acquiring NEW damage, or at least mitigate any continuing wear and tear. Contact paper is one method for protecting paperback books. Myself, I've started just protecting the spines by adding a layer of clear plastic packing tape to the spine. It does seem to help a bit. New books are less prone to develop creases in the spine and older books that already have creases don't pick up any more.

What are some other tips and tricks for protecting books over the long term?

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IT PAYS TO INCREASE YOUR WORD POWER:

callipygian - adj. - having well-shaped buttocks (ht: Joe Mannix)

Joe Mannix used this in one of his linked ladies recently: "This leggy, callipygian brunette in a tight dress and heels doesn't buy it:"

quidnunc - n. - a person who is eager to know the latest news and gossip

I suppose a lot of us at AoSHQ could be considered "quidnuncs" of sorts because of how eager we are to read J.J.'s Morning Report, ace's Quick Hits, and the ONTs...

++++++++++

MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

Thanks to the recommendations of the Perfessor and others, I read Directive 51 by John Barnes. The story concerns the Constitutional continuation of the U. S. government after a catastrophic attack. Eco-terrorists provide a worldwide attack which threatens modern civilization. Ethical considerations are raised when the Constitutional next in line to the Presidency is a bumbling jackass who thinks a few public works projects will bring back civilization from the brink. How far should the law be stretched, corners cut, to save the country and and tens of thousands of lives? An interesting, thought provoking book.
Posted by: Zoltan at May 14, 2023 09:12 AM (62Hpd)

Comment: The Daybreak series by John Barnes is an interesting, thought-provoking series, all right. The major conflict is that Daybreak, some sort of mind-controlling meme of unknown origin, has convinced a group of people to unleash a technological plague on society that reduces civilization to mid-1800s level--and keeps us there. The survivors in America struggle to rebuild civlization and government according to Constitutional principles, but ultimately divide into multiple competing factions. A lot of folks also seem to prefer the new status quo, despite the lack of technology. They cite the fact that they no longer have to deal with the federal behemoth (taxes, regulations, and overreach) and are now actually FREE to pursue their own happiness for the first time in their lives. They band together to fend off Daybreak-inspired raiders, but otherwise lead pretty normal lives.

+++++

One Man's Wilderness is taken from the journals of Richard Proenneke as he built his cabin and lived off the land, mostly, in Alaska. Proenneke was a master mechanic and Sea Bee during WW II. In 1968, at 50 years old, he moved to Alaska to live on his own terms. His description of building the cabin is accurate and his observations of nature around him are realistic, not idealized, and rather poetic. The book covers his first two years there. I don't know if he intended the journals to be public but he had a skill for bringing a reader along on his journey. His attitude toward his new home and of his self-sufficiency is positive and, frankly, invigorating. (No, I'm not moving to Alaska.) It is delightful reading. And any book that quotes and alludes to the poetry of Robert Service would appeal to me.
Posted by: JTB at May 14, 2023 09:13 AM (7EjX1)

Comment: Sounds intriguing. Some folks just want to get away from it all and start over. I can definitely see the appeal. I recently watched a video showing the differences between populations in Colorado and Wyoming and as much as I like the scenic vistas in Colorado (I used to live there when I was young), the lack of population in Wyoming is very appealing to me.

+++++

Dilettante: True Tales of Excess, Triumph, and Disaster by Dana Brown is coke-and-booze-filled look back at the NYC magazine world in its last gasp of greatness.
Dana Brown was a broke college dropout working as a busboy and barback at a swanky hotel restaurant frequented by New York's publishing and entertainment elite. He had interactions with Graydon Carter, co-founder of the late great Spy Magazine and in the 90's chief editor of Vanity Fair. Carter took a shine to Brown and on a whim offered him a job as a lowly assistant and general dogsbody.
Between partying and playing in his punk band at night and working long hours at the magazine, Brown somehow rose in the ranks by being assigned every task under the sun with the advice "Don't fuck up, kid!" Lots of opportunities afforded to rub shoulders with the elite.
For a barely literate brat, Brown turned into a really good writer. The book is funny as hell. Definitely worth checking out from the library.
Posted by: All Hail Eris, She Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at May 14, 2023 09:19 AM (+RQPJ)

Comment: I've never quite seen the appeal of that lifestyle. As comedian Emo Phillips put it: "Stay away from cocaine. Oh, it might seem glamorous at first...but there will come a time--believe me--there will come a time, when it will be YOUR turn to treat."

+++++

I've been waiting for A.H. Lloyd to arrive so I can report on the very enjoyable time I had reading his The Vampires of Michigan. It is a fun read and does justice to the genre which I read a lot but I was left at the end wanting more. So, here is my suggestion. I think you need to write a sequel with Malcolm as the main character. I thought he was the sexiest vampire (leather clad, motorcycle riding, gun toting, mysterious) and needs a back story and more play. He could go after JJ who is still at large. Zip could also be resurrected. And the count is awake so we could get some history about how a French vampire ended up in Michigan.
As you can see, the book provoked a lot of thought. I would challenge other paranormal readers here to read and see if they agree.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at May 14, 2023 10:09 AM (Y+l9t)

Comment: As usual, I like to feature recommendations of Moron-authored books. Enjoy!

More Moron-recommended reading material can be found HERE! (779 Moron-recommended books so far!)

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WHAT I'VE BEEN READING THIS PAST WEEK:

Grimnoir Chronicles Book 1 - Hard Magic by Larry Correia -- We are introduced to an alternate Earth where Power-enhanced humans are waging a not-so-secret war for supremacy against the Japanese Imperium during the 1930s.

Grimnoir Chronicles Book 2 - Spellbound by Larry Correia -- The secret war escalates between the Grimnoir knights who are trying to protect Earth against an invasive predator from another dimension and the United States government that wants to kill or control Power-enhanced humans.

Grimnoir Chronicles Book 3 - Warbound by Larry Correia -- The heroes go in search of the mysterious Pathfinder, who heralds the attempt by the Enemy to invade Earth and destroy the Power that gave humanity their gifts.

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 - 05-14-23 (NOTE: Do NOT comment on old threads!)

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Finally got around to finish reading "Trail Dust," by Clarence Mulford. A Hopalong Cassidy novel. He's certainly different than William Boyd's version of the character.

Also, dug out "The Case of the Hesitant Hostess," a Perry Mason novel by ESG.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 21, 2023 08:59 AM (Angsy)

2 Tolle Lege
Stille reading a excellent book on Admiral Nelson by David Walder, just need to find more time to read.

Posted by: Skip at May 21, 2023 09:01 AM (xhxe8)

3 BOING!

Started reading "What Every Body Is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Speed-Reading People," by Joe Navarro.

Now I know you're all a buncha lying morons!

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at May 21, 2023 09:01 AM (Frnu2)

4 Morning. Who read Killers of the Flower Moon ?

Posted by: runner at May 21, 2023 09:02 AM (V13WU)

5 Anyone else have white comment boxes? I tried to update graphics driver and it failed. Wondering if that's the cause, or something off here.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 21, 2023 09:02 AM (Angsy)

6 Still doing a re-read of the Elemental Masters series. On book 7 now.

Posted by: vic at May 21, 2023 09:02 AM (mMi2k)

7 Morning. Who read Killers of the Flower Moon ?
Posted by: runner at May 21, 2023 09:02 AM (V13WU)
-

The movie's out, right? I just purchased the author's other book, "The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder," based on a recommendation here a few weeks' ago.

But I've got a book pile backup.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at May 21, 2023 09:04 AM (Frnu2)

8 Wheee! Book Thread!

Posted by: Marooned at May 21, 2023 09:04 AM (kt8QE)

9 Anyone else have white comment boxes?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 21, 2023 09:02 AM (Angsy)
-

Obviously you're privileged.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at May 21, 2023 09:05 AM (Frnu2)

10 If anybody was reading William Alan Webb's excellent "The Last Brigade" series, Book 6 "Standing Among the Tombstones" is out now in paperback as well as Kindle.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at May 21, 2023 09:05 AM (PiwSw)

11 Hiya

Posted by: JT at May 21, 2023 09:05 AM (T4tVD)

12 Anyone else have white comment boxes? I tried to update graphics driver and it failed. Wondering if that's the cause, or something off here.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 21, 2023 09:02 AM (Angsy)

Standard grey boxes here...

Posted by: Additional Blond Agent, STEM Guy at May 21, 2023 09:06 AM (ZSK0i)

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

Posted by: JT at May 21, 2023 09:07 AM (T4tVD)

14 I stalled out on "Guys & Dolls," but I know that if I don't read all of its stories, it will chafe me. So I'll get back to it.

I slid over to two other books, mostly illustrated. However, only one is a comic.

The other is "Naked City," a collection of photographs taken in New York City from the 1930s through the '50s by Arthur Fellig, a newspaper freelancer known as "Weegie." He had the uncanny ability to show up at fires and homicides. The book has shots of those, but it also has scenes of people passed out or otherwise asleep in the street, images of lovers in clinches, and one truly frightening (to me) photo of a day at the beach on Coney Island. I've never seen such a mass of people. And this was supposed to be fun?

The book inspired a 1950s TV series of the same name.

(continued)

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 21, 2023 09:07 AM (uIu2G)

15 The comic is a collection of the 1970s Marvel series Jungle Action, featuring the Black Panther. This was the Panther's first series, introducing villains and other characters that later writers developed further.

The writer was Don McGregor, and the artist was Billy Graham -- and I'm sure he heard a lot of joking about his name. I had not heard of him, and that is my loss. His work showcased beautiful detail.

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 21, 2023 09:07 AM (uIu2G)

16 Thank you to whoever brought up Adrian Tchaikovsky last week. I discovered that I had missed the final book in the *Children of Time* series, and that the next of his books I had on tap to read was the first book in *The Final Architecture* trilogy. I very much enjoy his writing. I am about to finish The *Children* trilogy and have read his novellas, *Firewalkers* and *One Day This Will All Be Yours*. Tchaikovsky is so prolific, I wonder if he ever sleeps! Thanks Perfessor, for the book thread

Posted by: SuperMayorSuperRonNirenberg-Buffest Mayor in the Universe at May 21, 2023 09:08 AM (2bYhL)

17 Dilettante: True Tales of Excess, Triumph, and Disaster by Dana Brown is coke-and-booze-filled look back at the NYC magazine world in its last gasp of greatness....

==

definitely will check it out. Vanity Fair was excellent when Graydon Carter ran it. I think it was him and Tina Brown or somehting.

Posted by: runner at May 21, 2023 09:09 AM (V13WU)

18 obligatory first mention of LOTR or Tolkien.

You're welcome.

Posted by: JTB at May 21, 2023 09:09 AM (7EjX1)

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

Posted by: JTB at May 21, 2023 09:09 AM (7EjX1)

20 This doesn't have to do with mold, but torn pages. Sometimes I will get a used book with several torn pages or a torn cover and I use Lineco Document Repair Tape to fix the boo-boos.

The tape is virtually invisible when applied to paper, but does show a bit when applied to dark book jackets. Recommended.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at May 21, 2023 09:10 AM (PiwSw)

21 "We know how it goes. You start out just borrowing a few books from the library, or your grandmother, and thinking you've got it under control and that you can handle it--they're just loans, after all, so what's the fuss about? And the next thing you know, you're moving on to the harder stuff--second-hand books from second-hand bookshops, and taking them home with you to own, putting them on a shelf in your bedroom, even. And, at that point, most likely, it's all over and you'll be on to brand new books before you realize it, and almost certainly an addict for the rest of your life."

"Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes" by Rob Wilkins, 2022.

Posted by: John F. MacMichael at May 21, 2023 09:10 AM (2SWLc)

22 I guess I am a quidnunc .....

Posted by: runner at May 21, 2023 09:10 AM (V13WU)

23 To be fair, All Hail Eris has long been known as a flouter of convention and the more decorous levels of decorum.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at May 21, 2023 09:10 AM (a3Q+t)

24 Most of my reading this week has been travel guides. I'm taking two trips this summer and I've decided I want to have a solid plan for where I'm going -- instead of semi-random wandering about.

Both methods are fun, but on recent trips I've had some disappointments because things needed advance reservations or were only open certain days, and I hadn't planned for any of that.

So this time I'm going to Do. The. Reading!

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 21, 2023 09:10 AM (QZxDR)

25 @4 --

It's on the TBR list.

The kids had to read it in high school, so we have a copy, but the dog shredded the cover, so I'll have to be careful that none of the pages tear.

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 21, 2023 09:11 AM (uIu2G)

26 I'm reading Ace..........

Posted by: zooomzooom at May 21, 2023 09:12 AM (Y0Ei4)

27 The movie's out, right? I just purchased the author's other book, "The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder," based on a recommendation here a few weeks' ago.

But I've got a book pile backup.
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at May 21, 2023 09:04 AM (Frnu2)

the movie premiered at Cannes. will be out later in the year. so much to read! so little time !

Posted by: runner at May 21, 2023 09:12 AM (V13WU)

28 Huggy must be in Ukraine recruiting for a new stable of broodmares.

Posted by: Dr. Bone at May 21, 2023 09:12 AM (KVGVf)

29 I own a copy of Killers of the Flower Moon but haven't started it yet. I guess the subject matter feels a little too Steven Seagal-ish to draw me in.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 21, 2023 09:13 AM (QZxDR)

30 Fuk Ukraine.

Posted by: runner at May 21, 2023 09:13 AM (V13WU)

31 @29, what do you mean ?

Posted by: runner at May 21, 2023 09:13 AM (V13WU)

32 During my unpacking from my move, I found a book I thought was long lost: 1936 Berlin Olympics Annual Yearbook (in German).

My Grampa acquired this decades ago. I only have the first volume (of 2). This book is amazing on so many levels - to me, the most unique thing is the pasted-in pictures. Each picture is a print which was glued into place. There are hundreds of them and it's heavy on the A.H. influence.

For obvious reasons, I daresent show this around much. It would be burned.

Posted by: Tonypete at May 21, 2023 09:14 AM (qoGsy)

33 Morning all.
Here kind of early after surviving the near disaster of a non functioning coffee maker. Jury rigged something so I'm awake!
I finished the second book in Gibson's Sprawl trilogy, Count Zero. The is now the seventh Gibson book I've read and still into his writing. This book follows Neuromancer and like The Bridge Trilogy only off hand mentions of the first book in this one. I'm assuming he will tie everything together in book 3, Mona Lisa Overdrive.
The book can be read as a stand alone though and I like that Gibson resolves the current story by bringing the 3 story lines together in a satisfactory manner.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at May 21, 2023 09:14 AM (t/2Uw)

34 Just finishing up "Rise of Endymion", the fourth and final book in the Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons.

Very interesting, well-written, complex characters and plot. Unfortunately for me as a lifelong Catholic, he's turned the future church into an evil, genocidal, blasphemous organization run by sentient AIs, which has ruined the story a bit for me. But then I realize that's what billions of confused Protestants have thought about the church lo, these last 500 years, so I just read on.

At its most basic, the theme of the four books is apparently that love (i.e. "the Void That Binds"), is the underlying force that holds the universe together. So, even though Simmons' view of Christ in this story is heretical nonsense, I just read on, because love is, in fact, what holds the universe together, just not in the way that Simmons writes here.

Anywho, went to St. Vincent DePaul with youngest daughter, who somehow turns 16 this coming Wednesday, and she called me a "NERD!!!" because I happily picked up "The Columbia History of Western Philosophy" for only 2 dollars!!! Two dollars!!

Yes!! I Book, therefore I Nerd!!!

Good morning, fellow Bookists.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 21, 2023 09:14 AM (uwFkA)

35 To be fair, All Hail Eris has long been known as a flouter of convention and the more decorous levels of decorum.

WOO-WOO !

Posted by: JT at May 21, 2023 09:16 AM (T4tVD)

36 btw, Scorsese must be a David Grann fan, since he purchased the screen rights to this book as well. Him and diCaprio (it's on wiki).

Posted by: runner at May 21, 2023 09:16 AM (V13WU)

37 Cool outside so maybe go in, get a cup of coffee and do some reading

Posted by: Skip at May 21, 2023 09:16 AM (xhxe8)

38 The book [Naked City]inspired a 1950s TV series of the same name.

(continued)
Posted by: Weak Geek at May 21, 2023

***
There had also been a movie of that name, filmed on location, in about 1948, and I've heard that *it* inspired the TV series. Both were about cops in NYC. Maybe the movie inspired the book title, and the book title and film gave rise to the TV series.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 21, 2023 09:16 AM (omVj0)

39 books

Posted by: rhennigantx at May 21, 2023 09:17 AM (BRHaw)

40 By "travel books" I mean actual guide books -- Michelin Green Guides are still my preferred series.

But then there's "travel books" which are more like memoirs of a trip. Some of them are as good as novels. P.J. O'Rourke's "trouble tourism" pieces from the 1980s and 1990s are still good. James and/or Jan Morris is reliable. And if you hunt around there's usually some Victorian-era Englishman who went any place you care to go.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 21, 2023 09:17 AM (QZxDR)

41 During my unpacking from my move, I found a book I thought was long lost: 1936 Berlin Olympics Annual Yearbook (in German).

==

a piece of history

Posted by: runner at May 21, 2023 09:18 AM (V13WU)

42 I notice that I already know most of the words in the "Pays to increase your word power" section. Now , should I be proud or alarmed?

Posted by: JTB at May 21, 2023 09:18 AM (7EjX1)

43 Book Nerd > Sharkman

Posted by: Dr. Bone at May 21, 2023 09:19 AM (KVGVf)

44 "this book" - The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder.

