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Sunday Morning Book Thread - 09-01-2024 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]
PIC NOTE
One of the books I read this past week (see below) has a significant section take place in the year A.D. 793 around the island of Lindisfarne off the Scottish coast. As is usual with such books, I fired up Google Maps to see what the island looks like today. As I'm looking around the map of the island, I spotted a marker for "Book by the Sea Holy Island Library." Zooming in, I discovered it was a charming little free-book-swap library location that's part of the Little Free Library network. We live in an amazing world. "QUANTUM" GRAMMAR Courtesy of RedMindBlueState, we have this little gem from last week's comment section:RedMindBlueState was not exaggerating about the crazy. I highly recommend reading the article linked above. What is it about people thinking that inserting the word "quantum" in front of another word automatically makes it "cool?" Clearly, this man has more than one screw loose. This website tries to explain it, but it's not very successful and it's clear that the author doesn't fully understand it.
Looking at the article on punctuation, I'm reminded of possibly one of the most insane things I've run into: Quantum Grammar, created by noted nut job David Wynn-Miller. Pour yourself a large drink before reading: David Wynn Miller Posted by: RedMindBlueState at August 25, 2024 10:04 AM (stKIu)
Here's a video from the lunatic himself trying to explain this new language of law.
Benefits of Quantum Grammar
Quantum grammar has many benefits that can help improve your writing. First, it can help you write more concisely and accurately. By taking advantage of the energy of words, quantum grammar can help you create more precise and effective written communication. Second, quantum grammar can help you become a better communicator. By understanding the subtle nuances of the language, you can craft more effective sentences that are easier for your readers to understand. Finally, quantum grammar can help you think more critically about language. By understanding the nuances of quantum grammar, you can become a more precise and articulate writer.
Comment: Spy craft is an interesting subject. I've watched a number of YouTube videos from people who have been involved in clandestine work. Much of what we see in movies and television is grossly inaccurate, though sometimes they throw in actual examples of real-world applications of knowledge and skills, if only to show off that the writers have done their research. These days, with the government breathing down everyone's neck, it might not be such a bad idea to learn a few basic tips and tricks, if only so that your opponents underestimate you.
Took time off from reading The Life of Lenin to quickly read Spy Secrets That Can Save Your Life. The book's author, Jason Hanson, is a former CIA officer and president of Spy Escape and Evasion. However, the company's website redirects you to this landing page at UltimateSpyWeek.com: https://tinyurl.com/yyss2bry Not only that but the book's official website URL, SpySecretsBook.com seems to have been snatched up by someone else. Don't bother linking there. Anyhoo, the book is very basic, truly for beginners. There are chapters on situational awareness, organizing minimal survival kits and materials, escaping zip ties, rope, duct tape and handcuffs, home and travel safety, and minimal defensive maneuvers and techniques. I'm a beginner. While I already own some of the essential materials which Jason recommends keeping on hand (I even have a tactical pen - but I forget where I placed it), I did order a few things which the book recommend. Thank goodness the planes with my Amazon orders are still sneaking in under Hizballah's radar! The book is an excellent "For Dummies" kind of book (I am a fan of Dummies publications when I know very little on a subject). If you're interested in this subject but are past the introductory stage, skip this book. There is also a chapter on body language detection. Again, it's basic. If you want to read a good book on this subject, I highly recommend What Every Body Is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Speed-Reading People, by former FBI agent Joe Navarro. I'm convinced that if anyone trains themself thoroughly using this book as a guide, he/she will be much more alert when observing family, friends or strangers. Just be careful what you wish for! And now... off to my afternoon swim, hopefully siren-free! Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at August 25, 2024 09:13 AM (bboj0)
Comment: Sometimes it's worth it to have an extra copy of a book you really enjoy, especially if you are the sort of person to mark it up with notes and annotations. Or maybe you want a "reading copy" and a "display copy" so you buy a really nice edition of the book in addition to the one you enjoy reading for pleasure.
I splurged on a second copy of Mariner by Malcolm Guite. It is an exploration of Coleridge's life, the influences that led to his poetry and philosophy, the historical and cultural aspects of the time, and how it is pertinent today. Love this stuff., I got the second copy to highlight all the passages, and there are a LOT of them, worth exploring further. At some point I will go through the highlights and follow the rabbit holes they open up but want to do so at a relaxed pace instead of letting it distract me from everything else. Posted by: JTB at August 25, 2024 09:36 AM (zudum)
Comment: This book has been mentioned quite a bit around here. Sounds like Vance has led an interesting and inspiring life. I wonder how the book sales have done since he's been nominated as the VP candidate. As of this writing, it's listed on Amazon as #1 in Sociology of Class, #2 in U.S. State & Local History, and #2 in Memoirs (Books). More Moron-recommended reading material can be found HERE! (1000+ Moron-recommended books!)
I read Hillbilly Elegy this last week. It was a very good read. JD will represent Americans with humility and loyalty given the chance. What an impressive young man. Posted by: nurse ratched, certified weirdo at August 25, 2024 10:53 AM (k05yp)
I found out there are a few more Sandman Slim books so I bought the rest of them:
- The Kill Society (Book 9)
- Hollywood Dead (Book 10)
- Ballistic Kiss (Book 11)
- King Bullet (Book 12)
Conqueror is the second in a series of alternate history novels focused around key events within European history. Every book revolves around a mysterious prophecy spoken by characters in languages that they would have no way of knowing, setting up the next book in the series. An enigmatic "Weaver" (also the name of the last book in the series) seems to be steering humanity towards a particular event in the present (or recent past) that will allow him to dominate the world. Hints of who might be behind this manipulation of the time stream are given in this novel as the prophecy speaks of establishing a ten-thousand-year empire ruled by Aryans.
Each book is mostly a series of small vignettes covering key characters within short spans of time that are separated by decades or centuries as the prophecy plays out. Conqueror, for instance, begins in AD 607 and ends in AD 1066 when a certain Norman invader conquers Britain. It's a fascinating examination of how mere words can shape destinies and fortunes many centuries into the future.
Disclaimer: No Morons were physically harmed in the making of this Sunday Morning Book Thread. Don't look behind you, but there are two spies trailing you right now...
Comments
(Jump to bottom of comments)1
Tolle Lege
Posted by: Skip at September 01, 2024 08:59 AM (fwDg9)
2
Read "Dracula" last week. Having seen the movies, it's quite surprising to find the novel isn't anything like them. It's an epistolary novel, told in diary entries, letters, and newspaper accounts. It also wasn't "scary" to me.
I suppose it was the style of the time, but the writing, even though clear and familiar, was very florid. It almost appeared as if the characters were "snowflakes" to use a modern word. They react in horror over things, even though they're rational, modern "nineteenth century" people.
They act very fervently toward each other, even though some of them just met. It seems to me that everyone was very emotional. They're always grabbing each other's hands and pledging things. It's definitely not like that in more modern works.
con't
I suppose it was the style of the time, but the writing, even though clear and familiar, was very florid. It almost appeared as if the characters were "snowflakes" to use a modern word. They react in horror over things, even though they're rational, modern "nineteenth century" people.
They act very fervently toward each other, even though some of them just met. It seems to me that everyone was very emotional. They're always grabbing each other's hands and pledging things. It's definitely not like that in more modern works.
con't
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 09:00 AM (0eaVi)
3
con't
The usual tropes are there: wooden stake, garlic, cutting off heads, holy water, etc. Although, at the times, it would be considered horror, now maybe we're just too jaded, but I was never frightened by any of the action. The killing wasn't grisly either, just more matter of fact. Once aspect that the movies don't seem to show, is that it's considered by the characters that killing the vampires are freeing them, not sending them to their doom.
Interesting how the movies have conditioned readers to think the story is presented in a certain way, but the actual book doesn't follow the films.
Not a bad book. Glad to have read it. Recommended.
Gotta go. Back later.
The usual tropes are there: wooden stake, garlic, cutting off heads, holy water, etc. Although, at the times, it would be considered horror, now maybe we're just too jaded, but I was never frightened by any of the action. The killing wasn't grisly either, just more matter of fact. Once aspect that the movies don't seem to show, is that it's considered by the characters that killing the vampires are freeing them, not sending them to their doom.
Interesting how the movies have conditioned readers to think the story is presented in a certain way, but the actual book doesn't follow the films.
Not a bad book. Glad to have read it. Recommended.
Gotta go. Back later.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 09:00 AM (0eaVi)
4
Wow! 6:01 a.m. here on the Left Coast and I’m NOT the first commenter!
Posted by: March Hare at September 01, 2024 09:02 AM (jfX+U)
5
Hey, everybody! Hope you'll get to enjoy the holiday.
Following is a slew of comments catching up from last week:
1) The Classics Illustrated comic with the art of Gahan Wilson on Poe stories came from the revival of the line in the early 1990s by the late lamented First Comics. Each 48-page volume featured a classic tale adapted by top-tier talent. My holdings include "Moby Dick" with Bill Sienkiewicz and "Hamlet" with Steven Grant and Tom Mandrake.
2) Castle Guy, I also have the Marvel Epic No. 2 trade collection of Master of Kung Fu. Commentary I have read indicates that MOKF Epic No. 1 is for completists only. Paul Gulacy's art on Doug Moench's stories gained attention for the book, and when Gulacy quit, Mike Zeck (assisted by Gene Day) kept the book riding high for years. I have most of the later back issues, but I would rather have the TPCs with their crisper printing. And I will.
(more)
Following is a slew of comments catching up from last week:
1) The Classics Illustrated comic with the art of Gahan Wilson on Poe stories came from the revival of the line in the early 1990s by the late lamented First Comics. Each 48-page volume featured a classic tale adapted by top-tier talent. My holdings include "Moby Dick" with Bill Sienkiewicz and "Hamlet" with Steven Grant and Tom Mandrake.
2) Castle Guy, I also have the Marvel Epic No. 2 trade collection of Master of Kung Fu. Commentary I have read indicates that MOKF Epic No. 1 is for completists only. Paul Gulacy's art on Doug Moench's stories gained attention for the book, and when Gulacy quit, Mike Zeck (assisted by Gene Day) kept the book riding high for years. I have most of the later back issues, but I would rather have the TPCs with their crisper printing. And I will.
(more)
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 01, 2024 09:02 AM (p/isN)
6
Still nothing new for me. Too much work disruption in my reading schedule
Posted by: Skip at September 01, 2024 09:02 AM (fwDg9)
7
Good morning fellow Book Threadists. I hope everyone had a great week of reading.
Posted by: JTB at September 01, 2024 09:02 AM (zudum)
8
3) I was a top student in high school (which led to a hard fall in college), but the only books I remember from then were a reader with short stories including "The Lottery," and "The Ox-Bow Incident," which was mandatory in junior year. I preferred the Executioner and the Penetrator series.
4) I got a lot of books through Scholastic -- mostly lightweight material such as "How to Care for Your Monster" and one Three Investigators book, "Mystery of the Talking Skull," I believe.
(yet more)
4) I got a lot of books through Scholastic -- mostly lightweight material such as "How to Care for Your Monster" and one Three Investigators book, "Mystery of the Talking Skull," I believe.
(yet more)
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 01, 2024 09:03 AM (p/isN)
9
Didn't that rapper Hammer use pants sorta like that? Stupid then, stupid now.
Posted by: JTB at September 01, 2024 09:04 AM (zudum)
10
5) I need advice on ways to remove sticky label residue from used books. The labels used by some stores don't peel off easily.
******
Still on "Angels of Doom."
******
Still on "Angels of Doom."
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 01, 2024 09:04 AM (p/isN)
11
They act very fervently toward each other, even though some of them just met. It seems to me that everyone was very emotional. They're always grabbing each other's hands and pledging things. It's definitely not like that in more modern works.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 09:00 AM (0eaVi)
---
Death was walking alongside you all the time. A shaving cut could prove fatal. People reacted by living more in the moment, accepting friendships whenever possible and showing more affection and courtesy.
We could use more of that.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 09:00 AM (0eaVi)
---
Death was walking alongside you all the time. A shaving cut could prove fatal. People reacted by living more in the moment, accepting friendships whenever possible and showing more affection and courtesy.
We could use more of that.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 01, 2024 09:04 AM (llXky)
12
BOOKZZZ
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 01, 2024 09:04 AM (Ydd86)
13
Well the Coppola film was probably closest the Hammer films perhaps most remote they were set in Germany ? But more entertaining
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 09:06 AM (PXvVL)
14
At least the kids didn't buy glitter pencils.
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 01, 2024 09:06 AM (p/isN)
15
On any other surface getting sticky off is easy, paper is difficult. On a heavier book cover maybe a drop of oil?
Posted by: Skip at September 01, 2024 09:07 AM (fwDg9)
16
On the Kindle I read Windrush: Beyond the Frontier by Malcolm Archibald. In 1878 Major Windrush is sent from Kabal to subdue raiding Pushtan tribesmen lead by Winrush's old friend, Batoor. When Russian troops amass on the Afghan-Turkistan border, Batoor joins forces with the 113th Foot and native Indian units to deter the Russians from invading. An interesting story and history.
Posted by: Zoltan at September 01, 2024 09:08 AM (bcrtw)
17
Yay, book thread! I'm finishing of Nabokov's Mary, and I'm not sure what I think. More on that when I'm done (which will probably be later today).
No writing yet, but I'm laying the groundwork by brainstorming and working out a household schedule that would facilitate it. This weekend is part of that effort - lots of cleaning and reorganization on tap.
I'm also getting the grandkids to understand that Grandpa has "typing time" and he's not to be disturbed. It's still a struggle, but they're catching on.
That's the great thing about little kids - once you set the routine, they'll follow it and even hold you to it.
No writing yet, but I'm laying the groundwork by brainstorming and working out a household schedule that would facilitate it. This weekend is part of that effort - lots of cleaning and reorganization on tap.
I'm also getting the grandkids to understand that Grandpa has "typing time" and he's not to be disturbed. It's still a struggle, but they're catching on.
That's the great thing about little kids - once you set the routine, they'll follow it and even hold you to it.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 01, 2024 09:08 AM (llXky)
18
I got a lot of books through Scholastic -- mostly lightweight material such as "How to Care for Your Monster" and one Three Investigators book, "Mystery of the Talking Skull," I believe.
(yet more)
Posted by: Weak Geek
I enjoyed Alfred Hitchcock and the three investigators books. They were well written; on a par with the Hardy Boys.
(yet more)
Posted by: Weak Geek
I enjoyed Alfred Hitchcock and the three investigators books. They were well written; on a par with the Hardy Boys.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 01, 2024 09:10 AM (mzB36)
19
I need advice on ways to remove sticky label residue from used books. The labels used by some stores don't peel off easily.
******
Still on "Angels of Doom."
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 01, 2024 09:04 AM (p/isN)
---
Rubbing alcohol seems to work quite well. Depends on the surface though.
******
Still on "Angels of Doom."
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 01, 2024 09:04 AM (p/isN)
---
Rubbing alcohol seems to work quite well. Depends on the surface though.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 01, 2024 09:10 AM (llXky)
20
The surface with sticky residue is paperback.
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 01, 2024 09:12 AM (p/isN)
21
Stoker is Irish so there is a certain fatalism about him.
Even into the 19th century Carpathia was sort of terra icognita
One notion that ive noticed is one of the more tragic deep state figures frank wisner was stationed in romania during world war 2 and had as a mistress a princess who they claimed was a descendant of vlad tepes apparently so is prince william
Even into the 19th century Carpathia was sort of terra icognita
One notion that ive noticed is one of the more tragic deep state figures frank wisner was stationed in romania during world war 2 and had as a mistress a princess who they claimed was a descendant of vlad tepes apparently so is prince william
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 09:12 AM (PXvVL)
22
5) I need advice on ways to remove sticky label residue from used books. The labels used by some stores don't peel off easily.
--
Depending on the cover sometimes a tiny bit of hand sanitizer will help peel it off.
--
Depending on the cover sometimes a tiny bit of hand sanitizer will help peel it off.
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 01, 2024 09:13 AM (Ydd86)
23
BOOKZZZ
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 01, 2024 09:04 AM (Ydd86)
====
The Russian word for books is a silly-sounding word.
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 01, 2024 09:04 AM (Ydd86)
====
The Russian word for books is a silly-sounding word.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at September 01, 2024 09:14 AM (RIvkX)
24
I need advice on ways to remove sticky label residue from used books. The labels used by some stores don't peel off easily.
-
Spray some WD-40 on a clean rag, and rub on the sticky spot. The WD-40 will dissolve the adhesive. It works even on glossy paperbacks.
-
Spray some WD-40 on a clean rag, and rub on the sticky spot. The WD-40 will dissolve the adhesive. It works even on glossy paperbacks.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 01, 2024 09:14 AM (mzB36)
25
The 2025 Old Farmer's Almanac came out last Tuesday. I turn to the weather predictions first, of course, which is usually in the ballpark and as close as government predictions. The part dealing with coming trends is often too urban and hipster oriented for my interest. I don't care about city rooftop food production, etc. But two items caught my eye involving books. The first was an increase of small comfortable rooms, no TV or computers, just for reading. The second was a study showing that older (undefined what is older) who read 90 minutes a day over several weeks had stronger memory skills than the ones who just did puzzles.
Take that, Sudoku!
Hours of fun perusal to follow this month.
Take that, Sudoku!
Hours of fun perusal to follow this month.
Posted by: JTB at September 01, 2024 09:14 AM (zudum)
26
So kim newmans anno dracula series was based on some facts
Wisner who went on thr cia dirtu tricks division felt betrayed by dulles after hungary and killed himself in 62
What if the vampires was the connection
Wisner who went on thr cia dirtu tricks division felt betrayed by dulles after hungary and killed himself in 62
What if the vampires was the connection
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 09:15 AM (PXvVL)
27
The surface with sticky residue is paperback.
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 01, 2024 09:12 AM (p/isN)
---
Glossy paperback covers typically tolerate rubbing alcohol. Use it in moderation, but it will roll the adhesive off with a little effort.
I buy a lot of used books and sticker removal is routine.
The toughest one I had in recent memory was St. Augustine's Confessions, which was clearly used as a study text (handwritten notes throughout). Lots of price stickers and USED stuck on it, but it all came off.
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 01, 2024 09:12 AM (p/isN)
---
Glossy paperback covers typically tolerate rubbing alcohol. Use it in moderation, but it will roll the adhesive off with a little effort.
I buy a lot of used books and sticker removal is routine.
The toughest one I had in recent memory was St. Augustine's Confessions, which was clearly used as a study text (handwritten notes throughout). Lots of price stickers and USED stuck on it, but it all came off.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 01, 2024 09:15 AM (llXky)
28
Finished Tall Short Stories by John A. Shepherd, which I bought on Thriftbooks thinking it might be something else.
Appears to be self-published or near to, by an English author who came of age probably immediately post war. Mostly ramblings on characters he has met or situations he has been in over his life time. Working class English people.
Not a waste of money. A good bathroom book.
Appears to be self-published or near to, by an English author who came of age probably immediately post war. Mostly ramblings on characters he has met or situations he has been in over his life time. Working class English people.
Not a waste of money. A good bathroom book.
Posted by: From about That Time at September 01, 2024 09:16 AM (4780s)
29
The safest most effective solvent for this kind of thing is "lighter fluid" or Naptha. Coleman fuel.
Conservationists and museums depend on it for cleaning priceless antiques and finishes without damaging anything. It's great for Zippos, too.
Conservationists and museums depend on it for cleaning priceless antiques and finishes without damaging anything. It's great for Zippos, too.
Posted by: Common Tater at September 01, 2024 09:16 AM (v8bCu)
30
This week I went on a bit of a Chesterton binge, courtesy of Project Gutenberg. First his poem "The Ballad of the White Horse" about King Alfred -- great stuff, very heroic. Recommended.
The other was a kind of novel -- four connected short stories, really -- called _The Club of Queer Trades_. (Stop snickering in the back.) The stories are all kind of standard Chesterton twists, with a big dose of the "Baghdad on the Thames" trope of London being full of weird stuff going on just around the next corner.
The other was a kind of novel -- four connected short stories, really -- called _The Club of Queer Trades_. (Stop snickering in the back.) The stories are all kind of standard Chesterton twists, with a big dose of the "Baghdad on the Thames" trope of London being full of weird stuff going on just around the next corner.
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 01, 2024 09:16 AM (78a2H)
31
Skip, thanks for the nood but you forgot to remind us to put on pants and I got caught pantless.
Posted by: Ciampino - Si Ispettore, e molto imbarazzante #01 at September 01, 2024 09:17 AM (qfLjt)
32
The thing about Hillbilly Elegy is that he loves those people but doesn't let them off the hook. He calls them out on their work ethic and what their chaotic lifestyles do to their kids.
And he shows one of the reasons why they don't try to succeed. When you do, the people you love won't fit into that world. His mom has been on the campaign trail with him, but there is no way his Mamaw could have done that.
And he shows one of the reasons why they don't try to succeed. When you do, the people you love won't fit into that world. His mom has been on the campaign trail with him, but there is no way his Mamaw could have done that.
Posted by: Notsothoreau at September 01, 2024 09:17 AM (MpVUb)
33
I also read Belly of the Beast by Jack Henry Abbott. When Norman Mailer was writing Executioner's Song about the murderer Gary Gilmore, he received a letter from Abbott offering to tell him what life was like in a maximum security prison. Abbott was a long-term inmate in these prisons, spending most of the time in solitary confinement in the hole. The parts about prison life are interesting, but there is a lot of Marxist claptrap and philosophical handwringing about the society that built the system and put him there. No taking responsibility for his actions. Overall, a disappointing work. Thankfully, it was only 166 pages long.
Posted by: Zoltan at September 01, 2024 09:17 AM (bcrtw)
34
What does anyone know about Antony Beevor? I'm looking at a book of his ("Russia") but it's pretty pricey. Yea or nay?
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at September 01, 2024 09:18 AM (0FoWg)
35
Thanks for the advice on residue removal.
This is just for a book that I plan to put in a free library. (Stupid me bought it without realizing that I already had a copy.) I don't want it to stick to other books in the hutch and possibly damage their covers.
This is just for a book that I plan to put in a free library. (Stupid me bought it without realizing that I already had a copy.) I don't want it to stick to other books in the hutch and possibly damage their covers.
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 01, 2024 09:18 AM (p/isN)
36
So kim newmans anno dracula series was based on some facts
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 09:15 AM (PXvVL)
---
On the Lord of Spirits podcast some years ago they went into vampires and the fact the Eastern Orthodox Church has instructions with how to deal with them. There was even a pastoral letter telling villagers to stop digging up graves and burning the bodies, the priests will handle the investigation.
Interesting that the Latin Church wasn't afflicted by this particular problem.
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 09:15 AM (PXvVL)
---
On the Lord of Spirits podcast some years ago they went into vampires and the fact the Eastern Orthodox Church has instructions with how to deal with them. There was even a pastoral letter telling villagers to stop digging up graves and burning the bodies, the priests will handle the investigation.
Interesting that the Latin Church wasn't afflicted by this particular problem.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 01, 2024 09:18 AM (llXky)
37
Getting rid of sticky residue?
I THINK I'm remembering this correctly, but Avon Skin-So-Soft lotion is worth checking out. Don't recall where I heard about it first, but when I was working at the college library here I used it to get rid of things like that. Stuff actually helped remove the chewing gum someone had pressed onto a bound volume of National Geographics.
They've probably changed the ingredients since then (I'm talking a couple of decades ago), but you might give it a look.
I THINK I'm remembering this correctly, but Avon Skin-So-Soft lotion is worth checking out. Don't recall where I heard about it first, but when I was working at the college library here I used it to get rid of things like that. Stuff actually helped remove the chewing gum someone had pressed onto a bound volume of National Geographics.
They've probably changed the ingredients since then (I'm talking a couple of decades ago), but you might give it a look.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 01, 2024 09:20 AM (q3u5l)
38
I enjoyed Alfred Hitchcock and the three investigators books. They were well written; on a par with the Hardy Boys.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 01, 2024 09:10 AM (mzB36)
---
I actually liked The Three Investigators more than the Hardy Boys...though I did enjoy both.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 01, 2024 09:10 AM (mzB36)
---
I actually liked The Three Investigators more than the Hardy Boys...though I did enjoy both.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 01, 2024 09:20 AM (BpYfr)
39
Also read Twain's the mysterious stranger. Odd book, Satan is the lead character and treated rather positively.
Supposedly unfinished by Twain, and finished by "editors" I guess after his death, with no information where one starts and the other starts.
Worth reading, gives a number of reasons to consider some things.
Supposedly unfinished by Twain, and finished by "editors" I guess after his death, with no information where one starts and the other starts.
Worth reading, gives a number of reasons to consider some things.
Posted by: From about That Time at September 01, 2024 09:20 AM (4780s)
40
Good Sunday morning, horde!
I'm going to get that Spy Secrets book. Maybe it will help me be the badass I want to be, should I ever need to be.
I'm going to get that Spy Secrets book. Maybe it will help me be the badass I want to be, should I ever need to be.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at September 01, 2024 09:20 AM (OX9vb)
41
Be advised that starting in September of 2024, we have been tasked with forwarding the weekly Book Thread TPS (Total Pants Summation) report to Mr. O'Spades and the Perfessor. My understanding is that deficiencies will be noted in the Book Thread participant's Permanent Record.
While improvements have been noted recently, particularly by one hitherto incorrigible scofflaw, the number of people in violation will no doubt disappoint Mr. O'Spades, and increase his dyspepsia.
While improvements have been noted recently, particularly by one hitherto incorrigible scofflaw, the number of people in violation will no doubt disappoint Mr. O'Spades, and increase his dyspepsia.
Posted by: Bob from NSA at September 01, 2024 09:20 AM (NlwkK)
42
Hello horde. Quantum morning to you. Thanks Perfessor.
Posted by: TRex at September 01, 2024 09:21 AM (IQ6Gq)
43
Different neighborhood
Now in the real world wisners som was in the state department in vietnam and other places he ended up as ambassador to india and then was called back as envoy to egypt under obama
Now in the real world wisners som was in the state department in vietnam and other places he ended up as ambassador to india and then was called back as envoy to egypt under obama
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 09:21 AM (PXvVL)
44
If you wear those pants, you better have your own totem pole to back them up. If you know what a mean.
Posted by: Zoltan at September 01, 2024 09:22 AM (bcrtw)
45
I finally finished City of God, by St. Augustine of Hippo (in modern day Algeria).
Written in the early 5th C., this Christian apologetic, one of Christianity's foundational documents, contrasts the City of God with the City of Man. As one might expect, the latter does not come off well.
I can't improve on this Wiki description: As a work of one o the most influential Church Fathers, The Cit of God is a cornerstone of Western thought, expounding on many questions of theology, such as the suffering of the righteous, the existence of evil, the conflict between free will and divine omniscience, and the doctrine of original sin.
