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Sunday Morning Book Thread - 09-29-2024 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]
(HT: Pete Estes)
PIC VIDEO NOTE
Here is the Word doc he's using to kick this off. You can reach out to OrangeEnt at Maildrop62-at-protonmail-dot-me. He can add you to the AoSHQ Writers' Group site so that you can collaborate more productively than via email...
Anyone interested in working on a group story?
I've started an epistolary, attached below. It can be a short story, a novella, or a full length novel. I know this has been done before with mixed results, but perhaps we can do what others haven't. If you're interested in participating, just post "I'm in." Writers will go in order of replies. I'll wait a week or so to see how many are willing, just because some people only get a digest or weekly report on posts and I don't want anyone left out.
There are only a couple of guidelines. At this point, it appears to be a murder mystery. A character, Shadow Stalker, claims to be killing ten people, and the first one's dead already. It can go from comic to hard-boiled to police procedural. The apparent villain can be evil, or turn out to be a vigilante punishing criminals, whichever way the story wants to go. The setting is around a resort town in fall in either the late 40s or early 50s. Close enough to a big city to allow more access to information or victims. Therefore, no cell phones, no computers, or anything to make it easy. You can use newspaper stories, police reports, interviews, transcripts of radio broadcasts, etc. The opening has a newspaper story and case notes of a private detective, Richard Allen.
Introduce whatever characters you want, but if using letters from Stalker, always follow the format of his first letter, ending with: "One down and nine to go, (Mr., Mrs., Miss., Deceased's name)"
Current characters: Richard Allen, PI; Annie, nicknamed "Sweetface," his answering service; Chief Daly, police chief; officer Burns.
This could be fun.
MORON RECOMMENDATIONS
I have a new novel out on Amazon, Just Put Chuck Vindaloo. The Amazon blurb:This is my second self-published novel, written as a screenplay and then converted to novel format using ChatGPT. Thanks for all you do. Gene Alexander
The fertility complex. The adoption bureaucracy. Clashing cultures. Crazy parents. A funny story about building family and finding faith. Sarah and James are put through the fertility system wringer, with some comedic and some tragic results. They begin navigating the open adoption system, with similar initial results. Eimann is from a strict immigrant family, who rebels and inadvertently becomes pregnant. Through her faith, she decides on open adoption, but must hide her pregnancy from her family. Sarah and James match with Eimann, who moves into their home to maintain her secret. James's crazy family drops in to help, and things start to go off the rails when the baby does not come when due.
Comment: I've never read any of those books, though my mother did--I remember her bringing quite a few of those home from the library when I was younger. I didn't know an actual cat was solving mysteries. I thought it was maybe a nickname or something. It's a shame that the last book didn't sit well with readers. That's often the challenge when an uncompleted work is finished by another author--how do they do the original author justice?
I've been tempted out of my lurking lair to recommend Lilian Jackson Braun's "Cat Who" series for cozy reading. There is a cat who is instrumental in solving the mystery yet he never does anything that is beyond the possible for any normal cat. I have read and re-read all of them except the last one, which was not completed by Jackson Braun and readers vehemently rejected. Posted by: PennaLady at September 22, 2024 11:50 AM (QWHhD)
Comment: Hmmm...A quantum computer named "Alice." Shades of Wonderland, perhaps? I also enjoy novels that are somewhat plausible, though maybe we're not quite there yet. Then again, if it's a top secret project/technology, how would we know? Unless some idiot spills the beans to the equally idiotic media?
I also read Jack Carr's latest, Red Sky Mourning. James Reece has help from Alice, a quantum computer, to defeat the Chinese and a traitorous American businessman. Many thrilling scenes as always, and as always when I finish one of Carr's books I'm asking myself how much of this technology and how many of these government programs really exist? Posted by: Zoltan at September 22, 2024 09:36 AM (bcrtw)
Comment: I was unable to find this series of books in my own university library. Still, it sounds like a decent read if you are looking for a description of what life was like back then. More Moron-recommended reading material can be found HERE! (1000+ Moron-recommended books!)
Last week at the college library, I found a series titled A History of the American Colonies, which is exactly what it sounds like. Thirteen volumes, one for each colony. So far, I like it. Written in the 70s and early 80s, so maybe a bit heavy on the economic determinism, but it focuses on how people actually lived and what they did, rather than all the race class gender nonsense. Posted by: Dr. T at September 22, 2024 09:20 AM (lHPJf)
Disclaimer: No Morons were physically harmed in the making of this Sunday Morning Book Thread.
Comments
(Jump to bottom of comments)1
Tolle Lege
Posted by: Skip at September 29, 2024 09:00 AM (fwDg9)
2
I finished John Van Stry's second book in his Ghost Warrior series, "Necessity". It has two subject matters that are challenging for the reader to handle on an emotional level, but they're also very well presented and dealt with:
1. A form of multiple personality disorder* in the MC (at least at first) until it starts resolving throughout the the books. In the first chapters of the first book, the reader's perception is hard-switched back and forth between the perceptions of Nate and Nash. It can be a little jarring, but as I said, this starts resolving well and in a satisfying manner towards the end of the first book and certainly moving forward in the second.
2. The big conflict of the story is a "search and destroy" mission targeting a group who are kidnapping children of the Navajo people and using them as unwilling organ donors for black market customers. Yeah that's some dark subject matter right there. John never goes into gory detail about the actual children, so you don't need to worry about that showing up in the story, and some of the children do get saved from that fate.
(continued)
1. A form of multiple personality disorder* in the MC (at least at first) until it starts resolving throughout the the books. In the first chapters of the first book, the reader's perception is hard-switched back and forth between the perceptions of Nate and Nash. It can be a little jarring, but as I said, this starts resolving well and in a satisfying manner towards the end of the first book and certainly moving forward in the second.
2. The big conflict of the story is a "search and destroy" mission targeting a group who are kidnapping children of the Navajo people and using them as unwilling organ donors for black market customers. Yeah that's some dark subject matter right there. John never goes into gory detail about the actual children, so you don't need to worry about that showing up in the story, and some of the children do get saved from that fate.
(continued)
Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at September 29, 2024 09:00 AM (O7YUW)
3
(continued from #2)
The MC (Nate/Nash) is a Navajo Skinwalker, which gives him special abilities and powers, but the split personality problem seriously affects his ability to be what he truly needs to be. He was never taught properly in his youth, was misdiagnosed by psychiatrists, and given drugs that made it impossible for his two sides to integrate properly. The story arc follows his own personal path and struggle to get back to what he needs to be, and carrying out the task he gets from the trickster god Coyote to find the people preying on the Navajo and dealing with them in a very public, brutal, and "make an example that others will never forget" sort of way. Definitely in "pour encourager les autres" territory. The paybacks are ... damn.
Now if you like seeing evil get what's coming to them, and you can handle the subject matter, I encourage you to buy both books in the series. The series could be complete at this point, but I gather there's the possibility of three more books that explore more conflicts between the MC and other threats to the Navajo people. It'll all come down to how well the second book sells.
[*] Now known as Dissociative Identity Disorder
The MC (Nate/Nash) is a Navajo Skinwalker, which gives him special abilities and powers, but the split personality problem seriously affects his ability to be what he truly needs to be. He was never taught properly in his youth, was misdiagnosed by psychiatrists, and given drugs that made it impossible for his two sides to integrate properly. The story arc follows his own personal path and struggle to get back to what he needs to be, and carrying out the task he gets from the trickster god Coyote to find the people preying on the Navajo and dealing with them in a very public, brutal, and "make an example that others will never forget" sort of way. Definitely in "pour encourager les autres" territory. The paybacks are ... damn.
Now if you like seeing evil get what's coming to them, and you can handle the subject matter, I encourage you to buy both books in the series. The series could be complete at this point, but I gather there's the possibility of three more books that explore more conflicts between the MC and other threats to the Navajo people. It'll all come down to how well the second book sells.
[*] Now known as Dissociative Identity Disorder
Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at September 29, 2024 09:00 AM (O7YUW)
4
Did not read this week.
Posted by: rhennigantx at September 29, 2024 09:01 AM (gbOdA)
5
Good morning fellow Book Threadists. I hope everyone had a great, and safe, week of reading.
Prayers are up for the folks harmed by the flooding.
Prayers are up for the folks harmed by the flooding.
Posted by: JTB at September 29, 2024 09:02 AM (yTvNw)
6
Got no reading this week on Martin Gilbert's Churchill, a life but you know today is a great day to do nothing but read a good book
Posted by: Skip at September 29, 2024 09:02 AM (fwDg9)
7
"Pride and Prejudice" is proving to be a slog. I thought I liked old-fashioned terminology; now I'm not sure. I understand how it got its title -- almost all the main characters are insufferable snobs.
The book would have benefited if each character's lines had been printed in a distinctive color of ink. That would help me follow their conversations.
I think I'll shelve this until my wife's next long trip, which is in just a few weeks. I have a hankering for something more to my taste.
The book would have benefited if each character's lines had been printed in a distinctive color of ink. That would help me follow their conversations.
I think I'll shelve this until my wife's next long trip, which is in just a few weeks. I have a hankering for something more to my taste.
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 29, 2024 09:04 AM (p/isN)
8
I know I'm older than the guy in the top video but wonder if he could adopt Mrs. JTB and I. What a gorgeous house (as long as I don't have to clean the windows) and setting.
Thanks for including that segment.
Thanks for including that segment.
Posted by: JTB at September 29, 2024 09:07 AM (yTvNw)
9
I think I read, at least most of Pride and Prejudice in high school, my mom had a copy.
Posted by: Skip at September 29, 2024 09:08 AM (fwDg9)
10
ZOD IMPERIAL.