Posted by: runner at May 21, 2023 09:19 AM (V13WU)

45 "...the lack of population in Wyoming is very appealing to me."

I lived in Western Wyoming, very close to the Idaho border, for four years. There was nothing outside my back door except national forest. I loved the remoteness.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at May 21, 2023 09:19 AM (OX9vb)

46 This week I read The Return of the Gods by Jonathon Cahn. Cahn contends that when the Gospel spread, it drove out polytheism and pantheism. It replaced sacrifice and death with love and life. The old pagan gods were exiled from society. Now Western Civilization, including the United States, has turned away from God and this opens the door for the return of the old gods. Although many have returned, Cahn looks closely at three of them: Baal, Ishtar and Moleck.

Baal was the first to return and began the process of turning people away from God and towards materialistic things. Ishtar is the goddess of sexuality. In the 1960's she brought the sexual revolution, and on June 28, 1969, and the days that followed, the Stonewall riots in Greenwich Village brought forth the Gay Pride movement and the subsequent transsexual movement. Moleck, the Destroyer's, chief method of turning people away from God is the legalizing of abortion on demand. It doesn't turn out well for a society established on a covenant with God that subsequently turns away from Him. An interesting read.

Posted by: Zoltan at May 21, 2023 09:20 AM (62Hpd)

47 Cool outside so maybe go in, get a cup of coffee and do some reading
Posted by: Skip at May 21, 2023

***
'Tis (relatively) cool here and cloudy. It almost looks like we may get more rain. I hope not, as I just washed the car.

I'm reading a 1979 crime novel by Brit Ruth Rendell called Make Death Love Me. The milquetoast manager of a small bank dreams of leaving his unpleasant family behind, and a bank robbery by two of the least-competent (but not comic) criminals in history gives him the chance to change his name with part of the bank's funds and disappear. In the meantime, the two hapless criminals are stuck with their hostage, Joyce, the manager's assistant. They can't kill her (their gun is a replica) and they can't leave her behind. As she puts it, "I'm not your prisoner. You're mine."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 21, 2023 09:21 AM (omVj0)

48 Standard grey boxes here...

Posted by: Additional Blond Agent, STEM Guy at May 21, 2023 09:06 AM (ZSK0i)

I guess somehow, somehow! Intel download failure screwed it up.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 21, 2023 09:21 AM (Angsy)

49 In a pince to make coffee, if cheese cloth put grounds in it and tie up, if worse comes to worse, put grounds in pot of boiling water for 8 minutes, let settle or filter through paper towel or coffee filter.

Posted by: Skip at May 21, 2023 09:22 AM (xhxe8)

50 What do I mean about Flower Moon seeming Seagal-ish?

Didn't he do a movie about nice Indians being picked on by Evil Oil Companies, requiring some karate chops from Seagal's stand-in?

I know a bunch of people in and around the awl bidness, and I can't think of any of them who could arrange a hit for me. For that I think I'd have to rely on some of my neighbors instead.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 21, 2023 09:22 AM (QZxDR)

51 Good morning fellow Book Threadists. I hope everyone had a great week of reading.
Posted by: JTB at May 21, 2023 09:09 AM (7EjX1)

Here's an interesting fun fact:

The writer/director John Boorman( who TJM is threatening us with for his next movie thread) worked with JRR Tolkien hisself on a script for a movie of LOTR.

Apparently, the script was deemed too expensive by the geniuses in Hollywood and so never made.

Boorman took many of the ideas (scenes?) from the script and reworked them into his movie "Excaliber".

Posted by: naturalfake at May 21, 2023 09:23 AM (RJQ8g)

52 During my unpacking from my move, I found a book I thought was long lost: 1936 Berlin Olympics Annual Yearbook (in German).

My Grampa acquired this decades ago. I only have the first volume (of 2). This book is amazing on so many levels - to me, the most unique thing is the pasted-in pictures. Each picture is a print which was glued into place. There are hundreds of them and it's heavy on the A.H. influence. . . .

Posted by: Tonypete at May 21, 2023

***
Scan the pages to preserve them for yourself, in case something happens to it -- fire, flood, mold . . .

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 21, 2023 09:23 AM (omVj0)

53 @38 --

Wolfus, I understand that the series was more than a cop show; that it focused on any kind of interpersonal drama.

Makes me feel the way I do at a concert or ball game. There are all these people, each with an individual set of joys and problems, and I'll likely never know of those, just as they won't know mine. I'm a face in their crowd.

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 21, 2023 09:24 AM (uIu2G)

54 It doesn't turn out well for a society established on a covenant with God that subsequently turns away from Him. An interesting read.
Posted by: Zoltan

Beat me to it. I also picked Return of the gods this week.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at May 21, 2023 09:24 AM (M5NSB)

55 Hello, my fellow bibliophages!

Perfessor, I'm outside on the porch, so yes, I am bepantsed. Had to feed the wild turkeys and semi-feral kittens before I could settle down to read.

I'm currently enjoying Allegra Goodman's coming-of- age story "Sam", told from the first person view of an oddball loner girl who wishes to melt into the background and also be noticed. Sounds awful in my description but Goodman's spare sentences are funny and spot on.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at May 21, 2023 09:24 AM (nFB2T)

56 I'm happy to report that sometimes a book can be written not to make money or stand as a grand literary achievement, but to serve a very narrow and selfish purpose. I wrote The Curious Disappearance of Seamus Muldoon after my F-I-L's disappearance in 2008 for two purposes. One, for my wife as a memoir of her dad. Two, as a stimulus for somebody, anybody, in a position to help solve the mystery of what happened to him.

This past week, a man who purchased the property where we think Jack may have been killed reached out to us after finding the book (and the blog of the same name) and offered to let us search the property. This property was never searched by the authorities and we have not been granted previous access. So, even though more than a decade after the book was written, success of a sort. (blog link in nick)

Posted by: Muldoon at May 21, 2023 09:25 AM (kXYt5)

57 I find reading travel guides before a trip just adds to the enjoyable anticipation and in some ways reduces the anxiety. I planned several foreign road trips that way. A lot of the guides have really nice glossy pictures. Noticed that my library just ordered new guides for travel all over the world and most of the US for those of you who don't want to spend the money, check out the library.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at May 21, 2023 09:25 AM (t/2Uw)

58 8 minute coffee? Did you grind the beans?

Posted by: Dr. Bone at May 21, 2023 09:25 AM (KVGVf)

59 The latest Malcolm Guite YT video discusses the latest version of "Pipe Smoking in Middle-Earth: The fellowship of the Smoke Ring" by Mark Irwin. He has written other books, mostly concerning Peterson Pipes and writes the Peterson Pipe Notes blog. This is a little book that talks about the importance that Tolkien assigned to pipe smoking in LOTR. It includes every reference to such in The Hobbit and LOTR. The last chapter is about how to blow smoke rings. It's a fun read and deals with two of my interests: Tolkien the man and writer and enjoying pipe smoking. Probably would have a limited audience but I liked it.

Posted by: JTB at May 21, 2023 09:25 AM (7EjX1)

60 Regarding Naked City the book and 1948 movie, IMDb has this: "Also on the set then was Arthur 'Weegee' Fellig, the photographer whose own "Naked City" book had inspired this movie."

Okay then: It was book to movie to TV series.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 21, 2023 09:26 AM (omVj0)

61 Ciampino's Rescue kitties - LIVE STREAMING!!
https://www.twitch.tv/kittenwatch

Biscuits' kittens ON VIDEO.

There's another photo update, at link below.
Take a look if interested. Make sure to click on
"See Older Updates" as well if it's your first time.
https://is.gd/WQ5JcT

We are possibly going to start live streaming at night when the kitties are more active. I will let everyone know.

Posted by: Ciampino - Nature gives us chillies at May 21, 2023 09:26 AM (qfLjt)

62 I boil mine every day 8 minutes, unless I forget the time it.

Posted by: Skip at May 21, 2023 09:27 AM (xhxe8)

63 What do I mean about Flower Moon seeming Seagal-ish?

Didn't he do a movie about nice Indians being picked on by Evil Oil Companies, requiring some karate chops from Seagal's stand-in?

I know a bunch of people in and around the awl bidness, and I can't think of any of them who could arrange a hit for me. For that I think I'd have to rely on some of my neighbors instead.
Posted by: Trimegistus at May 21, 2023 09:22 AM (QZxDR)

oh, i see

Posted by: runner at May 21, 2023 09:27 AM (V13WU)

64 The last chapter is about how to blow smoke rings. It's a fun read and deals with two of my interests: Tolkien the man and writer and enjoying pipe smoking. Probably would have a limited audience but I liked it.
Posted by: JTB at May 21, 2023

***
Tolkien apparently was a big fan of Capstan blend, a Virginia tobacco. His buddy C.S. Lewis liked Three Nuns. You can still buy both of them, though they may not be exactly the same as they were 70 or more years ago. Capstan "Blue" and "Gold" are both very good tobaccos, if a little pricey.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 21, 2023 09:28 AM (omVj0)

65 The racist NAACP has issued a "travel advisory" for the white supremacist state of Florida, the travel advisory because of books.

Florida has erased all black history from its libraries, schools, and bookstores, and has even found a way to prevent online sales of such books.

Imagine that!

Florida is UNSAFE for blacks! They might be hunted down and killed! OMG!!!!

Because books!

Posted by: Mr Gaga at May 21, 2023 09:28 AM (KiBMU)

66 Books I've read/attempted this week.

Paul Collins - Blood & Ivy- The 1849 Murder That Scandalized Harvard
Since I spent a couple of pleasant years in Cambridge and Boston so this was a bit like home.

Kim Izzo - Seven Days in May
Loved the movie. The book, which I had read before a long while ago, is very good but as usual the bad guys are always Republicans and Conservatives. I enjoyed reading it again.

Ted Bell - [Alexander Hawke] - I tried reading this but it was way too much like a young teen's adventure stuff, sort of Biggles crossed with James Bond and The Saint. Why do these 'heroes' always have these names like Hawke, are rich and almost royalty? Can you be in the Royal Navy and work for the USN too?

Terry Hayes-I Am Pilgrim
Excellent book. Recommended. Cloak & Dagger stuff but lots of action. A few plot holes but they don't detract from the story.

Posted by: Ciampino -- Nature gives us chillies at May 21, 2023 09:28 AM (qfLjt)

67 Skip, I opened the top of the coffeemaker and poured boiling water through the grounds and it worked! Also, target will have a new one for me across the street from my condo in 2 hours. Target sucks but.....

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at May 21, 2023 09:29 AM (t/2Uw)

68 Maybe I need coffee, I kinda like those pants. But I really like the library cat pictures! Allie is so cute with her tail.

Posted by: Piper at May 21, 2023 09:29 AM (ZdaMQ)

69 This past week, a man who purchased the property where we think Jack may have been killed reached out to us after finding the book (and the blog of the same name) and offered to let us search the property. This property was never searched by the authorities and we have not been granted previous access. So, even though more than a decade after the book was written, success of a sort. (blog link in nick)

===

"Truth is the daughter of time, not of authority..."

Posted by: runner at May 21, 2023 09:29 AM (V13WU)

70 Muldoon I liked reading it

Posted by: Skip at May 21, 2023 09:29 AM (xhxe8)

71 I find reading travel guides before a trip just adds to the enjoyable anticipation and in some ways reduces the anxiety. I planned several foreign road trips that way. A lot of the guides have really nice glossy pictures. Noticed that my library just ordered new guides for travel all over the world and most of the US for those of you who don't want to spend the money, check out the library.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at May 21, 2023

***
Whenever I'm about to take a road trip, I re-read, or bring with me, Steinbeck's Travels With Charley. I've read here that the book has some fictional portions, but I don't care. It's beautifully written and a lot of fun.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 21, 2023 09:30 AM (omVj0)

72 This week I listened to the Audible book The Demon Next Door, which is about Texas serial killer Danny Corwin.
Corwin was executed in 1990 for the murder of three women (he raped two of them). He also raped and attempted to kill two other women and raped a third. Most were around Temple.
The book does not play the sympathy game with Corwin.

After finishing I found myself wondering how serial killers select their targets. Opportunity will be part of it but surely Corwin would have had more six opportunities.
BTW his weapon was a knife.

Posted by: That Northern skulker at May 21, 2023 09:30 AM (eGTCV)

73 @61 --

I'm enjoying the kitten videos. They’re turning into cute little butterballs.

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 21, 2023 09:31 AM (uIu2G)

74 29 I own a copy of Killers of the Flower Moon but haven't started it yet. I guess the subject matter feels a little too Steven Seagal-ish to draw me in.
Posted by: Trimegistus at May 21, 2023 09:13 AM (QZxDR)

I read that. I am fascinated with true historical crime, and I can recommend for others who do.

Before reading this, I did not know that the Osage were so wealthy (from oil leasing), and lived modern and, often, extravagant lives.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at May 21, 2023 09:31 AM (OX9vb)

75 If have coffee filters could bag the grounds it it and put in boiled water.

Posted by: Skip at May 21, 2023 09:31 AM (xhxe8)

76 Last night on the Hobby Thread, Polliwog asked about books that would be good references for plant illustrations. This was my quick response.

- Beatrix Potter ( as in Peter Rabbit) did some excellent floral paintings that were included in scientific publications of the day.
- The botanical illustrations in the Brambly Hedge kids books. They are loose but completely accurate to form and color.
- Redoute's Fairest Flowers. They were done in the early 1800s. Phenomenal.
- Botanical Portraits with colored pencils by Ann Swan.
- Botanical Drawing in Color by Wendy Hollender.
- Any of the works by Martin Johnson Heade.

The only problem was I got looking through the various volumes and lost a few hours of sleep looking at the beautiful artwork.

Posted by: JTB at May 21, 2023 09:31 AM (7EjX1)

77 Oh, and Jack Carr has just published "Only The Dead", the 6th book in his Terminal List series. Haven't started it yet, but will once I finish the Hyperion Cantos.

Excellent series so far. Carr is very, very good.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 21, 2023 09:32 AM (uwFkA)

78 I usually read the Book Thread indoors, but today I'm on the back patio and enjoying the birdsong.

And I'm wearing pants.

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 21, 2023 09:33 AM (uIu2G)

79 Wolfus, I understand that the series was more than a cop show; that it focused on any kind of interpersonal drama.

Makes me feel the way I do at a concert or ball game. There are all these people, each with an individual set of joys and problems, and I'll likely never know of those, just as they won't know mine. I'm a face in their crowd.
Posted by: Weak Geek at May 21, 2023

***
From my kidhood I can recall the famous closing tag: "There are eight million stories in the Naked City. This has been one of them." I've seen eps on YooToob or Tubi or Pluto now, and yes, they were fine dramas with the cop element interlaced or kicking off the main story. It was maybe the first TV show in history to kill off a main character, too. They had one of the two cop leads killed in one episode -- very shocking in TV in 1960 -- and revamped the show as an hour-long series; and it worked.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 21, 2023 09:34 AM (omVj0)

80 Tchaikovsky is so prolific, I wonder if he ever sleeps! Thanks Perfessor, for the book thread

Posted by: SuperMayorSuperRonNirenberg-Buffest Mayor in the Universe

He's fantastic. I was actually sad when I finished the Final Architecture trilogy last week. You know that feeling when you finish a book or series and wish you could forget what you just read completely so that you could experience the story fresh all over again?

That.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 21, 2023 09:35 AM (uwFkA)

81 Been relaxing in Michigan the last couple of weeks. Read Chaim Potok’s The Gates of November, about the Slepak family of refuseniks. It intersects a little with Natan Sharansky’s Fear No Evil.

What’s really fascinating about it are the occasional glimpses into the mindset of the people who maintained faith in the Soviet leadership. Volodya Slepak’s father never lost faith, even when Stalin and his government started persecuting Jews and inciting violence against Jews.

When Stalin died (which followed the comedy-drama movie fairly closely),

Even in the labor camps, many cried.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at May 21, 2023 09:36 AM (olroh)

82 >>>I boil mine every day 8 minutes, unless I forget the time it.

Posted by: Skip

>>I'll admit I never heard of that. I also have never understood folks who say that if you allow you coffee to reach boiling temperature, you've ruined it.

Caffeine addicts will drink 6 hour road tar, boil 3 day old grounds and not a whisper of contaminates, like creamer, to blunt the experience.

I prefer cowboy coffee myself. *puffs chest*

Posted by: Dr. Bone at May 21, 2023 09:38 AM (KVGVf)

83 Wow, Muldoon, @56. Did the current owners of the property just happen across your book somehow, or did they know from buying the property that something had happened there?

Either way, serendipity or divine intervention. I read your book, and I hope that you are able to find answers with the help of the new owners.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at May 21, 2023 09:38 AM (OX9vb)

84 Allie is a lovely feline guardian. And that looks like a library I'd love to peruse!

I've been checking out books rather than purchasing them (except for the much anticipated next Union-Alliance novel from C.J. Cherryh, and a compendium of Noir Cocktails by Eddie from TCM's Noir Alley). Which is good, because I was thoroughly underwhelmed by a couple SF novels recently. Can't even remember the authors or titles. Back to the bin with you! Thank goodness for public libraries.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at May 21, 2023 09:40 AM (nFB2T)

85 Morning, all. Haven't read anything new this week, just sort of futzing around with books I already have.

The other is "Naked City," a collection of photographs taken in New York City from the 1930s through the '50s by Arthur Fellig, a newspaper freelancer known as "Weegie."