It's very long, rambling, and at times quite tedious, but at others, it's brilliant. Sometimes you'd swear you're reading the tightly reasoned words of a modern scholar, anticipating the arguments of today's religious skeptics. At other times, St. A. discusses, at great length, why the Roman gods weren't all that, Greek philosophers were smart but dumb at the same time, and why the theater is a font of evil. One particularly disturbing disquisition dealt with whether the flesh of a cannibal stays with him at the resurrection, (cont)
Written in the early 5th C., this Christian apologetic, one of Christianity's foundational documents, contrasts the City of God with the City of Man. As one might expect, the latter does not come off well.
I can't improve on this Wiki description: As a work of one o the most influential Church Fathers, The Cit of God is a cornerstone of Western thought, expounding on many questions of theology, such as the suffering of the righteous, the existence of evil, the conflict between free will and divine omniscience, and the doctrine of original sin.
It's very long, rambling, and at times quite tedious, but at others, it's brilliant. Sometimes you'd swear you're reading the tightly reasoned words of a modern scholar, anticipating the arguments of today's religious skeptics. At other times, St. A. discusses, at great length, why the Roman gods weren't all that, Greek philosophers were smart but dumb at the same time, and why the theater is a font of evil. One particularly disturbing disquisition dealt with whether the flesh of a cannibal stays with him at the resurrection, (cont)
Posted by: Archimedes at September 01, 2024 09:22 AM (xCA6C)
46
HOWEVER, all while I was reading _The Club of Queer Trades_ I had a nagging sense of familiarity, even though I'm sure I never actually read any of the stories in it before. Then it struck me: it's very much like Machen's _The Three Impostors_, except that Machen's writing horror and Chesterton's writing satire.
The two men were contemporaries, but I don't know if they knew each other.
The two men were contemporaries, but I don't know if they knew each other.
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 01, 2024 09:22 AM (78a2H)
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 01, 2024 09:23 AM (p/isN)
48
Lastly, one third or so into twelve hundred page volume on the ten Amber Chronicles.
Enjoying it a lot, easy dumb adventure reading. Still have a nagging feeling I've read at least parts of it in the way back past.
Also have Twain's Innocents Abroad open on the kindle, but don't think I got to any in the past week. Was leaving Paris when left off.
Enjoying it a lot, easy dumb adventure reading. Still have a nagging feeling I've read at least parts of it in the way back past.
Also have Twain's Innocents Abroad open on the kindle, but don't think I got to any in the past week. Was leaving Paris when left off.
Posted by: From about That Time at September 01, 2024 09:23 AM (4780s)
49
Sticky residue on book covers? A light rubbing of Goof Off or Goo Gone and cleanup with Lysol Wipes.
Reading Rick Pearlstein’s “The Invisible Bridge”, his take on the fall of Nixon and the rise of Reagan between 1972 and 1976. I had read Pearlsrein’s earlier “Nixonland” and didn’t much care for it. This volume continues in the snarky “aren’t we liberals so much smarter” vein. The only reason to continue reading is knowing Reagan was right and libtards were wrong (again).
Steven Hayward’s “Age Of Reagan” books are better.
Reading Rick Pearlstein’s “The Invisible Bridge”, his take on the fall of Nixon and the rise of Reagan between 1972 and 1976. I had read Pearlsrein’s earlier “Nixonland” and didn’t much care for it. This volume continues in the snarky “aren’t we liberals so much smarter” vein. The only reason to continue reading is knowing Reagan was right and libtards were wrong (again).
Steven Hayward’s “Age Of Reagan” books are better.
Posted by: Buzzy Krumhunger at September 01, 2024 09:23 AM (8++Ql)
50
"I w"onder how the book sales have done since he's been nominated as the VP candidate."
I don't know how it is elsewhere but "Hillbilly Elegy" at out county library has 17 regular paper versions and a 36 person waiting list. They also have 6 large print copies and there is a 37 person waiting list for those. Plus the e-versions. The waiting list is getting longer each week. I said to hell with the months long wait and just bought a copy. Vance is an effective writer.
I don't know how it is elsewhere but "Hillbilly Elegy" at out county library has 17 regular paper versions and a 36 person waiting list. They also have 6 large print copies and there is a 37 person waiting list for those. Plus the e-versions. The waiting list is getting longer each week. I said to hell with the months long wait and just bought a copy. Vance is an effective writer.
Posted by: JTB at September 01, 2024 09:24 AM (zudum)
51
Theres all sirts of supernatural elements in those place
Wisner was an ole miss grad a rare southerner at the top of the company so there might be some gothic elements there
Wisner was an ole miss grad a rare southerner at the top of the company so there might be some gothic elements there
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 09:24 AM (PXvVL)
52
(cont)
Or returns to its original owner.
City of God is a real investment of time, and can be a slog, so I won't recommend that everyone read it, if if you view it as not "just" a religious document, but as a window into the ancient world, it's fascinating. Just don't expect to finish it quickly.
Or returns to its original owner.
City of God is a real investment of time, and can be a slog, so I won't recommend that everyone read it, if if you view it as not "just" a religious document, but as a window into the ancient world, it's fascinating. Just don't expect to finish it quickly.
Posted by: Archimedes at September 01, 2024 09:24 AM (xCA6C)
53
Also, regarding badassery, I downloaded the first Orphan X book by Gregg Hurwitz. I read that in two nights, and then plowed through two more. That got me out of the reading slump!
Now, maybe I can go finish Krakatoa.
After I read some pilates instructionals, and my new pressure canning book.
Now, maybe I can go finish Krakatoa.
After I read some pilates instructionals, and my new pressure canning book.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at September 01, 2024 09:24 AM (OX9vb)
54
What does anyone know about Antony Beevor? I'm looking at a book of his ("Russia") but it's pretty pricey. Yea or nay?
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at September 01, 2024 09:18 AM (0FoWg)
---
You know, I don't think I'll ever get tired for ripping on that bigot. His book on the Spanish Civil War should have been career-ending. The guy actually wrote that the roots of the war could be found in the...wait for it...I'm not making this up...SPANISH INQUISITION.
Uh-huh. Yeah. Let's forget the whole vast empire, dislocation caused by centuries of Great Power conflicts, Napoleon's invasion and the resultant struggle between liberalism and the arch-conservatives that tore Spain apart during the 19th century. No, blame the Catholic Church.
Beevor actually wrote a passage that described most Spanish clergy as poor, barely literate, and unfit for any other work. WOW. Setting aside why "poverty" is a bad thing for clergy, is he saying that Catholics are retarded. Yes, yes he is and goes on to remark that only deluded old women really followed it by 1936.
(My venom cannot fit in one comment. TBC)
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at September 01, 2024 09:18 AM (0FoWg)
---
You know, I don't think I'll ever get tired for ripping on that bigot. His book on the Spanish Civil War should have been career-ending. The guy actually wrote that the roots of the war could be found in the...wait for it...I'm not making this up...SPANISH INQUISITION.
Uh-huh. Yeah. Let's forget the whole vast empire, dislocation caused by centuries of Great Power conflicts, Napoleon's invasion and the resultant struggle between liberalism and the arch-conservatives that tore Spain apart during the 19th century. No, blame the Catholic Church.
Beevor actually wrote a passage that described most Spanish clergy as poor, barely literate, and unfit for any other work. WOW. Setting aside why "poverty" is a bad thing for clergy, is he saying that Catholics are retarded. Yes, yes he is and goes on to remark that only deluded old women really followed it by 1936.
(My venom cannot fit in one comment. TBC)
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 01, 2024 09:24 AM (llXky)
55
In his novel Down to a Sunless Sea, David Poyer shows us the black, deadly world of cave diving. Commercial diver Tiller Galloway goes to Florida to help line up a dive shop for sale that was owned by his recently deceased friend, Bud Kusczk. What Tiller finds is that Bud seemed to make a lot of money from his shop, Tiller knows it wasn't from training divers, and Bud seemed to make regular solo trips into a certain cave system. Suddenly, Bud's death seems a lot more suspicious.
Diving in a cave adds a massive complication to an already complex activity. The only light is what the diver brings, and one carries a limited supply of their life support with them. Every move and breath must be measured. You cannot race to the surface if your air runs out; you die. If you get stuck, you die.
Poyer has obviously spent time in underwater caves, as he perfectly describes the claustrophobic, utterly dark and inherently deadly waters that lie beneath the Florida landmass. Divers' bodies are recovered each year from her caves, and those that regularly enter these passages are a select few. Making this the backdrop for a mystery makes the cave a menacing, sinister accomplice.
Diving in a cave adds a massive complication to an already complex activity. The only light is what the diver brings, and one carries a limited supply of their life support with them. Every move and breath must be measured. You cannot race to the surface if your air runs out; you die. If you get stuck, you die.
Poyer has obviously spent time in underwater caves, as he perfectly describes the claustrophobic, utterly dark and inherently deadly waters that lie beneath the Florida landmass. Divers' bodies are recovered each year from her caves, and those that regularly enter these passages are a select few. Making this the backdrop for a mystery makes the cave a menacing, sinister accomplice.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 01, 2024 09:25 AM (mzB36)
56
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 01, 2024 09:24 AM (llXky)
Ok, good to know.
Ok, good to know.
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at September 01, 2024 09:26 AM (0FoWg)
57
You know, I don't think I'll ever get tired for ripping on that bigot. His book on the Spanish Civil War should have been career-ending. The guy actually wrote that the roots of the war could be found in the...wait for it...I'm not making this up...SPANISH INQUISITION...
(My venom cannot fit in one comment. TBC)
We'll put you down as "undecided".
(My venom cannot fit in one comment. TBC)
We'll put you down as "undecided".
Posted by: Archimedes at September 01, 2024 09:26 AM (xCA6C)
58
I did revisit don winslows prequel on trevanian shibumi well sort of a sequel as it fills out nicholas hels adventures in china on a mission to kill the soviet envoy snd how it goes down
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 09:27 AM (PXvVL)
59
Re: Scholastic Book Orders
Back in the Dawn of Time, before everything became woke, Scholastic used to have book order forms in “American Girl Magazine,” published by the Girl Scouts USA (similar to “Boy’s Life,” published by the Boy Scouts of America). You could get four books for $1.00. Selection was limited, but I got some great reads, including a biography of Winston Churchill when I was 12. (1/2)
Back in the Dawn of Time, before everything became woke, Scholastic used to have book order forms in “American Girl Magazine,” published by the Girl Scouts USA (similar to “Boy’s Life,” published by the Boy Scouts of America). You could get four books for $1.00. Selection was limited, but I got some great reads, including a biography of Winston Churchill when I was 12. (1/2)
Posted by: March Hare at September 01, 2024 09:28 AM (jfX+U)
60
Beevor trots out every single debunked bit of Communist propaganda. By this point, no one can take the Guernica bombing as a war crime, but Beevor strains mightily to do so, dutifully reprinting the completely imaginary claims that more than a thousand people died and that the "sacred oak" which the Germans knew nothing about was a target.
Guernica was a tac-air mission, not "terror bombing." Franco's armies were closing in on it, it was a major arms producer (I've two pistols made there), and the point of the raid was to create disorder at a key river crossing to prevent reinforcements. But Beevor has to try because he hates, hates, hates Franco.
And Catholics. Reallly hates Catholics. He actually wrote that the clergy deserved to be lynched.
Guernica was a tac-air mission, not "terror bombing." Franco's armies were closing in on it, it was a major arms producer (I've two pistols made there), and the point of the raid was to create disorder at a key river crossing to prevent reinforcements. But Beevor has to try because he hates, hates, hates Franco.
And Catholics. Reallly hates Catholics. He actually wrote that the clergy deserved to be lynched.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 01, 2024 09:28 AM (llXky)
61
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 01, 2024 09:24 AM
Would it be fair to summarize this review as "One Star"?
Would it be fair to summarize this review as "One Star"?
Posted by: Duncanthrax at September 01, 2024 09:28 AM (NlwkK)
62
Hugh thomas did redeem himself after his compendiud yet flawed cuban history
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 09:28 AM (PXvVL)
63
When Dracula was written, the culture was still strongly Christian and belief in the afterlife was high ( mediums, seances, etc were very popular).
The idea of becoming a vampire was literally a fate worse than death.
The idea of becoming a vampire was literally a fate worse than death.
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 01, 2024 09:28 AM (Ydd86)
64
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 01, 2024 09:20 AM (q3u5l)
====
Skin-so-Soft is also a bug repellent.
====
Skin-so-Soft is also a bug repellent.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at September 01, 2024 09:28 AM (RIvkX)
65
"Sometimes it's worth it to have an extra copy of a book you really enjoy, especially if you are the sort of person to mark it up with notes and annotations. Or maybe you want a "reading copy" and a "display copy" so you buy a really nice edition of the book in addition to the one you enjoy reading for pleasure."
Good morning, Perfessor. I don't get 'display' copies as such but like having extra copies of certain books just for reading or lending to others. Besides, my highlights and notes wouldn't make sense to anyone else.
Good morning, Perfessor. I don't get 'display' copies as such but like having extra copies of certain books just for reading or lending to others. Besides, my highlights and notes wouldn't make sense to anyone else.
Posted by: JTB at September 01, 2024 09:29 AM (zudum)
66
Oh, one other interesting tidbit:
Apparently, St. Augustine was the originator of "tolle lege". He heard it from a voice that wanted him to read the bible.
Apparently, St. Augustine was the originator of "tolle lege". He heard it from a voice that wanted him to read the bible.
Posted by: Archimedes at September 01, 2024 09:29 AM (xCA6C)
67
So a vampire dynasty tied to the cia i will chain the orogin story of the protagonist
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 09:29 AM (PXvVL)
68
2 Read "Dracula" last week. Having seen the movies, it's quite surprising to find the novel isn't anything like them. It's an epistolary novel, told in diary entries, letters, and newspaper accounts. It also wasn't "scary" to me.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 09:00 AM (0eaVi)
Useful review, thank you.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 09:00 AM (0eaVi)
Useful review, thank you.
Posted by: Ordinary American at September 01, 2024 09:29 AM (+cFQ9)
69
Read "Dracula" last week. Having seen the movies, it's quite surprising to find the novel isn't anything like them. It's an epistolary novel, told in diary entries, letters, and newspaper accounts. It also wasn't "scary" to me.
Just out of curiosity, how did it handle Winona Ryder running down steps in a sheer negligee?
Just out of curiosity, how did it handle Winona Ryder running down steps in a sheer negligee?
Posted by: Archimedes at September 01, 2024 09:31 AM (xCA6C)
70
(2/2). I was going through my WWII phase at the time. And, because I was a fast reader and I was going to take this particular order to summer camp, I also paid attention to the page count of the books I was ordering.
Read three of the four at camp; Winston had to wait until our family camping vacation.
Read three of the four at camp; Winston had to wait until our family camping vacation.
Posted by: March Hare at September 01, 2024 09:31 AM (jfX+U)
71
Reading report- I am trying to put together a personal reading list of Catholicism.
I am a poorly catechized cradle Catholic and running out of time to remedy that. Just call it Remedial Catholicism.
I am a poorly catechized cradle Catholic and running out of time to remedy that. Just call it Remedial Catholicism.
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 01, 2024 09:32 AM (Ydd86)
72
Would it be fair to summarize this review as "One Star"?
Posted by: Duncanthrax at September 01, 2024 09:28 AM (NlwkK)
---
That's the review I left on Amazon. Lots of people find it helpful, which warms my icy heart.
I debated expending the book as a target (using a Fraco-produced weapon, of course), but its useful as a reference to prove Beevor's bigotry.
Posted by: Duncanthrax at September 01, 2024 09:28 AM (NlwkK)
---
That's the review I left on Amazon. Lots of people find it helpful, which warms my icy heart.
I debated expending the book as a target (using a Fraco-produced weapon, of course), but its useful as a reference to prove Beevor's bigotry.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 01, 2024 09:33 AM (llXky)
73
I dont recall they made much of minas wardrobe at the time lucy westenras by contrast
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 09:34 AM (PXvVL)
74
@63 --
The graphic novel "The New Deadwardians" posited one problem with vampires: When Pater becomes one, bang goes any chance of an inheiritance.
The graphic novel "The New Deadwardians" posited one problem with vampires: When Pater becomes one, bang goes any chance of an inheiritance.
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 01, 2024 09:34 AM (p/isN)
75
Does anyone else get into reading slumps? I have been reading several books a week for months and now, I cannot pick up a book and concentrate on it for the life of me. I hate that. If anyone has suggestions for breaking a slump, I would be grateful!
Posted by: Moki at September 01, 2024 09:34 AM (wLjpr)
76
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 01, 2024 09:32 AM
Does Ben Had have your email address?
Does Ben Had have your email address?
Posted by: Duncanthrax at September 01, 2024 09:34 AM (NlwkK)
77
My understanding of 'City of God' is that it was a response to people who claimed Christianity was responsible for the fall of Rome.
St. Augustine simply demolished that argument with facts.
St. Augustine simply demolished that argument with facts.
Posted by: dantesed at September 01, 2024 09:35 AM (Oy/m2)
78
I just finished reading "The Berlin Wall," by Frederick Taylor. It has a lot of good, detailed information on the early years of the Wall, and the relationship between East Germany and the USSR and the US. It's thin on the history of the Wall after Ulbricht. Where it really falls down, though, is the author's nearly sexual fixation on Willy Brandt.
West German politics had little bearing on the history of the Wall until the end, as it was always purely reactive. No need to spill much ink on it at all. Willy Brandt was always a pinko stooge whose administrator was wracked with Stasi spies. Far from a great leader. But this guy's fawning is cringe worthy. It's like listening to a suburban Karen talk about Obama.
West German politics had little bearing on the history of the Wall until the end, as it was always purely reactive. No need to spill much ink on it at all. Willy Brandt was always a pinko stooge whose administrator was wracked with Stasi spies. Far from a great leader. But this guy's fawning is cringe worthy. It's like listening to a suburban Karen talk about Obama.
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at September 01, 2024 09:35 AM (0FoWg)
79
I am a poorly catechized cradle Catholic and running out of time to remedy that. Just call it Remedial Catholicism.
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 01, 2024 09:32 AM (Ydd86)
---
Chesterton's Orthodoxy and Heretics are good reads.
Scupoli's The Spiritual Combat is kept next to my reading chair at all times for easy reference.
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 01, 2024 09:32 AM (Ydd86)
---
Chesterton's Orthodoxy and Heretics are good reads.
Scupoli's The Spiritual Combat is kept next to my reading chair at all times for easy reference.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 01, 2024 09:35 AM (llXky)
80
Reading this week?
For some reason, I know not why, I started a revisit of Ira Levin's novels. ROSEMARY'S BABY, SLIVER, THIS PERFECT DAY, THE STEPFORD WIVES and currently on his last book SON OF ROSEMARY (not up to the first one unless Levin comes up with a real hammer strike of a finish, which he just might). BOYS FROM BRAZIL and A KISS BEFORE DYING some time this week. I'd forgotten how much fun his stuff can be. Will have to re-watch the movie from his play DEATHTRAP some time this week as well.
For some reason, I know not why, I started a revisit of Ira Levin's novels. ROSEMARY'S BABY, SLIVER, THIS PERFECT DAY, THE STEPFORD WIVES and currently on his last book SON OF ROSEMARY (not up to the first one unless Levin comes up with a real hammer strike of a finish, which he just might). BOYS FROM BRAZIL and A KISS BEFORE DYING some time this week. I'd forgotten how much fun his stuff can be. Will have to re-watch the movie from his play DEATHTRAP some time this week as well.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 01, 2024 09:35 AM (q3u5l)
81
Concur with the ease of reading Interstellar Medic Book 1 - The Long Run by Patrick Chiles.
I bought it after it was mentioned here on the book thread, and it was fun. Lots of block-text world-building here. There are plenty of hooks for the next story, which I will buy.
I loaned my copy out to a friend of mine, a former EMT. He is a very slow reader, so he has not wanted any of my previously offered books of mutual interest. He was captivated by The Long Run, and bought his own copy. He eagerly awaits the sequel.
I bought it after it was mentioned here on the book thread, and it was fun. Lots of block-text world-building here. There are plenty of hooks for the next story, which I will buy.
I loaned my copy out to a friend of mine, a former EMT. He is a very slow reader, so he has not wanted any of my previously offered books of mutual interest. He was captivated by The Long Run, and bought his own copy. He eagerly awaits the sequel.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at September 01, 2024 09:36 AM (u82oZ)
82
I just started the last section of Stephen Baxter's Navigator.
Time manipulators from the future have orchestrated a defeat of both the Mongol and Islamic Empires in favor of Christianity.
Now, in AD 1472, the final portion of the current prophecies are slated to be fulfilled...
Time manipulators from the future have orchestrated a defeat of both the Mongol and Islamic Empires in favor of Christianity.
Now, in AD 1472, the final portion of the current prophecies are slated to be fulfilled...
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 01, 2024 09:37 AM (BpYfr)
83
My understanding of 'City of God' is that it was a response to people who claimed Christianity was responsible for the fall of Rome.
St. Augustine simply demolished that argument with facts.
No, I didn't get that at all. It does spend a long time on the Roman gods, and why they suck, but doesn't specifically attempt to refute that Christianity was responsible for Rome's fall. That sounds like a response to Gibbon.
St. Augustine simply demolished that argument with facts.
No, I didn't get that at all. It does spend a long time on the Roman gods, and why they suck, but doesn't specifically attempt to refute that Christianity was responsible for Rome's fall. That sounds like a response to Gibbon.
Posted by: Archimedes at September 01, 2024 09:38 AM (xCA6C)
84
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at September 01, 2024 09:35 AM (0FoWg)
===
There were a number of dramatic escapes over the Wall, especially in the earlier years.
===
There were a number of dramatic escapes over the Wall, especially in the earlier years.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at September 01, 2024 09:38 AM (RIvkX)
85
I made scant progress in "The Troubles" this week, but I did add two books to the pile: (1) The American Pageant, which is the textbook my kiddo is using in her AP history class; and (2) Rothammel's Antenna Book, a 1500 page reference tome for just about every type of amateur radio antenna one could imagine.
As for the history book, I wanted to see what she's learning as well as to refresh my memory on whatever I've forgotten since high school and college. I majored in history (don't laugh), but I focused mostly on military and diplomatic history since around 1870.
As for the history book, I wanted to see what she's learning as well as to refresh my memory on whatever I've forgotten since high school and college. I majored in history (don't laugh), but I focused mostly on military and diplomatic history since around 1870.
Posted by: PabloD at September 01, 2024 09:38 AM (vKpGa)
86
Moki,
For reading slumps, I've found dipping into a collection of short stories or essays helps. Take the reading in little bites.
For reading slumps, I've found dipping into a collection of short stories or essays helps. Take the reading in little bites.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 01, 2024 09:39 AM (q3u5l)
87
Its curious how levin and also goldman had mythologized mengele when he had been abandoned by his fellow nazis had migrated from paraguay to a minor brazilian village
A recent french volume translated to english shows his decline
A recent french volume translated to english shows his decline
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 09:39 AM (PXvVL)
88
Does anyone else get into reading slumps? I have been reading several books a week for months and now, I cannot pick up a book and concentrate on it for the life of me. I hate that. If anyone has suggestions for breaking a slump, I would be grateful!
Posted by: Moki at September 01, 2024 09:34 AM (wLjpr)
---
I think someone mentioned reading short stories instead. Or something other than your usual fare. Try a Moron Recommendation!
Posted by: Moki at September 01, 2024 09:34 AM (wLjpr)
---
I think someone mentioned reading short stories instead. Or something other than your usual fare. Try a Moron Recommendation!
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 01, 2024 09:39 AM (BpYfr)
89
I don't get 'display' copies as such but like having extra copies of certain books just for reading or lending to others. Besides, my highlights and notes wouldn't make sense to anyone else.
Posted by: JTB
If I really enjoy a book, I get extra copies to hand out. Loaned books rarely come back, especially if they are as good as I say they are.
Posted by: JTB
If I really enjoy a book, I get extra copies to hand out. Loaned books rarely come back, especially if they are as good as I say they are.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 01, 2024 09:40 AM (mzB36)
90
No, I didn't get that at all. It does spend a long time on the Roman gods, and why they suck, but doesn't specifically attempt to refute that Christianity was responsible for Rome's fall. That sounds like a response to Gibbon.
For that matter, CoG was written in the early 400s, and Rome didn't fall until 476, under Odoacer.
For that matter, CoG was written in the early 400s, and Rome didn't fall until 476, under Odoacer.
Posted by: Archimedes at September 01, 2024 09:40 AM (xCA6C)
91
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 01, 2024 09:35 AM (q3u5l)
====
I have always wondered why This Perfect Day has never been dramatized.
====
I have always wondered why This Perfect Day has never been dramatized.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at September 01, 2024 09:41 AM (RIvkX)
92
Posted by: Archimedes at September 01, 2024 09:38 AM (xCA6C)
It's been a long time since I've read it. Maybe, I need to read it again to refresh my memory.
It's been a long time since I've read it. Maybe, I need to read it again to refresh my memory.
Posted by: dantesed at September 01, 2024 09:41 AM (Oy/m2)
93
Does anyone else get into reading slumps? I have been reading several books a week for months and now, I cannot pick up a book and concentrate on it for the life of me. I hate that. If anyone has suggestions for breaking a slump, I would be grateful!
Posted by: Moki
When I am having trouble concentrating, I find it helps to switch genres. For example, from history to novel.
Posted by: Moki
When I am having trouble concentrating, I find it helps to switch genres. For example, from history to novel.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 01, 2024 09:42 AM (mzB36)
94
Also the decline and fall happened in the easten most provinces where christisnity had less purchase
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 09:42 AM (PXvVL)
95
Hugh thomas did redeem himself after his compendiud yet flawed cuban history
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 09:28 AM (PXvVL)
---
Thomas's revision on his book on Spain kind of jump out of the page given the overall tone. Even he realized that the leftist narrative was no longer tenable and the fact was that Franco did what the Communists always say they will do, but never accomplish - a massive increase in standard of living, health care, education, and all without famines!
I did catch a mistake in his timeline of the Northern Campaign, which made me feel like a Real Scholar doing Original Work.
Naturally, my book is super-relevant, which is why everyone needs at least three copies - one to read, one to share, and one to hide in the wall in case things get spicy.
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 09:28 AM (PXvVL)
---
Thomas's revision on his book on Spain kind of jump out of the page given the overall tone. Even he realized that the leftist narrative was no longer tenable and the fact was that Franco did what the Communists always say they will do, but never accomplish - a massive increase in standard of living, health care, education, and all without famines!
I did catch a mistake in his timeline of the Northern Campaign, which made me feel like a Real Scholar doing Original Work.