Posted by: ZOD at September 29, 2024 09:08 AM (P+D4R)
11
Eagle eye with shia la beoef had a supercomputer gone rogue in charge of homeland
Posted by: Miguel cervantes at September 29, 2024 09:10 AM (PXvVL)
12
That is a very nice library house. A longer video with some info on the collection would be worthwhile. Speaking as a member of the horde interested in military history.
Posted by: InspiredHistoryMike at September 29, 2024 09:12 AM (L1omb)
13
Weak Geek, jumping with both feet into the ocean of Regency authenticity that is Jane Austen can be difficult, particularly for those of (shall we say) less socially-focused, feminine mentality. To get used to the style and period, try reading the immortal Jane's greatest follower, the mid-century Georgette Heyer. She can reproduce the period and language with astonishing accuracy, but with faster-moving stories and a more contemporary vibe. I suggest trying one of her more masculine, hero-focused novels: The Foundling, The Unknown Ajax, and The Toll-Gate are all lots of fun, and balance romance with mystery elements.
Posted by: werewife, princess of Delray Beach at September 29, 2024 09:13 AM (wwf+q)
14
Yay book thread! Finally finished Ernst Junger's Storm of Steel. This is not for the faint of heart.
The level of gore is remarkable, and by the time I was halfway through it, I began to wonder if a stronger editor might have trimmed this down a bit, because it moves beyond unsettling into tedium. Page after page of guys getting shredded in very graphic ways.
I think the point in leaving that in is that the reader also undergoes a process of desensitization, to the point where horrific injuries scarcely make an impression. "Oh, *another* guy takes a bullet in the forehead. Yawn."
The book is all about the fighting. Junger mentions family, friends, but his entire focus is on fghting and - whenever possible - finding creature comforts like a soft bed, good food and lots of booze. He mentions reading and poetry, but his life is bounded by the trenches, movements to and fro along the line, hospital stays from his 11 wounds (leaving 20 scars). (cont)
The level of gore is remarkable, and by the time I was halfway through it, I began to wonder if a stronger editor might have trimmed this down a bit, because it moves beyond unsettling into tedium. Page after page of guys getting shredded in very graphic ways.
I think the point in leaving that in is that the reader also undergoes a process of desensitization, to the point where horrific injuries scarcely make an impression. "Oh, *another* guy takes a bullet in the forehead. Yawn."
The book is all about the fighting. Junger mentions family, friends, but his entire focus is on fghting and - whenever possible - finding creature comforts like a soft bed, good food and lots of booze. He mentions reading and poetry, but his life is bounded by the trenches, movements to and fro along the line, hospital stays from his 11 wounds (leaving 20 scars). (cont)
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2024 09:13 AM (llXky)
15
Booken morgen horden!
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 29, 2024 09:13 AM (Tw+JN)
16
Morning, all. Now to read the content.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at September 29, 2024 09:14 AM (Q0kLU)
17
A few weeks ago on the book thread, someone mentioned The Schirmer Inheritance by Eric Ambler. This is a fascinating tale of legal research turned into a manhunt, and quite a good read.
George Carey is a young lawyer with a complicated assignment. Amelia Schneider died a very wealthy Pennsylvania woman a while ago, but her only heir appears to be German, and difficult to find. During the Napoleonic wars, her grandfather deserted after a battle, settled down with a local woman, and along the way, changed his name to hide his identity. Amelia's father then emigrated to the US. The hunt for the heir started in the late thirties but the war intervened. Now George must retrace that trail, using clues coded to deceive the Nazis, and hunt for an heir who may not even be alive.
Through many twists and turns, George tries to find the heir or prove he is dead in order to conclude his assignment. This story is full of surprises, and is a good example of how Ambler would craft a tale where an ordinary person must perform in extraordinary circumstances.
George Carey is a young lawyer with a complicated assignment. Amelia Schneider died a very wealthy Pennsylvania woman a while ago, but her only heir appears to be German, and difficult to find. During the Napoleonic wars, her grandfather deserted after a battle, settled down with a local woman, and along the way, changed his name to hide his identity. Amelia's father then emigrated to the US. The hunt for the heir started in the late thirties but the war intervened. Now George must retrace that trail, using clues coded to deceive the Nazis, and hunt for an heir who may not even be alive.
Through many twists and turns, George tries to find the heir or prove he is dead in order to conclude his assignment. This story is full of surprises, and is a good example of how Ambler would craft a tale where an ordinary person must perform in extraordinary circumstances.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 29, 2024 09:15 AM (I1AMe)
18
I confess I have not been reading any fiction for a while now. Can't seem to get started.
Reading to keep up with the Bible study.
Been listening to podcasts
Reading to keep up with the Bible study.
Been listening to podcasts
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 29, 2024 09:16 AM (Tw+JN)
19
Not to be contrary, but Pride and Prejudice is not the best entry point for Jane Austen. That distinction goes to Northanger Abbey, which is a delightful spoof of the Gothic horror novel, surprisingly metafictional for its time. It's short, sweet, to the point, and best of all, FUNNY!
Posted by: werewife, princess of Delray Beach at September 29, 2024 09:16 AM (wwf+q)
20
Faith is not a major part of Junger's world, which is more about duty, honor and comradeship. I think a lot of the alleged disillusionment that happened due to WW I was because for much of European society, church was more of a social habit than a matter of faith, and it was dropped along with many other social conventions.
The book is of particular interest insofar as it destroys the conventional Hollywood narrative of life in the trenches, which is anything but static. Units rotate in and out on a regular basis. They may stay in the same sector for months at a time, but there is also lateral movements in response to various offensives.
The trenches themselves vary considerably, and Junger notes that he learned a great deal of practical geology in terms of soil types, drainage, and what kind of vermin flourish there. (cont)
The book is of particular interest insofar as it destroys the conventional Hollywood narrative of life in the trenches, which is anything but static. Units rotate in and out on a regular basis. They may stay in the same sector for months at a time, but there is also lateral movements in response to various offensives.
The trenches themselves vary considerably, and Junger notes that he learned a great deal of practical geology in terms of soil types, drainage, and what kind of vermin flourish there. (cont)
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2024 09:18 AM (llXky)
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at September 29, 2024 09:18 AM (Q0kLU)
22
If supercomputers gone rogue are your cup of tea, you won't do crazier than David Bunch's "Moderan" stories. Seriously disturbing insights -- from a guy who'd know.
Posted by: Way,Way Downriver at September 29, 2024 09:18 AM (zdLoL)
23
I haven't read it, but I want to plug KT's recommendation in the thread yesterday, of Sean McMeekin's The Rise and Fall and Rise of Communism.
I've read McMeekin's book on the outbreak of World War I, which has seriously influenced my opinion of that conflict, but I hadn't heard of this one. From the blurb KT provides, this is right up everyone's alley; McMeekin directly refers to cancel culture and vaccine mandates as Communism under another name, and for a respected mainstream historian to say this is quite unusual.
I might have to break down and actually buy this one.
I've read McMeekin's book on the outbreak of World War I, which has seriously influenced my opinion of that conflict, but I hadn't heard of this one. From the blurb KT provides, this is right up everyone's alley; McMeekin directly refers to cancel culture and vaccine mandates as Communism under another name, and for a respected mainstream historian to say this is quite unusual.
I might have to break down and actually buy this one.
Posted by: Dr. T at September 29, 2024 09:18 AM (lHPJf)
24
Pride and Prejudice was published in 1813, so yes the dialogue is tough to get through. That's why Heyer Regency romances were and are so popular. She used phrases from that era, however the majority of her books use modern English. I still reread P&P on occasion since I love it so. I also know how the two main characters change and grow and become less snobbish.
Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at September 29, 2024 09:19 AM (2NHgQ)
25
Grumpy and Recalcitrant at September 29, 2024 09:00 AM
Pretty challenging: books where the MC is a Navajo skinwalker . .
Pretty challenging: books where the MC is a Navajo skinwalker . .
Posted by: KT at September 29, 2024 09:20 AM (xekrU)
26
That house is perfect
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 29, 2024 09:21 AM (WbaIk)
27
As cooler weather approaches (sure ain't here yet) I started thinking about cooking, especially oven and stove to cooking. Spent most of my reading this week going through some of our many cookbooks. Some discoveries:
- Lodge offers the best cookbooks for cast iron, not just recipes but well laid out, enjoyable moments about growing up with great grandma's skillets, and helpful techniques.
- The three books by Kent Rollins are simply filled with excellent, usable recipes and have gorgeous photos.
- Baking, of whatever kind, is fascinating and could become a serious hobby. There is a tactile pleasure in handling the dough. So far King Arthur Flour books have been the most helpful.
- Lodge offers the best cookbooks for cast iron, not just recipes but well laid out, enjoyable moments about growing up with great grandma's skillets, and helpful techniques.
- The three books by Kent Rollins are simply filled with excellent, usable recipes and have gorgeous photos.
- Baking, of whatever kind, is fascinating and could become a serious hobby. There is a tactile pleasure in handling the dough. So far King Arthur Flour books have been the most helpful.
Posted by: JTB at September 29, 2024 09:23 AM (yTvNw)
28
Been dipping into three books this week:
Anthony Bale's A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages: The World Through Mediaeval Eyes. Didn't like it; it wasn't at all what I was expecting.
Adam Smyth's The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives. OK. It goes through the lives of printers, type designers, binders, &c. It's hit or miss with me; I'm reading the chapter about Ben Franklin right now and am more than ever confirmed in my feeling that Ben was a pretty lousy fellow.
Richard Evans' Hitler's People. I knew this book was coming out, but after JJ mentioned it in the Morning Report, I went out to buy it. I'm familiar with Evans (I have his 3-volume history of the Third Reich) and so far, this book is as good as I expected. I should be typing up my own work, but after this thread, I'm going to spend the afternoon reading.