Wolfus probably knows this, but Felig's self-coined nickname of "Weegee" was a corruption of "Ouija," because he claimed he had a "sixth sense" for murders, robberies, fires and such.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 21, 2023 09:41 AM (AW0uW)

86 45 "...the lack of population in Wyoming is very appealing to me."

I lived in Western Wyoming, very close to the Idaho border, for four years. There was nothing outside my back door except national forest. I loved the remoteness.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at May 21, 2023 09:19 AM (OX9vb)
----
I love the wilderness as well, (Africa for me), but once we get to a certain age other things vie for priority, particularly access to a good hospital. Not good if one has to be driven for 30 minutes plus to get to a trauma center. I think heart attack as an example as I've been there.

Posted by: Ciampino - deer and hyenas wild enough for you? at May 21, 2023 09:41 AM (qfLjt)

87 I find reading travel guides before a trip just adds to the enjoyable anticipation and in some ways reduces the anxiety. I planned several foreign road trips that way. A lot of the guides have really nice glossy pictures. Noticed that my library just ordered new guides for travel all over the world and most of the US for those of you who don't want to spend the money, check out the library.
Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at May 21, 2023

Same.

I don't like to travel into an unknown area, particularly the first time, without some fairly clear map and some landmarks in my head. That way I don't have to strictly depend on my cellphone for info.

A travel book with maps always works better for me than online stuff and I can carry the book and refer to it quickly ion need be.

Travel books for the win.

Posted by: naturalfake at May 21, 2023 09:41 AM (RJQ8g)

88 Started reading "What Every Body Is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Speed-Reading People," by Joe Navarro. Now I know you're all a buncha lying morons!
Posted by: Biden's Dog

*******

Along the same lines, my wife read and we discussed Spy Secrets That Can Save Your Life by a former CIA agent named Jason Hanson. Includes a section on being a human lie detector, as well as bits on situational awareness, and increasing levels of individual threat assessment.

Posted by: Muldoon at May 21, 2023 09:43 AM (kXYt5)

89 Good morning!

Posted by: gp At The Hamfest at May 21, 2023 09:43 AM (0wyGh)

90 78 I usually read the Book Thread indoors, but today I'm on the back patio and enjoying the birdsong.

And I'm wearing pants.
Posted by: Weak Geek at May 21, 2023 09:33 AM (uIu2G)
----

Me too. It's a glorious morning. I also enjoy the squirrel fights.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at May 21, 2023 09:43 AM (nFB2T)

91 A little historical dissonance on the 1936 Olympics: I think it's pretty well known that Hitler refused to shake hands with Jesse Owens after he dominated the supermenschen. But if you ever see Riefenstahl's "Olympiad," there is a shot of Hitler congratulating him. Now, this could have been slipped in, fake-like, to deal with criticism -- or, the other side of the story may have been All Blowed Out of Proportion.

Not that the official yearbook would exactly clear this up, but it could cast some new light, or darkness.

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at May 21, 2023 09:43 AM (jYCXf)

92 Potok also emphasized how the state forced everyone to take part in the cancellation of people and the rewriting of history. This was no 1984-ish past changing overnight by invisible authorities. People were sent new entries for their dictionaries and expected to paste them over the old entries. Schoolchildren were made to take part in erasing their own history books.

They really rubbed everyone’s faces in their cancellations.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at May 21, 2023 09:43 AM (olroh)

93 @ 85 --

He also had police radios in his apartment and car. He had to get permission for those.

The man had the city wired.

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 21, 2023 09:44 AM (uIu2G)

94 Caffeine addicts will drink 6 hour road tar, boil 3 day old grounds and not a whisper of contaminates, like creamer, to blunt the experience.

I prefer cowboy coffee myself. *puffs chest*
Posted by: Dr. Bone at May 21, 2023

***
That was what Denver residents called "strong" coffee. I bought some coffee w/ chicory and made some at work, thinking to treat my co-workers for Christmas. An hour later I heard somebody asking the receptionist, "Is there something wrong with the coffeemaker?"

I gave up after that.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 21, 2023 09:44 AM (omVj0)

95 Paul Collins - Blood & Ivy- The 1849 Murder That Scandalized Harvard
Since I spent a couple of pleasant years in Cambridge and Boston so this was a bit like home.

I have that and was disappointed. The Parkman case is a fairly simple one, but Collins pads the story out for much too long, IMO.

Frankly, I would recommend his The Murder of the Century, The Birth of the West and Banvard's Folly

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 21, 2023 09:45 AM (AW0uW)

96 Thanks for mentioning "The Return of the Gods", Zoltan. Sounds like something I need to read.

The old gods have definitely returned to America, and it won't end well for us.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 21, 2023 09:45 AM (uwFkA)

97
Wolfus probably knows this, but Felig's self-coined nickname of "Weegee" was a corruption of "Ouija," because he claimed he had a "sixth sense" for murders, robberies, fires and such.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 21, 2023

***
Never heard that! Nor had I heard of Fellig until Weak Geek mentioned him here, and in the IMDb Trivia section for the movie.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 21, 2023 09:46 AM (omVj0)

98 29 I own a copy of Killers of the Flower Moon but haven't started it yet. I guess the subject matter feels a little too Steven Seagal-ish to draw me in.
Posted by: Trimegistus at May 21, 2023 09:13 AM (QZxDR)
----
I have that but I've also not read it yet.

Posted by: Ciampino -- bison, other deer and hyenas wild enough for you? at May 21, 2023 09:47 AM (qfLjt)

99 A little historical dissonance on the 1936 Olympics: I think it's pretty well known that Hitler refused to shake hands with Jesse Owens after he dominated the supermenschen.

IIRC, it wasn't so much of a snub (though Schickelgruber had no love for blacks) as an Olympic faux pas: Hitler personally congratulated the German winners at the start, but was told by the Olympic authorities that he, as the host, was not allowed to show favortism to any team or any country. So Hitler didn't shake hands with any athlete after that.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 21, 2023 09:48 AM (AW0uW)

100 I recently purchased Rosemary Gladstar's Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner's Guide and (but have not yet received) The Herbal Kitchen by Kami McBride, both on the recommendation of Mary from the Mary's Nest YouTube channel.

Both focus on the medicinal uses of the herbs and spices already found in most kitchens. Even those occasionally have contraindications, especially in extremely large doses, but in general are difficult to do harm with by accident.

I also got a subscription to The Herbarium, an online herbal resource, as I am working on setting up my personal Materia Medica so I can start keeping track of tea blends and other mixes that I make.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at May 21, 2023 09:49 AM (nC+QA)

101 The Ouija origin of "Weegee" is the best known, but other accounts differ.

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 21, 2023 09:50 AM (uIu2G)

102 Never heard that! Nor had I heard of Fellig until Weak Geek mentioned him here, and in the IMDb Trivia section for the movie.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 21, 2023 09:46 AM (omVj0)

I actually know something you don't? That's a pleasant surprise.

BTW, I might be sending you my first 4 chapters, just to give you an idea of where my new book is headed. I have to review and rewrite first, though.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 21, 2023 09:50 AM (AW0uW)

103 Did the current owners of the property just happen across your book somehow, or did they know from buying the property that something had happened there?
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs!

*******

He bought the place and shortly thereafter met a neighbor who has lived near there since before Jack's disappearance. She said, "Say, did you know this place has a history?" and gave him the basic outlline. He then took it upon himself to do some digging on the internet and became intrigued when he found The Curious Disappearance. He noticed that there had been very little coverage of the story by anyone else and decided to e-mail us offering to help in any way he could.

Posted by: Muldoon at May 21, 2023 09:50 AM (kXYt5)

104 I'd heard of "Weegee" the photographer before, but I don't think I ever heard his real name.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 21, 2023 09:51 AM (QZxDR)

105 >>>Me too. It's a glorious morning. I also enjoy the squirrel fights.

Posted by: All Hail Eris

>Pimps gotta be pimps.

Posted by: Dr. Bone at May 21, 2023 09:51 AM (KVGVf)

106 I've got a copy of Killers of the Flower Moon, autographed by the author - I was a guest of a friend at a very tony book event in San Antonio. It's very good - an absolutely horrific true-crime story. The murderer deliberately married into a clan of very wealthy Osage Indians - and then systematically began killing them off, in order to secure their headrights. He and his Osage wife also had two children - who lived under somewhat of a cloud afterwards. The Osage had the good fortune, apparently, to buy the land to establish their reservation - and it turned out to have insane quantities of oil under it, which made every full registered member of the tribe incredibly wealthy. But one catch - they weren't considered responsible adults, so they had to have a sort of financial guardian. Which led to problems...
Otherwise, I'm more than halfway through the first volume of Shelby Foot's Civil War account.

Posted by: Sgt. Mom at May 21, 2023 09:52 AM (xnmPy)

107 Sorry to keep dragging movies into the book thread. Joe Pesci portrayed Weegee in "The Public Eye," 1991. Kind of a landmark role for Pesci.

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at May 21, 2023 09:53 AM (jYCXf)

108 I actually know something you don't? That's a pleasant surprise.

BTW, I might be sending you my first 4 chapters, just to give you an idea of where my new book is headed. I have to review and rewrite first, though.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 21, 2023

***
MP4, I'm inclined to think you have a great deal of fascinating luggage and old furniture stored in your mental attic, just as I do. We have different furniture and luggage in some cases, but a lot of the same styles and eras as well.

Send it along when it's ready, please!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 21, 2023 09:53 AM (omVj0)

109 Last week, someone mentioned the humor of H. Allen Smith and picked up his "Larks in the Popcorn". Thoroughly enjoyable in a mild way. Made me smile a lot and laugh out loud a few times. The NYC guy who moves to the burbs. It has what I call the gentle curmudgeon approach. Cleveland Amory and Alan King used the same schtick.

That book came out in the mid-1940s. That reminded me of Thurber's "War Between Men and Woman" which was published about the same time and was aimed at a similar audience. It's incredible how much Thurber could convey with, literally, a few squiggly lines. And his cartoons set the standard for what I think of 'the New Yorker magazine' style humor. But what was original and effective with Thurber became a mockery of the style in later years.

Posted by: JTB at May 21, 2023 09:53 AM (7EjX1)

110
Before you ask, 'What's my problem” let me tell you... it's librarians. It used to be librarians were more intimately aware of the Dewey Decimal System then men and society considered that a fair deal. Now they hand out rainbow book markers and wear 'Out and Proud' buttons on their chests. I remember when the librarian was a much older woman. Kindly, discreet, unattractive. We didn't know anything about her private life. We didn't want to know anything about her private life.

Posted by: Lt Joe Bookman at May 21, 2023 09:53 AM (enJYY)

111 Didn't they make a movie about Weegee starring that little bantam rooster who's in all the Scorsese mob movies?

Posted by: All Hail Eris at May 21, 2023 09:53 AM (nFB2T)

112 Oops, WWD beat me to it.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at May 21, 2023 09:55 AM (nFB2T)

113 I'd heard of "Weegee" the photographer before, but I don't think I ever heard his real name.
Posted by: Trimegistus at May 21, 2023

***
IMDb also mentions that Fellig's accent was part of the inspiration for Peter Sellers' title character in Dr. Strangelove.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 21, 2023 09:55 AM (omVj0)

114 Last night Dr. Mrs. T. and I did something we haven't done in about two decades: we went out to see a band perform at a bar. They were pretty good, although it was a nasty night and the place was half-empty.

That made me wonder: how do bands make money from bar/club/etc. appearances? There was a cover charge, but even that multiplied by the number of people who showed up would amount to less than minimum wage for the main band and the opening act.

Does the bar pay them a fee, as a promotional expense to get people in the door and buying drinks?

Anybody know how this all works?

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 21, 2023 09:55 AM (QZxDR)

115 Last week, someone mentioned the humor of H. Allen Smith and picked up his "Larks in the Popcorn".

I believe that was me. I never read Larks, but I highly recommend Life in a Putty Knife Factory and Lost in the Horse Latitudes.

Also, for any NE morons, Brendan Smith's The Flatlander Chronicles - a series of 'fish out of water' columns by an NYC fellow who moved to rural NH.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 21, 2023 09:56 AM (AW0uW)

116 I bought a copy of Old Jules by Mari Sandoz. One of the travel vlogs I follow was in the area they homesteaded in Nebraska. It's her story about her father and looks good.

I wish more people would read about the early settlers. It really shows how easy we have it now. One of my favorites is "The Life of an Ordinary Woman" by Anne Ellis. Her father was a miner and she grew up in the gold rush towns.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at May 21, 2023 09:57 AM (ouTlx)

117 51 ... "The writer/director John Boorman( who TJM is threatening us with for his next movie thread) worked with JRR Tolkien hisself on a script for a movie of LOTR.

Apparently, the script was deemed too expensive by the geniuses in Hollywood and so never made.

Boorman took many of the ideas (scenes?) from the script and reworked them into his movie "Excaliber"."

naturalfake,

I know a lot of Tolkien trivia but missed that one. Thanks.

Posted by: JTB at May 21, 2023 09:57 AM (7EjX1)

118 Pilgrim starts as a murder mystery, maybe something that David Fincher would do, but is integral to the spy plot of the antagonist, the one called the Saracen, the Saudi mastermind of a chillingly plausible plot

it is Pilgrims job, to walk the cat back, and find pilgrim before he commits his atrocity,

Posted by: no 6 at May 21, 2023 09:57 AM (PXvVL)

119 So Amazon has been bugging me about a bunch of 'kindle points' that I had accumulated. Then they started warning me that some of them were about to expire, so I figured it was time to redeem them, and use them to get a few bucks off the e-book version of that 'Walls of Men' book that has garnered so much discussion on the site. With the weather changing, it can be part of my summer reading program: aka, I will bikie to the park, read a chapter or two about China while out in the fresh air and sunshine, and then bike back home.

Meanwhile, back home, far from the fresh air and sunshine, but close to my easy chair, I'm working my way through some DareDevil comic books by Frank Miller. I've never been overly fond of the character, but this is widely regarded as the seminal run, so I figured it couldn't hurt. So far, so good, but I've only just started the story that made the run famous.

Also just finished splurging on way too many used books from ebay (both comic books and real books) so I'll be adding a lot to my to-read pile....

Posted by: Castle Guy at May 21, 2023 09:57 AM (Lhaco)

120 and find the saracen, sorry, pilgrim is a remarkably talented operative, with a special set of skills, more cerebral then bryan mills of taken, but he can handle himself

Posted by: no 6 at May 21, 2023 09:59 AM (PXvVL)

121 >>>Anybody know how this all works?

Posted by: Trimegistus

>Mostly it doesn't work. You have to tell yourself you're in it for the fame and chicks.

Posted by: Dr. Bone at May 21, 2023 10:00 AM (KVGVf)

122 I finished "Candy" by Terry Southern(The Magic Christian, script for Dr Strangelove, script for The Loved One), though these days they've started listing a co-author on the cover of the book.
I'm too lazy and don't really care why the relatively new listing of a new co-author to look up as to why.

Anyway, "Candy" is a somewh pornographic redo of the novel, "Candide" by Voltaire. Though having read both, I'd say "Candy" was inspired by "Candide" in the Hollywood movie fashion.

The book was a minor bestseller in it's day and there's was a movie made of it.

Though it seems clearly written to shock the squares, at least in part. "Candy" is also clearly a fairly pointed satire of a hippie life-style and philosophy of free love. It also takes shots at the traditional idea of a young woman finding her beau and getting married and having kids, because Candy is a naive lunkhead who has the worst taste in men.

The novel contains Southern's usual clean, clear, descriptive prose which is a pleasure to read. And his usual short chapters and episodic structure make for a quick read.
If you like black comedy and this sounds like the sort of book you might like, you probably will.

Posted by: naturalfake at May 21, 2023 10:01 AM (RJQ8g)

123 I prefer callipygian posteriors and I am incapable of speaking an untruth. Ye additional brethren cannot disavow it.

Posted by: Ye Olde Sir-Mix-A-Lot at May 21, 2023 10:03 AM (DhOHl)

124 yes boorman found the medieval world more appealing than the modern world, a world that was more nasty brutish and short than ours, in some ways, but more civilized in others.

Posted by: no 6 at May 21, 2023 10:03 AM (PXvVL)

125 naturalfake: Here's a quote I ran across by Southern's co-author:

"Terry Southern and I wrote Candy for the money. Olympia Press, $500 flat. He was in Switzerland, I was in Paris. We did it in letters. But when it got to be a big deal in the States, everybody was taking it seriously. Do you remember what kind of shit people were saying? One guy wrote a review about how Candy was a satire on Candide. So right away I went back and reread Voltaire to see if he was right. That's what happens to you. It's as if you vomit in the gutter and everybody starts saying it's the greatest new art form, so you go back to see it, and, by God, you have to agree."

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 21, 2023 10:04 AM (QZxDR)

126 I haven't read a book since I started reading the web sites I all too frequent. I have have Clavell book Whirlwind waiting to get read. Suppose tonight's a good time as any.

Posted by: WhitePunk at May 21, 2023 10:04 AM (8i+57)

127 In the book Catch 22 by Joseph Heller (but not in the movie) there is a comic retelling of Killers of the Flower Moon incident in which Chief White Halfoat recounts his family being forced to move repeatedly because oil is found wherever they settle.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at May 21, 2023 10:05 AM (FVME7)

128 Someone should redo The Green Hornet series as a serious (though not depressing) graphic novel. You could give Britt Reid and Kato a history: Perhaps Reid saved Kato's life in SE Asia somehow, and then they both discover they have a desire to see justice done. Reid could be painted as a frivolous playboy who never seems to do any real work, and then at night he becomes the Green Hornet, thought by the police and the public to be a master criminal. Which would give him some street cred with real criminals. Rather than his secretary knowing his identity, it should be his sister, who runs the newspaper or publishing syndicate they own. And the DA who knows who he is could be connected to her in some way -- married is the obvious deal.