Naturally, my book is super-relevant, which is why everyone needs at least three copies - one to read, one to share, and one to hide in the wall in case things get spicy.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 01, 2024 09:42 AM (llXky)
96
Someone (I believe it was Wolfus) mentioned de Camp's "Great Cities of the Ancient World". A used copy arrived a couple of days ago so I haven't got too far into it but it looks interesting. De Camp does a good job describing the how and why cities arose without getting to graduate level theories. But it has maps (Yaaa!) both ancient and modern. What caught my attention is he uses quotes from Kipling, Chesterton, Lord Dunsany, and Shelley's "Ozymandias" to enhance the ancient aspects of cities. It's a nice touch. I'm looking forward to the chapters on individual cities.
I suspect this book eventually will end up going to our nephew and his family. The adults would be interested and their kids might enjoy it as they get older. He and our niece swap books a lot so this may end travelling between Indiana and Tennessee.
I suspect this book eventually will end up going to our nephew and his family. The adults would be interested and their kids might enjoy it as they get older. He and our niece swap books a lot so this may end travelling between Indiana and Tennessee.
Posted by: JTB at September 01, 2024 09:42 AM (zudum)
97
Now that Dracula has been brought up, there's an opportunity to plug my favorite crossover novel, "Sherlock Holmes: A Betrayal in Blood," by Mark A. Latham! Don't miss this one:
Holmes is presented with a singular problem: Why would the eminent Dr. Abraham Van Helsing and his respectable friends pursue and murder an eccentric Balkan gentleman and then put about a crazy story about said gentleman being some kind of blood-sucking ghoul?! Holmes and Watson investigate ... and every detail tracks perfectly with Stoker's book, but we're on Planet Holmes, where once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth ....
Holmes is presented with a singular problem: Why would the eminent Dr. Abraham Van Helsing and his respectable friends pursue and murder an eccentric Balkan gentleman and then put about a crazy story about said gentleman being some kind of blood-sucking ghoul?! Holmes and Watson investigate ... and every detail tracks perfectly with Stoker's book, but we're on Planet Holmes, where once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth ....
Posted by: werewife, princess of Delray Beach at September 01, 2024 09:43 AM (wwf+q)
98
For that matter, CoG was written in the early 400s, and Rome didn't fall until 476, under Odoacer.
Posted by: Archimedes at September 01, 2024 09:40 AM (xCA6C)
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Rome was sacked in 410 A.D., it's first foreign conquest since the Gauls under Brennus, 800 years earlier. It was kind of a big deal at the time.
Posted by: Archimedes at September 01, 2024 09:40 AM (xCA6C)
---
Rome was sacked in 410 A.D., it's first foreign conquest since the Gauls under Brennus, 800 years earlier. It was kind of a big deal at the time.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 01, 2024 09:44 AM (llXky)
99
I was discussing the rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire recently and something struck me: I think Gibbon and a lot of the idiot atheists get the causality exactly reversed. Christianity expanded as the Empire decayed, but it seems obvious to me that it was an effect rather than a cause of that decline. When you're part of an expanding and invincible Empire, of course you'll honor the gods and the founders of the eternal city. But when things are falling apart and barbarians get ever closer to the gates, a God of mercy seems more and more what you need.
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 01, 2024 09:45 AM (78a2H)
100
Rome was sacked in 410 A.D., it's first foreign conquest since the Gauls under Brennus, 800 years earlier. It was kind of a big deal at the time.
Duh, I forgot about Alaric.
Duh, I forgot about Alaric.
Posted by: Archimedes at September 01, 2024 09:45 AM (xCA6C)
101
I don't face reading slumps; my problem is deciding what to read next. I've been on quite a buying binge, filling in a lot of series.
My situation is akin to the donkey placed exactly between two piles of hay. Unable to decide which one to approach, it starved to death.
My hope is that by completing some books I've had for ages ("Shadow Warrior"), I will pull out the plug and address the resulting torrent before I die.
My situation is akin to the donkey placed exactly between two piles of hay. Unable to decide which one to approach, it starved to death.
My hope is that by completing some books I've had for ages ("Shadow Warrior"), I will pull out the plug and address the resulting torrent before I die.
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 01, 2024 09:45 AM (p/isN)
102
Why no film of THIS PERFECT DAY? Beats me -- the others were filmed (except his last, SON OF ROSEMARY). It'd make a pretty good flick.
But given the movie industry these days, those guys would probably think the world-controlling computer and its programmers were the good guys...
But given the movie industry these days, those guys would probably think the world-controlling computer and its programmers were the good guys...
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 01, 2024 09:45 AM (q3u5l)
103
The guy actually wrote that the roots of the war could be found in the...wait for it...I'm not making this up...SPANISH INQUISITION.
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Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!
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Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Covfefe Today, Covfefe Tomorrow, Covfefe Forever! at September 01, 2024 09:45 AM (L/fGl)
104
I find Antony Beevor is a bit of a Soviet army apologist. Old Uncle Joe according to Beevor could do no wrong even during the three or four days immediately after Barbarossa when Stalin pretty much did a ‘Biden’ and lost his marbles.
I much prefer reading Keegan, Hastings, Kershaw, AJP Taylor, Gilbert and of course the granddaddy of them all, Churchill’s six volume “History of the Second World War”.
I much prefer reading Keegan, Hastings, Kershaw, AJP Taylor, Gilbert and of course the granddaddy of them all, Churchill’s six volume “History of the Second World War”.
Posted by: Buzzy Krumhunger at September 01, 2024 09:46 AM (8++Ql)
105
For reading slumps, I've found dipping into a collection of short stories or essays helps. Take the reading in little bites.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 01, 2024 09:39 AM (q3u5l)
I've found Ed McBain's 87th Precinct books to be good for reading slumps. They are all free on kindle unlimited, and I can usually finish one in a night or two. I like the writing style and the characters, and I've come to think of them as a reading "palate cleanser" before I go on to something else.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 01, 2024 09:39 AM (q3u5l)
I've found Ed McBain's 87th Precinct books to be good for reading slumps. They are all free on kindle unlimited, and I can usually finish one in a night or two. I like the writing style and the characters, and I've come to think of them as a reading "palate cleanser" before I go on to something else.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at September 01, 2024 09:46 AM (OX9vb)
106
I re-read 'The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant' this past week. Sat down outside in the shade and had an enjoyable three hours. Funny how way back in the 1950's baseball season ended on September 21 - at least in the book. 'Joe Hardy' does not engage in sex with Lola, though he does smoke while 'Applegate' lights his cigarette without match or lighter.
A pleasant trip back in time, especially with the Yankee's losing.
I re-read 'The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant' this past week. Sat down outside in the shade and had an enjoyable three hours. Funny how way back in the 1950's baseball season ended on September 21 - at least in the book. 'Joe Hardy' does not engage in sex with Lola, though he does smoke while 'Applegate' lights his cigarette without match or lighter.
A pleasant trip back in time, especially with the Yankee's losing.
Posted by: Rod Stewart at September 01, 2024 09:46 AM (RKVpM)
107
The Russian word for books is a silly-sounding word.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at September 01, 2024 09:14 AM (RIvkX)
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My RuLing friends used to say "Knigayem!" ("Let's book!") when they wanted to skedaddle.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at September 01, 2024 09:14 AM (RIvkX)
---
My RuLing friends used to say "Knigayem!" ("Let's book!") when they wanted to skedaddle.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at September 01, 2024 09:46 AM (kpS4V)
Posted by: naturalfake at September 01, 2024 09:46 AM (eDfFs)
109
10 ... "I need advice on ways to remove sticky label residue from used books. The labels used by some stores don't peel off easily."
I use a few drops of lighter fluid on a paper towel to remove the residue. No problems so far.
I use a few drops of lighter fluid on a paper towel to remove the residue. No problems so far.
Posted by: JTB at September 01, 2024 09:47 AM (zudum)
110
In addition to other projects, I'm doing something of a deep dive on Tolkien for a column on what Aces calls "We Haz Rangz," which has decided to rehabilitate the orcs into misunderstood People of Color oppressed by white imperialists or something.
I was amused to see WOTC has decided they are Mexicans in D&D, which is quite a take.
I was amused to see WOTC has decided they are Mexicans in D&D, which is quite a take.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 01, 2024 09:47 AM (llXky)
111
So why did the empire endure for a 1000 years in the East gibbon steps on his own...argument
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 09:48 AM (PXvVL)
112
Why no film of THIS PERFECT DAY? Beats me -- the others were filmed (except his last, SON OF ROSEMARY). It'd make a pretty good flick.
But given the movie industry these days, those guys would probably think the world-controlling computer and its programmers were the good guys...
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 01, 2024 09:45 AM (q3u5l)
---
I tend to *avoid* movie/television adaptations these days *because* the odds favor an absolute desecration of the author's original work.
But given the movie industry these days, those guys would probably think the world-controlling computer and its programmers were the good guys...
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 01, 2024 09:45 AM (q3u5l)
---
I tend to *avoid* movie/television adaptations these days *because* the odds favor an absolute desecration of the author's original work.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 01, 2024 09:49 AM (BpYfr)
113
"The Unmothers" by Leslie J.Anderson is a slow-burn horror set in rural horse country. After suffering the double blow of her husband's death and a miscarriage, reporter Carolyn Marshall is sent by her news team to cover a softball story assignment: travel to the little town of Raeford to see what's behind the claim that a horse gave birth to a human child.
It's obviously a hoax, but something is definitely going on and there are undercurrents of fear and violence. And there are strange folkways that aren't explained, like leaving bowls of milk and sugar on the tombstones at the church graveyard, to appease...what?
"...the weird silence, the slippery memory, the careful and selective turning away."
It's obviously a hoax, but something is definitely going on and there are undercurrents of fear and violence. And there are strange folkways that aren't explained, like leaving bowls of milk and sugar on the tombstones at the church graveyard, to appease...what?
"...the weird silence, the slippery memory, the careful and selective turning away."
Posted by: All Hail Eris at September 01, 2024 09:49 AM (kpS4V)
114
On the Kindle I read Windrush: Beyond the Frontier by Malcolm Archibald. In 1878 Major Windrush is sent from Kabal to subdue raiding Pushtan tribesmen lead by Winrush's old friend, Batoor. When Russian troops amass on the Afghan-Turkistan border, Batoor joins forces with the 113th Foot and native Indian units to deter the Russians from invading. An interesting story and history.
Posted by: Zoltan at September 01, 2024 09:08 AM (bcrtw)
Part of the backdrop for the manga Bride Story is that the Russians are invading/ asserting new authority in the tribal steppes. I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be set in the late 1800s or early 1900s, so your comment makes me think the former is most likely.
Posted by: Zoltan at September 01, 2024 09:08 AM (bcrtw)
Part of the backdrop for the manga Bride Story is that the Russians are invading/ asserting new authority in the tribal steppes. I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be set in the late 1800s or early 1900s, so your comment makes me think the former is most likely.
Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at September 01, 2024 09:50 AM (s9EYN)
115
Hey, all! The seventh book in the Paxton Locke, series, Toil and Trouble, is now live. Thanks to the Perfessor for last week’s shout out, and thanks to the horde for your support over the years. It means a lot! Can’t link to the ‘son, but if you’d pick it up or any of my other works you might have missed out on, I greatly appreciate it.
Posted by: Emile Antoon Khadaji at September 01, 2024 09:50 AM (rdSra)
Posted by: Weak Geek roots for Royals at September 01, 2024 09:50 AM (p/isN)
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 09:51 AM (PXvVL)
118
Reading The Rise of the Greeks, by Michael Grant.
Interesting book, as a survey. Clearly show the evolution of politics, from small farming towns to despots and tyrants, then oligarchies, followed by a sort of democracy. Good for interweaving the arts in with political developments.
The early Greeks come across as a bunch of pederast, homosexual, frat boys that don't like women too much. Not a lot of constraints on behavior. But there is progress.
Lots of place names mentioned, and some of them even appear on the many maps. I got a Funk and Wagner dictionary article out to see where things were.
The book has fired my interest in finding out more. Especially on colonization.
Interesting book, as a survey. Clearly show the evolution of politics, from small farming towns to despots and tyrants, then oligarchies, followed by a sort of democracy. Good for interweaving the arts in with political developments.
The early Greeks come across as a bunch of pederast, homosexual, frat boys that don't like women too much. Not a lot of constraints on behavior. But there is progress.
Lots of place names mentioned, and some of them even appear on the many maps. I got a Funk and Wagner dictionary article out to see where things were.
The book has fired my interest in finding out more. Especially on colonization.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at September 01, 2024 09:51 AM (u82oZ)
119
In addition to other projects, I'm doing something of a deep dive on Tolkien for a column on what Aces calls "We Haz Rangz," which has decided to rehabilitate the orcs into misunderstood People of Color oppressed by white imperialists or something.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 01, 2024 09:47 AM (llXky)
----
Well, then Season 2 of Rings of Power should be a real treat for you! From what little reviews I've seen so far, it makes Season 1 look like Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 01, 2024 09:47 AM (llXky)
----
Well, then Season 2 of Rings of Power should be a real treat for you! From what little reviews I've seen so far, it makes Season 1 look like Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 01, 2024 09:51 AM (BpYfr)
120
Moki maybe that's my issue, plowed through a half dozen tombs and now not sure what I even want to read
Posted by: Skip at September 01, 2024 09:51 AM (fwDg9)
121
Good morning!
Let's smile & be happy & strike fear in the hearts of killjoy leftists everywhere.
Let's smile & be happy & strike fear in the hearts of killjoy leftists everywhere.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at September 01, 2024 09:51 AM (u82oZ)
122
Lindisfarne says "helloooo" form the past:
"Meet Me on the Corner"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch_5dB1FkqY
Lindisfarne says "helloooo" form the past:
"Meet Me on the Corner"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ch_5dB1FkqY
Posted by: naturalfake at September 01, 2024 09:52 AM (eDfFs)
123
When you're part of an expanding and invincible Empire, of course you'll honor the gods and the founders of the eternal city. But when things are falling apart and barbarians get ever closer to the gates, a God of mercy seems more and more what you need.
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 01, 2024 09:45 AM (78a2H)
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The fall of Rome had a lot of causes and historians love to argue about it, but my take is that it was a crisis of leadership. We're seeing it right here today. You get these decadent elites who assume that super-power status is their birthright and that the Empire is self-sustaining. Add in plagues, barbarian invasions and stuff, and its just overwhelming.
If anything, Christianity helped hold it together and then sustain the best aspects of ancient civilization.
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 01, 2024 09:45 AM (78a2H)
---
The fall of Rome had a lot of causes and historians love to argue about it, but my take is that it was a crisis of leadership. We're seeing it right here today. You get these decadent elites who assume that super-power status is their birthright and that the Empire is self-sustaining. Add in plagues, barbarian invasions and stuff, and its just overwhelming.
If anything, Christianity helped hold it together and then sustain the best aspects of ancient civilization.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 01, 2024 09:52 AM (llXky)
124
Believe Ira Levin (and some others) is on record saying that Polanski's film of ROSEMARY'S BABY is the most faithful adaptation of a novel to film ever. And I'd buy that. It really follows the book well. Some comments on the film said that it was Polanski's first time adapting someone else's work and didn't realize yet that Hollywood didn't mind at all if you messed with the source.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 01, 2024 09:53 AM (q3u5l)
125
Moki maybe that's my issue, plowed through a half dozen tombs and now not sure what I even want to read
Dang, you're hard core.
Dang, you're hard core.
Posted by: Archimedes at September 01, 2024 09:54 AM (xCA6C)
126
Of course jack kirby is doing capoiera in the ether with what they did to the eternals as well as namor
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 09:55 AM (PXvVL)
127
I started reading the Moron Recommendations and was amazed that someone else is also reading the Life of Lenin.
Then I realized that was me and that I was reading my own book review from last week.
Up to page 375 so far in the Lenin biography. Been busy lately, including reading other books.
Then I realized that was me and that I was reading my own book review from last week.
Up to page 375 so far in the Lenin biography. Been busy lately, including reading other books.
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at September 01, 2024 09:55 AM (QJ2FR)
128
My RuLing friends used to say "Knigayem!" ("Let's book!") when they wanted to skedaddle.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at September 01, 2024 09:46 AM (kpS4V)
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That is very funny because when it is that time I usually announce "пошли!" It is the one Russian word Boy F. understands.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at September 01, 2024 09:46 AM (kpS4V)
===
That is very funny because when it is that time I usually announce "пошли!" It is the one Russian word Boy F. understands.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at September 01, 2024 09:55 AM (RIvkX)
129
Well, reading about the Bolsheviks really is
Posted by: Skip at September 01, 2024 09:55 AM (fwDg9)
130
I'm not sure if I found the series Keeper Chronicles from a recommendation here or when looking on Kindle for something recommended here. Either way, I enjoyed all three books very much.
The setting is a fairly standard fantasy world, but there are enough different details to give it a fresh feel. Each book follows a different character, but they tie together well.
The setting is a fairly standard fantasy world, but there are enough different details to give it a fresh feel. Each book follows a different character, but they tie together well.
Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at September 01, 2024 09:56 AM (s9EYN)
131
Haven't had time to do the book report on biography of Lenin I promised for this Thread
Posted by: Skip at September 01, 2024 09:56 AM (fwDg9)
132
I started reading the Moron Recommendations and was amazed that someone else is also reading the Life of Lenin.
Then I realized that was me and that I was reading my own book review from last week.
The question is, were you impressed or revolted by the reviewer before you figured it out?
Then I realized that was me and that I was reading my own book review from last week.
The question is, were you impressed or revolted by the reviewer before you figured it out?
Posted by: Archimedes at September 01, 2024 09:56 AM (xCA6C)
133
Well, then Season 2 of Rings of Power should be a real treat for you! From what little reviews I've seen so far, it makes Season 1 look like Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 01, 2024 09:51 AM (BpYfr)
---
One of my side gigs is writing social commentary over at Bleeding Fool. The Acolyte was a gold mine of material and my Iron Triangle of Youtubers watched it so I didn't have to. Rings of Powder ("Cocaine is a powerful drug!") is now giving me lots of material, though it is horrifically bad.
My current column is basically an explainer on a couple of key concepts from the actual lore and how Amazon's writers twisted them into a pretzel and then defecated on it.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 01, 2024 09:51 AM (BpYfr)
---
One of my side gigs is writing social commentary over at Bleeding Fool. The Acolyte was a gold mine of material and my Iron Triangle of Youtubers watched it so I didn't have to. Rings of Powder ("Cocaine is a powerful drug!") is now giving me lots of material, though it is horrifically bad.
My current column is basically an explainer on a couple of key concepts from the actual lore and how Amazon's writers twisted them into a pretzel and then defecated on it.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 01, 2024 09:57 AM (llXky)
134
Well i read pipes history of the russian revolution hevreally understood lenin
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 09:57 AM (PXvVL)
135
30 ... "This week I went on a bit of a Chesterton binge, courtesy of Project Gutenberg. First his poem "The Ballad of the White Horse" about King Alfred -- great stuff, very heroic. Recommended."
Chesterton is always a pleasure but Ballad of the White Horse is magnificent. Be careful, though. It can take a while to read regular prose normally after all the ballad pacing, meter and alliteration.
I have a paper copy, of course, but there is also a 99 cent Kindle annotated version I use on the Paperwhite reader
Chesterton is always a pleasure but Ballad of the White Horse is magnificent. Be careful, though. It can take a while to read regular prose normally after all the ballad pacing, meter and alliteration.
I have a paper copy, of course, but there is also a 99 cent Kindle annotated version I use on the Paperwhite reader
Posted by: JTB at September 01, 2024 09:58 AM (zudum)
136
The question is, were you impressed or revolted by the reviewer before you figured it out?
Posted by: Archimedes at September 01, 2024 09:56 AM (xCA6C)
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Based on such a most reputable recommendation, I accidentally ordered another copy of the reviewed book.
Posted by: Archimedes at September 01, 2024 09:56 AM (xCA6C)
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Based on such a most reputable recommendation, I accidentally ordered another copy of the reviewed book.
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at September 01, 2024 09:58 AM (QJ2FR)
137
There will be a test sarc
Pipes guided reagans policy at the nsc when other mids wanted him to return to detente
Pipes guided reagans policy at the nsc when other mids wanted him to return to detente
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 09:58 AM (PXvVL)
138
I loved Rosemary's Baby and read it as a 10 year old. By then the movie was on tv Movie of the Week.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at September 01, 2024 09:59 AM (RIvkX)
139
People reacted by living more in the moment, accepting friendships whenever possible and showing more affection and courtesy.
We could use more of that.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 01, 2024 09:04 AM (llXky)
Perhaps. But, one thing I didn't mention, the characters belong to the same social class, so I suspect that's why they act that way toward each other. They all have plenty of money to devote to the chase and free time. They're not lower class people. The lower class people who appear all speak in dialect, and can be easily bought off with liquor to aid the protagonists. They have the same outlook on life and trust their class to do certain things. It's just a little strange to a modern reader how easily they join together after first meeting.
We could use more of that.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 01, 2024 09:04 AM (llXky)
Perhaps. But, one thing I didn't mention, the characters belong to the same social class, so I suspect that's why they act that way toward each other. They all have plenty of money to devote to the chase and free time. They're not lower class people. The lower class people who appear all speak in dialect, and can be easily bought off with liquor to aid the protagonists. They have the same outlook on life and trust their class to do certain things. It's just a little strange to a modern reader how easily they join together after first meeting.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 10:00 AM (0eaVi)
140
Well i read pipes history of the russian revolution hevreally understood lenin
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 09:57 AM (PXvVL)
====
You might like Riasonovsky.
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 09:57 AM (PXvVL)
====
You might like Riasonovsky.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at September 01, 2024 10:01 AM (RIvkX)
141
113 "The Unmothers" by Leslie J.Anderson is a slow-burn horror set in rural horse country.
"...the weird silence, the slippery memory, the careful and selective turning away."
Posted by: All Hail Eris at September 01, 2024 09:49 AM (kpS4V)
That sounds fascinating.
*adds to library holds
"...the weird silence, the slippery memory, the careful and selective turning away."
Posted by: All Hail Eris at September 01, 2024 09:49 AM (kpS4V)
That sounds fascinating.
*adds to library holds
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at September 01, 2024 10:01 AM (OX9vb)
142
One thing (among many) I admired about Hillbilly Elegy was the grace with which Vance segued from personal anecdote to research with wider applications. Example that comes to mind: when he testified on his mother's attempt to kill him, he lied and said she hadn't. Because if he had told the truth, he would have been put in Children's Services, and none of his extended family--Mamaw, uncles, cousins, half-siblings--would have been allowed to contact him.
Posted by: Wenda at September 01, 2024 10:03 AM (VG+ie)
143
@128 --
Sam Levenson, writing about his childhood, recalled that when his parents were discussing a subject they deemed too adult for him, "their eyes turned to me and their tongues turned to Russian. Those are the only Russian words I know. If I ever go there, they're going to wash out my mouth."
Sam Levenson, writing about his childhood, recalled that when his parents were discussing a subject they deemed too adult for him, "their eyes turned to me and their tongues turned to Russian. Those are the only Russian words I know. If I ever go there, they're going to wash out my mouth."
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 01, 2024 10:03 AM (p/isN)
144
Does anyone else get into reading slumps? I have been reading several books a week for months and now, I cannot pick up a book and concentrate on it for the life of me. I hate that. If anyone has suggestions for breaking a slump, I would be grateful!
Posted by: Moki
----
Been in one for years it seems. I'm still reading but not really engaged and wind up abandoning many books. I'm trying a trial of audiobooks but find selecting a books is the same torturous process.
But because I just can't with this election season I'm trying to read/listen to more to escape from the news. I'm all over the place with genres.
Posted by: Moki
----
Been in one for years it seems. I'm still reading but not really engaged and wind up abandoning many books. I'm trying a trial of audiobooks but find selecting a books is the same torturous process.
But because I just can't with this election season I'm trying to read/listen to more to escape from the news. I'm all over the place with genres.
Posted by: lin-duh at September 01, 2024 10:04 AM (VCgbV)
145
It's just a little strange to a modern reader how easily they join together after first meeting.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 10:00 AM (0eaVi)
---
What you're describing is a high-trust society, which is what happens when you have stable, peaceful communities.
Our elites purposefully are trying to destroy that, because those communities present an obstacle to their reordering of society is an oligarchy where the population is at war with itself and the elites divide and rule.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 10:00 AM (0eaVi)
---
What you're describing is a high-trust society, which is what happens when you have stable, peaceful communities.
Our elites purposefully are trying to destroy that, because those communities present an obstacle to their reordering of society is an oligarchy where the population is at war with itself and the elites divide and rule.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 01, 2024 10:04 AM (llXky)
146
I finished reading "Primitive Athens as described by Thucydides "
What a cliffhanger. Well, more of a hill hanger. Anyway, I give this book a 9 out of 10 on the Sleepy Time Scale.
What a cliffhanger. Well, more of a hill hanger. Anyway, I give this book a 9 out of 10 on the Sleepy Time Scale.
Posted by: fd at September 01, 2024 10:06 AM (vFG9F)
147
Not that I am interested in reading either "Killing Pretty," or "Conqueror," but why are we still having to read about "underground Nazi cults," and "Hints of who might be behind this manipulation of the time stream are given in this novel as the prophecy speaks of establishing a ten-thousand-year empire ruled by Aryans?"
Nazi ideology has few adherents these days, the F'n commies are the threat. Totalitarianism today ain't coming from nazis, but reds. Cheap villains.
Nazi ideology has few adherents these days, the F'n commies are the threat. Totalitarianism today ain't coming from nazis, but reds. Cheap villains.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 10:07 AM (0eaVi)
148
Ok. Now I realize I may have a small problem. I read Pixy’s post this morning about barbed wire. So I went and ordered “The Devil’s Rope” by Alan Krell. I’ve already read about the history of salt and also paper so why not barbed wire.
LOL
LOL
Posted by: RetSgtRN at September 01, 2024 10:08 AM (eTkTC)
149
I had something like a "reading slump" for a while, and it was a function of two unrelated problems.
The first was general disruption in the household, which made reading difficult. Hard to read when every five minutes someone is screaming or a toddler is tugging at your arm. I watched a lot of Youtube because it was short and vacuous.
My old eyeglasses were the other problem. They had "transitions" lenses that didn't work for me at all, seemed perpetually dim and I felt worn out all the time.
Got a new normal pair, and the improvement was immediate. Also, prescription was tweaked, which was nice.
The first was general disruption in the household, which made reading difficult. Hard to read when every five minutes someone is screaming or a toddler is tugging at your arm. I watched a lot of Youtube because it was short and vacuous.
My old eyeglasses were the other problem. They had "transitions" lenses that didn't work for me at all, seemed perpetually dim and I felt worn out all the time.
Got a new normal pair, and the improvement was immediate. Also, prescription was tweaked, which was nice.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 01, 2024 10:08 AM (llXky)
150
wisner was stationed in romania during world war 2 and had as a mistress a princess who they claimed was a descendant of vlad tepes apparently so is prince william
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 09:12 AM (PXvVL)
Sounds about right. Royal families are bloodsuckers after all....
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 09:12 AM (PXvVL)
Sounds about right. Royal families are bloodsuckers after all....