Anthony Bale's A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages: The World Through Mediaeval Eyes. Didn't like it; it wasn't at all what I was expecting.
Adam Smyth's The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in Eighteen Lives. OK. It goes through the lives of printers, type designers, binders, &c. It's hit or miss with me; I'm reading the chapter about Ben Franklin right now and am more than ever confirmed in my feeling that Ben was a pretty lousy fellow.
Richard Evans' Hitler's People. I knew this book was coming out, but after JJ mentioned it in the Morning Report, I went out to buy it. I'm familiar with Evans (I have his 3-volume history of the Third Reich) and so far, this book is as good as I expected. I should be typing up my own work, but after this thread, I'm going to spend the afternoon reading.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at September 29, 2024 09:23 AM (Q0kLU)
29
Someone had recommended a history of the Desert War in 1940-43 by Alan Moorehead, and I have very much enjoyed it! Thank you, Horde!
Now I just need to get to the other voluminous pile of TBR items littering my Reader...
Now I just need to get to the other voluminous pile of TBR items littering my Reader...
Posted by: Brewingfrog at September 29, 2024 09:24 AM (s/iIU)
30
Hey, it took me years to finish "The Dogs of War" -- I kept pausing after the first section and then rereading it -- but I finally soldiered on, and the book became one of my favorites.
I'll do the same with "Pride and Prejudice." Finishing it, I mean.
I'll do the same with "Pride and Prejudice." Finishing it, I mean.
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 29, 2024 09:26 AM (p/isN)
31
Re: Jane Austen. The wife and I bought the annotated editions, which dive into the world and its manners, and explain things readers of the time intuitively understood.
Posted by: Moses' Rosy Toes at September 29, 2024 09:26 AM (Zk8kb)
32
I wish I had that library house.
Must be wonderful to have money.
Posted by: Mary Poppins
I have been trying to design a house around a library for a future home for a while, but at the cost per square foot, I may have to forego other things like bedrooms.
Must be wonderful to have money.
Posted by: Mary Poppins
I have been trying to design a house around a library for a future home for a while, but at the cost per square foot, I may have to forego other things like bedrooms.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 29, 2024 09:27 AM (I1AMe)
33
Following a recommendation on the Book Thread of a couple of weeks ago, I read Geraldine Brooks' "People of the Book" - all about a restorer of antique books working on the Sarajavo Haggadah - which is a real volume with an interesting history. The author explored some of that history, speculating on who and why and how ... all pretty interesting and acceptably well-written. After I finished it, though - I wondered how on earth someone who had examined the volume almost down to the microscopic level early in the plot had somehow missed certain information contained in one of the illuminations and only noticed in the final chapter .... A plotting failure for me, I guess. I moved on to reading "Her Royal Spyness", which was recommended in another book thread.
I'm still looking for beta readers for my next book, the YA adventure set on the California Trail in 1846. (Not a story about the Donner-Reed party, though. Another company on the trail slightly ahead of them) Yara kindly volunteered last week, but anyone else interested should contact me at clyahayes-at-gee-mail-dot-com.
I'm still looking for beta readers for my next book, the YA adventure set on the California Trail in 1846. (Not a story about the Donner-Reed party, though. Another company on the trail slightly ahead of them) Yara kindly volunteered last week, but anyone else interested should contact me at clyahayes-at-gee-mail-dot-com.
Posted by: Sgt. Mom at September 29, 2024 09:27 AM (Ew3fm)
34
I tried to get through "I'm Thinking of Ending It All" and got lost inside a school.
Was OK for a while, was hoping for a thrill, but it turned into wordy girl crap.
Was OK for a while, was hoping for a thrill, but it turned into wordy girl crap.
Posted by: Mr Gaga at September 29, 2024 09:29 AM (saYnF)
35
By speaking of modern Regency romances-
Kamala wrote a Regency like "Pride and Prejudice" titled-
"Cackling and Gagging"
It also comes with an annotated edition.
By speaking of modern Regency romances-
Kamala wrote a Regency like "Pride and Prejudice" titled-
"Cackling and Gagging"
It also comes with an annotated edition.
Posted by: naturalfake at September 29, 2024 09:29 AM (eDfFs)
36
good morning Perfessor, Horde
I considered reading Mao's little red book, then figured I could save time by just watching the news instead.
I considered reading Mao's little red book, then figured I could save time by just watching the news instead.
Posted by: callsign claymore at September 29, 2024 09:33 AM (49izV)
37
The link for Just Put Chuck Vindaloo is not working above, here's a short link. https://shorturl.at/yNHsh
And the Kindle edition is free today and tomorrow in honor of the SMBT.
And the Kindle edition is free today and tomorrow in honor of the SMBT.
Posted by: Candidus at September 29, 2024 09:33 AM (QDqzB)
38
The conventional version of trench warfare seems to be the first day of the Somme repeated in an endless loop. The truth is that July 1, 1916 is burned into the popular memory because it was so unique. As a result of the disaster, offensives became more localized, more focused and used new methods of artillery preparation and eventually tanks and "storm trooper" tactics, all of which are described in the books.
Perhaps the most harrowing episode was Third Ypres - Passchendaele, a nightmare of mud and shelling where the trenches were all but obliterated and men feared drowning more than bullets. The fighting in such conditions was disjointed and often demonstrative, since dry ground was often exposed and he relates how major "gains" in offensives occurred because a single platoon fell back to better ground.
Another thing he highlights is the raw attrition of just getting into the trenches. As the war dragged on and heavier artillery was mounted, aerial observations allowed guns to reach back to the assembly areas and he described a situation where his company - which assumed it was out of range - took a direct hit that took out 1/4 of its strength, shattering its morale.
Perhaps the most harrowing episode was Third Ypres - Passchendaele, a nightmare of mud and shelling where the trenches were all but obliterated and men feared drowning more than bullets. The fighting in such conditions was disjointed and often demonstrative, since dry ground was often exposed and he relates how major "gains" in offensives occurred because a single platoon fell back to better ground.
Another thing he highlights is the raw attrition of just getting into the trenches. As the war dragged on and heavier artillery was mounted, aerial observations allowed guns to reach back to the assembly areas and he described a situation where his company - which assumed it was out of range - took a direct hit that took out 1/4 of its strength, shattering its morale.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2024 09:34 AM (llXky)
39
Dr. T at September 29, 2024 09:18 AM
I thought it was significant that Powerline posted McKeekin's comments on his new book on communism twice, with details about the academic grumbling that has followed its publication.
How did his book on WW I change how you thought about the conflict?
The description of earlier ideologies as forerunners to communism (excerpt at Quillette) was also a challenge to the way we usually think of Marx developing his ideas.
I thought it was significant that Powerline posted McKeekin's comments on his new book on communism twice, with details about the academic grumbling that has followed its publication.
How did his book on WW I change how you thought about the conflict?
The description of earlier ideologies as forerunners to communism (excerpt at Quillette) was also a challenge to the way we usually think of Marx developing his ideas.
Posted by: KT at September 29, 2024 09:34 AM (xekrU)
40
Well, looks like I'm going to be late to the thread from now on.
Wolfus, Boone was in The Shootist. He had the motorcar. Wayne offed him in the final shootout at the bar.
Wolfus, Boone was in The Shootist. He had the motorcar. Wayne offed him in the final shootout at the bar.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 29, 2024 09:34 AM (0eaVi)
41
I hope they put in a secret room or stair in that library house.
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 29, 2024 09:35 AM (WbaIk)
42
Morning, Horde.
Not much reading this week. Right now, am revisiting one of Harlan Ellison's best stories, "All the Lies That Are My Life," in the HE's Greatest Hits collection.
And if you're an Ellison fan, The Last Dangerous Visions will be released on Tuesday.
Not much reading this week. Right now, am revisiting one of Harlan Ellison's best stories, "All the Lies That Are My Life," in the HE's Greatest Hits collection.
And if you're an Ellison fan, The Last Dangerous Visions will be released on Tuesday.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 29, 2024 09:35 AM (q3u5l)
43
Short vacation to Iceland, so bought three John D. MacDonald books for the flights over and back. Read the Travis McGhee stories as they came out, so chose three at random from the fifties.
Finished The Girl, The Pocket Watch, And Everything, and April Evil, both good. Have started Beach Girls.
Highly intellectual reading.
Loved reading series, that's how most of us started I imagine. Hardy Boys and the like. Does anyone remember the Ken Holt series. Or Rick Grant of Spin drift Is!and?
Finished The Girl, The Pocket Watch, And Everything, and April Evil, both good. Have started Beach Girls.
Highly intellectual reading.
Loved reading series, that's how most of us started I imagine. Hardy Boys and the like. Does anyone remember the Ken Holt series. Or Rick Grant of Spin drift Is!and?
Posted by: From about That Time at September 29, 2024 09:36 AM (4780s)
44
@25/KT: "Pretty challenging: books where the MC is a Navajo skinwalker . ."
This takes place at an earlier point in the timeline in his "Days of Future Past" universe, after society has almost destroyed itself in war, but has managed to survive in pockets. The native peoples come back easier, but also have it really hard. As a result, their gods, taking pity on their people, come back and make themselves known in the world again, and make felt their effects and their will. Coyote is one of those.
That's the stage we're playing on.
This takes place at an earlier point in the timeline in his "Days of Future Past" universe, after society has almost destroyed itself in war, but has managed to survive in pockets. The native peoples come back easier, but also have it really hard. As a result, their gods, taking pity on their people, come back and make themselves known in the world again, and make felt their effects and their will. Coyote is one of those.
That's the stage we're playing on.
Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at September 29, 2024 09:37 AM (O7YUW)
45
Engineers do not make that kind of money. He means, I started as an engineer, but rose to high up in Lockheed Martin management. He is part of the MIC.
Nice house, though.
Nice house, though.
Posted by: BarcelonaCarmen at September 29, 2024 09:37 AM (3TH2o)
46
I fixed the link to "Just Put Chuck Vindaloo."
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2024 09:38 AM (d9fT1)
47
I didn't finish reading anything this week, just continued slogging through books I had already started. But, I did spend an inordinate amount of money adding new material to my to-be-read pile (shelf). Two Marvel Comics Omnibuses: Excalibur volume 3 (containing the first comic I ever bought, plus a lot of back issues I never acquired) and Avengers by Busiek and Perez volume 2 (written by a guy who can make any superhero silliness seem serious and cool, and drawn by one of the best illustrators the industry has seen.) Plus, sometime today Kickstarter will be collecting the money I pledged to a trio of Cowboy comics from Italy. Finally, over on Fundmycomic there is a new comic about Robert E Howard's Kull.
Whoo, that to-be-read pile (shelf) is starting to look imposing...
Whoo, that to-be-read pile (shelf) is starting to look imposing...
Posted by: Castle Guy at September 29, 2024 09:38 AM (Lhaco)
48
Re: 42.
The Last Dangerous Visions will be released on Tuesday even if you're not an Ellison fan.
Thought I'd toss that in before somebody else said it in response to my clumsy phrasing.
The Last Dangerous Visions will be released on Tuesday even if you're not an Ellison fan.
Thought I'd toss that in before somebody else said it in response to my clumsy phrasing.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 29, 2024 09:39 AM (q3u5l)
49
Finally, it is clear that much of the stalemate was the result of a broad "devastated zone" that made forward supply next to impossible. Junger relates getting lost in the maze of trenches on raids and that in the 1918 offensive, the imperative to just keep pushing forward did break out of the lines, but at a ruinous cost. The stormtroopers took heavy losses but so did the support troops, who still took artillery fire as they advanced through No Man's Land.
All in all, a worthwhile read for those interested in the military side of the conflict. Other works focus more on the personal elements. Junger, being a junior officer who rose to company command, provides a very different perspective.
All in all, a worthwhile read for those interested in the military side of the conflict. Other works focus more on the personal elements. Junger, being a junior officer who rose to company command, provides a very different perspective.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2024 09:39 AM (llXky)
50
How did his book on WW I change how you thought about the conflict?
The description of earlier ideologies as forerunners to communism (excerpt at Quillette) was also a challenge to the way we usually think of Marx developing his ideas.
Posted by: KT at September 29, 2024 09:34 AM (xekrU)
In two ways. First, McMeekin directly attacks the idea that World War I was inevitable; not only was its outbreak in 1914 a fluke, but in his view, if it could have been delayed a few more years, it likely wouldn't have happened at all. Second, he argues that while Germany was somewhat to blame for the war, it was not primarily responsible; he assigns that role to the Russians and the French.
I don't know that I agree with him 100% on either one, but it's very thought-provoking.
The description of earlier ideologies as forerunners to communism (excerpt at Quillette) was also a challenge to the way we usually think of Marx developing his ideas.
Posted by: KT at September 29, 2024 09:34 AM (xekrU)
In two ways. First, McMeekin directly attacks the idea that World War I was inevitable; not only was its outbreak in 1914 a fluke, but in his view, if it could have been delayed a few more years, it likely wouldn't have happened at all. Second, he argues that while Germany was somewhat to blame for the war, it was not primarily responsible; he assigns that role to the Russians and the French.
I don't know that I agree with him 100% on either one, but it's very thought-provoking.
Posted by: Dr. T at September 29, 2024 09:40 AM (lHPJf)
51
I considered reading Mao's little red book, then figured I could save time by just watching the news instead.
Posted by: callsign claymore at September 29, 2024 09:33 AM (49izV)
---
Mao's book is far more relevant to contemporary Chinese military strategy than Sun Tzu. It is very much worth reading.
Posted by: callsign claymore at September 29, 2024 09:33 AM (49izV)
---
Mao's book is far more relevant to contemporary Chinese military strategy than Sun Tzu. It is very much worth reading.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2024 09:41 AM (llXky)
52
@33 --
Donald Hamilton, speaking as Matt Helm, wondered why the Donner party, which failed to get to the West, is remembered while successful migrants are not.
Donald Hamilton, speaking as Matt Helm, wondered why the Donner party, which failed to get to the West, is remembered while successful migrants are not.
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 29, 2024 09:42 AM (p/isN)
53
One of the cookbooks I read was "The Norman Table". Many of the recipes are either non-starters (no way we are involving calf heads or hooves) or would need to be heavily modified. But the book has a lot of other interests. Instead of photos it uses excellent pen and ink illustrations that are a pleasure to look at. It includes a brief but excellent account of the history of the Normandy area. The descriptions of the various parts of Normandy and the agriculture of each explains why the first settlement of Quebec was almost entirely by Normans. The Quebec landscape, access to wonderful seafood, and similar agricultural offerings makes Quebec the Normandy of the west.
The baking and stew recipes reminded me of my grandmother's, a Quebecois farm girl, cooking. She made the best fruit pies ever created by human hands. (I may be prejudiced.) It also explained the buckwheat pancakes, topped with blueberries, that were such a staple for her breakfasts.
The baking and stew recipes reminded me of my grandmother's, a Quebecois farm girl, cooking. She made the best fruit pies ever created by human hands. (I may be prejudiced.) It also explained the buckwheat pancakes, topped with blueberries, that were such a staple for her breakfasts.
Posted by: JTB at September 29, 2024 09:43 AM (yTvNw)
Posted by: dantesed at September 29, 2024 09:43 AM (Oy/m2)
55
I can dimly recall reading some of Mao's little red book when I was still a lefty in college.
Stopped about 40 or 50 pages in when I hit a passage in which Mao said something like, "Don't we want the state to wither away? Yes, but not yet, because the people's society is still under attack by enemies outside and enemies within, and until these enemies have been dealt with the apparatus of the state has to remain in place."
Says it all. We'll just have to keep a boot on your neck until we run the whole world and nobody objects to it.
Stopped about 40 or 50 pages in when I hit a passage in which Mao said something like, "Don't we want the state to wither away? Yes, but not yet, because the people's society is still under attack by enemies outside and enemies within, and until these enemies have been dealt with the apparatus of the state has to remain in place."
Says it all. We'll just have to keep a boot on your neck until we run the whole world and nobody objects to it.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 29, 2024 09:44 AM (q3u5l)
56
I haven't read it, but I want to plug KT's recommendation in the thread yesterday, of Sean McMeekin's The Rise and Fall and Rise of Communism.
Posted by: Dr. T at September 29, 2024 09:18 AM (lHPJf)
---
I recommend reading it in tandem with Hillaire Belloc's The Great Heresies, which I believe is the right way to view Marxism. Certainly the contemporary Christian leaders saw it in that light.
Posted by: Dr. T at September 29, 2024 09:18 AM (lHPJf)
---
I recommend reading it in tandem with Hillaire Belloc's The Great Heresies, which I believe is the right way to view Marxism. Certainly the contemporary Christian leaders saw it in that light.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2024 09:44 AM (llXky)
57
Mao's book is far more relevant to contemporary Chinese military strategy than Sun Tzu. It is very much worth reading.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2024 09:41 AM (llXky)
--
I have a copy of that somewhere in my house. It was a gift from a history professor friend of mine who specialized in Chinese/Japanese/South Pacific history.
It's little and it's red.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2024 09:41 AM (llXky)
--
I have a copy of that somewhere in my house. It was a gift from a history professor friend of mine who specialized in Chinese/Japanese/South Pacific history.
It's little and it's red.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 29, 2024 09:46 AM (zP09t)
58
I wondered that, too, WG @52 - my first historical was "To Truckee's Trail" - about the Stephens-Greenwood-Townsend wagon train party, who came over the same trail and the same high pass as the Donner-Reeds, two years earlier, did get caught by winter, did run short of supplies, but got to California with two more than they started with. (Babies born along the trail.) They did everything right, and practically no one has heard of them, whereas the Donner-Reeds did everything wrong and EVERYBODY has heard of them!
Posted by: Sgt. Mom at September 29, 2024 09:46 AM (Ew3fm)
59
Today's political crises require attention to the challenges of the past, and to the lives of the men and women who entered the contests in the defense of the human person.
I've resumed my reading of George Weigel's majestic work "Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II". It is a profound study of a man who rose from humble beginnings and who defended his oppressed people and his Faith; not with the power of the gun or a will to power, but with an unwavering love for God and His gift of Life to mankind, expressed through the Life, the Death, and the Resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ.
A reading of "Witness to Hope" (and it is a long read) illuminates the spiritual and the political issues of today in stark terms that will resonate with Catholics and non-Catholics alike. A life of a free, intelligent man whose Faith in God and his unflinching devotion to his flock enraged those who would rule by means of an avalanche of lies, deceit, and violence.
I've resumed my reading of George Weigel's majestic work "Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II". It is a profound study of a man who rose from humble beginnings and who defended his oppressed people and his Faith; not with the power of the gun or a will to power, but with an unwavering love for God and His gift of Life to mankind, expressed through the Life, the Death, and the Resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ.
A reading of "Witness to Hope" (and it is a long read) illuminates the spiritual and the political issues of today in stark terms that will resonate with Catholics and non-Catholics alike. A life of a free, intelligent man whose Faith in God and his unflinching devotion to his flock enraged those who would rule by means of an avalanche of lies, deceit, and violence.