This would make the setup much more plausible than even the fairly-well-done TV series of the '60s. (I don't want to think about Seth Rogen as the Green Hornet in the recent movie. Oh, noooo.)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 21, 2023 10:05 AM (omVj0)

129 Posted by: JTB at May 21, 2023 09:31 AM (7EjX1)

I think I've decided I want to focus on pen and ink as my medium, as I almost always have an ink pen near by. It looks like there are YouTube videos that try to match Beatrix Potter's technique. The books of her work are a little outside my price range right now, unfortunately.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at May 21, 2023 10:05 AM (nC+QA)

130 After reading Malachi Martin's "The Jesuits: The Society of Jesus and the Betrayal of the Roman Catholic Church," I didn't want to read for awhile. I am still "processing" it. A friend gave me 2 C.J. Box novels, one with Joe Pickett and one without. I should start one of them.

Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at May 21, 2023 10:05 AM (5u1+1)

131 @119 --

Castle Guy, you're in for a treat. I started in comics in the middle of Miller's DD run. It quickly became a favorite.

I regret that DC was able to lure Miller off the book. He had plans that never saw print.

I recently read Miller's DC miniseries Ronin and was disappointed -- we lost Daredevil for this?

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 21, 2023 10:05 AM (uIu2G)

132 I've been re-reading the first part of the Return of the King. This is the part where Tolkien is moving all the pieces on the board in preparation for the climactic scenes of battle and the Ring's destruction. I did something I haven't done since the mid-60s. (The decade, not my age.) I used the fold-out map in the back of this edition to keep track of who was where. It actually helped keep track of things because I have a terrible sense of direction. (If I had been in charge of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, they would have discovered Rhode Island.) Tolkien took care to give explicit directions of travel of the various groups and characters. I wonder if he kept his map handy during the writing.

Posted by: JTB at May 21, 2023 10:06 AM (7EjX1)

133 *Anybody know how this all works?*

We figured out how to get money for nothing and chicks for free!

Posted by: Dire Straits at May 21, 2023 10:07 AM (DhOHl)

134 Not read yet - Rocky Boyer's War by Allen D. Boyer. Allen is Rocky's son and he uses his father's journals to pen this book on the air war in the South Pacific.

One salacious tid-bit I was told by the friend loaning it to me, as if salacious gossip is going to get me to read anything, is that apparently FEAF George Kenney got his Aussie squeeze an enlistment as a WAC.

Posted by: Anna Puma at May 21, 2023 10:07 AM (Pvrwb)

135 Tolkien took care to give explicit directions of travel of the various groups and characters. I wonder if he kept his map handy during the writing.

Posted by: JTB at May 21, 2023 10:06 AM (7EjX1)
----
Almost certainly, yes. He even kept track of the *phases of the moon* as the Fellowship travels so that whenever they look at the night sky, the moon is in the correct position.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 21, 2023 10:09 AM (BpYfr)

136 pilgrim did work for an elusive government agency, that he thought was undetectable,

the saracen is more a creature of sheer will and focus, he does gather some followers along the way, but chillingly he leaves few footprints,

Posted by: no 6 at May 21, 2023 10:09 AM (PXvVL)

137 @129 I think I've decided I want to focus on pen and ink as my medium

---
I was kicking around the idea of getting a mouse pen or tablet to make sketched for work. I can draw, so I said screw it. Was pen and paper the scan it w little brother scanner. Seems nor efficient for engineering sketches.

Posted by: WhitePunk at May 21, 2023 10:09 AM (8i+57)

138 For some reason, this was a rough week for reading. Did get farther into both Demons and In The First Circle so making slow progress on the Russians. I have the 1930s WPA guide to Wisconsin around to dip into every once in awhile but this week I read more of that than anything else. Found a new bookstore inton (that turned out to be an old bookstore that moved). In the old location I thought it was one of those romance novel exchange shops and avoided it. Went in yesterday and lo and behold, there's all sorts of stuff besides romance novels in there. Picked up two books off my list (Felix Krull and At Dawn We Slept) and a fairly slim collection of the letters of James Thurber.

Posted by: who knew at May 21, 2023 10:09 AM (4I7VG)

139 Sorry for typos, phone auto word fix kinda socks.

Posted by: WhitePunk at May 21, 2023 10:11 AM (8i+57)

140 OK, folks, it's a beautiful day, so think I'll sit outside for a while and have a smoke.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at May 21, 2023 10:12 AM (AW0uW)

141 I read the book nearly 10 years ago, when it was on the remainder pile in the library, the author was george millers producer on the road warrior, and a former dc correspondent for the Australian Herald in the watergate era,

Posted by: no 6 at May 21, 2023 10:12 AM (PXvVL)

142 That, or I'm high...no, it's the phone.

Posted by: WhitePunk at May 21, 2023 10:12 AM (8i+57)

143 Demons and In The First Circle

I first read that as Demons in the Flea Circus.

Posted by: Anna Puma at May 21, 2023 10:13 AM (Pvrwb)

144 David Wilkerson's "The Vision." I remember that the last American 'prophecy' revealed to him (as he claimed) was the legalization of marijuana.

I didn't believe that would ever happen. My bad.

Everything else written in the 1973 book; the collapse of large corporations, a rush to move out of cities, a youth revolution of sex, drugs, rock & roll and violence, an "underground" information system, (probably the ether/internet) debased TV programming, false religion(s) arising, an increase in sexual perversion, and the disintegration of the family...well, here we are.

"When you begin to see these things come to pass, look up, for your Redemption drawth nigh" is my hope.

Posted by: Ju at May 21, 2023 10:13 AM (aTmM/)

145 Posted by: Trimegistus at May 21, 2023 09:55 AM (QZxDR)

Inspector would know, because he used to manage a band back in the day. He's at church now though so I can't ask him.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at May 21, 2023 10:13 AM (nC+QA)

146 Last time I was at Barnes and Noble, I was looking through the graphic novel section, desperately searching for something new that didn't look terrible. Then a book titled "Belit and Valeria" caught my eye. For those not familiar with Conan the Barbarian, those two characters are Conan's canonical girlfriends, both of whom are now in the public domain. Alas, when I actually flipped through the book, it looked....tasteless. And it was written by a creator I don't respect. Suffice it to say, I put the book back on the shelf and left without buying anything.

Then last night I that same title popped up on my Amazon feed. I clicked it to see what others had to say, and it's got a one-star rating. It's reassuring to know that other people hate the same stuff I wouldn't buy. Also, it seems that the creators know nothing about the setting of Conan the Barbarian, as they apparently put cannons and muskets in the story. ....Because Belit is a pirate, and all pirates have cannons, right? Right? Sigh....

Posted by: Castle Guy at May 21, 2023 10:14 AM (Lhaco)

147 Morning.

Re: The Grimnoir Chronicles.

Faye is Best Girl.

Posted by: Robert at May 21, 2023 10:14 AM (1Yy3c)

148 A couple of years ago there was a Tolkein exhibit at the Morgan Library in NYC. Among the things on display was his own personal working map used for writing the book. It was done on graph paper, with contour lines for mountain elevations.

He was keeping _precise_ track of everything. Basically the dude was running a solo Gygaxian D&D campaign, with multiple player groups, strict time-keeping, and factions. He was one polyhedron away from inventing D&D.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 21, 2023 10:14 AM (QZxDR)

149 Almost certainly, yes. He even kept track of the *phases of the moon* as the Fellowship travels so that whenever they look at the night sky, the moon is in the correct position.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel

A practice that started back in The Hobbit, it is assumed, when the Dwarves had to find that certain keyhole by the light of the moon(?) at a certain time of day, in order to get back into the Lonely Mountain.

Talk about attention to detail.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 21, 2023 10:15 AM (uwFkA)

150 Or was that one dodecahedron away?

Posted by: Anna Puma at May 21, 2023 10:16 AM (Pvrwb)

151 >Mostly it doesn't work. You have to tell yourself you're in it for the fame and chicks.

Posted by: Dr. Bone at May 21, 2023 10:00 AM (KVGVf)

That was my impression. Everything they made, plus a goid deal more, went up their noses or down their throats. Apparently they, or their parents, were able to afford that, but Inspector wasn't.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at May 21, 2023 10:17 AM (nC+QA)

152 It's a morning thread. It's a book thread. Here's something relevant to our common interests in reading and waking up.

https://a.co/d/jlWYEFw

Posted by: Robert at May 21, 2023 10:17 AM (1Yy3c)

153 129 ... "I think I've decided I want to focus on pen and ink as my medium, as I almost always have an ink pen near by. It looks like there are YouTube videos that try to match Beatrix Potter's technique. The books of her work are a little outside my price range right now, unfortunately."

polliwog,

Check for "The Art of Beatrix Potter: Sketches, Paintings, and Illustrations". It's about 23 bucks on Amazon but look at your library. Even our local library had a copy and that is a rare thing. If I had a spare copy, I would send it to you.

Can't argue with the pen and ink approach. I'm always astonished at how accurate and effective pen and ink drawing can be.

Posted by: JTB at May 21, 2023 10:18 AM (7EjX1)

154 What’s really fascinating about it are the occasional glimpses into the mindset of the people who maintained faith in the Soviet leadership.

-
In her book A Village In the Third Reich by Julia Boyd, she mentions that the people didn't care for the Nazi street thugs and bureaucrats but still saw Hitler as a golden savior. If only Hitler knew . . .

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at May 21, 2023 10:18 AM (FVME7)

155 ast time I was at Barnes and Noble, I was looking through the graphic novel section, desperately searching for something new that didn't look terrible. Then a book titled "Belit and Valeria" caught my eye. For those not familiar with Conan the Barbarian, those two characters are Conan's canonical girlfriends, both of whom are now in the public domain. Alas, when I actually flipped through the book, it looked....tasteless. And it was written by a creator I don't respect. Suffice it to say, I put the book back on the shelf. . . .
Posted by: Castle Guy at May 21, 2023

***
I read something about this the other day. Valeria was the character played so memorably by Sandahl Bergman in the 1982 Arnold movie, I think. Apparently the writers of this grabbed onto the surface elements of Conan, but nothing else.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 21, 2023 10:19 AM (omVj0)

156 I'd be wary of going commando and "letting your book flag fly" when in a library.

Papercuts, for one.

Posted by: Another Anon at May 21, 2023 10:19 AM (hwP7U)

157 Anna I use 2 always

Posted by: Skip at May 21, 2023 10:19 AM (xhxe8)

158 Robert

re: Tron.

Here is my review of the sequel just to save you some time. Nyah.

https://tinyurl.com/mrznydsd

Posted by: Anna Puma at May 21, 2023 10:20 AM (Pvrwb)

159 He was keeping _precise_ track of everything. Basically the dude was running a solo Gygaxian D&D campaign, with multiple player groups, strict time-keeping, and factions. He was one polyhedron away from inventing D&D.
Posted by: Trimegistus at May 21, 2023 10:14 AM (QZxDR)
---
In a strange twist of fate, Tolkien died in 1973. Dungeons and Dragons was "born" in 1974. I wonder what he would have thought about the game...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 21, 2023 10:20 AM (BpYfr)

160 It's a morning thread. It's a book thread. Here's something relevant to our common interests in reading and waking up.

https://a.co/d/jlWYEFw
Posted by: Robert at May 21, 2023 10:17 AM (1Yy3c)
---
Here's another one:

https://tinyurl.com/5b5hsc98

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 21, 2023 10:22 AM (BpYfr)

161 As always, pants are required, especially if you are wearing these pants...

While wearing those pants, it's important to have the right shirt, so you're secure that it won't become untucked.
https://tinyurl.com/32hz6b5h

Posted by: Moron Analyst at May 21, 2023 10:22 AM (NCgXW)

162 4 Morning. Who read Killers of the Flower Moon ?

Posted by: runner at May 21, 2023 09:02 AM (V13WU)

I have a couple of times. The founding of the FBI is one of the things I did a huge dig on for a while.

It wasn't necessary then and isn't necessary now.

Posted by: Reforger at May 21, 2023 10:22 AM (B705c)

163 Anna Puma @ 143:"Demons in the Flea Circus" I'd read that book.

Posted by: who knew at May 21, 2023 10:23 AM (4I7VG)

164 Time to get ready for church.

Today is the celebration for graduates -- high school and college -- so I don't want to miss that.

Posted by: Weak Geek at May 21, 2023 10:23 AM (uIu2G)

165 lmost certainly, yes. He even kept track of the *phases of the moon* as the Fellowship travels so that whenever they look at the night sky, the moon is in the correct position.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel

***
I'll admit I've never gone that far. But I have mentioned constellations in the night sky of my fantasy worlds that are quite unlike the ones we all agree on nowadays. The stars might be the same, but the patterns people see in them could be very different.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 21, 2023 10:24 AM (omVj0)

166 Julia Boyd… mentions that the people didn't care for the Nazi street thugs and bureaucrats but still saw Hitler as a golden savior.

A long time ago I read Armin Lehman’s self-published Hitler’s Last Courier. I got a similar impression from him. Right up to the end they were expecting Hitler to unleash some secret weapon to turn the tide of the war.

#twoweeks

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at May 21, 2023 10:25 AM (olroh)

167 Here's a question for you D&D nerds. If the game uses 12-sided dice, how difficult is it to actually find precision-made well-balanced dice, or is a little imbalance and bias baked into the game? Are players allowed to use their own (possibly biased) dice or is there a common set for all the players?

Posted by: Muldoon at May 21, 2023 10:25 AM (kXYt5)

168 in the original david warner was the rogue ai, in the sequel, jeff bridges or one version of him is the villain,

Posted by: no 6 at May 21, 2023 10:27 AM (PXvVL)

169 I'll admit I've never gone that far. But I have mentioned constellations in the night sky of my fantasy worlds that are quite unlike the ones we all agree on nowadays. The stars might be the same, but the patterns people see in them could be very different.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 21, 2023 10:24 AM (omVj0)
---
Tolkien also renamed the constellations, of course. I believe the Big Dipper is known as "The Plow" or something in LOTR.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 21, 2023 10:27 AM (BpYfr)

170 Posted by: Muldoon at May 21, 2023 10:25 AM (kXYt5)

Every player, and the DM, uses their own dice. I believe there is a way to test for bias in dice light enough to float, but am not sure otherwise. Some would test to weed out bias and others would test to ensure it. It just depends on player personality.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at May 21, 2023 10:29 AM (nC+QA)

171 On a thriftstore visit picked up a how-to book from 1974 entitled, 'How To Rehabilitate Abandoned Buildings', illustrated. It's full of actually quite useful advice on how to pick a building ('good bones', basically, don't worry about cosmetics) in shithole ghetto neighborhoods, etc. It goes into detail about how to buy buildings from cities for like $1, or sometimes even free, and rehab them. The reason I bought it was its hilarious statements on how to deal with the locals, using terms like 'human rodents', etc. It's dated, of course, but a lot of it is quite useful even now and the colorful outbursts about ghetto people are truly funny.

Posted by: LenNeal at May 21, 2023 10:29 AM (43xH1)

172 naturalfake: Here's a quote I ran across by Southern's co-author:

"Terry Southern and I wrote Candy for the money. Olympia Press, $500 flat. He was in Switzerland, I was in Paris. We did it in letters. But when it got to be a big deal in the States, everybody was taking it seriously. Do you remember what kind of shit people were saying? One guy wrote a review about how Candy was a satire on Candide. So right away I went back and reread Voltaire to see if he was right. That's what happens to you. It's as if you vomit in the gutter and everybody starts saying it's the greatest new art form, so you go back to see it, and, by God, you have to agree."
Posted by: Trimegistus at May 21, 2023 10:04 AM (QZxDR)

Mystery solved.

Thanks, Trimegistus!

Posted by: naturalfake at May 21, 2023 10:29 AM (RJQ8g)

173 Anyone have any advice on what to buy for a young kid that wants to start playing D&D?

I think the little I played was with 2nd Edition. Early mid 80's.

What books and which editions? I am assuming the new stuff is crap and the old stuff is $$$$ but whatever.

Is there a place to buy these books other than amazon?

Maybe another type RPG is better suited? The artwork would have to be really cool for the materials and not too number crunchy but lots of basuc calculations.

Thanks.

Posted by: Thesokorus at May 21, 2023 10:30 AM (8gL//)

174 Here's a question for you D&D nerds. If the game uses 12-sided dice, how difficult is it to actually find precision-made well-balanced dice, or is a little imbalance and bias baked into the game? Are players allowed to use their own (possibly biased) dice or is there a common set for all the players?
Posted by: Muldoon at May 21, 2023 10:25 AM (kXYt5)
---
Do you really want to know what superstitions gamers have regarding their dice? (Although the dice are manufactured to some level of precision, there is always room for bias and uncertainty. Some dice run "hotter" than others...)

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 21, 2023 10:30 AM (BpYfr)

175 Kim Izzo - Seven Days in May
Loved the movie. The book, which I had read before a long while ago, is very good but as usual the bad guys are always Republicans and Conservatives.

-
The president who the evil Republicans try to overthrow is a commie rat bastard who unilaterally disarms in the face of the Soviet Union.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at May 21, 2023 10:30 AM (FVME7)

176 G'mornin', Literati.

Joe's use of callipygian didn't introduce me to the word, but his illustrative examples helped cement the word in my vocabulary.