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 10:09 AM (0eaVi)
151
Visiting my parents this weekend. Not sure how much I'll be participating in the thread. Ah, well...
Posted by: Castle Guy at September 01, 2024 10:09 AM (0UoT+)
152
if he had told the truth, he would have been put in Children's Services, and none of his extended family--Mamaw, uncles, cousins, half-siblings--would have been allowed to contact him.
Posted by: Wenda at September 01, 2024 10:03 AM (VG+ie)
It's heartbreaking to think about how many children are in these circumstances.
Thank you, Lord, for kind and stable parents.
Posted by: Wenda at September 01, 2024 10:03 AM (VG+ie)
It's heartbreaking to think about how many children are in these circumstances.
Thank you, Lord, for kind and stable parents.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at September 01, 2024 10:10 AM (OX9vb)
153
I need advice on ways to remove sticky label residue from used books. The labels used by some stores don't peel off easily.
--
Depending on the cover sometimes a tiny bit of hand sanitizer will help peel it off.
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 01, 2024 09:13 AM (Ydd86)
Haven't caught up on all the comments yet, but has anyone recommended a hot iron?
--
Depending on the cover sometimes a tiny bit of hand sanitizer will help peel it off.
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 01, 2024 09:13 AM (Ydd86)
Haven't caught up on all the comments yet, but has anyone recommended a hot iron?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 10:10 AM (0eaVi)
154
Ahh, Perfesser Squirrel is the Weekly Reader and Bookmobile all rolled up in one.
Posted by: Eromero at September 01, 2024 10:10 AM (DXbAa)
155
Reading this week?
For some reason, I know not why, I started a revisit of Ira Levin's novels. ROSEMARY'S BABY, SLIVER, THIS PERFECT DAY, THE STEPFORD WIVES and currently on his last book SON OF ROSEMARY (not up to the first one unless Levin comes up with a real hammer strike of a finish, which he just might). BOYS FROM BRAZIL and A KISS BEFORE DYING some time this week. I'd forgotten how much fun his stuff can be. Will have to re-watch the movie from his play DEATHTRAP some time this week as well.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 01, 2024 09:35 AM (q3u5l)
That's funny. I just started re-reading "This Perfect Day", Levin's dystopian novel, this week.
What a great popular novel writer, he is. Pretty much the Ur-Writer for the well-written, popular novel that gets made into a big budget Hollywood movie. Very clean, intelligent writing, great plot. I'm really enjoying reading him again.
BONUS! TPD is a pretty good funhouse version of today with the tyranny being composed of a mash-up of happy happy joy joy, tattling and treatments or removal for wrong thinking, and equity.
Give it a whirl.
For some reason, I know not why, I started a revisit of Ira Levin's novels. ROSEMARY'S BABY, SLIVER, THIS PERFECT DAY, THE STEPFORD WIVES and currently on his last book SON OF ROSEMARY (not up to the first one unless Levin comes up with a real hammer strike of a finish, which he just might). BOYS FROM BRAZIL and A KISS BEFORE DYING some time this week. I'd forgotten how much fun his stuff can be. Will have to re-watch the movie from his play DEATHTRAP some time this week as well.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 01, 2024 09:35 AM (q3u5l)
That's funny. I just started re-reading "This Perfect Day", Levin's dystopian novel, this week.
What a great popular novel writer, he is. Pretty much the Ur-Writer for the well-written, popular novel that gets made into a big budget Hollywood movie. Very clean, intelligent writing, great plot. I'm really enjoying reading him again.
BONUS! TPD is a pretty good funhouse version of today with the tyranny being composed of a mash-up of happy happy joy joy, tattling and treatments or removal for wrong thinking, and equity.
Give it a whirl.
Posted by: naturalfake at September 01, 2024 10:11 AM (eDfFs)
156
Nazi ideology has few adherents these days, the F'n commies are the threat. Totalitarianism today ain't coming from nazis, but reds. Cheap villains.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 10:07 AM (0eaVi)
---
Counterpoint: people write about what interests them, not what they hate. A lot of people on the leftists secretly have a thing for Nazis, find it naughty and all that.
As P.J. O'Rourke one wrote: "When I'm called a Nazi, I take it as a compliment. After all, who fantasizes about being tied up and ravished by someone dressed like a liberal?"
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 10:07 AM (0eaVi)
---
Counterpoint: people write about what interests them, not what they hate. A lot of people on the leftists secretly have a thing for Nazis, find it naughty and all that.
As P.J. O'Rourke one wrote: "When I'm called a Nazi, I take it as a compliment. After all, who fantasizes about being tied up and ravished by someone dressed like a liberal?"
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 01, 2024 10:11 AM (llXky)
157
Lenin is switzerland is good as solzhenitsyns take
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 10:13 AM (PXvVL)
Posted by: NaCly Dog at September 01, 2024 10:14 AM (u82oZ)
159
Sounds about right. Royal families are bloodsuckers after all....
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 10:09 AM (0eaVi)
---
Counterpoint: Democratic regimes are destroying their nations in a way monarchs could not even dream of. Henry VIII was arguably the worst king in British history, but at least England was still populated by the English.
Most European capitals are now majority foreign-born. Great job, democracy.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 10:09 AM (0eaVi)
---
Counterpoint: Democratic regimes are destroying their nations in a way monarchs could not even dream of. Henry VIII was arguably the worst king in British history, but at least England was still populated by the English.
Most European capitals are now majority foreign-born. Great job, democracy.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 01, 2024 10:14 AM (llXky)
160
Mostly fron the middle east and north africa some south asia
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 10:16 AM (PXvVL)
Posted by: Legally Sufficient at September 01, 2024 10:16 AM (CiNoz)
162
Blackstone Publishing is reissuing all of Levin's fiction in paperback and ebook (except for no ebook on STEPFORD WIVES, which is out as an ebook from a different publisher); I'm told they'll also be doing some of the plays.
I think Stephen King once called Levin the Swiss watchmaker of the suspense novel; spot on.
I think Stephen King once called Levin the Swiss watchmaker of the suspense novel; spot on.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 01, 2024 10:16 AM (q3u5l)
163
Definitely a Red Hot Chiles fan !!! His Space novels inspired me to find everything I could about Interstellar navigation and travel....absolutely mind blowing and with SpaceX burning up the race to Mars...knowledge is useful in understanding it...Didn't hesitate when Long Run came out and was not disappointed...cool read !!! BTW Tolle Lege
Posted by: qmark at September 01, 2024 10:18 AM (+t9Oi)
164
Howdy, Book Folken! A late run to the grocery store held me up. I'm plowing through L. Sprague de Camp's Great Cities of the Ancient World, and though I love his writing -- clear, with an occasional satirical edge -- I may skip ahead to Carthage and Rome, which I know more about. As I told him in person years ago, I always learn something new when I read him.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 10:20 AM (omVj0)
165
2) Castle Guy, I also have the Marvel Epic No. 2 trade collection of Master of Kung Fu. Commentary I have read indicates that MOKF Epic No. 1 is for completists only. Paul Gulacy's art on Doug Moench's stories gained attention for the book, and when Gulacy quit, Mike Zeck (assisted by Gene Day) kept the book riding high for years. I have most of the later back issues, but I would rather have the TPCs with their crisper printing. And I will.
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 01, 2024 09:02 AM (p/isN)
I bought a digital copy of MoKF Epic 1 years ago, when Amazon discounted it to a dollar. I only got a few issues in before loosing interest. However, after finishing Omnibus 2 (which includes the latter half of the Gulancy era) I bit the bullet and bought Omnibus 1 to get the first of Gulancy's art. I bought Omni 3 (Moench and Zeck are the only creators credited on the spine) when I bought 2 because they were both discounted to half off. That book is yet to be read. Alas, the fourth and final omnibus is horribly expensive, so I'll probably have to skip that.
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 01, 2024 09:02 AM (p/isN)
I bought a digital copy of MoKF Epic 1 years ago, when Amazon discounted it to a dollar. I only got a few issues in before loosing interest. However, after finishing Omnibus 2 (which includes the latter half of the Gulancy era) I bit the bullet and bought Omnibus 1 to get the first of Gulancy's art. I bought Omni 3 (Moench and Zeck are the only creators credited on the spine) when I bought 2 because they were both discounted to half off. That book is yet to be read. Alas, the fourth and final omnibus is horribly expensive, so I'll probably have to skip that.
Posted by: Castle Guy at September 01, 2024 10:20 AM (0UoT+)
166
Because if he had told the truth, he would have been put in Children's Services, and none of his extended family--Mamaw, uncles, cousins, half-siblings--would have been allowed to contact him.
Posted by: Wenda at September 01, 2024 10:03 AM (VG+ie)
---
This is a great point about how atomizing society and abolishing extended family leads to terrible outcomes. Having extended family allows failed parents to have a backstop. I experienced that myself, having to live with my grandparents for two years while my mother sorted herself out. It was great!
And now we're taking over the grandkids for a while so their mother can get her head together. That's how it should be, but we've been told that the American Dream is to leave your family behind and cross-cross the country seeking ever more money and things.
Work, not family, is the greatest good. Faith is a thing you use to feel better about your life choices, not something to guide them. I think my kids have figured this out, and want to stay close rather than move away.
The crime of the elites was that they made this impossible, closing mills, mines, forcing people to follow the vicissitudes of the job market.
Posted by: Wenda at September 01, 2024 10:03 AM (VG+ie)
---
This is a great point about how atomizing society and abolishing extended family leads to terrible outcomes. Having extended family allows failed parents to have a backstop. I experienced that myself, having to live with my grandparents for two years while my mother sorted herself out. It was great!
And now we're taking over the grandkids for a while so their mother can get her head together. That's how it should be, but we've been told that the American Dream is to leave your family behind and cross-cross the country seeking ever more money and things.
Work, not family, is the greatest good. Faith is a thing you use to feel better about your life choices, not something to guide them. I think my kids have figured this out, and want to stay close rather than move away.
The crime of the elites was that they made this impossible, closing mills, mines, forcing people to follow the vicissitudes of the job market.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 01, 2024 10:20 AM (llXky)
167
Nazi ideology has few adherents these days, the F'n commies are the threat. Totalitarianism today ain't coming from nazis, but reds. Cheap villains.
Posted by: OrangeEnt
A whole new genre, of hunting down underground communist cliques is waiting to be exploited.
Posted by: OrangeEnt
A whole new genre, of hunting down underground communist cliques is waiting to be exploited.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 01, 2024 10:20 AM (/7iMi)
168
"Great job, democracy."
Think it was Erdogan who said not too long ago that democracy isn't a goal, it's a train -- you ride it to your destination and then you get off. A lot of countries seem to be closer to their last stop then they think.
Think it was Erdogan who said not too long ago that democracy isn't a goal, it's a train -- you ride it to your destination and then you get off. A lot of countries seem to be closer to their last stop then they think.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 01, 2024 10:20 AM (q3u5l)
169
75 ... "Does anyone else get into reading slumps? I have been reading several books a week for months and now, I cannot pick up a book and concentrate on it for the life of me."
I am having the same problem. Always several books started but not concentrating on just one. Too much internet? TV? Never ending 5 minute news snippets? Constant distractions? Getting older? I won't talk about it every week but that's why I started reading "Count of Monte Cristo, all 1,200 pages without taking a few years to finish it. I put LOTR (naturally), Montaigne's Essays and Moby Dick in the same category.
I know it's working when I start losing sleep to read.
I am having the same problem. Always several books started but not concentrating on just one. Too much internet? TV? Never ending 5 minute news snippets? Constant distractions? Getting older? I won't talk about it every week but that's why I started reading "Count of Monte Cristo, all 1,200 pages without taking a few years to finish it. I put LOTR (naturally), Montaigne's Essays and Moby Dick in the same category.
I know it's working when I start losing sleep to read.
Posted by: JTB at September 01, 2024 10:21 AM (zudum)
170
4) I got a lot of books through Scholastic -- mostly lightweight material such as "How to Care for Your Monster" and one Three Investigators book, "Mystery of the Talking Skull," I believe.
(yet more)
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 01, 2024 09:03 AM (p/isN)
I never got into the true classics like The Hardy Boys as a kid, but the newer kid-mysteries like Three Investigators or the Boxcar Children were my jam. They each had cool headquarters: a boxcar (obviously) and an RV hidden in a junkyard.
(yet more)
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 01, 2024 09:03 AM (p/isN)
I never got into the true classics like The Hardy Boys as a kid, but the newer kid-mysteries like Three Investigators or the Boxcar Children were my jam. They each had cool headquarters: a boxcar (obviously) and an RV hidden in a junkyard.
Posted by: Castle Guy at September 01, 2024 10:21 AM (0UoT+)
171
Useful review, thank you.
Posted by: Ordinary American at September 01, 2024 09:29 AM (+cFQ9)
You're welcome. I might do Frankenstein soon. I'm sure it's on IA.
Posted by: Ordinary American at September 01, 2024 09:29 AM (+cFQ9)
You're welcome. I might do Frankenstein soon. I'm sure it's on IA.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 10:22 AM (0eaVi)
172
The Wall Street Journal is supposed to be "conservative" but it's big thing is "labor mobility." To them the only thing that matters is dollars. Their god is GDP. They see no point in roots, communities, stability, it's all just a commercial transaction and he who dies with the most toys wins.
I'm encouraged that more people are waking up to this lie. Decline was as choice. De-industrialization was a choice, We didn't know it, because it was hidden from us on purpose.
I'm encouraged that more people are waking up to this lie. Decline was as choice. De-industrialization was a choice, We didn't know it, because it was hidden from us on purpose.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 01, 2024 10:22 AM (llXky)
173
plowed through a half dozen tombs and now not sure what I even want to read
Posted by: Skip at September 01, 2024 09:51 AM
Tell me about it
Posted by: Skip at September 01, 2024 09:51 AM
Tell me about it
Posted by: Indiana Jones at September 01, 2024 10:23 AM (elO/o)
174
All of the "failures" of democracy appear to be cases where they fail to be democratic. The people of the UK (and the US) agree that they don't want massive immigration. Only the totalitarian oligarchs in power disagree.
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 01, 2024 10:23 AM (78a2H)
175
...The Classics Illustrated comic with the art of Gahan Wilson...
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 01, 2024 09:02 AM (p/isN)
It Serendipitous Sunday!
Speaking of Gahan Wilson...
I wandered into a used bookstore yesterday and noticed they had a perfect copy of Gahan Wilson's "%0 Years of Playboy Cartoons"
Gahan Wilson had nothing really to do with Playboy except he was part of the whole "Playboy is the Intellectual Spanking Mag" vibe.
His cartoon are sort of like Charles Addams' stuff. Mostly horror adjacent comedy, existential or otherwise. And usually quite funny.
Aaaanyway, they had it for a stupid price, so I thought "Meh, I'll just buy it on Kindle. But, the Kindle version cost $39.99, which is kinda sorta equally stupid.
So, I bargained hard with the manager and got it dow to an okay price, actually a very good price considering what it's going for online.
I tend to want real books for things I like these days. So, eh, I'm content.
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 01, 2024 09:02 AM (p/isN)
It Serendipitous Sunday!
Speaking of Gahan Wilson...
I wandered into a used bookstore yesterday and noticed they had a perfect copy of Gahan Wilson's "%0 Years of Playboy Cartoons"
Gahan Wilson had nothing really to do with Playboy except he was part of the whole "Playboy is the Intellectual Spanking Mag" vibe.
His cartoon are sort of like Charles Addams' stuff. Mostly horror adjacent comedy, existential or otherwise. And usually quite funny.
Aaaanyway, they had it for a stupid price, so I thought "Meh, I'll just buy it on Kindle. But, the Kindle version cost $39.99, which is kinda sorta equally stupid.
So, I bargained hard with the manager and got it dow to an okay price, actually a very good price considering what it's going for online.
I tend to want real books for things I like these days. So, eh, I'm content.
Posted by: naturalfake at September 01, 2024 10:24 AM (eDfFs)
176
Just out of curiosity, how did it handle Winona Ryder running down steps in a sheer negligee?
Posted by: Archimedes at September 01, 2024 09:31 AM (xCA6C)
Only one dressed sort of like that was the character Lucy, Drac's first victim in England. I think she was in a park under a trance by him. Everyone else stayed clothed. After all, this was a book sold on the high streets. If you wanted something like that, you'd need to go to Limehouse....
Posted by: Archimedes at September 01, 2024 09:31 AM (xCA6C)
Only one dressed sort of like that was the character Lucy, Drac's first victim in England. I think she was in a park under a trance by him. Everyone else stayed clothed. After all, this was a book sold on the high streets. If you wanted something like that, you'd need to go to Limehouse....
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 10:24 AM (0eaVi)
177
Chesterton, Belloc and Lewis all saw this coming. Crazy to read their work predicting the end state of capitalism.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 01, 2024 10:24 AM (llXky)
178
Yesterday on the Pet Thread, I had occasion to observe that "person separated from beloved animal, then reunited" seems to be a subgenre of fiction to itself. Sheila Burnford's unabashed tearjerker The Incredible Journey is one classic of the form. I defy you not to tear up at the end.
For "young readers," Whitman had two that I recall fondly, Rin Tin Tin's Rinty and Roy Rogers, King of the Cowboys. In the first, a then-modern (1950s) story, a brother and sister adopt a purebred German shepherd pup, only to have him stolen. In the other, Roy's horse Trigger is stolen, and Roy must track him to rodeos all over the Southwest in NM and AZ.
And there's a reunion of man and animal at the climax of Tarzan and the City of Gold, too. Any others?
For "young readers," Whitman had two that I recall fondly, Rin Tin Tin's Rinty and Roy Rogers, King of the Cowboys. In the first, a then-modern (1950s) story, a brother and sister adopt a purebred German shepherd pup, only to have him stolen. In the other, Roy's horse Trigger is stolen, and Roy must track him to rodeos all over the Southwest in NM and AZ.
And there's a reunion of man and animal at the climax of Tarzan and the City of Gold, too. Any others?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 10:24 AM (omVj0)
179
A good quantum morning to you too TRex.
Here is something I saw at a bookstore "Quantum Bullsh*t: How to Ruin Your Life with Advice from Quantum Physics" by Chris Ferrie. An actual physicist tries to explain what the science IS , and how to avoid charlatans. Lots of jokes. Some of the jokes are funny. But you usually don't want physicists doing standup.
Here is something I saw at a bookstore "Quantum Bullsh*t: How to Ruin Your Life with Advice from Quantum Physics" by Chris Ferrie. An actual physicist tries to explain what the science IS , and how to avoid charlatans. Lots of jokes. Some of the jokes are funny. But you usually don't want physicists doing standup.
Posted by: Boulder Terlit Hobo, not dead at September 01, 2024 10:25 AM (VSjob)
180
I know it's working when I start losing sleep to read.
Posted by: JTB at September 01, 2024 10:21 AM (zudum)
I've been doing a lot of that this week. It's good to be a grownup, so I don't have to hide under that blanket with a flashlight.
Posted by: JTB at September 01, 2024 10:21 AM (zudum)
I've been doing a lot of that this week. It's good to be a grownup, so I don't have to hide under that blanket with a flashlight.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at September 01, 2024 10:26 AM (OX9vb)
181
Think it was Erdogan who said not too long ago that democracy isn't a goal, it's a train -- you ride it to your destination and then you get off. A lot of countries seem to be closer to their last stop then they think.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 01, 2024 10:20 AM (q3u5l)
There was a guy...can't remember who...that said something similar about marriage..."If you take the wrong train, you don't ride it to the last stop".
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 01, 2024 10:20 AM (q3u5l)
There was a guy...can't remember who...that said something similar about marriage..."If you take the wrong train, you don't ride it to the last stop".
Posted by: BignJames at September 01, 2024 10:26 AM (AwYPR)
182
And there's a reunion of man and animal at the climax of Tarzan and the City of Gold, too. Any others?
tolkein's Roverrandom is lovely (and a bit sad)
tolkein's Roverrandom is lovely (and a bit sad)
Posted by: BlackOrchid at September 01, 2024 10:26 AM (s3qiR)
183
Does anyone else get into reading slumps? I have been reading several books a week for months and now, I cannot pick up a book and concentrate on it for the life of me. I hate that. If anyone has suggestions for breaking a slump, I would be grateful!
Posted by: Moki at September 01, 2024 09:34 AM (wLjpr)
Read a great western or sci-fi book by your favorite Moron author!!!!!
Posted by: Moki at September 01, 2024 09:34 AM (wLjpr)
Read a great western or sci-fi book by your favorite Moron author!!!!!
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 10:26 AM (0eaVi)
184
After all, this was a book sold on the high streets. If you wanted something like that, you'd need to go to Limehouse....
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024
***
The Pearl[/i, an undercover erotic magazine, was available then. But no "decent" man would have been willing to read it in public.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024
***
The Pearl[/i, an undercover erotic magazine, was available then. But no "decent" man would have been willing to read it in public.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 10:27 AM (omVj0)
Posted by: naturalfake at September 01, 2024 10:27 AM (eDfFs)
186
Skin-so-Soft is also a bug repellent.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at September 01, 2024 09:28 AM (RIvkX)
Strange but true. I've used it as such. It works.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at September 01, 2024 09:28 AM (RIvkX)
Strange but true. I've used it as such. It works.
Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at September 01, 2024 10:28 AM (g8Ew8)
187
Does anyone else get into reading slumps? I have been reading several books a week for months and now, I cannot pick up a book and concentrate on it for the life of me. I hate that. If anyone has suggestions for breaking a slump, I would be grateful!
Posted by: Moki at September 01, 2024
***
Short stories, perhaps an anthology. (Toots own horn for All Will Burn: At All Costs on Amazon)
Posted by: Moki at September 01, 2024
***
Short stories, perhaps an anthology. (Toots own horn for All Will Burn: At All Costs on Amazon)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 10:28 AM (omVj0)
188
He said "Democracy is like riding the bus. When you get to the destination you get off."
What they mean is one party rule. Democrats are *this close* to outlawing dissent formally, it is highly unlikely they would pause or stop now. "We was just kidding!" ain't happening.
What they mean is one party rule. Democrats are *this close* to outlawing dissent formally, it is highly unlikely they would pause or stop now. "We was just kidding!" ain't happening.
Posted by: Common Tater at September 01, 2024 10:28 AM (v8bCu)
189
Allan moores league series is full of that limehouse imagery specially the 60s sequel
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 10:29 AM (PXvVL)
190
Good grief, Wolfus --
I remember that I had and read those Whitman titles (though I no longer remember any story details). I seem to recall they also had a boys' adventure series (3 or 4 titles?) -- The Walton Boys (only title I remember is Gold in the Snow). Think there were a couple of sf titles (Rip Foster? something similar).
You sure we weren't in the same neighborhoods?
I remember that I had and read those Whitman titles (though I no longer remember any story details). I seem to recall they also had a boys' adventure series (3 or 4 titles?) -- The Walton Boys (only title I remember is Gold in the Snow). Think there were a couple of sf titles (Rip Foster? something similar).
You sure we weren't in the same neighborhoods?
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 01, 2024 10:30 AM (q3u5l)
191
Erdogan sees himself as Sultan reviving the Ottomans act accordingly
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 10:30 AM (PXvVL)
192
All of the "failures" of democracy appear to be cases where they fail to be democratic. The people of the UK (and the US) agree that they don't want massive immigration. Only the totalitarian oligarchs in power disagree.
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 01, 2024 10:23 AM (78a2H)
---
No, they're democratic. They convince the voters that if they don't pick Party X, the Nazis will win, or they'll be actual Handmaids and the dupes pull the lever and then new, more pliable voters arrive.
I'm not (yet) full Throne and Altar, but at least monarchs understood the values of continuity, of obligation and protection.
Republics are inherently unstable.
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 01, 2024 10:23 AM (78a2H)
---
No, they're democratic. They convince the voters that if they don't pick Party X, the Nazis will win, or they'll be actual Handmaids and the dupes pull the lever and then new, more pliable voters arrive.
I'm not (yet) full Throne and Altar, but at least monarchs understood the values of continuity, of obligation and protection.
Republics are inherently unstable.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 01, 2024 10:31 AM (llXky)
193
good morning Perfessor, Horde
Posted by: callsign claymore at September 01, 2024 10:31 AM (JcnCJ)
194
All of the "failures" of democracy appear to be cases where they fail to be democratic. The people of the UK (and the US) agree that they don't want massive immigration. Only the totalitarian oligarchs in power disagree.
Posted by: Trimegistus
I posted it a few times last week, but George Orwell really hit the nail on the head when he said in the thirties that tyrannies use fraud and force to maintain power, and when fraud fails, they rely on force. I believe we are entering the force only phase. Many western countries are being run by leaders without popular support. The people are not buying the fraud anymore, so they will be replaced.
Posted by: Trimegistus
I posted it a few times last week, but George Orwell really hit the nail on the head when he said in the thirties that tyrannies use fraud and force to maintain power, and when fraud fails, they rely on force. I believe we are entering the force only phase. Many western countries are being run by leaders without popular support. The people are not buying the fraud anymore, so they will be replaced.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 01, 2024 10:33 AM (/7iMi)
195
They want a return of feudalism the peasants must learn their place hence zuck gates et al musk is an errsnt knight so is Trump Orban buchele
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 10:34 AM (PXvVL)
196
And there's a reunion of man and animal at the climax of Tarzan and the City of Gold, too. Any others?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 10:24 AM (omVj0)
Scarboy by Rip Pauley. A series of extremely unlikely events, but it's fiction, so I could tolerate it. This book was good for my heart and soul. Moron author.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 10:24 AM (omVj0)
Scarboy by Rip Pauley. A series of extremely unlikely events, but it's fiction, so I could tolerate it. This book was good for my heart and soul. Moron author.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at September 01, 2024 10:34 AM (OX9vb)
197
Nazi ideology has few adherents these days, the F'n commies are the threat. Totalitarianism today ain't coming from nazis, but reds. Cheap villains.
Posted by: OrangeEnt
A whole new genre, of hunting down underground communist cliques is waiting to be exploited.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 01, 2024 10:20 AM (/7iMi)
I often wonder what Mitch Rapp would be doing if Vince Flynn was still alive.
Posted by: OrangeEnt
A whole new genre, of hunting down underground communist cliques is waiting to be exploited.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 01, 2024 10:20 AM (/7iMi)
I often wonder what Mitch Rapp would be doing if Vince Flynn was still alive.
Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at September 01, 2024 10:35 AM (g8Ew8)
198
Kyle mill had a good start but hes gotten soft
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 10:36 AM (PXvVL)
199
democracy isn't a goal, it's a train -- you ride it to your destination and then you get off.
-
Secretary Pete Buttigieg
@SecretaryPete
We're working on the future of America's passenger rail system—funding high-speed rail projects in the West and expanding service for communities across the country. Get your ticket to ride!
-
If Buttgigitty is doing it, you know it'll be swell!