Posted by: mrp at September 29, 2024 09:47 AM (rj6Yv)
60
Thanks CBD.
Posted by: Candidus at September 29, 2024 09:47 AM (QDqzB)
61
Donald Hamilton, speaking as Matt Helm, wondered why the Donner party, which failed to get to the West, is remembered while successful migrants are not.
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 29, 2024 09:42 AM (p/isN)
---
Same reason the Titanic is the most recognized passenger ship in history. Epic fails are much more interesting that milk runs.
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 29, 2024 09:42 AM (p/isN)
---
Same reason the Titanic is the most recognized passenger ship in history. Epic fails are much more interesting that milk runs.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2024 09:47 AM (llXky)
62
Because the Donner Party story is so horrific it sounds Grimm-esque
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 29, 2024 09:48 AM (WbaIk)
63
Martin Gilbert's The First World War says the Serbs agreed to all the demands of the Austrians (after the Archduke was assassinated). The Tsar thought war could be avoided, but the Austrians were already attacking. I was shocked by that because I hadn't seen that info anywhere else.
Posted by: Notsothoreau at September 29, 2024 09:48 AM (MpVUb)
64
Or Rick Grant of Spin drift Is!and?
Posted by: From about That Time at September 29, 2024 09:36 AM (4780s)
I have the collection of those stories on my Kindle. Hadn't known about them when I was a kid though.
Posted by: From about That Time at September 29, 2024 09:36 AM (4780s)
I have the collection of those stories on my Kindle. Hadn't known about them when I was a kid though.
Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at September 29, 2024 09:48 AM (s9EYN)
65
Second, he argues that while Germany was somewhat to blame for the war, it was not primarily responsible; he assigns that role to the Russians and the French.
I don't know that I agree with him 100% on either one, but it's very thought-provoking.
Posted by: Dr. T
I picked up the DVD of "37 Days" done by the BBC which shows just how many opportunities to avoid war passed them by.
I don't know that I agree with him 100% on either one, but it's very thought-provoking.
Posted by: Dr. T
I picked up the DVD of "37 Days" done by the BBC which shows just how many opportunities to avoid war passed them by.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 29, 2024 09:48 AM (I1AMe)
66
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2024 09:34 AM (llXky)
That's very interesting. I confess to being rather stronger on the political and diplomatic side where WWI is concerned, than on the military side; and though I knew that trench warfare was a bit more complicated than the summary histories make it sound, I have fallen into the trap of seeing the Somme as the rule rather than the exception.
There was a tendency in grad school to write Junger off as a precursor to Nazism, which may explain why I never read more than a few excerpts; but then again, what *isn't* written off as a precursor to Nazism?
That's very interesting. I confess to being rather stronger on the political and diplomatic side where WWI is concerned, than on the military side; and though I knew that trench warfare was a bit more complicated than the summary histories make it sound, I have fallen into the trap of seeing the Somme as the rule rather than the exception.
There was a tendency in grad school to write Junger off as a precursor to Nazism, which may explain why I never read more than a few excerpts; but then again, what *isn't* written off as a precursor to Nazism?
Posted by: Dr. T at September 29, 2024 09:49 AM (lHPJf)
67
We remember the Donner Party because people are horrified by cannibalism. Same reason we remember that flight that went down in the Andes, when they had to resort to cannibalism.
Posted by: Notsothoreau at September 29, 2024 09:50 AM (MpVUb)
68
"What are YOU reading this fine morning?"
Lawrence and the Arabs - Robert Graves - 1927
Found on Gutenberg. Written by a friend of T.E. Lawrence. He writes about Lawrence as a younger man before the Arab thing, during the Arab uprising, and afterwards too. He fawns a bit, and talks about what Lawrence did after the Arab uprising.(He changed his name and joined the Royal Tank Corps and then the RAF).
As it was written not long after Lawrence's Arabian adventure and well before the movie was made, it is relatively untainted by revisionist history. There was more to the man than LoA. A different look T.E. , if you are interested in that sort of thing.
One quote :
"The Arabs addressed him as ‘Aurans’ or ‘Lurens,’ but his nickname among them was Emir Dinamit, or Prince Dynamite, for his explosive energy."
Lawrence and the Arabs - Robert Graves - 1927
Found on Gutenberg. Written by a friend of T.E. Lawrence. He writes about Lawrence as a younger man before the Arab thing, during the Arab uprising, and afterwards too. He fawns a bit, and talks about what Lawrence did after the Arab uprising.(He changed his name and joined the Royal Tank Corps and then the RAF).
As it was written not long after Lawrence's Arabian adventure and well before the movie was made, it is relatively untainted by revisionist history. There was more to the man than LoA. A different look T.E. , if you are interested in that sort of thing.
One quote :
"The Arabs addressed him as ‘Aurans’ or ‘Lurens,’ but his nickname among them was Emir Dinamit, or Prince Dynamite, for his explosive energy."
Posted by: fd at September 29, 2024 09:50 AM (vFG9F)
69
Wolfus, Boone was in The Shootist. He had the motorcar. Wayne offed him in the final shootout at the bar.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 29, 2024
***
So we were both right!
Morning, Book Folken. Thomas Paine, I think I was the one who brought up Ambler and Schirmer Inheritance -- at least I read it earlier this summer. Having ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances was what Ambler did best. I highly recommend his Journey into Fear, where an English engineer, in Eastern Europe just before WWII breaks out, realizes he targeted for murder by German Intelligence. The non-spy caught up in spy intrigue was Ambler's particular forte.
Wolfus, Boone was in The Shootist. He had the motorcar. Wayne offed him in the final shootout at the bar.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 29, 2024
***
So we were both right!
Morning, Book Folken. Thomas Paine, I think I was the one who brought up Ambler and Schirmer Inheritance -- at least I read it earlier this summer. Having ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances was what Ambler did best. I highly recommend his Journey into Fear, where an English engineer, in Eastern Europe just before WWII breaks out, realizes he targeted for murder by German Intelligence. The non-spy caught up in spy intrigue was Ambler's particular forte.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 29, 2024 09:51 AM (omVj0)
70
Regarding The Great War --
The comic strip "Bringing Up Father" has a panel in which Jiggs, talking with a doughboy on leave, observes:
"It must be grand fighting 'over there' without any police to interfere."
The comic strip "Bringing Up Father" has a panel in which Jiggs, talking with a doughboy on leave, observes:
"It must be grand fighting 'over there' without any police to interfere."
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 29, 2024 09:51 AM (p/isN)
71
In two ways. First, McMeekin directly attacks the idea that World War I was inevitable; not only was its outbreak in 1914 a fluke, but in his view, if it could have been delayed a few more years, it likely wouldn't have happened at all. Second, he argues that while Germany was somewhat to blame for the war, it was not primarily responsible; he assigns that role to the Russians and the French.
If you haven't, I recommend reading Frederic Morton's books A Nervous Splendor and Thunder at Twilight. Both focus on the Austro-Hungarian Empire, with similar theses - in the first, Morton believes (illogically, IMO) that, had Crown Prince Rudolf not killed himself, WWI might never have happened. In the second, he postulates the same, only replacing Rudolf with Franz Ferdinand.
And my own, prejudiced opinion, is that Austria bears the brunt of blame for the war - its General Staff were aching to go to war with Serbia for years, and the assassination was the perfect causus belli. Then Germany had to come in because Wilhelm II had stupidly promised to support Austria in whatever she did.
If you haven't, I recommend reading Frederic Morton's books A Nervous Splendor and Thunder at Twilight. Both focus on the Austro-Hungarian Empire, with similar theses - in the first, Morton believes (illogically, IMO) that, had Crown Prince Rudolf not killed himself, WWI might never have happened. In the second, he postulates the same, only replacing Rudolf with Franz Ferdinand.
And my own, prejudiced opinion, is that Austria bears the brunt of blame for the war - its General Staff were aching to go to war with Serbia for years, and the assassination was the perfect causus belli. Then Germany had to come in because Wilhelm II had stupidly promised to support Austria in whatever she did.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at September 29, 2024 09:51 AM (Q0kLU)
72
Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2024 09:44 AM
Sounds like an appropriate pairing with the excerpt in Quillette.
Sounds like an appropriate pairing with the excerpt in Quillette.
Posted by: KT at September 29, 2024 09:52 AM (xekrU)
73
I have a copy of that somewhere in my house. It was a gift from a history professor friend of mine who specialized in Chinese/Japanese/South Pacific history.
It's little and it's red.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 29, 2024 09:46 AM (zP09t)
---
Mao originally wanted to sweep the past away, but the anarchy he created only made China weaker. The Cultural Revolution was also an attempt to regain his former power after the disastrous Great Leap Forward.
One of the 'innovations' was to return the Chinese Red Army to more of a militia force, abolishing the Soviet-style command and control system. This resulted in a series of humiliating defeats in border clashes with the USSR, and was reversed in the 1970s.
That tension remains to this day, which is why China is never quite stable. Xi has power now, but he has also disrupted the succession cycle, and Chinese history is replete with dynasties collapsing over succession issues, starting with the First Emperor. There's a good book I can recommend...
It's little and it's red.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 29, 2024 09:46 AM (zP09t)
---
Mao originally wanted to sweep the past away, but the anarchy he created only made China weaker. The Cultural Revolution was also an attempt to regain his former power after the disastrous Great Leap Forward.
One of the 'innovations' was to return the Chinese Red Army to more of a militia force, abolishing the Soviet-style command and control system. This resulted in a series of humiliating defeats in border clashes with the USSR, and was reversed in the 1970s.
That tension remains to this day, which is why China is never quite stable. Xi has power now, but he has also disrupted the succession cycle, and Chinese history is replete with dynasties collapsing over succession issues, starting with the First Emperor. There's a good book I can recommend...