I was disappointed a while back at the results of an image-search on "callipygian ecdysiasts."
😮

Posted by: mindful webworker - reading between the lines at May 21, 2023 10:30 AM (jqrzj)

177 I’m reading a book that has the original script of the Star Trek episode “The City on the Edge of Forever” by Harlan Ellison, with an interesting discussion of his struggle with Gene Roddenberry, vitriolic, but Ellison was responding to 30 years of criticism. His script is clearly better than the version that made it to the screen, though the latter was the best Star Trek episode ever. Somebody should film Ellison’s version, though there are probably copyright issues. I loved Ellison’s crazy writing style when I was a teenager, though it probably twisted my impressionable skull full of mush. That was back in the ‘70s, before he decided to become the Ed Wood Jr. of literary criticism, comparing Solzhenitsyn with Marvel Comics etc. Another downward career arc, similar in ways to Hunter Thompson’s perhaps, as you all were discussing earlier.

Posted by: Norrin Radd at May 21, 2023 10:31 AM (+htJI)

178 Maybe another type RPG is better suited? The artwork would have to be really cool for the materials and not too number crunchy but lots of basuc calculations.

Thanks.
Posted by: Thesokorus at May 21, 2023 10:30 AM (8gL//)
---
DriveThruRPG.com might be worth checking out as you can get most books in PDF format for a reasonable price. Even the older stuff.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 21, 2023 10:32 AM (BpYfr)

179 Muldoon I have a fair amount of multi sided die, never noticed any coming up the same number. They are all plastic so no reason they can't be perfectly uniform.

Posted by: Skip at May 21, 2023 10:33 AM (xhxe8)

180 well its a little more complicated then that, seven days happens after a decade of protracted conflict in the middle east, general mattoon scott is one of the heroes of that conflict,

Posted by: no 6 at May 21, 2023 10:34 AM (PXvVL)

181 Considering how Wizards of the Coast has gone full Gollum in regards to D&D and royalties, you may want to investigate other systems.

Posted by: Anna Puma at May 21, 2023 10:34 AM (Pvrwb)

182 I read something about this the other day. Valeria was the character played so memorably by Sandahl Bergman in the 1982 Arnold movie, I think. Apparently the writers of this grabbed onto the surface elements of Conan, but nothing else.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 21, 2023 10:19 AM (omVj0)

Yup, Valeria is movie-Conan's girlfriend, and she is somewhat accurate to book-Valeria, although the "If you were dead and I still alive" quote and moment was actually Belit's in the book.....

The Conan movie is an odd beast. It is incredibly different from the source material, (Conan was never a slave, never just a big dumb brute, Thusla Doom was the villain to a different character) but still managed to be a cultural icon...

Posted by: Castle Guy at May 21, 2023 10:35 AM (Lhaco)

183 64 ... "Tolkien apparently was a big fan of Capstan blend, a Virginia tobacco. His buddy C.S. Lewis liked Three Nuns."

Wolfus,
I have a tin of each in the pile at the moment. I enjoy both although some may find Three Nuns a little strong. I think they are very close to the originals but those memories are pretty old. They are slow burning and I tend to save them for long reading sessions.

Posted by: JTB at May 21, 2023 10:36 AM (7EjX1)

184 n I have a fair amount of multi sided die, never noticed any coming up the same number. They are all plastic so no reason they can't be perfectly uniform.
Posted by: Skip

********

So close enough for government work and RPG's, eh?

Posted by: Muldoon at May 21, 2023 10:36 AM (kXYt5)

185 Muldoon, for the most part everyone buys their own dice, and the grognards, at least, are very superstitious about their dice. To read exaggerated and funny examples, read The Knights of the Dinner Table.

Games often include their own dice but they are often lower quality than what players would pick up in a game store.

Dice quality today is definitely a lot better than it was in the beginning, when the main goal was just finding dice. Some early games even included chits rather than dice, for pulling out of a jar or hat.

As the industry grew, there were attempts at making sure the dice were reasonably unbiased. The Dragon magazine even published a BASIC program you could type in to run a chi-squared test on your dice.

A company called GameScience (run by Lou Zocchi) made their name by promising much higher quality dice, almost but not quite Vegas-level unbiased.

You can google any of that to find more.

Today’s dice aren’t Vegas quality but you can be reasonably certain that unless a player is out-and-out cheating, the results are reasonably random.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at May 21, 2023 10:36 AM (olroh)

186 Haven't gotten to Walls Of Men yet.
I've been trying to finish (for real!) the sci-fi book I've been writing. One problem was, I didn't have a motivation for a whole bunch of the characters! I wrote sequences first, including the ending, but never nailed down *Why* one set of figures did what they did. I explained the motivation of one set, but not the other, and really, people/readers like to see some kind of motivation for behavior, so that had to be written in.
So that got done last, actually. The whole book is done except for in-fill now.

Posted by: LenNeal at May 21, 2023 10:37 AM (43xH1)

187 So close enough for government work and RPG's, eh?

Muldoon, you gotta allow Fate to put her hand in the mix.

Posted by: Anna Puma at May 21, 2023 10:37 AM (Pvrwb)

188 Considering how Wizards of the Coast has gone full Gollum in regards to D&D and royalties, you may want to investigate other systems.
Posted by: Anna Puma at May 21, 2023 10:34 AM (Pvrwb)

I know. But if I buy old used stuff that seems a non-issue. By old I mean the 80's and 90's stuff.

Posted by: Thesokorus at May 21, 2023 10:38 AM (8gL//)

189 Yay book thread! Thanks for the plug, Perfesser!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 21, 2023 10:38 AM (llXky)

190 So close enough for government work and RPG's, eh?

That is, literally, a quote I have heard at many gaming tables.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at May 21, 2023 10:38 AM (olroh)

191 *tosses to Blair one of Zochi's 100 sided dice*

Posted by: Anna Puma at May 21, 2023 10:39 AM (Pvrwb)

192 Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 21, 2023 10:32 AM (BpYfr)

I got How to Host a Dungeon and Delve from there. I need to get Inspector to play Delve with me since he is, at heart, a dwarf. He actually knows the YOG guys who did the song I Am a Dwarf (Diggy Diggy Hole) which was Eldest Kidlet's ringtone for her brother, who is also a dwarf at heart.

How to Host a Dungeon was the backbone for my, not yet complete, RPGMaker game So My Sheep May Safely Graze.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at May 21, 2023 10:39 AM (nC+QA)

193 Ellison's script for "City" might have been superb, but it didn't fit the ST format, from what I understand -- some crew members of the ship are dealing drugs, and Kirk actually considers forsaking his ship for Edith, etc. I don't know, I've never read it.

Ellison's novelette "The Deathbird" is a classic, not only for ideas but in style.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 21, 2023 10:39 AM (omVj0)

194 I know. But if I buy old used stuff that seems a non-issue. By old I mean the 80's and 90's stuff.
Posted by: Thesokorus at May 21, 2023 10:38 AM (8gL//)
---
If you send me an email (see my nic), I can probably recommend another source...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at May 21, 2023 10:41 AM (BpYfr)

195 I am continuing in my Allan Eckert readings, this time a book about the population of the Ohio Valley during Colonial time.

That Dark and Bloody River: Chronicles of the Ohio River Valley
By: Allan W. Eckert

More battles with the Shawnee (and other tribes), who were allied with the British, vs. everyone else.

Posted by: gourmand du jour at May 21, 2023 10:41 AM (MeG8a)

196 Well, almost literally. “Close enough for government work and roleplaying” is the most common form, as I recall.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at May 21, 2023 10:41 AM (olroh)

197 With all this D&D and Tolkien talk, guess I should mention a book that cheerfully skewers it all along with cons and fandom though it is now quite dated.

Bimbos of the Death Sun.

Posted by: Anna Puma at May 21, 2023 10:41 AM (Pvrwb)

198 Wolfus,
I have a tin of each in the pile at the moment. I enjoy both although some may find Three Nuns a little strong. I think they are very close to the originals but those memories are pretty old. They are slow burning and I tend to save them for long reading sessions.
Posted by: JTB at May 21, 2023

* **
I steer clear of anything labeled "strong," so I doubt I'll ever try unmixed Three Nuns. I've found I like capstan Gold a bit better than Blue. You may know Peter Stokkebye's blend Luxury Twist Flake, and another called Newminster 400, which are good Virginias and much cheaper than Capstan.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 21, 2023 10:42 AM (omVj0)

199 Oh Lord save us. I may have loosed a Great Evil upon the blog!!!! Run for your 12-sided lives!!!

Posted by: Muldoon at May 21, 2023 10:42 AM (kXYt5)

200 Does the bar pay them a fee, as a promotional expense to get people in the door and buying drinks?

Anybody know how this all works?

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 21, 2023 09:55 AM (QZxDR)

There is usually a mayonnaise jar at the front of the stage. That is usually where any money is made.
I have friends who will drag $3000 in gear half way across the city, spend a couple hours setting up, play for 4 hours straight and walk out with a whole 50 bucks to show for it.
Musicians do it for the love, not the money. If gas gets paid for it is a good night.

Posted by: Reforger at May 21, 2023 10:42 AM (B705c)

201 For anyone who does fiction writing, working in a chaotic environment like I do is probably not helpful for developing character motivations that make sense to most people.
"WTF? That guy rode his motorcycle into the store and then parked it in the entry foyer while he shopped. Why?"
"That guy and his little daughter just turned their pitbull loose in in the Infant/Diaper Aisle. Why?"
Who knows why anybody does anything? The vast majority of people have NO idea why they're doing things, ever.

Posted by: LenNeal at May 21, 2023 10:42 AM (43xH1)

202 71 ... "Whenever I'm about to take a road trip, I re-read, or bring with me, Steinbeck's Travels With Charley. I've read here that the book has some fictional portions, but I don't care. It's beautifully written and a lot of fun."

Absolutely. His approach to road trips, avoid cities and highways and stick to back roads, has led to some of our most pleasant trips. It's just a coincidence that we usually had a poodle or two with us. The early chapters dealing with the northeast and New England are probably my favorites.

Posted by: JTB at May 21, 2023 10:44 AM (7EjX1)

203 My die rolling is the worst mostly, need a high roll it's low, need low it's high. But every once in awhile crazy rolls happen that shouldn't.

Posted by: Skip at May 21, 2023 10:45 AM (xhxe8)

204 Posted by: LenNeal at May 21, 2023 10:42 AM (43xH1)

The grocery store I worked at was positively sedate compared to yours.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at May 21, 2023 10:46 AM (nC+QA)

205 "WTF? That guy rode his motorcycle into the store and then parked it in the entry foyer while he shopped. Why?"

In the anime OVAs Koko wa Greenwood one of the students is always toting to an upper floor his motorcycle. It is never explained but the viewer is left to assume he really likes his bike.

Sometimes why explain? Or in your case by describing this action the writer is showing that the motorcycle rider thinks they are privileged .

Posted by: Anna Puma at May 21, 2023 10:46 AM (Pvrwb)

206 That made me wonder: how do bands make money from bar/club/etc. appearances? There was a cover charge, but even that multiplied by the number of people who showed up would amount to less than minimum wage for the main band and the opening act.

Does the bar pay them a fee, as a promotional expense to get people in the door and buying drinks?

Anybody know how this all works?

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 21, 2023 09:55 AM (QZxDR)

Its called "paid practice". Instead of paying for rehearsal space you work out the kinks in small venues where you might not make much, but its not costing you. Its works good when you normally play in large venues and aren't relying on income from small places, but using them as a rehearsal space that comes with booze and chicks.

Posted by: Berserker-Dragonheads Division at May 21, 2023 10:46 AM (VwHCD)

207 I always roll my eyes when hearing some cop yell at some detainee or whoever, "Why did you do this?"
I always think, "What are you asking HIM/HER for? He/she doesn't know! Jeezus, what do they teach you in Kop Skool?"

It makes it difficult to even consider real, sensible motivations for say, a fictional character.

Posted by: LenNeal at May 21, 2023 10:46 AM (43xH1)

208 one of the first illustrations of everetts multiverse, obviously mccoys intervention created a branch timeline where the nazis took over, this was revisited in a number of places including first contact,

Posted by: no 6 at May 21, 2023 10:47 AM (PXvVL)

209 198 ... "You may know Peter Stokkebye's blend Luxury Twist Flake"

I've tried that one and it is good. Should try it again. I really like the Stokkebye Luxury Navy Flake. Quite a bargain when it goes on sale.

Posted by: JTB at May 21, 2023 10:47 AM (7EjX1)

210 One observation from Wal-Mart -

Dude if your girlfriend has a chihuahua in her purse and she calls it a therapy dog just find a new girlfriend quick.

Posted by: Anna Puma at May 21, 2023 10:47 AM (Pvrwb)

211 With all this D&D and Tolkien talk, guess I should mention a book that cheerfully skewers it all along with cons and fandom though it is now quite dated.

Bimbos of the Death Sun.

Posted by: Anna Puma at May 21, 2023 10:41 AM (Pvrwb)
---
Bored of the Rings is still quite funny, though most of the pop culture references are pretty obscure.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 21, 2023 10:49 AM (llXky)

212 The honest answer to "why did you do this?" for most criminals would be "well, I'm dumb as fvck and I just did enough meth to kill a horse."

Posted by: PabloD at May 21, 2023 10:49 AM (x3Sup)

213 A.H. Lloyd

BotDS has Play by Mail in it.

Posted by: Anna Puma at May 21, 2023 10:50 AM (Pvrwb)

214 Posted by: Skip at May 21, 2023 10:45 AM (xhxe

Same. I have a little more than my fair share of luck at raffles, but any other chance based system generally has a bad outcome.

John (late, first) Husband had both insane luck (other than the dying of cancer at 35 thing) *and* a very strategic mind, so he won almost any game he played.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at May 21, 2023 10:50 AM (nC+QA)

215 In regards to the multi-side dice talk.... If you want to spice up board games for kids, replace the traditional D6 with something bigger. For instance, a game of Clue goes so much faster when you play with a D10!

Posted by: Castle Guy at May 21, 2023 10:50 AM (Lhaco)

216 'Or in your case by describing this action the writer is showing that the motorcycle rider thinks they are privileged.'

In this instance, and in this venue, I'm pretty sure he was fucked up out of his mind. It's 3rd shift at a supermarket in a low-income area. Nobody is privileged in this place at 3 AM.
It's hard to tell just how fucked up anybody is, as a lot of the time they're fucked up 24/7, so it's largely a matter of degree.

Posted by: LenNeal at May 21, 2023 10:51 AM (43xH1)

217 I still use a d20 to make major financial decisions.
Like 'should I get crappy beer at the store or go to the brewery for a growler?'
Roll save vs. crappy beer and suffer the consequences or reap the rewards.

Posted by: Reforger at May 21, 2023 10:51 AM (B705c)

218 I really like the Stokkebye Luxury Navy Flake. Quite a bargain when it goes on sale.
Posted by: JTB at May 21, 2023

***
I have some and it's good, but I'm not a fan of perique.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 21, 2023 10:51 AM (omVj0)

219 123 I prefer callipygian posteriors and I am incapable of speaking an untruth. Ye additional brethren cannot disavow it.
Posted by: Ye Olde Sir-Mix-A-Lot

This is a classic and I'm keeping it.

Posted by: LenNeal at May 21, 2023 10:52 AM (43xH1)

220 My die rolling is the worst mostly, need a high roll it's low, need low it's high. But every once in awhile crazy rolls happen that shouldn't.

Posted by: Skip at May 21, 2023 10:45 AM (xhxe

---
Dice mysticism is indeed a thing, and players will "rest" dice after they rolled well or sit idly rolling them during the game, noting which ones haven't rolled high for a while and then setting them aside because now they are ready get the needed number.

Our gaming group has a d20 that is known to be off - it tends to roll 1 and 20 disproportionately so it was brought out whenever the party was facing near-certain doom and only those numbers mattered.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 21, 2023 10:52 AM (llXky)

221 There was a trend locally with house concerts.
These were usually by invitation only, with small attendance and no booze, featuring acoustic groups in a parlor or large dining room. Pay what you will.
Still popular with chamber (classical) groups.

Posted by: gourmand du jour at May 21, 2023 10:52 AM (MeG8a)

222 I knew what callipygian meant, so I figure it must have come up in a popular usage some time in the last 29+ years or so. Does anyone remember how?

Posted by: From about that Time at May 21, 2023 10:53 AM (4780s)

223 I'm reading A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine. It's pretty good so don't be put off by the fact that it won the Hugo.

However, it is not a "Space Opera" like it says in the blurb on the cover. It's more of a palace intrigue sort of book with elements of steampunk. Kinda. Still, it's kept me up late reading for the last few nights so it moves along pretty well.

Posted by: JonathanG at May 21, 2023 10:53 AM (iZEhM)

224
Reading The Edge of Sadness by Edwin O'Connor. The novel is narrated by Father Hugh Kennedy, a recovering alcoholic who is pastor of an inner-city parish, and describes his relationship with the Carmody clan, headed by its patriarch, the voluble, miserly, monstrous Charlie Carmody.

Father Kennedy no longer drinks, but he is still damaged by his alcoholism, itself a sad tale told at length. He lives in a kind of stasis, performing his duties but having little involvement with his parishioners. By the end, he finds his way back through a bitter conversation with his friend, Father John Carmody, and the example of his otherwise preposterous young curate Father Stanley Dankowski.