-
Secretary Pete Buttigieg
@SecretaryPete
We're working on the future of America's passenger rail system—funding high-speed rail projects in the West and expanding service for communities across the country. Get your ticket to ride!
-
If Buttgigitty is doing it, you know it'll be swell!
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Covfefe Today, Covfefe Tomorrow, Covfefe Forever! at September 01, 2024 10:37 AM (L/fGl)
200
148 Ok. Now I realize I may have a small problem. I read Pixy’s post this morning about barbed wire. So I went and ordered “The Devil’s Rope” by Alan Krell. I’ve already read about the history of salt and also paper so why not barbed wire.
LOL
Posted by: RetSgtRN at September 01, 2024 10:08 AM (eTkTC)
The Nevada State Museum has a whole section on Barbed Wire.
I can only guess how many samples, most found locally. At least 5,000.
LOL
Posted by: RetSgtRN at September 01, 2024 10:08 AM (eTkTC)
The Nevada State Museum has a whole section on Barbed Wire.
I can only guess how many samples, most found locally. At least 5,000.
Posted by: Reforger at September 01, 2024 10:38 AM (xcIvR)
201
I remember that I had and read those Whitman titles (though I no longer remember any story details). I seem to recall they also had a boys' adventure series (3 or 4 titles?) -- The Walton Boys (only title I remember is Gold in the Snow). Think there were a couple of sf titles (Rip Foster? something similar).
You sure we weren't in the same neighborhoods?
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 01, 2024
***
You'd remember if you lived in Da Swamp!
Yes, Whitman did have some original (as in, not "authorized TV") series like that. Those I don't recall getting into. But I read the Paladin, two Gene Autrys, a Bat Masterson, Bret Maverick, Dale Evans, and most of the Roy Rogers novels. I've recently bought copies of several of them, and for the most part they are quite readable and enjoyable by an adult.
Later, Whitman had things like Trek, Mission: Impossible, and U.N.C.L.E. The two MfU stories are just okay. I think Whitman's quality fell off about 1965.
You sure we weren't in the same neighborhoods?
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 01, 2024
***
You'd remember if you lived in Da Swamp!
Yes, Whitman did have some original (as in, not "authorized TV") series like that. Those I don't recall getting into. But I read the Paladin, two Gene Autrys, a Bat Masterson, Bret Maverick, Dale Evans, and most of the Roy Rogers novels. I've recently bought copies of several of them, and for the most part they are quite readable and enjoyable by an adult.
Later, Whitman had things like Trek, Mission: Impossible, and U.N.C.L.E. The two MfU stories are just okay. I think Whitman's quality fell off about 1965.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 10:38 AM (omVj0)
202
197 Nazi ideology has few adherents these days, the F'n commies are the threat. Totalitarianism today ain't coming from nazis, but reds. Cheap villains.
Posted by: OrangeEnt
A whole new genre, of hunting down underground communist cliques is waiting to be exploited.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 01, 2024 10:20 AM (/7iMi)
I often wonder what Mitch Rapp would be doing if Vince Flynn was still alive.
Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at September 01, 2024 10:35 AM (g8Ew
Those ones, very gratifying reads.
Posted by: OrangeEnt
A whole new genre, of hunting down underground communist cliques is waiting to be exploited.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 01, 2024 10:20 AM (/7iMi)
I often wonder what Mitch Rapp would be doing if Vince Flynn was still alive.
Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at September 01, 2024 10:35 AM (g8Ew
Those ones, very gratifying reads.
Posted by: Eromero at September 01, 2024 10:38 AM (DXbAa)
203
All of the "failures" of democracy appear to be cases where they fail to be democratic.
-
In order to save democracy they had to destroy it.
-
In order to save democracy they had to destroy it.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Covfefe Today, Covfefe Tomorrow, Covfefe Forever! at September 01, 2024 10:40 AM (L/fGl)
204
One of the benefits of being a Tolkien fanatic (in case you didn't notice) is coming on gems in his ancillary materials. While going through his letters I came upon this from a letter to his son about WW I and II that seems pertinent so many years later.
"Well the first War of the Machines seems to be drawing to its final inconclusive chapter – leaving, alas, everyone the poorer, many bereaved or maimed and millions dead, and only one thing triumphant: the Machines. As the servants of the Machines are becoming a privileged class, the Machines are going to be enormously more powerful. What's their next move?"
Tech giants and AI anyone?
"Well the first War of the Machines seems to be drawing to its final inconclusive chapter – leaving, alas, everyone the poorer, many bereaved or maimed and millions dead, and only one thing triumphant: the Machines. As the servants of the Machines are becoming a privileged class, the Machines are going to be enormously more powerful. What's their next move?"
Tech giants and AI anyone?
Posted by: JTB at September 01, 2024 10:41 AM (zudum)
205
The first book I ever read on my own was Little House on the Prairie. My dad bought a set of hardback books the consisted of the first books in several series. The only other one I recall was the Lion, the Witch, and the wardrobe. I was around 7-9, the best I can remember. I was a voracious reader. Still kind of am. I do read everyday even if it's just the blog. We have 5 TV's and can go weeks or months without turning one on. The kids and hubby do most of their watching of videos on their phones or monitors in hubby's case. I rarely watch anything, sometimes cute animal video ace posts. I'm also not on any social media except Nextdoor and I try to stay that train wreck!
Posted by: lin-duh at September 01, 2024 10:41 AM (VCgbV)
206
Brad thor also lost the plot about five books ago brad taylor largely on point
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 10:41 AM (PXvVL)
207
I've been doing a lot of that this week. It's good to be a grownup, so I don't have to hide under that blanket with a flashlight.
And every child who did that, which was all of them, was sure they'd invented something new.
And every child who did that, which was all of them, was sure they'd invented something new.
Posted by: Archimedes at September 01, 2024 10:43 AM (xCA6C)
208
On the Lord of Spirits podcast some years ago they went into vampires and the fact the Eastern Orthodox Church has instructions with how to deal with them. There was even a pastoral letter telling villagers to stop digging up graves and burning the bodies, the priests will handle the investigation.
Interesting that the Latin Church wasn't afflicted by this particular problem.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 01, 2024 09:18 AM (llXky)
In Harold Lamb's "Cossack" short stories (where characters are veeeeery Eastern Orthodox) a lot of characters are extremely wary of vampires. Which is very odd in stories where there isn't actually anything supernatural going on. Fiction has trained me to expect that when a writer tells me about a superstition, that superstition will have a certain degree of accuracy/plot relevance to it. So when superstition turns out to just be superstition....well, then my expectations are subverted.
Interesting that the Latin Church wasn't afflicted by this particular problem.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 01, 2024 09:18 AM (llXky)
In Harold Lamb's "Cossack" short stories (where characters are veeeeery Eastern Orthodox) a lot of characters are extremely wary of vampires. Which is very odd in stories where there isn't actually anything supernatural going on. Fiction has trained me to expect that when a writer tells me about a superstition, that superstition will have a certain degree of accuracy/plot relevance to it. So when superstition turns out to just be superstition....well, then my expectations are subverted.
Posted by: Castle Guy at September 01, 2024 10:43 AM (0UoT+)
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 01, 2024 10:43 AM (p/isN)
210
Am reading a one volume version of the journal of John Wesley. All of his journal takes up volumes because he was a voluminous writer. He was a great man and courageous and had a dry sense of humor. He's riding his horse and overtakes a man whom he talks about theology with The man who doesn't know who Wesley is starts talking angrily about theology and Wesley doesn't want to get into an argument. The man says basically " bet you're one of those followers of awful John Wesley." John Wesley says, "No ; I am the man himself " The other man tries to get away but Wesley's horse is stronger faster and so they ride into town together.
Posted by: FenelonSpoke at September 01, 2024 10:44 AM (ay4aN)
211
180 ... "It's good to be a grownup, so I don't have to hide under that blanket with a flashlight."
Yeah. I wore out a bunch of batteries reading under the blanket with a flashlight. Glad technology had improved. Reading under the blanket with an oil lamp might have caused problems.
Yeah. I wore out a bunch of batteries reading under the blanket with a flashlight. Glad technology had improved. Reading under the blanket with an oil lamp might have caused problems.
Posted by: JTB at September 01, 2024 10:44 AM (zudum)
212
I'm also not on any social media except Nextdoor and I try to stay that train wreck!
Posted by: lin-duh
AoS is not 'social media'?
Posted by: lin-duh
AoS is not 'social media'?
Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at September 01, 2024 10:45 AM (/lPRQ)
213
Well, time to go! Thanks again, Perfesser!
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 01, 2024 10:45 AM (llXky)
214
Albert Payson Terhune was famous for his stories about collies. His Lochinvar Luck, I think it was, features a young Scotsman who buys a what he thinks is a purebred collie pup, only to find it's neither show nor pet quality, and it appears the pup doesn't even like him. They are separated, but then things happen, and their relationship improves.
He's more famous for Lad: A Dog, which I haven't read. I guess Eric Knight's Lassie, Come Home might qualify as a separation story, though I haven't read it either.
And Ernest Thompson Seton had one called Wild Animals I Have Known. Not about pets except for his dog Bingo, but stories of wild animals, a fox, a crow, a partridge, and Raggylug the rabbit. (I suspect Richard Adams read that one long before he wrote Watership Down.)
He's more famous for Lad: A Dog, which I haven't read. I guess Eric Knight's Lassie, Come Home might qualify as a separation story, though I haven't read it either.
And Ernest Thompson Seton had one called Wild Animals I Have Known. Not about pets except for his dog Bingo, but stories of wild animals, a fox, a crow, a partridge, and Raggylug the rabbit. (I suspect Richard Adams read that one long before he wrote Watership Down.)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 10:47 AM (omVj0)
215
I think I still have a couple of Encyclopedia Brown books around her somewhere, from Scholastic Books.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at September 01, 2024 10:47 AM (OX9vb)
216
I'm not (yet) full Throne and Altar, but at least monarchs understood the values of continuity, of obligation and protection.
Republics are inherently unstable.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 01, 2024 10:31 AM (llXky)
Sounds like you might be falling for the "Great man of History" fallacy.
Some Kings were great if not too greedy or warlike or, you know, insane. But, more often they were one of those things. Or, their dukes competed within the framework of the kingdom, which led to Fun-Sized Civil Wars offing the population.
Even with a Republic, it's rare enough to get a Washington or Lincoln or Teddy Roosevelt or Coolidge or Reagan or Trump.
Coolidge is, I suppose in his own way, is the ideal.
But, at least, "we" have the chance of getting a choice and the power is normally split up enough to prevent true tyranny.
But, you could be right. Though more often Kipling's cycle of strong men seems more to the point.
I'm not (yet) full Throne and Altar, but at least monarchs understood the values of continuity, of obligation and protection.
Republics are inherently unstable.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 01, 2024 10:31 AM (llXky)
Sounds like you might be falling for the "Great man of History" fallacy.
Some Kings were great if not too greedy or warlike or, you know, insane. But, more often they were one of those things. Or, their dukes competed within the framework of the kingdom, which led to Fun-Sized Civil Wars offing the population.
Even with a Republic, it's rare enough to get a Washington or Lincoln or Teddy Roosevelt or Coolidge or Reagan or Trump.
Coolidge is, I suppose in his own way, is the ideal.
But, at least, "we" have the chance of getting a choice and the power is normally split up enough to prevent true tyranny.
But, you could be right. Though more often Kipling's cycle of strong men seems more to the point.
Posted by: naturalfake at September 01, 2024 10:48 AM (eDfFs)
217
"It's good to be a grownup, so I don't have to hide under that blanket with a flashlight."
Yeah. I wore out a bunch of batteries reading under the blanket with a flashlight. Glad technology had improved. Reading under the blanket with an oil lamp might have caused problems.
Posted by: JTB
When I was a kid I thought I invented that. Also masturbation.
Yeah. I wore out a bunch of batteries reading under the blanket with a flashlight. Glad technology had improved. Reading under the blanket with an oil lamp might have caused problems.
Posted by: JTB
When I was a kid I thought I invented that. Also masturbation.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Covfefe Today, Covfefe Tomorrow, Covfefe Forever! at September 01, 2024 10:48 AM (L/fGl)
218
So no one ordered posters from the book fair. Sad!
Posted by: BeckoningChasm at September 01, 2024 10:49 AM (CHHv1)
219
I still get told about reading under the covers by Aunti Miklos during the ONT
Posted by: Skip at September 01, 2024 10:50 AM (fwDg9)
220
I think I still have a couple of Encyclopedia Brown books around her somewhere, from Scholastic Books.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at September 01, 2024 10:47 AM (OX9vb)
I now wish we would have saved my parents' Book of Knowledge encyclopedia set. I loved those books.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at September 01, 2024 10:47 AM (OX9vb)
I now wish we would have saved my parents' Book of Knowledge encyclopedia set. I loved those books.
Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at September 01, 2024 10:50 AM (g8Ew8)
221
Wolfus.
Nope, never lived in da swamp. Chicago Lawn here.
Looks like book distribution in those days was even better than I remember...
Nope, never lived in da swamp. Chicago Lawn here.
Looks like book distribution in those days was even better than I remember...
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 01, 2024 10:51 AM (q3u5l)
222
Yes, I do find it odd to hear people arguing "the elites are conspiring to bring back feudalism, so we have to adopt feudalism to prevent that!"
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 01, 2024 10:51 AM (78a2H)
223
Another splendid Book Thread, Perfessor. The Horde, erudite aesthetes we are, owes you at least a tip o' the hat for your fruitful labors assembling this for their edification.
Another splendid Book Thread, Perfessor. The Horde, erudite aesthetes we are, owes you at least a tip o' the hat for your fruitful labors assembling this for their edification.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 01, 2024 10:52 AM (1Nxff)
224
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 01, 2024 10:14 AM (llXky)
What, are we playing Alexander vs Kilpatrick today?
What, are we playing Alexander vs Kilpatrick today?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 10:52 AM (0eaVi)
225
Quantum thread horde. Lots of good stuff. Off to real life. Thanks.
Posted by: TRex at September 01, 2024 10:52 AM (IQ6Gq)
226
Their democracy is feudalism even thrush would not be so bold or the secret society in the flint films
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 10:53 AM (PXvVL)
227
Now kingsman did get to the nub of it with valentines swiss chalet and his culling scheme
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 10:54 AM (PXvVL)
228
I think I still have a couple of Encyclopedia Brown books around her somewhere, from Scholastic Books.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at September 01, 2024
***
See, here's the thing. I generally gravitated to books about adult heroes, rather than with kids my age or even a little older. The Hardy Boys were high school or college, right? So to my 9-year-old mind they were grownups. But I preferred tales with adult protagonists like Roy Rogers and Bat Masterson, and later with Ellery Queen and Nero Wolf/Archie Goodwin. When I watched my first U.N.C.L.E. episode, I identified with Solo the adult, not Kurt Russell's character, who was just my age then.
Thus, the Three Investigators and Encyclopedia Brown were not on my reading radar.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at September 01, 2024
***
See, here's the thing. I generally gravitated to books about adult heroes, rather than with kids my age or even a little older. The Hardy Boys were high school or college, right? So to my 9-year-old mind they were grownups. But I preferred tales with adult protagonists like Roy Rogers and Bat Masterson, and later with Ellery Queen and Nero Wolf/Archie Goodwin. When I watched my first U.N.C.L.E. episode, I identified with Solo the adult, not Kurt Russell's character, who was just my age then.
Thus, the Three Investigators and Encyclopedia Brown were not on my reading radar.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 10:55 AM (omVj0)
229
A good quantum morning to you too TRex.
Here is something I saw at a bookstore "Quantum Bullsh*t: How to Ruin Your Life with Advice from Quantum Physics" by Chris Ferrie. An actual physicist tries to explain what the science IS , and how to avoid charlatans. Lots of jokes. Some of the jokes are funny. But you usually don't want physicists doing standup.
=====
Quantum is for sciency stuff. Existential is for artsy stuff.
Here is something I saw at a bookstore "Quantum Bullsh*t: How to Ruin Your Life with Advice from Quantum Physics" by Chris Ferrie. An actual physicist tries to explain what the science IS , and how to avoid charlatans. Lots of jokes. Some of the jokes are funny. But you usually don't want physicists doing standup.
=====
Quantum is for sciency stuff. Existential is for artsy stuff.
Posted by: mustbequantum at September 01, 2024 10:55 AM (eRfHZ)
230
I believe we are entering the force only phase. Many western countries are being run by leaders without popular support. The people are not buying the fraud anymore, so they will be replaced.
Posted by: Thomas Paine
=======
The use of coercion alone is not enough to save a regime. Instead regime approval spirals downwards until it implodes. What is unique about our time is that all of the regimes in the West are more or less jury rigged together by wealthy individuals, multi national corporations, and international ngo types. Makes them unstable and add to the fact that these regimes are relying on a mountain of debt that can never be repaid. And these globalists have undermined their own rule by essentially adopting Calvinball as their justification to rule which results in anarchy in the streets.
What will happen will probably be something like the widespread revolts in 1848 where one country after another in Euroland had regimes in trouble that year. Some regimes survived, others did not.
Posted by: Thomas Paine
=======
The use of coercion alone is not enough to save a regime. Instead regime approval spirals downwards until it implodes. What is unique about our time is that all of the regimes in the West are more or less jury rigged together by wealthy individuals, multi national corporations, and international ngo types. Makes them unstable and add to the fact that these regimes are relying on a mountain of debt that can never be repaid. And these globalists have undermined their own rule by essentially adopting Calvinball as their justification to rule which results in anarchy in the streets.
What will happen will probably be something like the widespread revolts in 1848 where one country after another in Euroland had regimes in trouble that year. Some regimes survived, others did not.
Posted by: whig at September 01, 2024 10:56 AM (kW+z9)
231
Re: 228, I misspelled Nero Wolfe. Both he and Archie would shun me.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 10:56 AM (omVj0)
232
A whole new genre, of hunting down underground communist cliques is waiting to be exploited.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 01, 2024 10:20 AM (/7iMi)
Rex King is a man on a mission. He invents a time machine to go back to kill.... Karl Marx!
Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 01, 2024 10:20 AM (/7iMi)
Rex King is a man on a mission. He invents a time machine to go back to kill.... Karl Marx!
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 10:56 AM (0eaVi)
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Covfefe Today, Covfefe Tomorrow, Covfefe Forever! at September 01, 2024 10:57 AM (L/fGl)
234
As a veteran of two generations of Book Fairs, that chart made me LOL.
Eldest daughter, PTA backbone and too creative for her own good, used to enlist me to help decorate the site according to that year's theme. America the Beautiful, Under the Sea, Dinosaurs.
I watched the quality and subject matter of elementary reading decline over a couple of decades.
As an avid life long reader that made me very sad.
Eldest daughter, PTA backbone and too creative for her own good, used to enlist me to help decorate the site according to that year's theme. America the Beautiful, Under the Sea, Dinosaurs.
I watched the quality and subject matter of elementary reading decline over a couple of decades.
As an avid life long reader that made me very sad.
Posted by: sal at September 01, 2024 10:58 AM (bx3Km)
235
Quantum is for sciency stuff. Existential is for artsy stuff.
Posted by: mustbequantum at September 01, 2024 10:55 AM (eRfHZ)
Quantum Theory. The science of wishful thinking.
Posted by: mustbequantum at September 01, 2024 10:55 AM (eRfHZ)
Quantum Theory. The science of wishful thinking.
Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at September 01, 2024 10:58 AM (g8Ew8)
236
It's worth remembering that monarchies aren't especially stable, either. Consider England/UK: over the past thousand-odd years they had six violent changes of dynasty. (Norman conquest, civil war of Stephen vs. Mathilda, Bolingbroke's coup, Wars of the Roses, Commonwealth, Glorious Revolution.) Also two slightly less violent -- the Stuart accession and the Hanoverians. Interestingly, we're coming up on the shelf life for the Hanover-Windsor line . . .
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 01, 2024 11:00 AM (78a2H)
237
Their democracy is feudalism even thrush would not be so bold or the secret society in the flint films
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024
***
Thrush could be very subtle. In one of the original tie-in novels, they mount an enormous scam to make a country on Earth, 1967 Egypt, buy a working space station. "The Highest Con in the History of the World."
Then, on the TV series, there were unsubtle stories about earthquake machines, a device to change the course of the Gulf Stream, and any number of fear or "will" gases to be used by mercenary, or Thrush, armies.
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024
***
Thrush could be very subtle. In one of the original tie-in novels, they mount an enormous scam to make a country on Earth, 1967 Egypt, buy a working space station. "The Highest Con in the History of the World."
Then, on the TV series, there were unsubtle stories about earthquake machines, a device to change the course of the Gulf Stream, and any number of fear or "will" gases to be used by mercenary, or Thrush, armies.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 11:00 AM (omVj0)
238
Thus, the Three Investigators and Encyclopedia Brown were not on my reading radar.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 10:55 AM (omVj0)
I would have loved Nero Wolfe as a kid, had I known about Nero Wolfe books.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 10:55 AM (omVj0)
I would have loved Nero Wolfe as a kid, had I known about Nero Wolfe books.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at September 01, 2024 11:00 AM (OX9vb)
239
Quantum is for sciency stuff. Existential is for artsy stuff.
Posted by: mustbequantum
Equity is for commie stuff.
Posted by: mustbequantum
Equity is for commie stuff.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Covfefe Today, Covfefe Tomorrow, Covfefe Forever! at September 01, 2024 11:00 AM (L/fGl)
240
130 I'm not sure if I found the series Keeper Chronicles from a recommendation here or when looking on Kindle for something recommended here. Either way, I enjoyed all three books very much.
The setting is a fairly standard fantasy world, but there are enough different details to give it a fresh feel. Each book follows a different character, but they tie together well.
Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at September 01, 2024 09:56 AM (s9EYN)
The Keeper Chronicles has certainly been mentioned on this thread. I read the main trilogy a few years ago and quite liked them. It was refreshing to read a story where the big baddie was beaten in single book, and the next book focused on a new big baddie.
My personal favorite was the second book (forget the name) with Will the Storyteller travelling with Steppe Nomads, and meeting a Grass Elf. The Grass Elf was a nice change of pace from the Sylven (Tree) Elves that most of fantasy gives us...
The setting is a fairly standard fantasy world, but there are enough different details to give it a fresh feel. Each book follows a different character, but they tie together well.
Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at September 01, 2024 09:56 AM (s9EYN)
The Keeper Chronicles has certainly been mentioned on this thread. I read the main trilogy a few years ago and quite liked them. It was refreshing to read a story where the big baddie was beaten in single book, and the next book focused on a new big baddie.
My personal favorite was the second book (forget the name) with Will the Storyteller travelling with Steppe Nomads, and meeting a Grass Elf. The Grass Elf was a nice change of pace from the Sylven (Tree) Elves that most of fantasy gives us...
Posted by: Castle Guy at September 01, 2024 11:01 AM (0UoT+)
241
Technology not social engineering schemes
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 11:01 AM (PXvVL)
242
And there's a reunion of man and animal at the climax of Tarzan and the City of Gold, too. Any others?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 10:24 AM (omVj0)
Tick tock and Jim, my reco on the Perfessor's list.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 10:24 AM (omVj0)
Tick tock and Jim, my reco on the Perfessor's list.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 11:01 AM (0eaVi)
243
227 Now kingsman did get to the nub of it with valentines swiss chalet and his culling scheme
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 10:54 AM (PXvVL)
A semi fictional Gates.
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 10:54 AM (PXvVL)
A semi fictional Gates.
Posted by: enough Bullshit at September 01, 2024 11:01 AM (2NXcZ)
244
"...gravitated to books about adult heroes..."
Doubt you're alone in that. Same here. And I'd be willing to bet it's the same for a lot of long-time readers. Which kinda makes you wonder about the people pushing the idea that kids (and adults) won't read unless they see themselves in the story and 'see themselves' is solely a function of race and gender. Did they read for fun at all?
Doubt you're alone in that. Same here. And I'd be willing to bet it's the same for a lot of long-time readers. Which kinda makes you wonder about the people pushing the idea that kids (and adults) won't read unless they see themselves in the story and 'see themselves' is solely a function of race and gender. Did they read for fun at all?
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 01, 2024 11:02 AM (q3u5l)
245
Hit up a "Friends of the Library" book sale yesterday. It was the last day so it was $5/bag day. 22 books. Massive Revolutionary War reference book, the entire Retief series by Keith Laumer and a bunch of random science fiction. Afterwards, checked out a book store in the same town because I'm trying to track down Wm. Mark Simmons series. Store is under new management and now has a resident cat named Thomas, surely a requirement for any book store
Posted by: Stacy0311 at September 01, 2024 11:03 AM (/2zKG)
246
Actually more like schwab but they made him samuel jackson
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 11:03 AM (PXvVL)
247
I would have loved Nero Wolfe as a kid, had I known about Nero Wolfe books.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at September 01, 2024
***
My mother knew them well and tried to get me to read one when I was about ten. I didn't get it. When I was twelve, though, some synapses or neurons fired in the right order, and I was swept away into that brownstone with its fixed routine and that alternate New York where Archie could often find a parking place near his destination. I still reread some of them every year.
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at September 01, 2024
***
My mother knew them well and tried to get me to read one when I was about ten. I didn't get it. When I was twelve, though, some synapses or neurons fired in the right order, and I was swept away into that brownstone with its fixed routine and that alternate New York where Archie could often find a parking place near his destination. I still reread some of them every year.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 11:03 AM (omVj0)
248
But vampires in langley cue warren zevon
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 11:04 AM (PXvVL)
249
Short stories, perhaps an anthology. (Toots own horn for All Will Burn: At All Costs on Amazon)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 10:28 AM (omVj0)
Dang it. I bought it but haven't gotten around to reading it yet. Of course, I've read yours already.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 10:28 AM (omVj0)
Dang it. I bought it but haven't gotten around to reading it yet. Of course, I've read yours already.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 11:04 AM (0eaVi)
250
It's worth remembering that monarchies aren't especially stable, either. Consider England/UK: over the past thousand-odd years they had six violent changes of dynasty. (Norman conquest, civil war of Stephen vs. Mathilda, Bolingbroke's coup, Wars of the Roses, Commonwealth, Glorious Revolution.) Also two slightly less violent -- the Stuart accession and the Hanoverians. Interestingly, we're coming up on the shelf life for the Hanover-Windsor line . . .
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 01, 2024 11:00 AM (78a2H)
Mohammad is the next .
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 01, 2024 11:00 AM (78a2H)
Mohammad is the next .
Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at September 01, 2024 11:04 AM (g8Ew8)
251
Slow reading week. Some of The Republic got read,a couple of Irving's Salmagundis, and a chapter or two of The Oregon Trail. Shorter days and cooler weather should help me pick up the pace, at least I hope so.
Posted by: who knew at September 01, 2024 11:05 AM (+ViXu)
252
There is a hanover heir over in germany
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 01, 2024 11:05 AM (PXvVL)
253
Regarding the comments above about reading "Dracula": I found it scary enough when I first read it many years ago. My father told me he read it when he was a young recruit in Marine boot camp. He said it made him very reluctant to walk to the latrine after lights out!