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2024 09:52 AM (llXky)
74
Thanks for posting the project, Perfessor.
Also, if I may, today and tomorrow are the last days to vote for my story to be included in the printed anthology of Frontier Tales magazine. Vote at FrontierTales.com and give a vote to my story, The Waystation Incident. If I get into the print issue, I can make some money from it. I'd appreciate the support.
Congratulations to Gene, a member of A Literary Horde, for getting his book out.
Also, if I may, today and tomorrow are the last days to vote for my story to be included in the printed anthology of Frontier Tales magazine. Vote at FrontierTales.com and give a vote to my story, The Waystation Incident. If I get into the print issue, I can make some money from it. I'd appreciate the support.
Congratulations to Gene, a member of A Literary Horde, for getting his book out.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 29, 2024 09:53 AM (0eaVi)
75
"Second, he argues that while Germany was somewhat to blame for the war, it was not primarily responsible; he assigns that role to the Russians and the French."
Posted by: Dr. T at September 29, 2024 09:40 AM (lHPJf)
I've thought for a long time that WWI really got started because the Austro-Hungarians were so bound and determined that they were going to have a war with Serbia; they just turned out to be really, really bad at it.
Posted by: Dr. T at September 29, 2024 09:40 AM (lHPJf)
I've thought for a long time that WWI really got started because the Austro-Hungarians were so bound and determined that they were going to have a war with Serbia; they just turned out to be really, really bad at it.
Posted by: Disillusionist at September 29, 2024 09:55 AM (mrK+v)
76
I stepped aside from John D. MacDonald's No Deadly Drug, which focuses on then then-recent Carl Coppolino murder trial. It's a big book, and while not slow, it's detailed. Instead I've shifted to his last novel, Barrier Island. It's not so much about crime -- well, there is white-collar crime, at least so far -- as it is about business dealings and underhanded versions of same.
At the library last week I found The Red Widow Murders from 1935, one of John Dickson Carr's impossible crime novels with Sir Henry Merrivale, aka H.M. It's a dazzler in plot construction and clues, and characterization as well. How that guy managed those intricate plots in the very difficult locked-room subgenre, and did it over and over again for years, amazes me.
At the library last week I found The Red Widow Murders from 1935, one of John Dickson Carr's impossible crime novels with Sir Henry Merrivale, aka H.M. It's a dazzler in plot construction and clues, and characterization as well. How that guy managed those intricate plots in the very difficult locked-room subgenre, and did it over and over again for years, amazes me.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 29, 2024 09:55 AM (omVj0)
77
Because the Donner Party story is so horrific it sounds Grimm-esque
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 29, 2024 09:48 AM (WbaIk)
It's the origin of the colloquial expression, "Bite me".
Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at September 29, 2024 09:48 AM (WbaIk)
It's the origin of the colloquial expression, "Bite me".
Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at September 29, 2024 09:56 AM (g8Ew8)
78
Says it all. We'll just have to keep a boot on your neck until we run the whole world and nobody objects to it.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 29, 2024 09:44 AM (q3u5l)
I think that the platitudes of "the state will wither away" is a callous and brazen attempt to capture the hearts and imagination of retarded college students and disaffected workers.
It is of course idiotic, but the carefully romanticized version of socialism presented to the ignorant fools who are its ultimate supporters is a lovely story.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 29, 2024 09:44 AM (q3u5l)
I think that the platitudes of "the state will wither away" is a callous and brazen attempt to capture the hearts and imagination of retarded college students and disaffected workers.
It is of course idiotic, but the carefully romanticized version of socialism presented to the ignorant fools who are its ultimate supporters is a lovely story.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2024 09:56 AM (d9fT1)
79
One more note, the email is proton dot me, not protonmail. I have the free version because I'm cheap....
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 29, 2024 09:56 AM (0eaVi)
80
There was a tendency in grad school to write Junger off as a precursor to Nazism, which may explain why I never read more than a few excerpts; but then again, what *isn't* written off as a precursor to Nazism?
Posted by: Dr. T at September 29, 2024 09:49 AM (lHPJf)
---
Yeah, it's part of the "ya know, Hitler liked dogs..." kind of thinking. I would not recommend this book to anyone who is not interested in serious fighting stories. Junger kept a diary with him at all times, and I think he maintained his sanity by taking notes rather than being "in the moment."
One could describe it as a very very long "after action review."
Posted by: Dr. T at September 29, 2024 09:49 AM (lHPJf)
---
Yeah, it's part of the "ya know, Hitler liked dogs..." kind of thinking. I would not recommend this book to anyone who is not interested in serious fighting stories. Junger kept a diary with him at all times, and I think he maintained his sanity by taking notes rather than being "in the moment."
One could describe it as a very very long "after action review."
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2024 09:57 AM (llXky)
81
Watched the video at the top of the thread: The guy's name is Estes, and while he says he's an engineer, I think he actually just the heir to the Estes Model Rocket fortune. I used to launch those as a kid...
Is anyone else's first instinct to try to identify the books on the shelf when they watch videos like that? I tend to do that on any video that has shelves in the background...
It also made me realize, I actually do spend a little bit of time watching 'library tour' videos on Youtube, where people film and show off the books they have in their collection. Usually its comic book omnibuses, but I imagine other genres of booktubers do the same thing...
Is anyone else's first instinct to try to identify the books on the shelf when they watch videos like that? I tend to do that on any video that has shelves in the background...
It also made me realize, I actually do spend a little bit of time watching 'library tour' videos on Youtube, where people film and show off the books they have in their collection. Usually its comic book omnibuses, but I imagine other genres of booktubers do the same thing...
Posted by: Castle Guy at September 29, 2024 09:58 AM (Lhaco)
82
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at September 29, 2024 09:51 AM (Q0kLU)
I have not read them, though I have heard of them. I should; Austria-Hungary is fascinating. But I don't believe Rudolf's surviving to 1914 would have changed anything.
As for Austria being primarily to blame....yes and no. I don't blame them for deciding on a military response; they certainly believed the Serbian government was behind the assassination, and you can't just kill the heir to the throne and get away with it. And no one in Europe really liked Serbia; they'd offed their own royal family just a few years before.
What I do blame them for is not going in at once. If they'd attacked immediately, probably even Russia would have accepted it as retaliation by an aggrieved empire. By waiting so long, Austria lost the moral high ground and gave everyone else time to calculate their own responses, and that really lit the fuse.
I have not read them, though I have heard of them. I should; Austria-Hungary is fascinating. But I don't believe Rudolf's surviving to 1914 would have changed anything.
As for Austria being primarily to blame....yes and no. I don't blame them for deciding on a military response; they certainly believed the Serbian government was behind the assassination, and you can't just kill the heir to the throne and get away with it. And no one in Europe really liked Serbia; they'd offed their own royal family just a few years before.
What I do blame them for is not going in at once. If they'd attacked immediately, probably even Russia would have accepted it as retaliation by an aggrieved empire. By waiting so long, Austria lost the moral high ground and gave everyone else time to calculate their own responses, and that really lit the fuse.
Posted by: Dr. T at September 29, 2024 09:58 AM (lHPJf)
83
29 Someone had recommended a history of the Desert War in 1940-43 by Alan Moorehead, and I have very much enjoyed it! Thank you, Horde!
Posted by: Brewingfrog at September 29, 2024 09:24 AM (s/iIU)
I second that. I'm about 20 pages from finishing it, which I will certainly do this morning. A really gripping account. My only complaint is that he could have used a lot more maps.
Also worth noting: Amazon wanted something between $98 - $125 for a paperback version, and a hilarious $1,043 for a hardcover in not very good condition; I got a new copy of the 2001 printing for $29 at Abe Books.
Posted by: Brewingfrog at September 29, 2024 09:24 AM (s/iIU)
I second that. I'm about 20 pages from finishing it, which I will certainly do this morning. A really gripping account. My only complaint is that he could have used a lot more maps.
Also worth noting: Amazon wanted something between $98 - $125 for a paperback version, and a hilarious $1,043 for a hardcover in not very good condition; I got a new copy of the 2001 printing for $29 at Abe Books.
Posted by: Disillusionist at September 29, 2024 09:59 AM (mrK+v)
84
At the library this week, though, I found a non-fiction book that interested me, a trip through Hollywood history featuring the Oscars: how they came to be, the struggles backstage and off-screen, etc. It looks fascinating.
The cover has artwork with ten famous faces of H'wood then (Kirk Douglas, e.g.) and now (Spielberg and Tarantino). For some reason Gwyneth Paltrow is included, and hers was the only face I didn't recognize -- mostly, I guess because she has never really registered on my mental movie screen except for being pretty. She's no Gloria Swanson or Bette Davis, for sure. (Her mom, Blythe Danner, was much more attractive at the same age and more talented.)
The cover has artwork with ten famous faces of H'wood then (Kirk Douglas, e.g.) and now (Spielberg and Tarantino). For some reason Gwyneth Paltrow is included, and hers was the only face I didn't recognize -- mostly, I guess because she has never really registered on my mental movie screen except for being pretty. She's no Gloria Swanson or Bette Davis, for sure. (Her mom, Blythe Danner, was much more attractive at the same age and more talented.)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 29, 2024 09:59 AM (omVj0)
85
callsign claymore word is Tim likes to hand out copies if you still want to read it
Posted by: Skip at September 29, 2024 10:00 AM (fwDg9)
86
I think I was the one who brought up Ambler and Schirmer Inheritance -- at least I read it earlier this summer. Having ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances was what Ambler did best. I highly recommend his Journey into Fear, where an English engineer, in Eastern Europe just before WWII breaks out, realizes he targeted for murder by German Intelligence. The non-spy caught up in spy intrigue was Ambler's particular forte.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius
Thanks for that. I have s few more Ambler books on the way, including that one.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius
Thanks for that. I have s few more Ambler books on the way, including that one.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 29, 2024 10:01 AM (I1AMe)
87
At the library this week, though, I found a non-fiction book that interested me, a trip through Hollywood history featuring the Oscars: how they came to be, the struggles backstage and off-screen, etc. It looks fascinating.