An excellent book, winner of the 1962 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at May 21, 2023 10:53 AM (MoZTd)

225 Dangit. Unsocking.

Posted by: Cybersmythe at May 21, 2023 10:54 AM (iZEhM)

226 Who knows why anybody does anything? The vast majority of people have NO idea why they're doing things, ever.
Posted by: LenNeal at May 21, 2023 10:42 AM (43xH1)

I have long held this same opinion, which is why I think psychology is a crock.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at May 21, 2023 10:54 AM (OX9vb)

227 I've pretty much hit a dead end. Most of my favorite authors have either died or retired. Too many of the newer authors can't write worth s damn. I go to the library or the bookstore, read the first few pages of a book that looks interesting, only to put it back because the writing is so atrocious. Part of the problem is I've already read the premise half a dozen times.

Posted by: Captain Josepha Sabin -- I wasn't particularly fond of the '70s the first time around at May 21, 2023 10:55 AM (B7rlW)

228 A.H. Lloyd

BotDS has Play by Mail in it.

Posted by: Anna Puma at May 21, 2023 10:50 AM (Pvrwb)
---
I inherited a bunch old Avalon Hill games with the PBM instructions included.

I've often thought of playing them using d10s. (For those who don't know, Play by Mail wargames did combat resolution by one player picking a stock for a specific battle and the "die roll" was the lowest digit for it on a given date, which both players could see when the paper came out.

A side effect was to break away from the classic d6 combat tables.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 21, 2023 10:55 AM (llXky)

229 The Dragon magazine even published a BASIC program you could type in to run a chi-squared test on your dice.
-----

NERDS!!!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at May 21, 2023 10:56 AM (nFB2T)

230 Who knows why anybody does anything? The vast majority of people have NO idea why they're doing things, ever.
Posted by: LenNeal at May 21, 2023 10:42 AM (43xH1)

I have long held this same opinion, which is why I think psychology is a crock.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at May 21, 2023

***
Maybe so. But fiction, unlike real life, has to make sense. We want to have some (at least roughly) believable idea why the character does what he does.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 21, 2023 10:56 AM (omVj0)

231 Well, maybe the biker brought his bike inside so no sketchy assholes would pry off his mirrors or steal his spark plugs. Long, long ago when I had to ride my bicycle two miles to the hobby store to shop for D&D books, I started doing that for the very same reason. I wasn't inside five minutes before some neighborhood kid started trying to steal stuff. So after that, the bike came in with me. Store staff never complained.

Posted by: Trimegistus at May 21, 2023 10:56 AM (QZxDR)

232 I'm reading A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine. It's pretty good so don't be put off by the fact that it won the Hugo.

However, it is not a "Space Opera" like it says in the blurb on the cover. It's more of a palace intrigue sort of book with elements of steampunk. Kinda. Still, it's kept me up late reading for the last few nights so it moves along pretty well.

Posted by: JonathanG

Excellent, wonderful book. Her followup "A Desolation Called Peace" is also very much worth reading.

Posted by: Sharkman at May 21, 2023 10:58 AM (uwFkA)

233 222 I knew what callipygian meant, so I figure it must have come up in a popular usage some time in the last 29+ years or so. Does anyone remember how?
Posted by: From about that Time at May 21, 2023 10:53 AM (4780s)
----

Well, it showed up in MST3K's "Tubular Boobular Joy" song, so....

Posted by: All Hail Eris at May 21, 2023 10:59 AM (nFB2T)

234 Maybe so. But fiction, unlike real life, has to make sense. We want to have some (at least roughly) believable idea why the character does what he does.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 21, 2023 10:56 AM (omVj0)
---
Yes, and random and impulsive characters work just fine. The issue is when a character does a complete reversal of everything without explanation to get the writer out of a dead-end plot.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 21, 2023 10:59 AM (llXky)

235 I still use a d20 to make major financial decisions.
Like 'should I get crappy beer at the store or go to the brewery for a growler?'

But how do you decide where to put the under/over line? If it’s always at 10, you may as well flip a coin.

Posted by: Oddbob at May 21, 2023 10:59 AM (nfrXX)

236 I may have to turn in my man card for this but I really liked the videogame Life Is Strange (described by an Amazon reviewer as "emo crybaby stuff). Anyway, a prequel, Before the Storm, the characters, students at an elite arts based boarding high school, twice play a D&D like table top game. To cast a fire spell, press X. Each takes 10 or 15 minutes to play though. Struck me as funny to play D&D on Xbox.

Also, a sequel, True Colors, is set in a Colodado mountain town. Geography is apparently not the designers long suit. At one point, they take a character to the nearest hospital in Craig. Later they have to call sheriff, the Gunnison County Sheriff. It's at least 250 miles from Craig to Gunnison so the location of this mystery town is mysterious.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at May 21, 2023 10:59 AM (FVME7)

237 All Hail Eris -

When you said I was a Big Flirt, were you implying that I was fat ?

Posted by: JT at May 21, 2023 10:59 AM (T4tVD)

238 Who knows why anybody does anything? The vast majority of people have NO idea why they're doing things, ever.
Posted by: LenNeal at May 21, 2023 10:42 AM (43xH1)

I have long held this same opinion, which is why I think psychology is a crock.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at May 21, 2023 10:54 AM (OX9vb)

I don't think that's true.

Unless you're thinking along the lines of that every action from murder to buying Twinkies has some deep, dark, psychological reason behind it obscured by the fog of memory or some such thing.

If asked at the moment, probably everyone could tell you why they did something.

The determining factor seems to be more along the lines of self-control and/or delayed gratification and/or impulse control.

Even crazy people have reasons.

Posted by: naturalfake at May 21, 2023 11:00 AM (RJQ8g)

239 All 4 of my Napoleonic armies have their own colored according dice, roll by wrong doesn't count.

Posted by: Skip at May 21, 2023 11:01 AM (xhxe8)

240 This month's issue of First Things has an article that I think would drive many Morons to drink if not overt acts of violence: "Christ-Like Holden Caulfield" by Lee Siegel.

Yes, it's actually as bad as you think, with Siegel bending time, space, and the very fabric of reality to argue that Catcher in the Rye is a highly nuanced and sophisticated Christian allegory, not at all the story of an annoying brat.

Instead of convincing me to give the book another chance, it reminded me of everything I hate about it, so there's that.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 21, 2023 11:02 AM (llXky)

241 In a category of 'Books I wish I'd bought but didn't', next time I'm in Mexico I'm definitely picking up some of the totally insane Hitler fiction. Fascism is an actual Thing in Latin America. I've met Mexicans who revere AH as a hero. In my buddy's hood one store owner has his back wall festooned with Nazi pictures and regalia, everyone calls him 'Pequeno Hitler'. Anyway, in some of the less-reputable stores in the 'hoods, you can buy Trash Fiction about Hitler, where he's like a Pulp Hero, a Doc Savage type character or something. Titles like, 'Hitler's Secret Lovers', 'Hitler Kills His Enemies', stuff like that, with CRAZY covers to match. Not 'non-fiction', actual pulp novels with AH as the hero!
I haven't picked any up because... well, possible Customs, but next time I'll pick up a few just to prove to my Holocaust Educator colleagues in Eastern Europe they actually exist!

Posted by: LenNeal at May 21, 2023 11:03 AM (43xH1)

242 Why does anybody do anything?

Beats me.

Best answer for most cases is probably "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

Posted by: Just Some Guy at May 21, 2023 11:03 AM (a/4+U)

243 But how do you decide where to put the under/over line? If it’s always at 10, you may as well flip a coin.

Posted by: Oddbob at May 21, 2023 10:59 AM (nfrXX)
---
It's all about the modifiers.

"Hmmm, we'll at +1 for the better interest rate, but a -3 for the early withdrawal penalty..."

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 21, 2023 11:04 AM (llXky)

244 "The determining factor seems to be more along the lines of self-control and/or delayed gratification and/or impulse control."

"Bitch tooken my weed so I stabbed her!"

Posted by: LenNeal at May 21, 2023 11:06 AM (43xH1)

245 Being in Nevada with legal gambling as a D&D dork youngling we learned that Nevada requires balanced dice (d6) for Craps. They are retired quite frequently and available usually at the store there along with retires card decks.
We had a lot of d6 to play with.
As an aside we also played a lot of Axis and Allies which having a shit ton of dice made for real quick battles. Risk was also made much faster with 20 or 30 dice around.
I still have a box of certified, drilled and balanced d6 that I bought well over 40 years ago and half of them have never been touched since their initial use.

Posted by: Reforger at May 21, 2023 11:06 AM (B705c)

246 2 x 10 or 20 sided dice gives you %1-100, call your % odds and roll

Posted by: Skip at May 21, 2023 11:06 AM (xhxe8)

247 LenNeal - are there any AH themed children's books to go along with the pulp fiction? Hitler and the Magic Bean Stalk, Hitler the Pooh... the possibilities are endless.

Posted by: PabloD at May 21, 2023 11:07 AM (x3Sup)

248 This month's issue of First Things has an article that I think would drive many Morons to drink if not overt acts of violence: "Christ-Like Holden Caulfield" by Lee Siegel.

Yes, it's actually as bad as you think, with Siegel bending time, space, and the very fabric of reality to argue that Catcher in the Rye is a highly nuanced and sophisticated Christian allegory, not at all the story of an annoying brat.

Instead of convincing me to give the book another chance, it reminded me of everything I hate about it, so there's that.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 21, 2023 11:02 AM (llXky)

From the Sermon at the Soda Fountain:

"Blessed are the phonies. I mean, I'm surrounded by phonies. That's something that annoys the hell out of me- I mean if some phony says the coffee's all ready and it isn't. But, fiiiiine bless them."

Book of Caulfield

Posted by: naturalfake at May 21, 2023 11:07 AM (RJQ8g)

249 The longer I live, the less I know, so fuck all of you young, know-it-all whippersnappers!

Posted by: Dr. Bone at May 21, 2023 11:08 AM (KVGVf)

250 LenNeal, I would love to see some of those pulp covers! Maybe take some snaps for a future book thread.

Unless it would get us all banned.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at May 21, 2023 11:08 AM (nFB2T)

251 "Blessed are the phonies. I mean, I'm surrounded by phonies. That's something that annoys the hell out of me- I mean if some phony says the coffee's all ready and it isn't. But, fiiiiine bless them."

Book of Caulfield
Posted by: naturalfake at May 21, 2023 11:07 AM (RJQ8g)

*snort

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at May 21, 2023 11:09 AM (OX9vb)

252 "I've met Mexicans who revere AH as a hero. "

One of them apparently was the shooter in a recent mall massacre. Nazi tattoos, etc.

Posted by: gourmand du jour at May 21, 2023 11:10 AM (MeG8a)

253 I haven't picked any up because... well, possible Customs, but next time I'll pick up a few just to prove to my Holocaust Educator colleagues in Eastern Europe they actually exist!
Posted by: LenNeal at May 21, 2023 11:03 AM (43xH1)

There are many things in this world I know exist, and I'm perfectly happy to live without.

This would be one of them.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 21, 2023 11:10 AM (iW7Ee)

254 "I've met Mexicans who revere AH as a hero. "

Al Hirt ?

Posted by: JT at May 21, 2023 11:10 AM (T4tVD)

255 250 LenNeal, I would love to see some of those pulp covers! Maybe take some snaps for a future book thread.

Unless it would get us all banned."

They would make an interesting counterpoint to the crazy Nazi Death Camp/Stalag Fiction pulp stuff that got huge in Israel in the 1960s.

Posted by: LenNeal at May 21, 2023 11:11 AM (43xH1)

256 I'm reading a couple of books. Just finished Simon Turpin's "Scoffers" and James Rickards'"Sold Out", now have Thomas Sowell's "Knowledge and Decisions" in process, while trying fiction again with Brad Taylor's "End of Days".

As for fiction, this particular (16th book in Pike Logan series) is annoying, to the point I may not finish it. His characters are becoming more cartoonish, he seems to be writing to the mouth-breather class of readers, but what is worse is this damned obsession with Covid.

Good story telling requires creating a universe without the current political butt-fuckery because it almost always ages poorly. Apparently Taylor is totally on-board with The Narrative™ with Covid, and it keeps showing up so much that I expect to see a page in the acknowledgements section thanking Pfizer, Ba'al Gates and Fauci for their sponsorship.

Maybe I should stick with non-fiction and speculative-non-fiction like Peter Zeihan's "The End of The World Is Just The Beginning" (which was entertaining)

Posted by: Reuben Hick at May 21, 2023 11:11 AM (YXHzG)

257 115 ... "never read Larks, but I highly recommend Life in a Putty Knife Factory and Lost in the Horse Latitudes.

Also, for any NE morons, Brendan Smith's The Flatlander Chronicles - a series of 'fish out of water' columns by an NYC fellow who moved to rural NH."

MP4, Thanks for the other suggestions. I'll look for them. I like reading about when the northeast area wasn't a societal and political wasteland. EB White is in that category.

Posted by: JTB at May 21, 2023 11:12 AM (7EjX1)

258 Fletcher Knebel and his co-author were famous for another book besides "Seven Days," which is often overlooked. "Night of Camp David" was a bestseller, but did not achieve movie fame. The president, basically, goes nuts.

That's a different character because he does not conform neatly to our left-right continuum. He's internationalist, but there's a lot of JFK in there. It is probably most easily available as a used Readers Digest condensed, with the usual RD compression of all the sex scenes into "And there, on the beach, they were one." Many will prefer this. It's a pendulum.

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at May 21, 2023 11:12 AM (jYCXf)

259 They would make an interesting counterpoint to the crazy Nazi Death Camp/Stalag Fiction pulp stuff that got huge in Israel in the 1960s.
Posted by: LenNeal

And I was embarrassed about emo crybaby stuff.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at May 21, 2023 11:13 AM (FVME7)

260 "I've met Mexicans who revere AH as a hero. "

Al Hirt ?
Posted by: JT at May 21, 2023 11:10 AM (T4tVD)

Well, he did do a dynamite version of "Tijuana Taxi".

Posted by: naturalfake at May 21, 2023 11:13 AM (RJQ8g)

261 A friend of mine has an "emotional support" dog. She is the emotional support for the dog.

Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at May 21, 2023 11:14 AM (5u1+1)

262 Unless you're thinking along the lines of that every action from murder to buying Twinkies has some deep, dark, psychological reason behind it obscured by the fog of memory or some such thing.

If asked at the moment, probably everyone could tell you why they did something.

The determining factor seems to be more along the lines of self-control and/or delayed gratification and/or impulse control.

Even crazy people have reasons.
Posted by: naturalfake at May 21, 2023 11:00 AM (RJQ8g)

I believe you got it. The concept of mindfulness is about reorienting one's self to the present moment. When we are not so oriented, we do things that serve some purpose other than a clear, meaningful, goal-directed idea, but even then, it serves a purpose. It just happens to be an unreasonable purpose.

So for example, if you're trying to kick a habit, and you find yourself on autopilot, doing the thing you're trying to quit, your conscious brain is sorta turned off, and the "reason" you're doing it is because your less rational brain is commanding you to do it. The solution? Keep your brain on the present moment as MUCH as possible.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 21, 2023 11:15 AM (MOC99)

263
"I've met Mexicans who revere AH as a hero. "

Al Hirt ?
Posted by: JT at May 21, 2023 11:10 AM (T4tVD)

__________

Our Mr. Lloyd, affectionately known down there as "A.H."

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at May 21, 2023 11:16 AM (MoZTd)

264 I like "Catcher in the Rye," but then, I didn't have to read it in High School.

Holden didn't find the nuns in the diner to be phonies.

Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at May 21, 2023 11:17 AM (5u1+1)

265 My current read is Bitter Blood: A True Story of Southern Family Pride, Madness, and Multiple Murder by Jerry Bledsoe.

It is poorly written, I am sad to say, but I want to know what happened, so I continue. It reads the way ID Channel cases sound, except waaaaay more peripheral information that is not at all necessary. I might have to see if there is another book written about this case that would be more interesting.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at May 21, 2023 11:18 AM (OX9vb)

266 You have to remember that Holden's beloved little brother died and his parents didn't take him to the funeral.

Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at May 21, 2023 11:18 AM (5u1+1)

267 You have to remember that Holden's beloved little brother died and his parents didn't take him to the funeral.
Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at May 21, 2023

***
I'd forgotten that. Of course I read the novel back in the '80s.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 21, 2023 11:20 AM (omVj0)

268 Morning Hordemates.
I'm in the middle of Baldacci's Deliver Us From Evil. Read it years ago. Time for a rerun.
It doesn't disappoint.

Posted by: Diogenes at May 21, 2023 11:21 AM (YGqO/)

269 Well, with the Latin American Fascist thing, it's not about books and I didn't mention it in the day-threads, but the Hispanic guy that shot up the mall in Texas having Nazi tattoos and such didn't shock me much. That kind of thing has had a following South of the border for a long time.
Ha, the thing is, as my Mexican friend says about Pequeno Hitler in his 'hood, "The guy is an Indian! Hitler would consider him subhuman! WTF!"
Hahaha
But yeah, I'll pick up a few next time, they look insane. Luckily my friend is utterly shameless about looking for nutty stuff in sketchy stores in shitty neighborhoods, so he can always find the craziest, obscure material you'd never see in a Real Bookstore.