I also recommend Fred Saberhagen's Dracula series. It begins with "The Dracula Tape" which tells the story from Dracula POV. The second is "The Holmes-Dracula File" which, as you might guess, involves Sherlock Holmes and Count Dracula (also the Giant Rat of Sumatra). Others in the series I especially like are "An Old Friend of the Family", "Throne" and "Dominion".
I also recommend Fred Saberhagen's Dracula series. It begins with "The Dracula Tape" which tells the story from Dracula POV. The second is "The Holmes-Dracula File" which, as you might guess, involves Sherlock Holmes and Count Dracula (also the Giant Rat of Sumatra). Others in the series I especially like are "An Old Friend of the Family", "Throne" and "Dominion".
Posted by: John F. MacMichael at September 01, 2024 11:06 AM (aYnHS)
254
What will happen will probably be something like the widespread revolts in 1848 where one country after another in Euroland had regimes in trouble that year. Some regimes survived, others did not.
Posted by: whig at September 01, 2024 10:56 AM (kW+z9)
We can only hope that it will be a replay of 1848, and not 1803. Depends who ends up running things.
I’ve been noting through conversations on X that nations like Turkey and Egypt now have vastly more powerful armies than any European nations (with the exception of Poland) now have. In any real sense, the UK military is just about extinct. As is Germany’s.
Posted by: whig at September 01, 2024 10:56 AM (kW+z9)
We can only hope that it will be a replay of 1848, and not 1803. Depends who ends up running things.
I’ve been noting through conversations on X that nations like Turkey and Egypt now have vastly more powerful armies than any European nations (with the exception of Poland) now have. In any real sense, the UK military is just about extinct. As is Germany’s.
Posted by: Tom Servo at September 01, 2024 11:06 AM (S6gqv)
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at September 01, 2024 11:06 AM (OX9vb)
256
222 Yes, I do find it odd to hear people arguing "the elites are conspiring to bring back feudalism, so we have to adopt feudalism to prevent that!"
Posted by: Trimegistus
======
Republics generally fail as Aristotle said centuries ago via rule by a corrupt aristocracy (meritocracy in modern vernacular) which becomes a multitude of petty tyrants and spending society into bankruptcy via wars, internal strife for power, etc. That, in turn, results in perhaps mob rule democracy/anarchy/civil war for a time or perhaps into a despotism. If the despotism 'works' then you get a monarchy, in part, to avoid the horrors of civil war/anarchy over succession.
That is why Hobbes argued that the social compact only goes one way. Once instituted, you should accept a tyrant/despot/monarch or risk a state of anarchy where no one is safe.
True feudalism was an attempt to reconcile a central government via a king with de facto decentralized government via lesser nobles. The ties were the Catholic church and the reciprocal obligations between liege and liegelord. Worked well enough for the middle ages and a static agrarian society. Not so well for industry and trade.
Posted by: Trimegistus
======
Republics generally fail as Aristotle said centuries ago via rule by a corrupt aristocracy (meritocracy in modern vernacular) which becomes a multitude of petty tyrants and spending society into bankruptcy via wars, internal strife for power, etc. That, in turn, results in perhaps mob rule democracy/anarchy/civil war for a time or perhaps into a despotism. If the despotism 'works' then you get a monarchy, in part, to avoid the horrors of civil war/anarchy over succession.
That is why Hobbes argued that the social compact only goes one way. Once instituted, you should accept a tyrant/despot/monarch or risk a state of anarchy where no one is safe.
True feudalism was an attempt to reconcile a central government via a king with de facto decentralized government via lesser nobles. The ties were the Catholic church and the reciprocal obligations between liege and liegelord. Worked well enough for the middle ages and a static agrarian society. Not so well for industry and trade.
Posted by: whig at September 01, 2024 11:07 AM (kW+z9)
257
. . . Which kinda makes you wonder about the people pushing the idea that kids (and adults) won't read unless they see themselves in the story and 'see themselves' is solely a function of race and gender. Did they read for fun at all?
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 01, 2024
***
I saw myself in them AS the adult hero, having dangerous adventures; and that was good enough for me. My suspicion is that being hammered with "classics" by blinkered teachers turned a lot of kids off from reading for fun, and they never moved beyond comic books and the like.
In that alternate universe where I teach 11th grade English, my curriculum will include Sweet Thursday by Steinbeck and Red Sky at Morning by R. Bradford, both comed-dramas; The Haunting of Hill House; and maybe The Caine Mutiny or Watership Down.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 01, 2024
***
I saw myself in them AS the adult hero, having dangerous adventures; and that was good enough for me. My suspicion is that being hammered with "classics" by blinkered teachers turned a lot of kids off from reading for fun, and they never moved beyond comic books and the like.
In that alternate universe where I teach 11th grade English, my curriculum will include Sweet Thursday by Steinbeck and Red Sky at Morning by R. Bradford, both comed-dramas; The Haunting of Hill House; and maybe The Caine Mutiny or Watership Down.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 11:07 AM (omVj0)
258
If I may be so bold as to suggest a theme of Back-to-School for the Beasts of the Horde --
IMHO we need to revisit recommendations for kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews, and neighbors so we can prepare for holidays and birthdays and such for the year. Book Thread busts out all over and I saw a Hank the Cow Dog recommendation in one of the regular threads.
'Winter Holidays' are coming!
IMHO we need to revisit recommendations for kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews, and neighbors so we can prepare for holidays and birthdays and such for the year. Book Thread busts out all over and I saw a Hank the Cow Dog recommendation in one of the regular threads.
'Winter Holidays' are coming!
Posted by: mustbequantum at September 01, 2024 11:08 AM (eRfHZ)
259
I've a set of World Book from '67, and yearbooks going to '85 for the asking. They are good.
Did You Know? The derelict Starliner uses lithium ion batteries. I was wonderin the other day if they had done this, generally speaking. I understand the weight advantages, but this seems to be asking for it. Not ready for prime time. And neither is the Starliner for that matter.
Did You Know? The derelict Starliner uses lithium ion batteries. I was wonderin the other day if they had done this, generally speaking. I understand the weight advantages, but this seems to be asking for it. Not ready for prime time. And neither is the Starliner for that matter.
Posted by: Common Tater at September 01, 2024 11:08 AM (v8bCu)
260
I’ve been noting through conversations on X that nations like Turkey and Egypt now have vastly more powerful armies than any European nations (with the exception of Poland) now have. In any real sense, the UK military is just about extinct. As is Germany’s.
Posted by: Tom Servo at September 01, 2024 11:06 AM (S6gqv)
_________
The ghost of John III Sobieski shudders.
Posted by: Tom Servo at September 01, 2024 11:06 AM (S6gqv)
_________
The ghost of John III Sobieski shudders.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 01, 2024 11:09 AM (1Nxff)
261
Just finished the second Comoran Strike novel by Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling).
Excellent mystery, engrossing read.
I was interested to see that there was a transwoman character, who she treated sympathetically. This was published in 2014, so I guess it was before her undeserved reputation as a TERF got started.
Excellent mystery, engrossing read.
I was interested to see that there was a transwoman character, who she treated sympathetically. This was published in 2014, so I guess it was before her undeserved reputation as a TERF got started.
Posted by: sal at September 01, 2024 11:09 AM (bx3Km)
262
I'm not (yet) full Throne and Altar, but at least monarchs understood the values of continuity, of obligation and protection.
Republics are inherently unstable.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 01, 2024 10:31 AM (llXky)
But then, you get "whose Throne and whose Alter?" If it's not my altar, why would I support it? If it's not your altar, why would you support it? In a multi-denominational land, you'd end up with religious wars again, wouldn't you?
Republics are inherently unstable.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 01, 2024 10:31 AM (llXky)
But then, you get "whose Throne and whose Alter?" If it's not my altar, why would I support it? If it's not your altar, why would you support it? In a multi-denominational land, you'd end up with religious wars again, wouldn't you?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 11:09 AM (0eaVi)
263
I also recommend Fred Saberhagen's Dracula series. It begins with "The Dracula Tape" which tells the story from Dracula POV. The second is "The Holmes-Dracula File" which, as you might guess, involves Sherlock Holmes and Count Dracula (also the Giant Rat of Sumatra). Others in the series I especially like are "An Old Friend of the Family", "Throne" and "Dominion".
Posted by: John F. MacMichael at September 01, 2024
***
I read and have a copy of the first one, which is brilliant. I hadn't seen the others though. Saberhagen's fantasy is top-drawer stuff: Empire of the East and The Books of Swords series are both important in the field and tremendously readable.
Posted by: John F. MacMichael at September 01, 2024
***
I read and have a copy of the first one, which is brilliant. I hadn't seen the others though. Saberhagen's fantasy is top-drawer stuff: Empire of the East and The Books of Swords series are both important in the field and tremendously readable.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 11:10 AM (omVj0)
264
The Nevada State Museum has a whole section on Barbed Wire.
I can only guess how many samples, most found locally. At least 5,000.
Posted by: Reforger at September 01, 2024 10:38 AM (xcIvR)
I like (liked?) the "mine" tour.
I can only guess how many samples, most found locally. At least 5,000.
Posted by: Reforger at September 01, 2024 10:38 AM (xcIvR)
I like (liked?) the "mine" tour.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 11:11 AM (0eaVi)
265
Short stories, perhaps an anthology. (Toots own horn for All Will Burn: At All Costs on Amazon)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024
*
Dang it. I bought it but haven't gotten around to reading it yet. Of course, I've read yours already.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024
***
Your comments were invaluable, OE! The other stories are quite good, esp. a long one called "The Wrath of Mom" by Paul Williams. Not a comedy, either.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024
*
Dang it. I bought it but haven't gotten around to reading it yet. Of course, I've read yours already.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024
***
Your comments were invaluable, OE! The other stories are quite good, esp. a long one called "The Wrath of Mom" by Paul Williams. Not a comedy, either.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 11:13 AM (omVj0)
266
We can only hope that it will be a replay of 1848, and not 1803. Depends who ends up running things.
I’ve been noting through conversations on X that nations like Turkey and Egypt now have vastly more powerful armies than any European nations (with the exception of Poland) now have. In any real sense, the UK military is just about extinct. As is Germany’s.
Posted by: Tom Servo
======
Nukes represent a new situation in history where they make total victory uncertain for aggressors. Same as in civil wars in nuclear powers or the end of the Soviet Union might have been much bloodier.
AH Lloyd's Wall of Men (an excellent intro to Chinese military strategy btw) has quite a number of examples where large armies ended up being quite brittle in actual combat. Early western history indicates the same.
In both Turkey's and Egypt's case, neither army is really designed for foreign wars but rather to defend the regime first and the homeland second. Neither country is able to project its forces abroad. Right now, that first mover advantage is still the US and now perhaps China. Russia is an afterthought and win or lose in Ukraine, is unlikely to be able to project power worldwide.
I’ve been noting through conversations on X that nations like Turkey and Egypt now have vastly more powerful armies than any European nations (with the exception of Poland) now have. In any real sense, the UK military is just about extinct. As is Germany’s.
Posted by: Tom Servo
======
Nukes represent a new situation in history where they make total victory uncertain for aggressors. Same as in civil wars in nuclear powers or the end of the Soviet Union might have been much bloodier.
AH Lloyd's Wall of Men (an excellent intro to Chinese military strategy btw) has quite a number of examples where large armies ended up being quite brittle in actual combat. Early western history indicates the same.
In both Turkey's and Egypt's case, neither army is really designed for foreign wars but rather to defend the regime first and the homeland second. Neither country is able to project its forces abroad. Right now, that first mover advantage is still the US and now perhaps China. Russia is an afterthought and win or lose in Ukraine, is unlikely to be able to project power worldwide.
Posted by: whig at September 01, 2024 11:13 AM (kW+z9)
267
Tolkien-related, so not threadjacking:
Critical Drinker reviews the 2nd installment of Rings of Power. You were expecting that they'd develop some respect for the source material, and avoid all the woke crap that resulted in it being one of the most ridiculed shows of all time, didn't you. It turns out, you were wrong. They doubled down. Amazing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8T1LPtS4-A
Critical Drinker reviews the 2nd installment of Rings of Power. You were expecting that they'd develop some respect for the source material, and avoid all the woke crap that resulted in it being one of the most ridiculed shows of all time, didn't you. It turns out, you were wrong. They doubled down. Amazing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8T1LPtS4-A
Posted by: Archimedes at September 01, 2024 11:13 AM (xCA6C)
268
Not a bad book. Glad to have read it. Recommended.
Gotta go. Back later.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 09:00 AM
Oddly enough, I've been rereading the unabridged Dracula on my cruise. A good read.
And thanks, Perfesser for the hat tip. Was that a crazy rabbit hole to go down, or what? It's even more fun to watch court videos of sov cit types trying that in front of judges. It...doesn't end well for them.
Gotta go. Back later.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 09:00 AM
Oddly enough, I've been rereading the unabridged Dracula on my cruise. A good read.
And thanks, Perfesser for the hat tip. Was that a crazy rabbit hole to go down, or what? It's even more fun to watch court videos of sov cit types trying that in front of judges. It...doesn't end well for them.
Posted by: RedMindBlueState at September 01, 2024 11:13 AM (pKbu1)
269
In a multi-denominational land, you'd end up with religious wars again, wouldn't you?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 11:09 AM (0eaVi)
__________
Not if you anathemized schismatics submit and convert.
In a multi-denominational land, you'd end up with religious wars again, wouldn't you?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 11:09 AM (0eaVi)
__________
Not if you anathemized schismatics submit and convert.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 01, 2024 11:14 AM (Ch5dY)
270
Whitman books!
Anybody else here remember the Brains Benton series?
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 01, 2024 10:43 AM (p/isN)
Never heard of him, I don't think. Maybe they should put out a sampler.
Anybody else here remember the Brains Benton series?
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 01, 2024 10:43 AM (p/isN)
Never heard of him, I don't think. Maybe they should put out a sampler.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 11:14 AM (0eaVi)
271
Youth rec: the Penderwick Family series by Jean Birdsall.
Wholesome, well-written and delightful. Aimed towards older elementary/young middle school girls.
There are five volumes that follow them over thirteen years.
Wholesome, well-written and delightful. Aimed towards older elementary/young middle school girls.
There are five volumes that follow them over thirteen years.
Posted by: sal at September 01, 2024 11:15 AM (bx3Km)
272
I've been remiss in my ancient history reading, so I checked out "Too Much Too Young: Rude Boys, Racism, and the Soundtrack of a Generation -- The 2 Tone Records Story" by Daniel Rachel. The Specials, The English Beat, Madness, and others were in my Walkman on near constant rotation back in the day.
Interesting bit on the postwar recovery of Coventry, the Caribbean immigrants who worked in the factories, and the recession of the 70's creating conflict among the diverse populace.
The Specials, "Ghost Town":
https://tinyurl.com/shy98j4r
Interesting bit on the postwar recovery of Coventry, the Caribbean immigrants who worked in the factories, and the recession of the 70's creating conflict among the diverse populace.
The Specials, "Ghost Town":
https://tinyurl.com/shy98j4r
Posted by: All Hail Eris at September 01, 2024 11:15 AM (kpS4V)
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at September 01, 2024 11:17 AM (PiwSw)
274
But then, you get "whose Throne and whose Alter?" If it's not my altar, why would I support it? If it's not your altar, why would you support it? In a multi-denominational land, you'd end up with religious wars again, wouldn't you?
Posted by: OrangeEnt
Not necessarily but it would, as in India, result in a great sorting again. Happened in Euroland after the Thirty Years War ended in the Treaty of Westphalia. That more or less established the nation state and the rulers of each nation got to pick the Protestism or Catholicism as the state religion for their subjects.
Those states varied in their 'toleration' for other Christian sects but widespead religious wars were henceforth avoided and despite wars between nations--nations did not try to reinstitute their preferred state religion in conquered rivals. Instead, lopping off territory and payment of 'damages' plus often marriage of some sort became normal settlements.
Posted by: OrangeEnt
Not necessarily but it would, as in India, result in a great sorting again. Happened in Euroland after the Thirty Years War ended in the Treaty of Westphalia. That more or less established the nation state and the rulers of each nation got to pick the Protestism or Catholicism as the state religion for their subjects.
Those states varied in their 'toleration' for other Christian sects but widespead religious wars were henceforth avoided and despite wars between nations--nations did not try to reinstitute their preferred state religion in conquered rivals. Instead, lopping off territory and payment of 'damages' plus often marriage of some sort became normal settlements.
Posted by: whig at September 01, 2024 11:17 AM (kW+z9)
275
Penderwick Family series by Jean Birdsall.
=====
Thanks for that. Isn't a Birdsall the author of Clifford?
=====
Thanks for that. Isn't a Birdsall the author of Clifford?
Posted by: mustbequantum at September 01, 2024 11:18 AM (eRfHZ)
276
Re: 228, I misspelled Nero Wolfe. Both he and Archie would shun me.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 10:56 AM (omVj0)
Would they bare their fangs at you?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 10:56 AM (omVj0)
Would they bare their fangs at you?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 11:19 AM (0eaVi)
277
Among the Whitman series, I did like the "Lassie" stories. There were at least two with Jeff Miller from the TV series, and one (maybe more?) with Timmy. These were tales with young heroes, true, not adults, but the presence of Lassie made up for it. The same was true of the two Rin Tin Tin Westerns with Cpl. Rusty at Fort Apache; Rinty was there, and they were exciting Westerns with mystery and/or rebellious Apaches, so I was fine with them. It all depends on context, I suppose.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 11:21 AM (omVj0)
278
I like (liked?) the "mine" tour.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 11:11 AM (0eaVi)
It has been rebuilt but is still there as of my last visit 5 or so years ago.
They did remove the bare breasted indigenous people display though.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 11:11 AM (0eaVi)
It has been rebuilt but is still there as of my last visit 5 or so years ago.
They did remove the bare breasted indigenous people display though.
Posted by: Reforger at September 01, 2024 11:22 AM (xcIvR)
279
A short but good one. John Cheever's The Swimmer. Neddy Merrill, relaxing poolside with a drink at a friend's house in Westchester County, has the notion to return the eight miles home by swimming the pools of friends along the way.
At first, Neddy is greeted with cheer and more drinks but gradually the scenes become more surreal. The drinks diminish. Implications are made of his financial problems and his daughters getting in trouble. The summer afternoon becomes autumn. His strength ebbs. Finally, he returns to his home in the rain to find it derelict and abandoned.
A short but good one. John Cheever's The Swimmer. Neddy Merrill, relaxing poolside with a drink at a friend's house in Westchester County, has the notion to return the eight miles home by swimming the pools of friends along the way.
At first, Neddy is greeted with cheer and more drinks but gradually the scenes become more surreal. The drinks diminish. Implications are made of his financial problems and his daughters getting in trouble. The summer afternoon becomes autumn. His strength ebbs. Finally, he returns to his home in the rain to find it derelict and abandoned.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 01, 2024 11:22 AM (1Nxff)
280
Reading report- I am trying to put together a personal reading list of Catholicism.
I am a poorly catechized cradle Catholic and running out of time to remedy that. Just call it Remedial Catholicism.
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 01, 2024 09:32 AM (Ydd86)
I'd start with "The Catechism of the Catholic Church" if you don't already have a copy.
Next place I'd go is the Ignatius Press online site. The Benedict XVI titles are superb.
I am a poorly catechized cradle Catholic and running out of time to remedy that. Just call it Remedial Catholicism.
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 01, 2024 09:32 AM (Ydd86)
I'd start with "The Catechism of the Catholic Church" if you don't already have a copy.
Next place I'd go is the Ignatius Press online site. The Benedict XVI titles are superb.
Posted by: mrp at September 01, 2024 11:22 AM (rj6Yv)
281
228, I misspelled Nero Wolfe. Both he and Archie would shun me.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 10:56 AM (omVj0)
Would they bare their fangs at you?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024
***
Wolfe would refuse to invite me to his dinner table. Archie would dismiss me with some smart remark.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 10:56 AM (omVj0)
Would they bare their fangs at you?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024
***
Wolfe would refuse to invite me to his dinner table. Archie would dismiss me with some smart remark.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 11:23 AM (omVj0)
282
In both Turkey's and Egypt's case, neither army is really designed for foreign wars but rather to defend the regime first and the homeland second. Neither country is able to project its forces abroad. Right now, that first mover advantage is still the US and now perhaps China. Russia is an afterthought and win or lose in Ukraine, is unlikely to be able to project power worldwide.
Posted by: whig at September 01, 2024 11:13 AM (kW+z9)
What got me to looking at this is the arms purchase / arms production contracts in the MENA region, the amounts are mind boggling, as is the quality of what is being procured / built. Most especially missiles/drones/aircraft. Weapons such as truck launched loitering drones with satellite link as good as anything that even the US is building.
And for the record, Iran is a paper tiger. Egypt and Turkey are the true powers in the region./
Posted by: whig at September 01, 2024 11:13 AM (kW+z9)
What got me to looking at this is the arms purchase / arms production contracts in the MENA region, the amounts are mind boggling, as is the quality of what is being procured / built. Most especially missiles/drones/aircraft. Weapons such as truck launched loitering drones with satellite link as good as anything that even the US is building.
And for the record, Iran is a paper tiger. Egypt and Turkey are the true powers in the region./
Posted by: Tom Servo at September 01, 2024 11:23 AM (S6gqv)
283
Thanks for that. Isn't a Birdsall the author of Clifford?
Posted by: mustbequantum at September 01, 2024 11:18 AM (eRfHZ)
No, a Norman Bridwell. Had to look it up, b/c Clifford was on our Index.
Oh, if they are still available, the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle series by Betty McDonald. They are very dated- she died in 1958- but my kids (b. 1977-1987) adored them and they are so much fun to read aloud.
Posted by: mustbequantum at September 01, 2024 11:18 AM (eRfHZ)
No, a Norman Bridwell. Had to look it up, b/c Clifford was on our Index.
Oh, if they are still available, the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle series by Betty McDonald. They are very dated- she died in 1958- but my kids (b. 1977-1987) adored them and they are so much fun to read aloud.
Posted by: sal at September 01, 2024 11:24 AM (bx3Km)
284
A short but good one. John Cheever's The Swimmer. Neddy Merrill, relaxing poolside with a drink at a friend's house in Westchester County, has the notion to return the eight miles home by swimming the pools of friends along the way.
At first, Neddy is greeted with cheer and more drinks but gradually the scenes become more surreal. The drinks diminish. Implications are made of his financial problems and his daughters getting in trouble. The summer afternoon becomes autumn. His strength ebbs. Finally, he returns to his home in the rain to find it derelict and abandoned.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 01, 2024
***
There was a film adaptation in the Sixties with Burt Lancaster in the lead. I've read very little Cheever, and I don't know if that was one of the few. I may pick it up at the college library.
At first, Neddy is greeted with cheer and more drinks but gradually the scenes become more surreal. The drinks diminish. Implications are made of his financial problems and his daughters getting in trouble. The summer afternoon becomes autumn. His strength ebbs. Finally, he returns to his home in the rain to find it derelict and abandoned.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 01, 2024
***
There was a film adaptation in the Sixties with Burt Lancaster in the lead. I've read very little Cheever, and I don't know if that was one of the few. I may pick it up at the college library.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 11:24 AM (omVj0)
285
The same was true of the two Rin Tin Tin Westerns with Cpl. Rusty at Fort Apache; Rinty was there, and they were exciting Westerns with mystery and/or rebellious Apaches, so I was fine with them. It all depends on context, I suppose.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 11:21 AM (omVj0)
Famous Rin Tin Tin quote: "I hate fucking Apaches".
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 11:21 AM (omVj0)
Famous Rin Tin Tin quote: "I hate fucking Apaches".
Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at September 01, 2024 11:25 AM (g8Ew8)
286
Time to make the dog food.
Have a great day, horde!
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at September 01, 2024 11:06 AM (OX9vb)
What??!! You're gonna make food outta your dog??
Have a great day, horde!
Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at September 01, 2024 11:06 AM (OX9vb)
What??!! You're gonna make food outta your dog??
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 11:25 AM (0eaVi)
287
Oh, if they are still available, the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle series by Betty McDonald. They are very dated- she died in 1958- but my kids (b. 1977-1987) adored them and they are so much fun to read aloud.
Posted by: sal at September 01, 2024
***
Is that the The Egg and I and The Bug and I lady?
Posted by: sal at September 01, 2024
***
Is that the The Egg and I and The Bug and I lady?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 11:26 AM (omVj0)
288
Famous Rin Tin Tin quote: "I hate fucking Apaches".
Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at September 01, 2024
***
Classic Moron rejoinder: "Then quit doing it"
Famous Rin Tin Tin quote: "I hate fucking Apaches".
Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at September 01, 2024
***
Classic Moron rejoinder: "Then quit doing it"
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 11:26 AM (omVj0)
289
I am a poorly catechized cradle Catholic and running out of time to remedy that. Just call it Remedial Catholicism.
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 01, 2024 09:32 AM (Ydd86)
__________
Add to your list This is the Faith by Francis Ripley. It was recommended to me by my pastor when I returned to the Church after being lapsed for 30 years.
I am a poorly catechized cradle Catholic and running out of time to remedy that. Just call it Remedial Catholicism.
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 01, 2024 09:32 AM (Ydd86)
__________
Add to your list This is the Faith by Francis Ripley. It was recommended to me by my pastor when I returned to the Church after being lapsed for 30 years.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 01, 2024 11:27 AM (1Nxff)
290
What will happen will probably be something like the widespread revolts in 1848 where one country after another in Euroland had regimes in trouble that year. Some regimes survived, others did not.
Posted by: whig at September 01, 2024 10:56 AM (kW+z9)
Somewhere in my youth I became fascinated by sportsball predictions, and would listen to "experts" doing mock drafts, tournament brackets, pre-season playoff predictions...
It was amazing how seldom reality turned out like the predictions.
We are living in an age where democracy is crumbling, which is quite unique in world history, because democracies are extremely young, and never this widespread.
Something tells me this will be worse than anything before, but hell if I know.
Posted by: whig at September 01, 2024 10:56 AM (kW+z9)
Somewhere in my youth I became fascinated by sportsball predictions, and would listen to "experts" doing mock drafts, tournament brackets, pre-season playoff predictions...
It was amazing how seldom reality turned out like the predictions.
We are living in an age where democracy is crumbling, which is quite unique in world history, because democracies are extremely young, and never this widespread.
Something tells me this will be worse than anything before, but hell if I know.
Posted by: BurtTC at September 01, 2024 11:27 AM (gNt0q)
291
'Winter Holidays' are coming!
Posted by: mustbequantum at September 01, 2024 11:08 AM (eRfHZ)
Are coming? September first is the beginning of the holiday season as far as I'm concerned. Fall decor goes up today and I have to start buying Christmas gifts to make sure we have enough money to buy all we need.