I believe I borrowed that from the library. That I have nothing else to say about it tells you what impression it made on me.
I believe I borrowed that from the library. That I have nothing else to say about it tells you what impression it made on me.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at September 29, 2024 10:02 AM (Q0kLU)
88
I think that the platitudes of "the state will wither away" is a callous and brazen attempt to capture the hearts and imagination of retarded college students and disaffected workers.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2024 09:56 AM (d9fT1)
---
One of the reasons I consider Marxism a heresy is that it is strongest in those without a religious grounding - the educated classes.
Time and again actual workers have rejected Marxism because they are much more attached to faith, family and community. They don't have grand ambitions of reshaping society, just doing well and enjoying their grandchildren.
Marxists explain this with "false consciousness," but it's really just a rejection of a vile heresy that attacks the foundations of their world. The cosmopolitan elites, on the other hand, hate their families and long to overthrow the constraints of religion and society.
Marxism promises them that *and* feeds their anti-religious sentiment by claiming to be scientific.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2024 09:56 AM (d9fT1)
---
One of the reasons I consider Marxism a heresy is that it is strongest in those without a religious grounding - the educated classes.
Time and again actual workers have rejected Marxism because they are much more attached to faith, family and community. They don't have grand ambitions of reshaping society, just doing well and enjoying their grandchildren.
Marxists explain this with "false consciousness," but it's really just a rejection of a vile heresy that attacks the foundations of their world. The cosmopolitan elites, on the other hand, hate their families and long to overthrow the constraints of religion and society.
Marxism promises them that *and* feeds their anti-religious sentiment by claiming to be scientific.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2024 10:03 AM (llXky)
89
I think that the platitudes of "the state will wither away" is a callous and brazen attempt to capture the hearts and imagination of retarded college students and disaffected workers.
It is of course idiotic, but the carefully romanticized version of socialism presented to the ignorant fools who are its ultimate supporters is a lovely story.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2024 09:56 AM (d9fT1)
Paul Johnson once said of Marx that he was, at heart, a Romantic, in the sense that he not only dreamed up his own unrealistic notion of how the world should work, but then fantasized about it being imposed through a titanic struggle of "good" and "evil".
He made a similar argument about Hitler, for obvious reasons.
It is of course idiotic, but the carefully romanticized version of socialism presented to the ignorant fools who are its ultimate supporters is a lovely story.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2024 09:56 AM (d9fT1)
Paul Johnson once said of Marx that he was, at heart, a Romantic, in the sense that he not only dreamed up his own unrealistic notion of how the world should work, but then fantasized about it being imposed through a titanic struggle of "good" and "evil".
He made a similar argument about Hitler, for obvious reasons.
Posted by: Dr. T at September 29, 2024 10:03 AM (lHPJf)
90
At the library this week, though, I found a non-fiction book that interested me, a trip through Hollywood history featuring the Oscars: how they came to be, the struggles backstage and off-screen, etc. It looks fascinating.
*
I believe I borrowed that from the library. That I have nothing else to say about it tells you what impression it made on me.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at September 29, 2024
***
There isn't much about your favorite, the 1920s, for sure! I love to collect "behind the camera" stories, so I expect it'll be fun.
*
I believe I borrowed that from the library. That I have nothing else to say about it tells you what impression it made on me.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at September 29, 2024
***
There isn't much about your favorite, the 1920s, for sure! I love to collect "behind the camera" stories, so I expect it'll be fun.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 29, 2024 10:04 AM (omVj0)
91
Didn't pause the video to try to see what was on the shelves, but that's always my first thought too. Did notice what looked like a complete set of the Durants there.
Show me a picture of someone's library or a writer's office, and I try to read the spines. Usually the picture's not sharp enough to let me do so unless there are titles I recognize from my years as a librarian and as a bookstore clerk. Frustrating beyond measure.
Show me a picture of someone's library or a writer's office, and I try to read the spines. Usually the picture's not sharp enough to let me do so unless there are titles I recognize from my years as a librarian and as a bookstore clerk. Frustrating beyond measure.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 29, 2024 10:04 AM (q3u5l)
92
Watched the video at the top of the thread: The guy's name is Estes, and while he says he's an engineer, I think he actually just the heir to the Estes Model Rocket fortune. I used to launch those as a kid...
As I said upthread, it must be wonderful to have money.
As I said upthread, it must be wonderful to have money.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at September 29, 2024 10:05 AM (Q0kLU)
93
Oh, the book about the Academy Awards through the decades is Oscar Wars, by one Michael Shulman. A New Yorker writer, so be warned.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 29, 2024 10:06 AM (omVj0)
94
It's nice when youngsters recognize their elders contribution.
Clint Eastwood, 94, To Be Given Leadership Award By Morgan Freeman, 87
Clint Eastwood, 94, To Be Given Leadership Award By Morgan Freeman, 87
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Pumpkin Spice! at September 29, 2024 10:06 AM (L/fGl)
95
And my own, prejudiced opinion, is that Austria bears the brunt of blame for the war - its General Staff were aching to go to war with Serbia for years, and the assassination was the perfect causus belli. Then Germany had to come in because Wilhelm II had stupidly promised to support Austria in whatever she did.
Posted by: Mary Poppins
I tend to agree with this; the Austro-Hungarian empire was already failing, and they wanted a war to restore their fortunes. I found Thunder at Twilight fascinating, given how many people who would have a malign influence on history were neighbors in Vienna.
Posted by: Mary Poppins
I tend to agree with this; the Austro-Hungarian empire was already failing, and they wanted a war to restore their fortunes. I found Thunder at Twilight fascinating, given how many people who would have a malign influence on history were neighbors in Vienna.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 29, 2024 10:08 AM (I1AMe)
96
It also made me realize, I actually do spend a little bit of time watching 'library tour' videos on Youtube, where people film and show off the books they have in their collection. Usually its comic book omnibuses, but I imagine other genres of booktubers do the same thing...
Posted by: Castle Guy at September 29, 2024 09:58 AM (Lhaco)
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Yep. I've seen Booktubers give tours of their fantasy/science fiction and even literary fiction. We tend to be very proud of our collections!
Posted by: Castle Guy at September 29, 2024 09:58 AM (Lhaco)
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Yep. I've seen Booktubers give tours of their fantasy/science fiction and even literary fiction. We tend to be very proud of our collections!
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 29, 2024 10:09 AM (zP09t)
97
Anthony Bale's A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages: The World Through Mediaeval Eyes. Didn't like it; it wasn't at all what I was expecting.
MP4, if you're interested in medieval subjects, Jason Kingsley on YT covers a lot of interesting things about that period. He's Modern History TV.
MP4, if you're interested in medieval subjects, Jason Kingsley on YT covers a lot of interesting things about that period. He's Modern History TV.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 29, 2024 10:10 AM (0eaVi)
98
I have not read them, though I have heard of them. I should; Austria-Hungary is fascinating. But I don't believe Rudolf's surviving to 1914 would have changed anything.
Yes, I agree. I think Morton's romantic imagination got away from him. And considering Rudolf's erratic behavior, alcoholism, drug use and syphilis, he probably wouldn't have lived until 1914 anyway.
Franz Ferdinand is another matter - he might have had the strength of character to stop the General Staff, but that would have to presume he was the Emperor and that Franz Joseph had died prior to 1914.
Yes, I agree. I think Morton's romantic imagination got away from him. And considering Rudolf's erratic behavior, alcoholism, drug use and syphilis, he probably wouldn't have lived until 1914 anyway.
Franz Ferdinand is another matter - he might have had the strength of character to stop the General Staff, but that would have to presume he was the Emperor and that Franz Joseph had died prior to 1914.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at September 29, 2024 10:10 AM (Q0kLU)
99
Another thing on Churchill is for decades I have thought Lord Mountbatten might have lead the most interesting life but while still in the early stages of Churchill I might change my opinion.
Posted by: Skip at September 29, 2024 10:10 AM (fwDg9)
100
Paul Johnson once said of Marx that he was, at heart, a Romantic, in the sense that he not only dreamed up his own unrealistic notion of how the world should work, but then fantasized about it being imposed through a titanic struggle of "good" and "evil".
Posted by: Dr. T at September 29, 2024 10:03 AM (lHPJf)
---
The thing about Marxism is that it's now being used as a catchall term for "bad," without explaining why. "Cultural Marxism" is a meaningless term because what it describes - rampant sexual license, dripping contempt for the working class - is the antithesis of Marxism.
The "tell" is that while the adherents spout bits of socialism, they have no problem with the market and exult in keeping the poor poor. What they want is absolute power free of restraint for its own sake. They are inherently special, The Elect, and you should know your place.
It's demonic, pure and simple. Trying to rally the old Reagan-era retirees is a loser's strategy.
Posted by: Dr. T at September 29, 2024 10:03 AM (lHPJf)
---
The thing about Marxism is that it's now being used as a catchall term for "bad," without explaining why. "Cultural Marxism" is a meaningless term because what it describes - rampant sexual license, dripping contempt for the working class - is the antithesis of Marxism.
The "tell" is that while the adherents spout bits of socialism, they have no problem with the market and exult in keeping the poor poor. What they want is absolute power free of restraint for its own sake. They are inherently special, The Elect, and you should know your place.