Posted by: LenNeal at May 21, 2023 11:21 AM (43xH1)

270 Also, a sequel, True Colors, is set in a Colodado mountain town. Geography is apparently not the designers long suit. At one point, they take a character to the nearest hospital in Craig. Later they have to call sheriff, the Gunnison County Sheriff. It's at least 250 miles from Craig to Gunnison so the location of this mystery town is mysterious.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at May 21, 2023 10:59 AM (FVME7)

That's an old cliche, when asking for directions, having someone say "you can't get there from here." Well, it's ALMOST true you can't get from Craig to Gunnison County. Almost... and sometimes it's more almost than others.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 21, 2023 11:22 AM (0g6sz)

271 A friend of mine has an "emotional support" dog. She is the emotional support for the dog.
Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse

I was pretty pleased with myself a few days ago when I took Charlie the Poodle to the vet. Not only did Charlie get a clean bill of health, the vet told him he was a very lucky dog to have me as his human companion.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at May 21, 2023 11:23 AM (FVME7)

272 You have to remember that Holden's beloved little brother died and his parents didn't take him to the funeral.

Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at May 21, 2023 11:18 AM (5u1+1)
---
Just like Jesus! The parallels are just so clear!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 21, 2023 11:23 AM (llXky)

273 You have to remember that Holden's beloved little brother died and his parents didn't take him to the funeral.
Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at May 21, 2023

***
I'd forgotten that. Of course I read the novel back in the '80s.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 21, 2023 11:20 AM (omVj0)

Never read the book. Don't believe my life is any worse off for it.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 21, 2023 11:23 AM (0g6sz)

274 Our Mr. Lloyd, affectionately known down there as "A.H."

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at May 21, 2023 11:16 AM (MoZTd)
---
I'm told my books are better in the original German.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 21, 2023 11:24 AM (llXky)

275 Well, it showed up in MST3K's "Tubular Boobular Joy" song, so....
Posted by: All Hail Eris
====
Not quite what I was trying to remember, but I always learn from following up on your comments.

Posted by: From about that Time at May 21, 2023 11:24 AM (4780s)

276 A friend of mine has an "emotional support" dog. She is the emotional support for the dog.
Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at May 21, 2023 11:14 AM (5u1+1)

I think nearly every human who has a cat is the emotional support human for said feline. Even when cats are "happy," they're tearing into your flesh, or giving you that look that lets you know they WILL eat you when you die.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 21, 2023 11:25 AM (0g6sz)

277 well one of the most notorious holocaust deniers was a mexican, he died in 2015, but his books were still available on amazon until the last few years,

Posted by: no 6 at May 21, 2023 11:26 AM (PXvVL)

278 My junior high English teacher told us that he hoped none of us would read Catcher In the Rye because it was garbage. Of course, I immediately read it and he was right; it is garbage.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at May 21, 2023 11:26 AM (FVME7)

279 Regarding Naked City the book and 1948 movie, IMDb has this: "Also on the set then was Arthur 'Weegee' Fellig, the photographer whose own "Naked City" book had inspired this movie."

Okay then: It was book to movie to TV series.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 21, 2023 09:26 AM (omVj0)

Weegee was quite famous for doing trick photography and making humorous distorted images, like funhouse mirrors.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 21, 2023 11:26 AM (emCvA)

280 So for example, if you're trying to kick a habit, and you find yourself on autopilot, doing the thing you're trying to quit, your conscious brain is sorta turned off, and the "reason" you're doing it is because your less rational brain is commanding you to do it. The solution? Keep your brain on the present moment as MUCH as possible.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 21, 2023 11:15 AM (MOC99)
---
That autopilot exists for a reason, though, and can be very helpful. Many times I drove to drill entirely by habit. Very helpful when you are up at 0530.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 21, 2023 11:27 AM (llXky)

281 Salinger had seen the death camps when he was with cic, and that certainly affected his sangfroid,

Posted by: no 6 at May 21, 2023 11:27 AM (PXvVL)

282 "Pequeño Hitler" sounds like it needs to be somebody's nic, or maybe Chuy's alter ego.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at May 21, 2023 11:28 AM (nFB2T)

283 well one of the most notorious holocaust deniers was a mexican, he died in 2015, but his books were still available on amazon until the last few years,

Posted by: no 6 at May 21, 2023 11:26 AM (PXvVL)
---
I recall a conference Iran hosted on the topic 20 years or so ago. The theme was that it didn't happen, but it should have.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 21, 2023 11:28 AM (llXky)

284 Welp. Garden isn't going to plant itself, and I'm already behind. Cheers, horde, good reading!

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at May 21, 2023 11:29 AM (OX9vb)

285 I've read about a quarter of Leonardo De Vinci by Walter Isaacson. Only having known just the popular conventional wisdom about Da Vinci , it's quite an interesting read .

Posted by: polynikes at May 21, 2023 11:29 AM (MNhXM)

286 A friend of mine has an "emotional support" dog. She is the emotional support for the dog.
Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse

I'm STILL laughing about the Saturday Night Joke on last night's ONT !

Posted by: JT at May 21, 2023 11:30 AM (T4tVD)

287 All threads gun threads, all threads pet threads.
My mother was once given a chocolate miniature poodle (not toy, another story) by a relative because he was a smidge too big to show and breed in that class.

That was the best dog. He had no "poodly" characteristics at all, just behaved like a good old hound. And I've witnessed a lot of full size poodles behaving just like real dogs. The 'purse dog' syndrome is taught, learned, and partly bred in just by the size factor. They don't have to be that way.

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at May 21, 2023 11:30 AM (jYCXf)

288 Now you've gone and done it!

With all of your intriguing banter, I'm compelled on this fine Sunday morning to put on Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Bass and fade away into the slavery known as yard work.

I want fucking reparations!

Posted by: Dr. Bone at May 21, 2023 11:31 AM (KVGVf)

289 227 I've pretty much hit a dead end. Most of my favorite authors have either died or retired. Too many of the newer authors can't write worth s damn. I go to the library or the bookstore, read the first few pages of a book that looks interesting, only to put it back because the writing is so atrocious. Part of the problem is I've already read the premise half a dozen times.
Posted by: Captain Josepha Sabin -- I wasn't particularly fond of the '70s the first time around at May 21, 2023 10:55 AM (B7rlW)

I know what you mean. Finding a new author you like can be very tricky. I recently had some luck with an old author, one so ubiquitous that I assumed I would not like him, so I ignored his work when searching for new detective fiction. Silly of me. I am now on the 4th of Robert Parker's Spenser books, and having a good time with them. There are 48 more of these books waiting for me.

Posted by: Splunge at May 21, 2023 11:31 AM (IKlwI)

290 I think nearly every human who has a cat is the emotional support human for said feline. Even when cats are "happy," they're tearing into your flesh, or giving you that look that lets you know they WILL eat you when you die.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 21, 2023 11:25 AM (0g6sz)
---
Having cats in the house has been very helpful for me in terms of learning to read animal - and human - behavior. Cats have very different personalities and one must study them to understand what they are going to do. They also lie, and I've gotten much better at reading people by reading the cats.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 21, 2023 11:31 AM (llXky)

291 What are you planting, Wigs? I had to replace some 'maters bit by our recent frost*

*I blame the White Whitchmer

Posted by: All Hail Eris at May 21, 2023 11:32 AM (nFB2T)

292 I know what you mean. Finding a new author you like can be very tricky. I recently had some luck with an old author, one so ubiquitous that I assumed I would not like him, so I ignored his work when searching for new detective fiction. Silly of me. I am now on the 4th of Robert Parker's Spenser books, and having a good time with them. There are 48 more of these books waiting for me.

Posted by: Splunge at May 21, 2023 11:31 AM (IKlwI)
---
I'm working as fast as I can.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 21, 2023 11:32 AM (llXky)

293 Perfesser it is sent.

Posted by: Thesokorus at May 21, 2023 11:32 AM (0g0+T)

294 Posted by: BurtTC at May 21, 2023 11:15 AM (MOC99)
---
That autopilot exists for a reason, though, and can be very helpful. Many times I drove to drill entirely by habit. Very helpful when you are up at 0530.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 21, 2023 11:27 AM (llXky)

That's why we have autopilot mode, because sometimes the thing we are doing is so mundane, so uninteresting but important, our brain shuts off the fun part.

Problem is, when it IS a bad habit or unproductive activity, we NEED the conscious brain to tell us to stop doing it, and start doing something else that is more meaningful and purposeful.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 21, 2023 11:33 AM (0g6sz)

295 Booken Morgen horden!
I appreciate the cat book pics, Perfesser.
So you have a Dusty Cat and a Clean Cat.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 21, 2023 11:34 AM (vHIgi)

296 Anyway, with character motivation in fictional books, yes, readers most definitely want to see some plausible reason why a character or characters do what they do, so it's kind of a necessity. I guess I was just commenting on how hard it often is to succinctly sum up motivation in Real Life, whatever that is.
I mean, 'Holden Caulfield did all that dumb shit in the book because he didn't get to go to his little brother's funeral'.
Okay, it's a motivation. It's something.
In this case, I had an antagonist doing stuff because I wrote sequences of behavior and action first, then had to plausibly explain why said antagonist went from Point A, to Point B in a way that might make sense to a reader looking for a reason. I had protagonist motivation, just didn't articulate the other side.

Posted by: LenNeal at May 21, 2023 11:34 AM (43xH1)

297 Today, I'm getting the San Marzano tomatoes into the ground. I started them in a window container, and I think it's safe to put them out. Also jalapenos, bell peppers, Purple Viking potatoes, zucchini, green beans, peas, and nasturtiums. I think that's all I have room for. Might do some Glass Gem corn (un-PC known as Indian corn), to grind into colorful corn meal in the fall.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at May 21, 2023 11:35 AM (OX9vb)

298 I recently had some luck with an old author, one so ubiquitous that I assumed I would not like him, so I ignored his work when searching for new detective fiction. Silly of me. I am now on the 4th of Robert Parker's Spenser books, and having a good time with them. There are 48 more of these books waiting for me.
Posted by: Splunge at May 21, 2023

***
Parker not only had the Spenser series, but the Sunny Randall (female private eye, not woke or PC) and the Jesse Stone the MA sheriff series. All three are part of the same universe. He also wrote the Westerns that started with Appaloosa, a historical family drama called All Our Yesterdays, a love story called Love and Glory, and a YA "Young Spenser" novel that ties into the original series and explains quite a bit about our hero.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 21, 2023 11:36 AM (omVj0)

299 That was the best dog. He had no "poodly" characteristics at all, just behaved like a good old hound. And I've witnessed a lot of full size poodles behaving just like real dogs. The 'purse dog' syndrome is taught, learned, and partly bred in just by the size factor. They don't have to be that way.
Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at May 21, 2023 11:30 AM (jYCXf)

Poodles aren't "poodly". Lots are damaged from puppy mills and over breeding for looks. But Poodles (esp Stds) are great hunters and water dogs and even guard dogs. They are vert very brave and athletic with a powerful bite. Also scary eerily smart.

Posted by: Thesokorus at May 21, 2023 11:37 AM (0g0+T)

300 I'm STILL laughing about the Saturday Night Joke on last night's ONT !
Posted by: JT at May 21, 2023 11:30 AM (T4tVD)

It's funny cuz it's true.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 21, 2023 11:38 AM (0g6sz)

301 In late-thread book news, continuing with Max Saunders' Ford Madox Ford's biography, and his marriage is starting to disintegrate. This book moved glacially slow at first, but now that the author has explained Ford's social set, his family background (which was very important), things are getting much more interesting.

His partnership with Joseph Conrad has ended, and their relationship is still positive, but that won't last.

Saunders is convinced that Ford slept with his wife's older sister, which drove their father to suicide. While there is no written record or love notes, and Ford never confessed to it (and such subjects were obviously taboo in Edwardian England), the case for it is not lightly to be set aside.

Ford does include elements of this in writings after the affair took place, and there's a very similar episode (the suicide of Tietjens' father) in Parade's End. Ford is a hot mess, but a good author, and I'm gaining new appreciation for his work.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 21, 2023 11:38 AM (llXky)

302 When I was in high school, no teacher made me read Catcher in the Rye. I did read (as suggested) 1984, Animal Farm, Brave New World, Atlas Shrugged, and a lot of similar books.

Posted by: gourmand du jour at May 21, 2023 11:39 AM (MeG8a)

303 What are some other tips and tricks for protecting books over the long term?

***

There is a great pdf book here
Conservation Book Repair:
A training manual
Written by Artemis BonaDea
Illustrated by Alexandria Prentiss
Published by Alaska State Library, Alaska Department of Education

library.alaska.gov/hist/conman.html

Some simple basic book mending here:

www.dartmouth.edu/library/preservation/
repair/index.html

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 21, 2023 11:40 AM (vHIgi)

304 Poodles aren't "poodly". Lots are damaged from puppy mills and over breeding for looks. But Poodles (esp Stds) are great hunters and water dogs and even guard dogs. They are vert very brave and athletic with a powerful bite. Also scary eerily smart.
Posted by: Thesokorus at May 21, 2023 11:37 AM (0g0+T)

Mandatory: Ricky Gervais on dogs' jobs...

https://tinyurl.com/yu2rwdxh

Posted by: BurtTC at May 21, 2023 11:41 AM (0g6sz)

305 I miss Michael Crichton. He wrote so many great stories.

"State of Fear" is my favorite.

Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at May 21, 2023 11:41 AM (5u1+1)

306 Even though I've been disappointed in Steven Pressfield's last couple of fiction novels, his non fiction advice and self help book for writers and artists are still top notch.

Posted by: polynikes at May 21, 2023 11:41 AM (MNhXM)

307 "Perfessor" Squirrel: [Tolkien] even kept track of the *phases of the moon* as the Fellowship travels so that whenever they look at the night sky, the moon is in the correct position.

Heh. The last panel in my comic "Journey to Bethlehem" has the holy family riding off to Egypt at night, with a crescent of moon above. To calculate that crescent…

In The Urantia Book telling (upon which the comic is loosely based), the date given for their flight was mid-October 6BC. I took the 1st New Moon of 1AD, per the moon phase calculator at TimeAndDate.com, then worked backward using modulo 29.530588853 per Wikipedia: Lunar Phase.

But I might not have been exactly accurate.

I'm rarely so obsessive. 😬

https://bit.ly/bethlehem-journey

Posted by: mindful webworker - are we there yet? at May 21, 2023 11:41 AM (jqrzj)

308 302 When I was in high school, no teacher made me read Catcher in the Rye. I did read (as suggested) 1984, Animal Farm, Brave New World, Atlas Shrugged, and a lot of similar books.
Posted by: gourmand du jour at May 21, 2023 11:39 AM (MeG8a)

It's almkst like TPTB are required to tell the world what they intend to do.

Catcher is essentially the story of a young man undergoing induction into an esoteric occult society.

It's very much like the Arthurian Romances in that way.

But evil.

Posted by: Thesokorus at May 21, 2023 11:41 AM (0g0+T)

309 When Uncle Si brought a French cut standard poodle to the duck blind as his retriever it was hilarious.

Posted by: polynikes at May 21, 2023 11:43 AM (MNhXM)

310 Love the Grimboir series. Good stuff.

Posted by: Darth Randall at May 21, 2023 11:43 AM (A7dKR)

311 Just started Dennis Lehane's 'Shutter Island'.
Got a new word (for me): mansard. So that is what those roofs are called.

Posted by: Ciampino - another Frenchie word at May 21, 2023 11:44 AM (qfLjt)

312 Oh and some suppliers have great book care & meninf vids like Demco

www.demco.com/helpful-videos

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 21, 2023 11:44 AM (vHIgi)

313 mending

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 21, 2023 11:44 AM (vHIgi)

314 My first mortgage was 11.5%

I want reparations.

Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at May 21, 2023 11:45 AM (5u1+1)

315
When Uncle Si brought a French cut standard poodle to the duck blind as his retriever it was hilarious.
Posted by: polynikes at May 21, 2023 11:43 AM (MNhXM)

____________

Good hunting dogs.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at May 21, 2023 11:45 AM (MoZTd)

316 The 1/2 Price bookstore that opened near me is addictive.

Posted by: polynikes at May 21, 2023 11:45 AM (MNhXM)

317 Polynikes, you can buy twice as much!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at May 21, 2023 11:46 AM (nFB2T)

318 Good hunting dogs.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at May 21, 2023 11:45 AM (MoZTd)

Yes they can be since that is what they were originally bred for. I'm not telling you , an expert , anything you don't know. It was just hilarious because it had the fufu French cut.

Posted by: polynikes at May 21, 2023 11:47 AM (MNhXM)

319 My first mortgage was 11.5%

I want reparations.
Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at May 21, 2023 11:45 AM (5u1+1)

The reason we're not all paying 11.5% is the fed has artificially clamped down on the rate, so banks could enrich themselves.

We are saddling our future great great great great great great grandchildren with massive debt. Better hope they don't invent a time machine and come back demanding reparations from US!

Posted by: BurtTC at May 21, 2023 11:48 AM (0g6sz)

320 Polynikes, you can buy twice as much!
Posted by: All Hail Eris at May 21, 2023 11:46 AM (nFB2

Hah that's exactly what I do !

Posted by: polynikes at May 21, 2023 11:48 AM (MNhXM)

321 For some reason I'm compelled to non-fiction.
I've read plenty of the fictional classics, but at this stage of my life I'm drawn to history, biographies, chronicles, etc.

Posted by: gourmand du jour at May 21, 2023 11:49 AM (MeG8a)

322 I don't believe I've ever read "Cather in the Rye," either at school or on my own. Sounds like a managed to dodge a bullet there...

I do remember reading "Of Mice and Men" for school. Blew through it in about a night. Enjoyed most of it, but the ending left me ticked off.