Posted by: mustbequantum at September 01, 2024 11:08 AM (eRfHZ)
Are coming? September first is the beginning of the holiday season as far as I'm concerned. Fall decor goes up today and I have to start buying Christmas gifts to make sure we have enough money to buy all we need.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 11:28 AM (0eaVi)
292
Re: Mrs. Piggle Wiggle
Today is ripe for a re-do for modern kids: "The Won't Put Down the Phone Cure", "The Touch Grass Cure", "The Can't Read Cursive Cure"...
Today is ripe for a re-do for modern kids: "The Won't Put Down the Phone Cure", "The Touch Grass Cure", "The Can't Read Cursive Cure"...
Posted by: sal at September 01, 2024 11:29 AM (bx3Km)
293
Something tells me this will be worse than anything before, but hell if I know.
Posted by: BurtTC at September 01, 2024 11:27 AM (gNt0q)
___________
"I'm gonna come out on top!" - every Antifa goon
Something tells me this will be worse than anything before, but hell if I know.
Posted by: BurtTC at September 01, 2024 11:27 AM (gNt0q)
___________
"I'm gonna come out on top!" - every Antifa goon
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 01, 2024 11:30 AM (1Nxff)
294
Tolkien-related, so not threadjacking:
Critical Drinker reviews the 2nd installment of Rings of Power. You were expecting that they'd develop some respect for the source material, and avoid all the woke crap that resulted in it being one of the most ridiculed shows of all time, didn't you. It turns out, you were wrong. They doubled down. Amazing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8T1LPtS4-A
Posted by: Archimedes at September 01, 2024 11:13 AM (xCA6C)
Apparently all the middle aged women who run these shows think being seduced by bad boys makes for good storytelling.
I'm waiting for one of these outfits to do a Hitler love story.
Critical Drinker reviews the 2nd installment of Rings of Power. You were expecting that they'd develop some respect for the source material, and avoid all the woke crap that resulted in it being one of the most ridiculed shows of all time, didn't you. It turns out, you were wrong. They doubled down. Amazing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8T1LPtS4-A
Posted by: Archimedes at September 01, 2024 11:13 AM (xCA6C)
Apparently all the middle aged women who run these shows think being seduced by bad boys makes for good storytelling.
I'm waiting for one of these outfits to do a Hitler love story.
Posted by: BurtTC at September 01, 2024 11:30 AM (gNt0q)
295
286 Time to make the dog food.
What??!! You're gonna make food outta your dog??
Posted by: OrangeEnt
---
That's why I hired a chef. Oh, wait...
What??!! You're gonna make food outta your dog??
Posted by: OrangeEnt
---
That's why I hired a chef. Oh, wait...
Posted by: B. O. at September 01, 2024 11:32 AM (dg+HA)
296
There is (or was) one of those little library kiosk like things at our community park. Someone witnessed two girls trashing it a couple weeks ago. While the moral outrage simmered on social media I doubt anyone was held responsible. Demographics being involved and all that.
That being said, I have seen more than a few of those kiosks for books (usually for kids) around here.
That being said, I have seen more than a few of those kiosks for books (usually for kids) around here.
Posted by: Martini Farmer at September 01, 2024 11:32 AM (Q4IgG)
297
Is that the The Egg and I and The Bug and I lady?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 11:26 AM (omVj0)
Yes. There were four or five books in the series. Some were illustrated by Hillary Knight and one by Maurice Sendak, very early in his career.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 11:26 AM (omVj0)
Yes. There were four or five books in the series. Some were illustrated by Hillary Knight and one by Maurice Sendak, very early in his career.
Posted by: sal at September 01, 2024 11:32 AM (bx3Km)
298
Open Range w/ Kevin Costner, Robert Duvall, and Annette Bening is on Grit this afternoon at 4 Central. I understand it's based on a novel; anybody know, or read it?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 11:33 AM (omVj0)
299
***
There was a film adaptation in the Sixties with Burt Lancaster in the lead. I've read very little Cheever, and I don't know if that was one of the few. I may pick it up at the college library.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 11:24 AM (omVj0)
It sticks in my memory as one of the most boring films I’ve ever watched. I kept waiting for something to happen. It never did.
There was a film adaptation in the Sixties with Burt Lancaster in the lead. I've read very little Cheever, and I don't know if that was one of the few. I may pick it up at the college library.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 11:24 AM (omVj0)
It sticks in my memory as one of the most boring films I’ve ever watched. I kept waiting for something to happen. It never did.
Posted by: Tom Servo at September 01, 2024 11:33 AM (S6gqv)
300
If I taught 11th grade English, there'd probably be a healthy amount of Bradbury and Jack Finney's short fiction somewhere in the mix. Shakespeare? -- Macbeth, probably. Steinbeck? -- never got around to Sweet Thursday, but The Pearl and Of Mice and Men went down pretty well with the class I was in. Shirley Jackson would be there too. So would Theodore Sturgeon. I'd lean toward short works, with not too much over novella-length probably -- some, but not much.
I recall a bit too much symbol hunting in the hs lit classes -- yecch; what I don't recall is any teacher, even the good ones, saying that reading was and should be FUN.
I recall a bit too much symbol hunting in the hs lit classes -- yecch; what I don't recall is any teacher, even the good ones, saying that reading was and should be FUN.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 01, 2024 11:33 AM (q3u5l)
301
What got me to looking at this is the arms purchase / arms production contracts in the MENA region, the amounts are mind boggling, as is the quality of what is being procured / built. Most especially missiles/drones/aircraft. Weapons such as truck launched loitering drones with satellite link as good as anything that even the US is building.
And for the record, Iran is a paper tiger. Egypt and Turkey are the true powers in the region./
Posted by: Tom Servo
======
Unfortunately, one generally discovers the true merit of one's military when it wins or loses a war.
Usually a bloody experiment.
And for the record, Iran is a paper tiger. Egypt and Turkey are the true powers in the region./
Posted by: Tom Servo
======
Unfortunately, one generally discovers the true merit of one's military when it wins or loses a war.
Usually a bloody experiment.
Posted by: whig at September 01, 2024 11:33 AM (kW+z9)
302
I’ve been noting through conversations on X that nations like Turkey and Egypt now have vastly more powerful armies than any European nations (with the exception of Poland) now have. In any real sense, the UK military is just about extinct. As is Germany’s.
Posted by: Tom Servo at September 01, 2024 11:06 AM (S6gqv)
Not to mention Iran's.
I've been hearing Erdogan is at risk of being tossed aside, because he blusters a lot, but doesn't do anything. What might happen if doers take over in Turkey is not going to be pretty. For Israel. Or anyone else.
Posted by: Tom Servo at September 01, 2024 11:06 AM (S6gqv)
Not to mention Iran's.
I've been hearing Erdogan is at risk of being tossed aside, because he blusters a lot, but doesn't do anything. What might happen if doers take over in Turkey is not going to be pretty. For Israel. Or anyone else.
Posted by: BurtTC at September 01, 2024 11:34 AM (gNt0q)
303
In that alternate universe where I teach 11th grade English, my curriculum will include Sweet Thursday by Steinbeck and Red Sky at Morning by R. Bradford, both comed-dramas; The Haunting of Hill House; and maybe The Caine Mutiny or Watership Down.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 11:07 AM (omVj0)
Please include "The Greatest Man in the World" by Thurber. My high school introduction to the concept that everything is fake, if not necessarily gay.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 11:07 AM (omVj0)
Please include "The Greatest Man in the World" by Thurber. My high school introduction to the concept that everything is fake, if not necessarily gay.
Posted by: sal at September 01, 2024 11:34 AM (bx3Km)
304
I've read very little Cheever, and I don't know if that was one of the few. I may pick it up at the college library.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 11:24 AM (omVj0)
Cheever like Updike is a "Great Chronicler of the Northerneastern WASP". Basically, Suburb hate, Middle Class Antipathy, Crappy Marriages with Infidelity, Shitty Families. Not always but most of the time.
I find them tiresome and out of date for the most part. Updike's "Witches of Eastwick" is a surprising exception that works well.
I would suggest if you like that genre, you try Peter DeVries. He writes great comic novels of those types(except for "Blood of the Lamb", excellent novel but deals with the death of a daughter)
Give "I Hear America Swinging", "Conseting Adults" or "Slouching Toward Kalamazoo" a whirl. But, all of his stuff is good to outstanding.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 11:24 AM (omVj0)
Cheever like Updike is a "Great Chronicler of the Northerneastern WASP". Basically, Suburb hate, Middle Class Antipathy, Crappy Marriages with Infidelity, Shitty Families. Not always but most of the time.
I find them tiresome and out of date for the most part. Updike's "Witches of Eastwick" is a surprising exception that works well.
I would suggest if you like that genre, you try Peter DeVries. He writes great comic novels of those types(except for "Blood of the Lamb", excellent novel but deals with the death of a daughter)
Give "I Hear America Swinging", "Conseting Adults" or "Slouching Toward Kalamazoo" a whirl. But, all of his stuff is good to outstanding.
Posted by: naturalfake at September 01, 2024 11:35 AM (eDfFs)
305
Explosion not too far away just now. Jets in the air for the last several hours.
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at September 01, 2024 11:35 AM (QJ2FR)
306
Your comments were invaluable, OE! The other stories are quite good, esp. a long one called "The Wrath of Mom" by Paul Williams. Not a comedy, either.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 11:13 AM (omVj0)
Glad to hear someone's getting in print. Everything I've submitted everywhere has been rejected. Even that non-paying magazine didn't print my submission in their last issue. For a mag that's seeking stories, seems strange they wouldn't even reply to my submission. I guess my stuff's just so bad that even a free mag won't run it....
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 11:13 AM (omVj0)
Glad to hear someone's getting in print. Everything I've submitted everywhere has been rejected. Even that non-paying magazine didn't print my submission in their last issue. For a mag that's seeking stories, seems strange they wouldn't even reply to my submission. I guess my stuff's just so bad that even a free mag won't run it....
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 11:35 AM (0eaVi)
307
It sticks in my memory as one of the most boring films I’ve ever watched. I kept waiting for something to happen. It never did.
Posted by: Tom Servo at September 01, 2024 11:33 AM (S6gqv)
__________
It didn't translate well to film. The book (or novella, or short story) is chilling.
It sticks in my memory as one of the most boring films I’ve ever watched. I kept waiting for something to happen. It never did.
Posted by: Tom Servo at September 01, 2024 11:33 AM (S6gqv)
__________
It didn't translate well to film. The book (or novella, or short story) is chilling.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 01, 2024 11:35 AM (1Nxff)
308
And for the record, Iran is a paper tiger. Egypt and Turkey are the true powers in the region./
Posted by: Tom Servo
======
Unfortunately, one generally discovers the true merit of one's military when it wins or loses a war.
Usually a bloody experiment.
Posted by: whig at September 01, 2024 11:33 AM (kW+z9)
Yeah, lots of people seem to want to believe Iran is a pushover.
I believe they are wrong. Deadly wrong.
Posted by: Tom Servo
======
Unfortunately, one generally discovers the true merit of one's military when it wins or loses a war.
Usually a bloody experiment.
Posted by: whig at September 01, 2024 11:33 AM (kW+z9)
Yeah, lots of people seem to want to believe Iran is a pushover.
I believe they are wrong. Deadly wrong.
Posted by: BurtTC at September 01, 2024 11:36 AM (gNt0q)
309
Wolfus Aurelius @263, there are a total of 10 novels in Saberhagen's "Dracula" series (plus a few short stories. From "An Old Friend of the Family" on they are (mostly) set in contemporary times. The titles I mentioned are the ones I think are the best but they are all readable.
I strongly agree that his "Empire of the East" series is brilliant fantasy. An amusing trivia note: In Larry Niven's "The Ringworld Engineers" the hero, Louis Wu, passes some time on his return voyage to the Ringworld by watching a movie version of "The Empire of the East". I would love to see that but given what is coming out of Hollywood these days they would probably make the demon ruled Empire the good guys.
I strongly agree that his "Empire of the East" series is brilliant fantasy. An amusing trivia note: In Larry Niven's "The Ringworld Engineers" the hero, Louis Wu, passes some time on his return voyage to the Ringworld by watching a movie version of "The Empire of the East". I would love to see that but given what is coming out of Hollywood these days they would probably make the demon ruled Empire the good guys.
Posted by: John F. MacMichael at September 01, 2024 11:36 AM (aYnHS)
310
Stoker's "Dracula" is a masterpiece. It grabbed me on a visceral level.
Posted by: callsign claymore at September 01, 2024 11:36 AM (JcnCJ)
311
Ah, okay, Betty MacDonald's follow-up to The Egg and I was The Plague and I, about contracting TB (usually not a subject for humor) and having to spend nine months in a sanitarium.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 11:38 AM (omVj0)
312
Oddly enough, I've been rereading the unabridged Dracula on my cruise. A good read.
Posted by: RedMindBlueState at September 01, 2024 11:13 AM (pKbu1)
I assume that's what I read. It was over 500 pages, and other issues on Internet Archive were in the 3 or 4 hundreds.
Posted by: RedMindBlueState at September 01, 2024 11:13 AM (pKbu1)
I assume that's what I read. It was over 500 pages, and other issues on Internet Archive were in the 3 or 4 hundreds.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 11:38 AM (0eaVi)
313
Unfortunately, one generally discovers the true merit of one's military when it wins or loses a war.
Usually a bloody experiment.
Posted by: whig at September 01, 2024 11:33 AM (kW+z9)
Something I find fascinating is that the UAE and Egypt are engaged in a proxy war to see which will control Sudan, and no one in the US seems to have even heard about it. Egypt is also giving an eye to the chaos that is Libya. Algeria is their ally; I would not be surprised to see those two in defacto control of all of North Africa within a few years. Egypt has also completely demilitarized the Sinai, in violation of Camp David, and gotten away with it.
Usually a bloody experiment.
Posted by: whig at September 01, 2024 11:33 AM (kW+z9)
Something I find fascinating is that the UAE and Egypt are engaged in a proxy war to see which will control Sudan, and no one in the US seems to have even heard about it. Egypt is also giving an eye to the chaos that is Libya. Algeria is their ally; I would not be surprised to see those two in defacto control of all of North Africa within a few years. Egypt has also completely demilitarized the Sinai, in violation of Camp David, and gotten away with it.
Posted by: Tom Servo at September 01, 2024 11:39 AM (S6gqv)
314
In Larry Niven's "The Ringworld Engineers" the hero, Louis Wu, passes some time on his return voyage to the Ringworld by watching a movie version of "The Empire of the East". I would love to see that but given what is coming out of Hollywood these days they would probably make the demon ruled Empire the good guys.
Posted by: John F. MacMichael at September 01, 2024
***
Ha! I've read RE many times and don't recall that in-joke. I'll have to go look!
Posted by: John F. MacMichael at September 01, 2024
***
Ha! I've read RE many times and don't recall that in-joke. I'll have to go look!
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 11:39 AM (omVj0)
315
Local rainbow flagged Methodist church has one of those kiosk libraries.
Guess where my outdated, discarded, zero-worth "conservative" books go to die?
Nah, they won't read them. But it's gotta stick in their craw, when they see a book by GWB or Dick Cheney in there. BOOGEYMAN BAD!!!
Jim
Sunk New Dawn
Galveston, TX
Guess where my outdated, discarded, zero-worth "conservative" books go to die?
Nah, they won't read them. But it's gotta stick in their craw, when they see a book by GWB or Dick Cheney in there. BOOGEYMAN BAD!!!
Jim
Sunk New Dawn
Galveston, TX
Posted by: Jim at September 01, 2024 11:39 AM (kQgoX)
316
Not if you anathemized schismatics submit and convert.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 01, 2024 11:14 AM (Ch5dY)
Sorta like a third mid-eastern group?
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 01, 2024 11:14 AM (Ch5dY)
Sorta like a third mid-eastern group?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 11:40 AM (0eaVi)
317
246 Actually more like schwab but they made him samuel jack
Schwab's no tech billionaire, just a front man.
Schwab's no tech billionaire, just a front man.
Posted by: enough Bullshit at September 01, 2024 11:41 AM (2NXcZ)
318
Something tells me this will be worse than anything before, but hell if I know.
Posted by: BurtTC at September 01, 2024 11:27 AM (gNt0q)
"I'm gonna come out on top!" - every Antifa goon
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 01, 2024 11:30 AM (1Nxff)
I'm not sure exactly what they did, but the DNC managed to keep those clowns under control. Whatever they were planning for Chicago, it did not disrupt their proceedings.
As a tactical device, I'm wondering if the leftist street people are a spent force. For now.
What scares me more in this country is an underclass that is profoundly dysfunctional, and not political. When basic resources dry up, they will be like zombies wandering the land, and they will fear nothing, just turning into consuming insects. Sheer numbers will make them a terror, never before seen in "civilized" countries.
Posted by: BurtTC at September 01, 2024 11:27 AM (gNt0q)
"I'm gonna come out on top!" - every Antifa goon
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 01, 2024 11:30 AM (1Nxff)
I'm not sure exactly what they did, but the DNC managed to keep those clowns under control. Whatever they were planning for Chicago, it did not disrupt their proceedings.
As a tactical device, I'm wondering if the leftist street people are a spent force. For now.
What scares me more in this country is an underclass that is profoundly dysfunctional, and not political. When basic resources dry up, they will be like zombies wandering the land, and they will fear nothing, just turning into consuming insects. Sheer numbers will make them a terror, never before seen in "civilized" countries.
Posted by: BurtTC at September 01, 2024 11:41 AM (JJyQZ)
319
demilitarized the Sinai, in violation of Camp David, and gotten away with it.
Posted by: Tom Servo at September 01, 2024 11:39 AM (S6gqv)
That should be re-militarized. Right?
Posted by: Tom Servo at September 01, 2024 11:39 AM (S6gqv)
That should be re-militarized. Right?
Posted by: Reforger at September 01, 2024 11:42 AM (xcIvR)
320
Please include "The Greatest Man in the World" by Thurber. My high school introduction to the concept that everything is fake, if not necessarily gay.
Posted by: sal at September 01, 2024
***
I know his "Secret Life of Walter Mitty" and a few other pieces, but not that one. A short story? Some Thurber and maybe Dorothy Parker at her best would be good choices too.
Posted by: sal at September 01, 2024
***
I know his "Secret Life of Walter Mitty" and a few other pieces, but not that one. A short story? Some Thurber and maybe Dorothy Parker at her best would be good choices too.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 11:42 AM (omVj0)
321
Somewhere in my youth I became fascinated by sportsball predictions, and would listen to "experts" doing mock drafts, tournament brackets, pre-season playoff predictions...
It was amazing how seldom reality turned out like the predictions.
Posted by: BurtTC
=======
I would agree that universal suffrage democracies are not really in the historical record but unlike many human institutions--the forms of regimes is pretty well sorted out. Democracy regime failures usually end up as a despotism of some sort. Occasionally they end up in an aristocracy of some sort but that is more rare historically,
But, essentially, in the US and the West, while ostensibly universal suffrage 'democracies' were actually republics masquerading as such at the national level. Because all of them rely on representation--you inevitably end up with substituted elected 'lords' instead of a lord by birth.
Will and Ariel Durant's History of Civilization is useful as a general look at the folly over time of human governance in many different places and historical eras.
As you say, something is coming Burt TC, and the outcomes probably will not be good for a lot of us.
It was amazing how seldom reality turned out like the predictions.
Posted by: BurtTC
=======
I would agree that universal suffrage democracies are not really in the historical record but unlike many human institutions--the forms of regimes is pretty well sorted out. Democracy regime failures usually end up as a despotism of some sort. Occasionally they end up in an aristocracy of some sort but that is more rare historically,
But, essentially, in the US and the West, while ostensibly universal suffrage 'democracies' were actually republics masquerading as such at the national level. Because all of them rely on representation--you inevitably end up with substituted elected 'lords' instead of a lord by birth.
Will and Ariel Durant's History of Civilization is useful as a general look at the folly over time of human governance in many different places and historical eras.
As you say, something is coming Burt TC, and the outcomes probably will not be good for a lot of us.
Posted by: whig at September 01, 2024 11:43 AM (kW+z9)
322
It has been rebuilt but is still there as of my last visit 5 or so years ago.
They did remove the bare breasted indigenous people display though.
Posted by: Reforger at September 01, 2024 11:22 AM (xcIvR)
It's been longer than that since we've been there. I suppose they replaced the natives with gay natives, right?
They did remove the bare breasted indigenous people display though.
Posted by: Reforger at September 01, 2024 11:22 AM (xcIvR)
It's been longer than that since we've been there. I suppose they replaced the natives with gay natives, right?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 11:43 AM (0eaVi)
323
280 Reading report- I am trying to put together a personal reading list of Catholicism.
May I suggest a few works of fiction? Many are OOP, but can be found on used sites, or they have been reprinted.
Fiction was enormously important to me on my long path, for varied "what it's like" of lived examples.
The Dry Wood. Carryl Houselander
The Cardinal. Henry Morton Robinson
In This House of Brede. Rumer Godden
These are all pre-Vat II.
Modern Catholic fiction falls firmly in the "opposing the present darkness" camp.
Michael O'Brien's ''Father Elijah" is one of the better books in this genre.
May I suggest a few works of fiction? Many are OOP, but can be found on used sites, or they have been reprinted.
Fiction was enormously important to me on my long path, for varied "what it's like" of lived examples.
The Dry Wood. Carryl Houselander
The Cardinal. Henry Morton Robinson
In This House of Brede. Rumer Godden
These are all pre-Vat II.
Modern Catholic fiction falls firmly in the "opposing the present darkness" camp.
Michael O'Brien's ''Father Elijah" is one of the better books in this genre.
Posted by: sal at September 01, 2024 11:44 AM (bx3Km)
324
Yeah, lots of people seem to want to believe Iran is a pushover.
I believe they are wrong. Deadly wrong.
Posted by: BurtTC at September 01, 2024 11:36 AM (gNt0q)
The big “tell” was 2 or 3 weeks ago, when Iran/Hezballah were moving towards open war with Israel, and the IDF launched a massive pre-emptive strike on Hezballah. That should have been the start of a war; instead Hezballah killed a few chickens and backed down, and Iran got scared and cut out all of the war and missile strike chatter.
They both folded like cheap lawn chairs, which killed any respect observers had previously had for their military abilities.
I believe they are wrong. Deadly wrong.
Posted by: BurtTC at September 01, 2024 11:36 AM (gNt0q)
The big “tell” was 2 or 3 weeks ago, when Iran/Hezballah were moving towards open war with Israel, and the IDF launched a massive pre-emptive strike on Hezballah. That should have been the start of a war; instead Hezballah killed a few chickens and backed down, and Iran got scared and cut out all of the war and missile strike chatter.
They both folded like cheap lawn chairs, which killed any respect observers had previously had for their military abilities.
Posted by: Tom Servo at September 01, 2024 11:44 AM (S6gqv)
325
In fact a collection of good short stories would be a great way to kick off a nine-month high school English session.
"Sergeant Houck" by Jack Schaefer would be one. There are good stories by Shirley Jackson other than "The Lottery," and a solid space adventure like Larry Niven's "At the Core" would be a good one too.
"Sergeant Houck" by Jack Schaefer would be one. There are good stories by Shirley Jackson other than "The Lottery," and a solid space adventure like Larry Niven's "At the Core" would be a good one too.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 11:45 AM (omVj0)
326
Open Range w/ Kevin Costner, Robert Duvall, and Annette Bening is on Grit this afternoon at 4 Central. I understand it's based on a novel; anybody know, or read it?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 11:33 AM (omVj0)
Don't know about the book, but it's a good movie. Well done.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 11:33 AM (omVj0)
Don't know about the book, but it's a good movie. Well done.
Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at September 01, 2024 11:47 AM (g8Ew8)
327
Something I find fascinating is that the UAE and Egypt are engaged in a proxy war to see which will control Sudan, and no one in the US seems to have even heard about it. Egypt is also giving an eye to the chaos that is Libya. Algeria is their ally; I would not be surprised to see those two in defacto control of all of North Africa within a few years. Egypt has also completely demilitarized the Sinai, in violation of Camp David, and gotten away with it.
Posted by: Tom Servo
======
Egypt's problem is they cannot feed themselves and they have a substantial issue internally with an imposed military regime vis a vis the Muslim Brotherhood. Tends to limit aspirations abroad.
Sometimes authoritarian rulers roll the dice anyway so you never know.
To bring back to the book thread, I recommend reading Kenneth Walz's short book on international relations and the importance of national power underlying it. Neo-realism is what Walz coins it rather than Potemkin international organizations that other IR theorists believe in.
Posted by: Tom Servo
======
Egypt's problem is they cannot feed themselves and they have a substantial issue internally with an imposed military regime vis a vis the Muslim Brotherhood. Tends to limit aspirations abroad.
Sometimes authoritarian rulers roll the dice anyway so you never know.
To bring back to the book thread, I recommend reading Kenneth Walz's short book on international relations and the importance of national power underlying it. Neo-realism is what Walz coins it rather than Potemkin international organizations that other IR theorists believe in.
Posted by: whig at September 01, 2024 11:47 AM (kW+z9)
328
Stoker's "Dracula" is a masterpiece. It grabbed me on a visceral level.
Posted by: callsign claymore at September 01, 2024 11:36 AM (JcnCJ)
I was probably about 13 or 14 when I read it, having watched Dracula movies before...
I was struck by the differences, and was never again particularly moved by movie adaptations. Although I have tried watching the Mexican Dracula that was filmed at the same time as the Browning version... with the Mexicans shooting on the same sets at night.
It's now considered far superior, but eh. I'll watch it at some point.
Posted by: callsign claymore at September 01, 2024 11:36 AM (JcnCJ)
I was probably about 13 or 14 when I read it, having watched Dracula movies before...
I was struck by the differences, and was never again particularly moved by movie adaptations. Although I have tried watching the Mexican Dracula that was filmed at the same time as the Browning version... with the Mexicans shooting on the same sets at night.
It's now considered far superior, but eh. I'll watch it at some point.
Posted by: BurtTC at September 01, 2024 11:48 AM (bOYXE)
329
I haven't been there since I saw it in the local rat cage liner.
Wife and I are going to take the grands next weekend.
I'll report back.
Wife and I are going to take the grands next weekend.
I'll report back.
Posted by: Reforger at September 01, 2024 11:48 AM (xcIvR)
330
Is the nicname, "types deletes" taken? Talk about provocation with that quantum grammar foolishness.
Posted by: Hokey Pokey at September 01, 2024 11:48 AM (bGKz1)
331
Modern Catholic fiction falls firmly in the "opposing the present darkness" camp.
Michael O'Brien's ''Father Elijah" is one of the better books in this genre.
Posted by: sal at September 01, 2024 11:44 AM (bx3Km)
Thanks sal. Sounds interesting.
Michael O'Brien's ''Father Elijah" is one of the better books in this genre.
Posted by: sal at September 01, 2024 11:44 AM (bx3Km)
Thanks sal. Sounds interesting.
Posted by: Cannibal Bob at September 01, 2024 11:49 AM (SpgZO)
332
That should be re-militarized. Right?
Posted by: Reforger at September 01, 2024 11:42 AM (xcIvR)
Camp David accords said all military forces of either Israel or Egypt should stay out. It is now occupied by several Egyptian tank battalions plus a division or two of Egyptian troops. Israel let it happen without saying much because they were too preoccupied by the fights with Hamas and Hezballah and Iran and the Houthi, they didn’t need a 5th war on their hands.
Posted by: Reforger at September 01, 2024 11:42 AM (xcIvR)
Camp David accords said all military forces of either Israel or Egypt should stay out. It is now occupied by several Egyptian tank battalions plus a division or two of Egyptian troops. Israel let it happen without saying much because they were too preoccupied by the fights with Hamas and Hezballah and Iran and the Houthi, they didn’t need a 5th war on their hands.
Posted by: Tom Servo at September 01, 2024 11:50 AM (S6gqv)
333
The big “tell” was 2 or 3 weeks ago, when Iran/Hezballah were moving towards open war with Israel, and the IDF launched a massive pre-emptive strike on Hezballah. That should have been the start of a war; instead Hezballah killed a few chickens and backed down, and Iran got scared and cut out all of the war and missile strike chatter.
They both folded like cheap lawn chairs, which killed any respect observers had previously had for their military abilities.
Posted by: Tom Servo at September 01, 2024 11:44 AM (S6gqv)
Honestly, I think that's a terribly stupid conclusion. No offense to anyone who wants to believe it, but Iran is going to do this on their own timeline, and not be drawn in when Israel is ready.
When Iran strikes, Israel will know it.
They both folded like cheap lawn chairs, which killed any respect observers had previously had for their military abilities.
Posted by: Tom Servo at September 01, 2024 11:44 AM (S6gqv)
Honestly, I think that's a terribly stupid conclusion. No offense to anyone who wants to believe it, but Iran is going to do this on their own timeline, and not be drawn in when Israel is ready.
When Iran strikes, Israel will know it.
Posted by: BurtTC at September 01, 2024 11:50 AM (bOYXE)
334
"Greatest Man" is a short story, about an American hero, who wasn't. A wonderful satire.
I was blessed to have had a wonderful English Lit. experience in high school (late 60's-early'70s). I should go in search of that short story anthology ...
I was blessed to have had a wonderful English Lit. experience in high school (late 60's-early'70s). I should go in search of that short story anthology ...
Posted by: sal at September 01, 2024 11:50 AM (bx3Km)
335
It's been longer than that since we've been there. I suppose they replaced the natives with gay natives, right?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 11:43 AM (0eaVi)
A lot of sparkly indian attire. The feathers are to die for.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 11:43 AM (0eaVi)
A lot of sparkly indian attire. The feathers are to die for.
Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at September 01, 2024 11:51 AM (g8Ew8)
336
Iran, North Korea, China, war bad for business.
Posted by: Hokey Pokey at September 01, 2024 11:51 AM (bGKz1)
337
Michael O'Brien's ''Father Elijah" is one of the better books in this genre.
Posted by: sal at September 01, 2024 11:44 AM (bx3Km)
Thanks sal. Sounds interesting.
Posted by: Cannibal Bob at September 01, 2024 11:49 AM (SpgZO)
Michael O'Brien also wrote a pretty cool sci-fi book, Voyage to Alpha Centauri.
Posted by: sal at September 01, 2024 11:44 AM (bx3Km)
Thanks sal. Sounds interesting.
Posted by: Cannibal Bob at September 01, 2024 11:49 AM (SpgZO)
Michael O'Brien also wrote a pretty cool sci-fi book, Voyage to Alpha Centauri.
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at September 01, 2024 11:52 AM (PiwSw)
338
Posted by: Tom Servo at September 01, 2024 11:39 AM (S6gqv)
Don't be so sure about the alliance between Egypt and Algeria. Their president just talked shit about Egypt.
Don't be so sure about the alliance between Egypt and Algeria. Their president just talked shit about Egypt.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 01, 2024 11:52 AM (d9fT1)
339
I hit a protruding manhole cover on my way home from work yesterday. Now I'm getting a fix so I can get to work. Crap
Posted by: Northernlurker , wondering where his phone is at September 01, 2024 11:53 AM (xuitT)
340
I'd lean toward short works, with not too much over novella-length probably -- some, but not much.
=====
I've been yammering on about this for years. Let's make reading fun and fast to keep a positive attitude going for when they grow up and have more attention span.
=====
I've been yammering on about this for years. Let's make reading fun and fast to keep a positive attitude going for when they grow up and have more attention span.
Posted by: mustbequantum at September 01, 2024 11:53 AM (eRfHZ)
341
Centrifuges in Iran? EPIC stall. War bad foor business.
Posted by: Hokey Pokey at September 01, 2024 11:53 AM (bGKz1)
342
324 Yeah, lots of people seem to want to believe Iran is a pushover.
I believe they are wrong. Deadly wrong.
Posted by: BurtTC
Depends on what type of military action is contemplated. Invasion of Iran would be difficult and bloody. Decapitation by destroying Kharg Island and the Abadan refinery, not so much which would put the Iran regime in a difficult place.
Iran mainly has the power of projecting terror abroad via missiles, rockets, and supporting its Shiite proxies in Gaza, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq as its actual armies but there is an underlying tension between faith and ethnicity plus Iran has pissed off the vast majority of Muslims that are Sunni over the years. That is partly why Ham Ass is not getting the sympathy as they are viewed by officialdoms in Sunni lands as being a catspaw of Iran.
I believe they are wrong. Deadly wrong.
Posted by: BurtTC
Depends on what type of military action is contemplated. Invasion of Iran would be difficult and bloody. Decapitation by destroying Kharg Island and the Abadan refinery, not so much which would put the Iran regime in a difficult place.
Iran mainly has the power of projecting terror abroad via missiles, rockets, and supporting its Shiite proxies in Gaza, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq as its actual armies but there is an underlying tension between faith and ethnicity plus Iran has pissed off the vast majority of Muslims that are Sunni over the years. That is partly why Ham Ass is not getting the sympathy as they are viewed by officialdoms in Sunni lands as being a catspaw of Iran.
Posted by: whig at September 01, 2024 11:53 AM (kW+z9)
343
Naturalflake, I remember going on a Peter Devries kick got to be forty, fifty years ago I think.
Don't remember anything specific except that they were funny, good reads.
And really, that's pretty much all I was looking for, and still am.
Don't remember anything specific except that they were funny, good reads.
And really, that's pretty much all I was looking for, and still am.
Posted by: From about That Time at September 01, 2024 11:53 AM (4780s)
344
Cheever like Updike is a "Great Chronicler of the Northerneastern WASP". Basically, Suburb hate, Middle Class Antipathy, Crappy Marriages with Infidelity, Shitty Families. Not always but most of the time.
__________
Geez, read John O'Hara. Every one of his characters is loathsome. The marriages are a sham, the men are amoral adulerers and the women are bitchy slots. And these are upper-middle-class and higher families.
Cheever like Updike is a "Great Chronicler of the Northerneastern WASP". Basically, Suburb hate, Middle Class Antipathy, Crappy Marriages with Infidelity, Shitty Families. Not always but most of the time.
__________
Geez, read John O'Hara. Every one of his characters is loathsome. The marriages are a sham, the men are amoral adulerers and the women are bitchy slots. And these are upper-middle-class and higher families.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 01, 2024 11:53 AM (1Nxff)
345
Speaking of spycraft, I read Angelo M. Codevilla’s Informing Statecraft last week. I highly recommend it, especially if you’re looking for specifics about how the intelligence community has gone badly astray. He doesn’t specifically mention the Secret Service, but it’s easy to see how his criticism would apply to them as well.
The typical [CIA case] officer… has never done manual labor, and has never been personally close to anyone who has lived by it… He has never served in the armed forces… has never lived or transacted business abroad… He is a pleasant fellow, neither aggressively patriotic nor aggressively anything, and is uncomfortable with anyone who is… As an unspecialized bureaucrat, our case officer will be able to get to first base only with unspecialized bureaucrats.
…they were willing to examine ways of losing, while it seems never to have crossed their minds to look for ways of winning.
The typical [CIA case] officer… has never done manual labor, and has never been personally close to anyone who has lived by it… He has never served in the armed forces… has never lived or transacted business abroad… He is a pleasant fellow, neither aggressively patriotic nor aggressively anything, and is uncomfortable with anyone who is… As an unspecialized bureaucrat, our case officer will be able to get to first base only with unspecialized bureaucrats.
…they were willing to examine ways of losing, while it seems never to have crossed their minds to look for ways of winning.
Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at September 01, 2024 11:54 AM (olroh)
346
345 Speaking of spycraft, I read Angelo M. Codevilla’s Informing Statecraft last week. I highly recommend it, especially if you’re looking for specifics about how the intelligence community has gone badly astray. He doesn’t specifically mention the Secret Service, but it’s easy to see how his criticism would apply to them as well.
The typical [CIA case] officer… has never done manual labor, and has never been personally close to anyone who has lived by it… He has never served in the armed forces… has never lived or transacted business abroad… He is a pleasant fellow, neither aggressively patriotic nor aggressively anything, and is uncomfortable with anyone who is… As an unspecialized bureaucrat, our case officer will be able to get to first base only with unspecialized bureaucrats.
…they were willing to examine ways of losing, while it seems never to have crossed their minds to look for ways of winning.
Posted by: Stephen Price Blair
======
The CIA was infected from the start by its close affiliation with the State Dept. Codevilla is always an interesting read though.
The typical [CIA case] officer… has never done manual labor, and has never been personally close to anyone who has lived by it… He has never served in the armed forces… has never lived or transacted business abroad… He is a pleasant fellow, neither aggressively patriotic nor aggressively anything, and is uncomfortable with anyone who is… As an unspecialized bureaucrat, our case officer will be able to get to first base only with unspecialized bureaucrats.
…they were willing to examine ways of losing, while it seems never to have crossed their minds to look for ways of winning.
Posted by: Stephen Price Blair
======
The CIA was infected from the start by its close affiliation with the State Dept. Codevilla is always an interesting read though.
Posted by: whig at September 01, 2024 11:56 AM (kW+z9)
347
In fact a collection of good short stories would be a great way to kick off a nine-month high school English session.
__________
The Little World of Don Camillo, by Giovanni Guareschi.
In fact a collection of good short stories would be a great way to kick off a nine-month high school English session.
__________
The Little World of Don Camillo, by Giovanni Guareschi.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 01, 2024 11:56 AM (1Nxff)
348
Is the nicname, "types deletes" taken? Talk about provocation with that quantum grammar foolishness.
=====
I say it should be 'Existential Grammar' -- Quantum is reserved for sciencey stuff.
=====
I say it should be 'Existential Grammar' -- Quantum is reserved for sciencey stuff.
Posted by: mustbequantum at September 01, 2024 11:56 AM (eRfHZ)
349
Well, off to deal with reality. Just for fun, I may tinker with a table of contents re that 11th grade short story anthology some time.
Thanks for the thread, Perfessor.
Have a good one, gang.
Thanks for the thread, Perfessor.
Have a good one, gang.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 01, 2024 11:57 AM (q3u5l)
350
hit a protruding manhole cover on my way home from work yesterday. Now I'm getting a fix so I can get to work. Crap
Posted by: Northernlurker , wondering where his phone is at September 01, 2024
***
I had similar experiences three times in one month this spring, and had to buy three new tires. Demoralizing.
Posted by: Northernlurker , wondering where his phone is at September 01, 2024
***
I had similar experiences three times in one month this spring, and had to buy three new tires. Demoralizing.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 11:57 AM (omVj0)
351
305 Explosion not too far away just now. Jets in the air for the last several hours.
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole
I pray for you every day. It sickens me we have these 2 clowns in office, one sleeping on the beach (call me old fashioned, but I prefer not to see my president in swim trunks when they are 85), the other lying about working at McDonalds of all things.
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole
I pray for you every day. It sickens me we have these 2 clowns in office, one sleeping on the beach (call me old fashioned, but I prefer not to see my president in swim trunks when they are 85), the other lying about working at McDonalds of all things.
Posted by: Piper at September 01, 2024 11:58 AM (/sySz)
352
Posted by: Castle Guy at September 01, 2024 11:01 AM (0UoT+)
Sounds like I have you to thank then. And I definitely do. I read the first book practically in one sitting, only taking a break to eat dinner.
Sounds like I have you to thank then. And I definitely do. I read the first book practically in one sitting, only taking a break to eat dinner.
Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at September 01, 2024 11:58 AM (s9EYN)
353
There! I've caught up on all the comments!
What?! It's the end of the Book Thread??
(kicks rock)
Thanks, Perfessor.
What?! It's the end of the Book Thread??
(kicks rock)
Thanks, Perfessor.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 11:59 AM (0eaVi)
354
Been reading the Richard Jackson Saga by Ed Nelson. Easy reading, clever and very well done inside jokes. Imagine Forrest Gump as a regular guy entering adulthood and everything he touches turns into a success. It's well done.
Posted by: Diogenes at September 01, 2024 11:59 AM (W/lyH)
355
I also got to Post Captain, the second in the “Master and Commander” series. Still great. Glad I already have the third book in my pile and am now looking for four and five!
I just finished Ayn Rand’s Anthem. It predicts just about every dystopian government novel that came after it. Written in a fairytale style reminiscent of Animal Farm although its characters are all human.
The air is pure under the ground. There is no odor of men.
I just finished Ayn Rand’s Anthem. It predicts just about every dystopian government novel that came after it. Written in a fairytale style reminiscent of Animal Farm although its characters are all human.
The air is pure under the ground. There is no odor of men.
Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at September 01, 2024 11:59 AM (olroh)
356
Kenneth Walz reference--Theory of International Politics which was an extension of his earlier work, Man, the State, and War.
Posted by: whig at September 01, 2024 12:00 PM (kW+z9)
357
I saw Protruding Manhole Cover open for the Pixies at the Station in '05
Posted by: Common Tater at September 01, 2024 12:00 PM (v8bCu)
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 01, 2024 12:01 PM (1Nxff)
359
I don't think Iran "folded." I think the US Dept. of State told them that after steal, er... 'election' both the Harris admin and the Iranians 'will have more flexibility.'
Remember, our state dept. and dept. of defense are riddled with Iranian sympathizers.
Not taking anything away from the IDF, but the Iranians will strike when the Harris admin says it's ok to do so.
Whether all that plays out as our betters in the capitol city want is debatable.
Remember, our state dept. and dept. of defense are riddled with Iranian sympathizers.
Not taking anything away from the IDF, but the Iranians will strike when the Harris admin says it's ok to do so.
Whether all that plays out as our betters in the capitol city want is debatable.
Posted by: Martini Farmer at September 01, 2024 12:01 PM (Q4IgG)
360
Good Morning Book Lovers and thank you, Professor, for the Book Thread. Getting an extra late start today.
Vmom - as a fellow Cradle Catholic who was catechized in the 70’s, understand where you’re coming from. A friend recently described our religious formation in the 1970’s CCD classes as “God is love. Ok kids, let’s go color now.” It sound crazy but it pretty much sums it up. I’m working on getting myself better catechized myself, but the more I learn, the less I feel I know. I will look into Chesterton’s works - thanks AH Lloyd
My reading slump is improving a bit. Finding a good block of time to read is more of a challenge than lack of desire. I’ve begun Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula by Loren D. Estleman and am finding it a light, fun read, which is what I need right now. I will have to look for Sherlock Holmes: A Betrayal in Blood as I really enjoy a good Sherlock Holmes story. Thanks, werewife, for the recommendation.
I’m off to read the rest of the thread. Hope you all have a week of great reading.
Vmom - as a fellow Cradle Catholic who was catechized in the 70’s, understand where you’re coming from. A friend recently described our religious formation in the 1970’s CCD classes as “God is love. Ok kids, let’s go color now.” It sound crazy but it pretty much sums it up. I’m working on getting myself better catechized myself, but the more I learn, the less I feel I know. I will look into Chesterton’s works - thanks AH Lloyd
My reading slump is improving a bit. Finding a good block of time to read is more of a challenge than lack of desire. I’ve begun Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula by Loren D. Estleman and am finding it a light, fun read, which is what I need right now. I will have to look for Sherlock Holmes: A Betrayal in Blood as I really enjoy a good Sherlock Holmes story. Thanks, werewife, for the recommendation.
I’m off to read the rest of the thread. Hope you all have a week of great reading.
Posted by: KatieFloyd at September 01, 2024 12:02 PM (/IDZu)
361
I'll be a green blooded son of a.... The magazine accepted my story!!!!
I can now call myself a published author, not just a writer anymore!!!!
I can now call myself a published author, not just a writer anymore!!!!
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 12:02 PM (0eaVi)
362
Now the tire place is giving me problems claiming my full sized rim is a donut. I know it's full size.
Posted by: Northernlurker , wondering where his phone is at September 01, 2024 12:02 PM (xuitT)
363
The biggest problem with Mexican Dracula is that the guy playing Dracula looks exactly like Andy Kaufman. Makes it hard to take seriously.
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 01, 2024 12:02 PM (78a2H)
364
I'm reading The Idiot by Dostoevsky. This is the kind of thing you read because you're supposed to for some reason. The book's impressive in its own way, but it's not what my ordinary taste would usually choose. It's similar to Dickens, in that it partakes of the social mores and concerns of a different place and age, so it's not always clear what the people are reacting to.
If you want to read about 19th-century Russia, I recommend The Knout And The Russians, by Germain de Lagny. There's a full scan of the book somewhere online.
If you want to read about 19th-century Russia, I recommend The Knout And The Russians, by Germain de Lagny. There's a full scan of the book somewhere online.
Posted by: Tom Perry at September 01, 2024 12:03 PM (MX0bI)
365
I can now call myself a published author, not just a writer anymore!!!!
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 12:02 PM (0eaVi)
__________
Well done!
*bows*
I can now call myself a published author, not just a writer anymore!!!!
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 12:02 PM (0eaVi)
__________
Well done!
*bows*
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 01, 2024 12:03 PM (1Nxff)
366
But it's gotta stick in their craw, when they see a book by GWB or Dick Cheney in there. BOOGEYMAN BAD!!!
Jim
----
Always have the proper wards in place, or Cheney will slip through the cracks or down the chimney!
Jim
----
Always have the proper wards in place, or Cheney will slip through the cracks or down the chimney!
Posted by: All Hail Eris at September 01, 2024 12:03 PM (kpS4V)
367
Agree with just about everything said about Dracula above. Amazing book, and also amazing how it’s been picked up and apart by popular culture.
Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at September 01, 2024 12:03 PM (olroh)
368
I'll be a green blooded son of a.... The magazine accepted my story!!!!
I can now call myself a published author, not just a writer anymore!!!!
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024
***
Which story? Which magazine? Congratulations!!!!
I can now call myself a published author, not just a writer anymore!!!!
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024
***
Which story? Which magazine? Congratulations!!!!
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 12:04 PM (omVj0)
369
Now the tire place is giving me problems claiming my full sized rim is a donut. I know it's full size.
Posted by: Northernlurker , wondering where his phone is at September 01, 2024
***
What? Space-saver "donut" rims don't even *look* like regular rims, as well as being smaller in diameter.
Posted by: Northernlurker , wondering where his phone is at September 01, 2024
***
What? Space-saver "donut" rims don't even *look* like regular rims, as well as being smaller in diameter.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 12:06 PM (omVj0)
370
No relation to?.... (*shudders*)
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh
======
No. Kenneth Walz is about as hard headed in ir theory as they come. Basically, nations relate to each other in a state of anarchy (as in no sovereign above them) so at the end of the day, a nation's power determines basically how they will behave.
Internal national politics are basically a black box for Walz as he is interested in explaining how nations behave over the centuries.
His Theory of International Relations book is not a difficult read compared with the blatherings of some of his rival IR theorists that put up word salads in response. Unfortunately, most of our foreign policy makers eschew Walz as mean, racist, etc. and prefer the word salad approach.
Ironically though, our foreign policy types behave in accordance with Walz's theory in actual practice. They are just incompetent at it.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh
======
No. Kenneth Walz is about as hard headed in ir theory as they come. Basically, nations relate to each other in a state of anarchy (as in no sovereign above them) so at the end of the day, a nation's power determines basically how they will behave.
Internal national politics are basically a black box for Walz as he is interested in explaining how nations behave over the centuries.
His Theory of International Relations book is not a difficult read compared with the blatherings of some of his rival IR theorists that put up word salads in response. Unfortunately, most of our foreign policy makers eschew Walz as mean, racist, etc. and prefer the word salad approach.
Ironically though, our foreign policy types behave in accordance with Walz's theory in actual practice. They are just incompetent at it.
Posted by: whig at September 01, 2024 12:06 PM (kW+z9)
371
Orange Ent, congratulations!
Posted by: Wenda at September 01, 2024 12:09 PM (VG+ie)
372
Orange Ent! Well done!!!
Posted by: Diogenes at September 01, 2024 12:10 PM (W/lyH)
373
I guess I am, in a way, a published author. I wrote a series of vignettes called "Marrying Into the Family" for Borzoi International about what it was like for a non-dog person to be in a dog household.
I guess I am, in a way, a published author. I wrote a series of vignettes called "Marrying Into the Family" for Borzoi International about what it was like for a non-dog person to be in a dog household.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 01, 2024 12:11 PM (1Nxff)
374
Noodus CBD . . . but I hope OrangeEnt will tell us about his sale, either here or on the new thread! (CBD may have a 100-comment rule there as he does with the Art Thread, so beware.)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 12:13 PM (omVj0)
375
Which story? Which magazine? Congratulations!!!!
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 12:04 PM (omVj0)
Thanks, Hadrian, Wenda, Wolfus!
A magazine called "Frontier Tales." It's "The Waystation Incident." No money paid, but I can buy the mag at discount and resell to make money from it.
Wolfus, I'll e-mail you back.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 12:04 PM (omVj0)
Thanks, Hadrian, Wenda, Wolfus!
A magazine called "Frontier Tales." It's "The Waystation Incident." No money paid, but I can buy the mag at discount and resell to make money from it.
Wolfus, I'll e-mail you back.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 12:14 PM (0eaVi)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 01, 2024 12:19 PM (omVj0)
377
Titles are part of the sale, for magazine and for readers, and that's a good one.
Posted by: Wenda at September 01, 2024 12:19 PM (VG+ie)
378
Once I get my feet back on the ground, I'll e-mail the Perfessor and see if he'll post the info next week.
As I said, I get no money but can buy reduced price issues of the mag and resell at whatever price I want. Also, the magazine, "Frontier Tales" allows voting on stories. I think there's a prize for being the top voted story.
More info on the next Book Thread, though I'll probably say something on the ONT.
As I said, I get no money but can buy reduced price issues of the mag and resell at whatever price I want. Also, the magazine, "Frontier Tales" allows voting on stories. I think there's a prize for being the top voted story.
More info on the next Book Thread, though I'll probably say something on the ONT.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 12:24 PM (0eaVi)
Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at September 01, 2024 12:25 PM (s9EYN)
380
I just finished John Connolly's latest Charlie Parker book, The Instruments of Darkness. Charlie is hired to investigate the case of a woman who is accused of killing her little boy. There's a psychic, an ancient evil being and its minions and all the usual characters. Not as good as some of the other Parker books, but any Charlie Parker book is better than no Charlie Parker book. Recommended.
Posted by: huerfano at September 01, 2024 12:33 PM (VGOMa)
381
Orange Ent! Well done!!!
Posted by: Diogenes at September 01, 2024 12:10 PM (W/lyH)
Thanks!
Congrats!!
Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at September 01, 2024 12:25 PM (s9EYN)
Thanks!
I guess I am, in a way, a published author. I wrote a series of vignettes called "Marrying Into the Family" for Borzoi International about what it was like for a non-dog person to be in a dog household.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 01, 2024 12:11 PM (1Nxff)
That counts. Technically, I guess I am already, because I wrote a paper about a college campus that was included in a collection. I can't remember the issue number, but it was called "A Study of History," put out by San Joaquin Delta College in the 80s. Not sure if you can look it up, but it's in the California State Library.
Posted by: Diogenes at September 01, 2024 12:10 PM (W/lyH)
Thanks!
Congrats!!
Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at September 01, 2024 12:25 PM (s9EYN)
Thanks!
I guess I am, in a way, a published author. I wrote a series of vignettes called "Marrying Into the Family" for Borzoi International about what it was like for a non-dog person to be in a dog household.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 01, 2024 12:11 PM (1Nxff)
That counts. Technically, I guess I am already, because I wrote a paper about a college campus that was included in a collection. I can't remember the issue number, but it was called "A Study of History," put out by San Joaquin Delta College in the 80s. Not sure if you can look it up, but it's in the California State Library.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 12:34 PM (0eaVi)
382
Congratulations, OrangeEnt!
Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at September 01, 2024 12:36 PM (olroh)
Posted by: naturalfake at September 01, 2024 12:40 PM (eDfFs)
384
Naturalflake, I remember going on a Peter Devries kick got to be forty, fifty years ago I think.
Don't remember anything specific except that they were funny, good reads.
And really, that's pretty much all I was looking for, and still am.
Posted by: From about That Time at September 01, 2024 11:53 AM (4780s)
I'm a different sort of comic beast, but-
Peter DeVries is one of my Writing-Fathers.
He reading him is always great fun, and a master class in how to write a comic novel.
Don't remember anything specific except that they were funny, good reads.
And really, that's pretty much all I was looking for, and still am.
Posted by: From about That Time at September 01, 2024 11:53 AM (4780s)
I'm a different sort of comic beast, but-
Peter DeVries is one of my Writing-Fathers.
He reading him is always great fun, and a master class in how to write a comic novel.
Posted by: naturalfake at September 01, 2024 12:46 PM (eDfFs)
385
Congratulations, OrangeEnt!
Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at September 01, 2024 12:36 PM (olroh)
Thanks, SPB.
Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at September 01, 2024 12:36 PM (olroh)
Thanks, SPB.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 12:54 PM (0eaVi)
386
Congrats OrangeEnt!
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 01, 2024 01:17 PM (Ydd86)
387
Congrats OrangeEnt!
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 01, 2024 01:17 PM (Ydd86)
Thanks, vmom
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 01, 2024 01:17 PM (Ydd86)
Thanks, vmom
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 01, 2024 02:58 PM (0eaVi)
388
Very late to the book thread, but wanted to say:
Congratulations OrangeEnt on getting published! I've been hoping you'd get a success with a submission for a while now.
Congratulations OrangeEnt on getting published! I've been hoping you'd get a success with a submission for a while now.
Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at September 01, 2024 03:18 PM (O7YUW)
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 01, 2024 04:57 PM (p/isN)
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