Posted by: Castle Guy at May 21, 2023 11:50 AM (Lhaco)

323 Got a new word (for me): mansard. So that is what those roofs are called.
Posted by: Ciampino - another Frenchie word

Please. "Personsard."

P.S. Trouble in paradise. The LGBs are fighting with the Ts.

https://bit.ly/3WmyHBM

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at May 21, 2023 11:50 AM (FVME7)

324 Haidt and Lukianoff's The Coddling of the American Mind has been informative. (A very minor example - President Trump's "good people on both sides" comment after Charlottesville is a bit worse than what right wing commenters have taught us to believe.) As an elderly person, the material describing the likely relationship between social media and increasing incidence of mental illness among college students is compelling. While the authors seem willing to contort their thinking in whatever ways are necessary to excuse leftist nonsense, I think the book is worth reading.

Posted by: Oglebay at May 21, 2023 11:50 AM (j4NKg)

325 In regards to the multi-side dice talk.... If you want to spice up board games for kids, replace the traditional D6 with something bigger. For instance, a game of Clue goes so much faster when you play with a D10!
Posted by: Castle Guy at May 21, 2023 10:50 AM (Lhaco)

Should have socked that as Rachel Corrie.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at May 21, 2023 11:51 AM (Vyggb)

326 I do remember reading "Of Mice and Men" for school. Blew through it in about a night. Enjoyed most of it, but the ending left me ticked off.
Posted by: Castle Guy at May 21, 2023 1

***
One of the finest short novels ever written. And a big reason why I like Steinbeck. I didn't discover him until I was way out of school and reading to learn about style and better writing. Now I have "OMaM," East of Eden, The Wayward Bus, and more on my shelves, and I dip back into them every year or so.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 21, 2023 11:53 AM (omVj0)

327 Unicorn spotted! Someone actually likes Kamala.

https://bit.ly/3OuI1Bz

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at May 21, 2023 11:54 AM (FVME7)

328 Yes they can be since that is what they were originally bred for. I'm not telling you , an expert , anything you don't know. It was just hilarious because it had the fufu French cut.
Posted by: polynikes at May 21, 2023 11:47 AM (MNhXM)

Concur. Many years ago this old fella showed up at a hunting camp I was at in the wilds of Florida driving his caddy with his standard poodle in the back seat. Everybody laughed until they saw what the dog could do in the bush.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at May 21, 2023 11:54 AM (R/m4+)

329 My reaction to Catcher, both when I read it in the '80s (also way after my school days) and when I reflect on it, is that Holden needed both a good Twelve-Step program and a hitch in the Marines.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 21, 2023 11:55 AM (omVj0)

330 I still think Lenny was a psycho. I seriously disliked him and felt bad for George that he was saddled with that nutcase.

Posted by: Oglebay at May 21, 2023 11:55 AM (j4NKg)

331
I don't believe I've ever read "Cather in the Rye," either at school or on my own. Sounds like a managed to dodge a bullet there...

__________

I have a hypothesis that any book you were assigned in English class is forever ruined for you.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at May 21, 2023 11:56 AM (MoZTd)

332 Mail Delivery Halted for an Entire Zip Code in Democrat-Run Seattle Due to Rising Theft

-
Well, they're not literate anyway.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at May 21, 2023 11:56 AM (FVME7)

333 Well, I'll be a green blooded son of a b...the gray boxes are back. Don't know wha happan....

Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 21, 2023 11:57 AM (Angsy)

334 330 I still think Lenny was a psycho. I seriously disliked him and felt bad for George that he was saddled with that nutcase.
Posted by: Oglebay at May 21, 2023

***
I don't think he was a psycho, just deeply retarded or "simple" as they would have said then. He didn't realize the link between cause and effect very well, or how strong he was. He didn't kill the ranch hand's wife because he was a serial killer -- but more by accident.

Burgess Meredith as George and Lon Chaney Jr. as Lenny were great casting in the 1940 movie.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 21, 2023 11:58 AM (omVj0)

335 I do remember reading "Of Mice and Men" for school. Blew through it in about a night. Enjoyed most of it, but the ending left me ticked off.
Posted by: Castle Guy at May 21, 2023 11:50 AM (Lhaco)

Yeah, there's that one, and any number of other novels I was made to read in school, the endings weren't satisfying, at all.

Maybe they shouldn't be read by kids with no real life experience, or maybe the writers were jaded ninnies who should lighten up, Frances.

Posted by: BurtTC at May 21, 2023 11:58 AM (d2oJQ)

336
I have a hypothesis that any book you were assigned in English class is forever ruined for you.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at May 21, 2023

***
Then I got lucky, because I still like The Haunting of Hill House!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 21, 2023 11:59 AM (omVj0)

337 Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 21, 2023 11:58 AM (omVj0)

Thus the term Retard Strength 😀

Posted by: polynikes at May 21, 2023 11:59 AM (MNhXM)

338 I tried to read "Catcher in the Rye" in high school when I was a pretentious intellectually minded liberal. Couldn't make it more than 1/4 of the way through. I hated Holden and didn't care what happened to him.

I rarely failed to finish a book then. Must have been pretty bad.

Posted by: Art Rondelet of Malmsey at May 21, 2023 11:59 AM (fTtFy)

339 322 I don't believe I've ever read "Cather in the Rye," either at school or on my own. Sounds like a managed to dodge a bullet there...

not certain whether typo for "catcher" or "catheter".

Posted by: anachronda at May 21, 2023 12:00 PM (I38CQ)

340 I was one of the few who enjoyed Silas Marner when it was assigned as a Freshman.

Posted by: polynikes at May 21, 2023 12:00 PM (MNhXM)

341 Captain, as I have been recounting, I discovered William Gibson because of his newest works, The Peripheral but really enjoying his early stuff. It was/is a whole new genre to me.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at May 21, 2023 12:00 PM (t/2Uw)

342 Love the Grimboir series. Good stuff.
Posted by: Darth Randall at May 21, 2023 11:43 AM (A7dKR)
---

Stupid autocucumber. That should read: love the Grimnoir series.

Posted by: Darth Randall at May 21, 2023 12:00 PM (A7dKR)

343 WE HAZ A NOOD

Posted by: Skip at May 21, 2023 12:01 PM (xhxe8)

344 I don't believe I've ever read "Cather in the Rye," either at school or on my own. Sounds like a managed to dodge a bullet there...

not certain whether typo for "catcher" or "catheter".
Posted by: anachronda at May 21, 2023 12:00 PM (I38CQ)
***

A thilly typo.

Posted by: Diogenes at May 21, 2023 12:01 PM (YGqO/)

345 All of this hatred for Holden C. just goes to show that Salinger created a truly "living" character, one that inspired countless teenagers to crazy ideas and inspired sensible people to hate him. I'd say that's literary skill of a kind.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 21, 2023 12:01 PM (omVj0)

346 I thought Catcher in the Rye was mostly about Holden's dead brother.

Posted by: Oglebay at May 21, 2023 12:03 PM (j4NKg)

347 Catheter in the Rye sounds interesting. . . .

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 21, 2023 12:03 PM (omVj0)

348
Stille reading a excellent book on Admiral Nelson by David Walder, just need to find more time to read.
Posted by: Skip
-------

As an aside, now on #13 of the 'Master and Commander' series by O'Brian. The guy really was an incredible writer.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at May 21, 2023 12:03 PM (XsjQp)

349 In my early 20s, realizing my formal education was really bad, I went on a campaign of reading the kind of thing that gets recommended in English classes, just to have some baseline of what anybody else (whose schooling didn't stop at 8th grade) may have read.
Vonnegut, Heller, Updike, a bunch of other authors.
Unfortunately, most of it struck me as crap.
Oh well.
I do still remember Dominick Dunne's 'The Two Mrs' Grenvilles' vividly, I'm not sure why. Maybe because to me such a world was truly exotic and strange: ultra-wealth and such. Bizarre.

Posted by: LenNeal at May 21, 2023 12:03 PM (43xH1)

350 Thanks for the thread, Perfessor. Even though I didn't participate much....

Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 21, 2023 12:03 PM (Angsy)

351 A man whose life sentence was commuted by then-President Obama in 2015 has now been charged with the shooting of a woman in a road rage incident. The woman is brain-dead and not expected to survive. The shooting occured early on Sunday morning near Chicago. Mills admitted to police that he was the shooter, and has now been charged.

https://bit.ly/3MLRO51

Well, women drivers.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at May 21, 2023 12:04 PM (FVME7)

352 Catheter in the Rye sounds interesting. . . .

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at May 21, 2023 12:03 PM (omVj0)

Straight injection of liquor is quicker, I suppose....

Posted by: OrangeEnt at May 21, 2023 12:05 PM (Angsy)

353 I recently picked up Crichton's Eaters of the Dead and it is a disgusting book. It is completely different from anything else of his I had read. I was hoping it was like the book about dinosaur bone hunters in the Midwest but it is just weird.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at May 21, 2023 12:05 PM (t/2Uw)

354 I was one of the few who enjoyed Silas Marner when it was assigned as a Freshman.
Posted by: polynikes
------
My only recollection is , "Eppie in de Toal-Hole..."

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at May 21, 2023 12:06 PM (FSo+R)

355 Living up to my nic I see but I had to go pick up my new coffeemaker.
Have a great day everyone. Range day here🤠

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at May 21, 2023 12:07 PM (t/2Uw)

356 Living up to my nic I see but I had to go pick up my new coffeemaker.
Have a great day everyone. Range day here🤠
Posted by: Sharon
----

Whew! I was afraid that I would be last. Wait a minute.....

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at May 21, 2023 12:08 PM (FSo+R)

357 Hadrian the Seventh: I have a hypothesis that any book you were assigned in English class is forever ruined for you.

I was supposed to read Moby Dick the summer before my Soph HS year. I… tried, but it put me to sleep.

Muchos años later, I ran across my old copy and tried again. I appreciated it much more.

Later, I read it once more and kept waking my wife up laughing so hard.

Posted by: mindful webworker - call me Ishmael at May 21, 2023 12:09 PM (jqrzj)

358 I finished Captain Alatriste by Arturo Perez-Reverte (translated by Margaret Sayers Peden)
Captain Alatriste is a soldier in the service of Spain recuperating in Madrid from wounds received in Flanders. In Spain's Golden Age (and it is asked, What Gold? The people see none) among corrupt court politics and lawlessness, he ekes out a living as a hired sword. Alatriste was given the task by masked nobles to rough up some Englishmen and steal the papers they are carrying, and later by a Cardinal to kill them, he winds up trying to save his skin when he decides to do neither.

This is the first book of a Spanish series and the basis of a movie featuring Vigo Morgenstern. It is more Three Musketeers than Sharpe's Rifles, and I feel some of the nuance is lost in translation to English

Posted by: Kindltot at May 21, 2023 12:11 PM (xhaym)

359 Weak Geek, Billy Graham has an entry in the "Comicopedia"
:
https://www.lambiek.net/artists/g/graham_billy.htm

Billy Graham was an African American comic book artist, who has worked for publishers like Marvel and Warren. His earliest work appeared in Warren's Vampirella magazine around 1969, and his work additionally popped up in Eerie. He eventually worked as an art director at Warren for a while. When Graham left Warren around 1972, he moved over to Marvel, where he helped create 'Luke Cage, Hero for Hire' with John Romita Sr. and George Tuska.

Posted by: Kindltot at May 21, 2023 12:16 PM (xhaym)

360 Holden Caufield needed religious education and grief counselling.

Posted by: Chatterbox Mouse at May 21, 2023 12:23 PM (5u1+1)

361 I wish more people would read about the early settlers. It really shows how easy we have it now. One of my favorites is "The Life of an Ordinary Woman" by Anne Ellis. Her father was a miner and she grew up in the gold rush towns.
Posted by: Notsothoreau at May 21, 2023 09:57 AM (ouTlx)

I am reading a series of books of interviews of Oregon Pioneers done in the 20's and 30's by Fred Lockley, who was a reporter for one of the Salem Oregon papers. Oregon wasn't as tough as the plains, but it was a problem of lack of labor, lack of equipment and lack of markets.

Posted by: Kindltot at May 21, 2023 12:46 PM (xhaym)

362 Having cats in the house has been very helpful for me in terms of learning to read animal - and human - behavior. Cats have very different personalities and one must study them to understand what they are going to do. They also lie, and I've gotten much better at reading people by reading the cats.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at May 21, 2023 11:31 AM (llXky)

Mark Twain said much the same, though he counselled against getting a Manx cat as a beginner

Posted by: Kindltot at May 21, 2023 01:05 PM (xhaym)

363 Where'd you all go?
*pokes thread"

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 21, 2023 01:08 PM (vHIgi)

364 I think it is all just us vmom.

Posted by: Kindltot at May 21, 2023 01:10 PM (xhaym)

365 Late (very) to the thread. Glad to see you found the Grimnoir chronicles, Perfessor. Good series, that. I very much enjoyed that too.

I'm reading "The Ross 248 Project" - an anthology of hard science fiction stories that Baen put out recently. The stories are all centered on a massive human terraforming and colonization project of worlds and moons orbiting an M6V Red Dwarf in the Andromeda galaxy designated "Ross 248", 100 years of interstellar travel away from earth at 0.1c (10% the speed of light.) The stories focus on a time somewhat after the ships have arrived, and initial terraforming/colonization efforts have begun, with mixed results.

The foreward of the book is by USAF Lt. General (Retired) Steve Kwast. At least 3 of the authors' names I recognize from the group "The North Texas Troublemakers": Jim Curtis, who I've read two westerns from and two of his "Grey Man" series so far (highly entertaining stories), D. J. Butler, and Monalisa Foster.

I've skipped over one story because it was too expositional and felt more like a lecture rather than an entertaining story like the rest. I may come back to that one later. It's well written, just a flavour mismatch.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at May 21, 2023 01:18 PM (nRMeC)

366 The variability of dice:

Probably any dice not manufactured under strictly controlled circumstances for use in games where serious money is on the line (casinos) will exhibit some bias. Lou Zocchi (early wargamer who, as owner of Gamescience, from the 1970s on provided most of the odd dice used in D&D) was quite vocal about the variability of results from dice used in most games. His Wiki entry has a brief discussion of this and, IIRC, Lou did some interviews and demonstrations that appear occasionally on YouTube showing the variability of typical game dice. I believe one or more of the large game dice manufacturers (maybe Chessex) also did some videos or articles on dice variability. To be fair, Lou's demos were in aid of selling his non-biased dice, that he called precision edged dice, and the demos and articles by other manufacturers were probably to the same end.

Posted by: Pope John 20th at May 21, 2023 01:19 PM (cYrkj)

367 to Anna Puma @197, Sharyn McCrumb also wrote a sequel to "Bimbos of the Death Sun". It was "Zombies of the Gene Pool". Both are rather scornful looks at SF fandom. To my mind they are redeemed by the fact that she displays first hand knowledge of the sub-cultures she describes. And she manages to do so with genuine wit and humor.

Posted by: John F. MacMichael at May 21, 2023 02:38 PM (2SWLc)

368 to Kindltot @358, I have enjoyed Arturo Perez-Reverte's "Captain Alariste" series. It gives a historical perspective that is different than any we usually encounter in Anglo/American fiction.

Another of his works that I would highly recommend is the stand alone novel "The Fencing Master". Set in mid-19th Century Spain, the title character is a fencing teacher. He is bitterly aware that both the noble art of the sword, to which he has dedicated his life, and the standards of honor, by which he has sought to live his life, are increasingly seen as quaint relics of a bygone age. Then a mysterious and beautiful woman appears. She wants him to teach her a secret move he has perfected. At first he refuses. But she persuades him. And then he discovers that he has been made an unwitting tool in a murderous intrigue. And, as a man of honor, he must act.

Posted by: John F. MacMichael at May 21, 2023 02:55 PM (2SWLc)

369 Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant

*adds Ross 248 Project to to-read list*

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at May 21, 2023 03:16 PM (vHIgi)

370 Hope you enjoy it, vmom!

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at May 21, 2023 03:26 PM (nRMeC)

371 Reading Michael Kay's interview collection, "CenterStage"

Posted by: Tonyp at May 21, 2023 03:39 PM (QdQ6O)

372 In the old game of A=1, B=2, C=3, etc. to Z=26 there are many jokes to be had about how MENDACITY (94) ranks more highly than DIGNITY (8

; how SUCK UP (91) is better than EXCELLENCE (8

; and so forth.

Under the assumption that no one give more than 110%, the challenge was to find a word that exactly hits 110. The only word I've found that does that is CALLIPYGY.

Yeah, it pays to increase your word power.

Posted by: LCMS Rulz! at May 21, 2023 05:29 PM (K58O6)

373 Ah, who knew that an 8 with a closing parenthesis would produce a sun-glassed happy face. Who invented these stupid emoticons, anyway?

Posted by: LCMS Rulz! at May 21, 2023 05:32 PM (K58O6)

374 Nothing but the care and feeding of books; I agree wiping them down with a dry cleaning sponge is a first attack.
Next, use an ozone generator.

Posted by: RosalindJ at May 21, 2023 06:57 PM (03zAo)

375
More than $15k can be earned online by performing straightforward tasks from home. In the previous month, I got $18376. Even a young child may do this job and make money because it is so simple to complete and has higher pay than typical office occupations. Everyone needs to try this task by using the information on this page. www.Richepay.com

Posted by: Megan Haynes at May 22, 2023 02:20 AM (0gw/7)

376 Small white flowers that are usually aromatic.

Posted by: flowers to plant order online at May 24, 2023 06:27 AM (On33x)

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