It's demonic, pure and simple. Trying to rally the old Reagan-era retirees is a loser's strategy.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2024 10:11 AM (llXky)
101
I have been trying to design a house around a library for a future home for a while, but at the cost per square foot, I may have to forego other things like bedrooms.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 29, 2024 09:27 AM (I1AMe)
Make sleeping shelves, no bedrooms needed.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 29, 2024 09:27 AM (I1AMe)
Make sleeping shelves, no bedrooms needed.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 29, 2024 10:11 AM (0eaVi)
102
Been reading 'Omnilingual' and 'Ministry of Disturbance' by H. Beam Piper.
Posted by: Anna Puma at September 29, 2024 10:14 AM (wxgaw)
103
Franz Ferdinand is another matter - he might have had the strength of character to stop the General Staff, but that would have to presume he was the Emperor and that Franz Joseph had died prior to 1914.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at September 29, 2024 10:10 AM (Q0kLU)
One of the bitter ironies of Sarajevo is that Franz Ferdinand was one of the strongest advocates for *not* going to war with Serbia: not that he loved the Serbs (quite the opposite) but because he feared the consequences of a war with Russia. If he had lived, it is almost impossible that WWI should have broken out in that way.
Franz Ferdinand was an interesting guy. I've written a counterfactual about his reign as Austrian emperor after Franz Josef died, though not a very long one.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at September 29, 2024 10:10 AM (Q0kLU)
One of the bitter ironies of Sarajevo is that Franz Ferdinand was one of the strongest advocates for *not* going to war with Serbia: not that he loved the Serbs (quite the opposite) but because he feared the consequences of a war with Russia. If he had lived, it is almost impossible that WWI should have broken out in that way.
Franz Ferdinand was an interesting guy. I've written a counterfactual about his reign as Austrian emperor after Franz Josef died, though not a very long one.
Posted by: Dr. T at September 29, 2024 10:14 AM (lHPJf)
104
As for Austria being primarily to blame....yes and no. I don't blame them for deciding on a military response; they certainly believed the Serbian government was behind the assassination, and you can't just kill the heir to the throne and get away with it. And no one in Europe really liked Serbia; they'd offed their own royal family just a few years before.
Posted by: Dr. T at September 29, 2024 09:58 AM (lHPJf)
---
The whole business of "war guilt" is both stupid and self-defeating. It's American Puritanism put into foreign policy and it results in policy decisions guided by appeals to emotion rather than reason.
We should never have destroyed the monarchies of central Europe. They were a force for stability and without it, we unleashed chaos.
Woodrow Wilson is history's greatest monster.
Posted by: Dr. T at September 29, 2024 09:58 AM (lHPJf)
---
The whole business of "war guilt" is both stupid and self-defeating. It's American Puritanism put into foreign policy and it results in policy decisions guided by appeals to emotion rather than reason.
We should never have destroyed the monarchies of central Europe. They were a force for stability and without it, we unleashed chaos.
Woodrow Wilson is history's greatest monster.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2024 10:14 AM (llXky)
105
There was a tendency in grad school to write Junger off as a precursor to Nazism, which may explain why I never read more than a few excerpts; but then again, what *isn't* written off as a precursor to Nazism?
Posted by: Dr. T
As a famous war hero and prominent nationalist critic of the Weimar Republic, the ascendant Nazi Party (NSDAP) courted Jünger as a natural ally, but Jünger rejected such advances. When Jünger moved to Berlin in 1927, he rejected an offer of a seat in the Reichstag for the NSDAP. In 1930, he openly denounced Hitler's suppression of the Rural People's Movement.[17] In the 22 October 1932 edition of Völkischer Beobachter (the official Nazi newspaper), the article "Das endlose dialektische Gespräch" ("the never-ending dialectical debate") attacked Jünger for his rejection of the "blood and soil" doctrine, accusing him of being an "intellectualist" and a liberal.[18] Jünger again refused a seat offered to him in the Reichstag following the Nazi Party's ascension to power in January 1933, and he refused the invitation to head the German Academy of Literature (Die deutsche Akademie der Dichtung).[19]
On 14 June 1934, Jünger wrote a "letter of rejection" to the Völ
Posted by: Dr. T
As a famous war hero and prominent nationalist critic of the Weimar Republic, the ascendant Nazi Party (NSDAP) courted Jünger as a natural ally, but Jünger rejected such advances. When Jünger moved to Berlin in 1927, he rejected an offer of a seat in the Reichstag for the NSDAP. In 1930, he openly denounced Hitler's suppression of the Rural People's Movement.[17] In the 22 October 1932 edition of Völkischer Beobachter (the official Nazi newspaper), the article "Das endlose dialektische Gespräch" ("the never-ending dialectical debate") attacked Jünger for his rejection of the "blood and soil" doctrine, accusing him of being an "intellectualist" and a liberal.[18] Jünger again refused a seat offered to him in the Reichstag following the Nazi Party's ascension to power in January 1933, and he refused the invitation to head the German Academy of Literature (Die deutsche Akademie der Dichtung).[19]
On 14 June 1934, Jünger wrote a "letter of rejection" to the Völ
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Pumpkin Spice! at September 29, 2024 10:14 AM (L/fGl)
106
Make sleeping shelves, no bedrooms needed.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 29, 2024 10:11 AM (0eaVi)
---
Bedrooms lined with books along the walls, sleep in a hammock.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 29, 2024 10:11 AM (0eaVi)
---
Bedrooms lined with books along the walls, sleep in a hammock.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2024 10:15 AM (llXky)
107
Is anyone else's first instinct to try to identify the books on the shelf when they watch videos like that? I tend to do that on any video that has shelves in the background...
Posted by: Castle Guy
I do it every time I see an interview with books in the background. It can give you clues as to the person's viewpoint, or, depending upon whether you like what they are saying, if the books behind them are to be recommended or dismissed.
Posted by: Castle Guy
I do it every time I see an interview with books in the background. It can give you clues as to the person's viewpoint, or, depending upon whether you like what they are saying, if the books behind them are to be recommended or dismissed.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 29, 2024 10:16 AM (I1AMe)
108
Regarding the outbreak of WWI, I think France and Germany were looking for an excuse to go at each other for a long time.
Posted by: dantesed at September 29, 2024 10:16 AM (Oy/m2)
109
I have been trying to design a house around a library for a future home for a while, but at the cost per square foot, I may have to forego other things like bedrooms.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 29, 2024 09:27 AM (I1AMe)
Which is probably why the rest of his house is just plain old vanilla. That was a disappointment. I love the library room.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 29, 2024 09:27 AM (I1AMe)
Which is probably why the rest of his house is just plain old vanilla. That was a disappointment. I love the library room.
Posted by: BonniebBue at September 29, 2024 10:16 AM (WeHjT)
110
Regarding the outbreak of WWI, I think France and Germany were looking for an excuse to go at each other for a long time.
Posted by: dantesed at September 29, 2024 10:16 AM (Oy/m2)
---
See also: The Moroccan crisis of 1911.
Europe had seen peace for a very long time and the generals were getting restless.
Posted by: dantesed at September 29, 2024 10:16 AM (Oy/m2)
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See also: The Moroccan crisis of 1911.
Europe had seen peace for a very long time and the generals were getting restless.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2024 10:18 AM (llXky)
111
I do it every time I see an interview with books in the background. It can give you clues as to the person's viewpoint, or, depending upon whether you like what they are saying, if the books behind them are to be recommended or dismissed.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 29, 2024 10:16 AM (I1AMe)
---
During COVID, "important people" who were being interviewed via Zoom would "rent" books by the foot to fill in their backgrounds to make them look smart.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 29, 2024 10:16 AM (I1AMe)
---
During COVID, "important people" who were being interviewed via Zoom would "rent" books by the foot to fill in their backgrounds to make them look smart.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 29, 2024 10:19 AM (zP09t)
Posted by: Anna Puma at September 29, 2024 10:19 AM (wxgaw)
113
Well, I guess I'll call it a morning, make a second cup of tea and read.
Hope you all have a lovely day.
Hope you all have a lovely day.
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at September 29, 2024 10:20 AM (Q0kLU)
114
@101 Make sleeping shelves, no bedrooms needed. --OrangeEnt
Do that, and you'll never be more than one Acepocalyptic Shelving Event from being crushed by your own books
which, come to think of it, might not be such a bad way to go.
Do that, and you'll never be more than one Acepocalyptic Shelving Event from being crushed by your own books
which, come to think of it, might not be such a bad way to go.
Posted by: Way,Way Downriver at September 29, 2024 10:20 AM (zdLoL)
115
On 14 June 1934, Jünger wrote a "letter of rejection" to the Völkischer Beobachter, in which he requested that none of his writings be published in it.[18] Jünger also refused to speak on Joseph Goebbels's radio. He was one of the few "nationalist" authors whose names were never found on the frequent declarations of loyalty to Hitler. He and his brother Friedrich Georg quit the "Traditionsverein der 73er" (veteran's organization of the Hanoverian regiment they had served during World War I) when its Jewish members were expelled.[18]
When Jünger left Berlin in 1933, his house was searched several times by the Gestapo. . . .
His elder son Ernst Jr., then an eighteen-year-old naval (Kriegsmarine) cadet, was imprisoned that year for engaging in "subversive discussions" in his Wilhelmshaven Naval Academy (a capital offence). Transferred to Penal Unit 999 as Frontbewährung after his parents had spoken to the presiding judge Admiral Ernst Scheurlen, he was killed near Carrara in occupied Italy on 29 November 1944 (though Jünger was never sure whether he had been shot by the enemy or by the SS).
-
Junger may have been an asshole but he was no Nazi.
When Jünger left Berlin in 1933, his house was searched several times by the Gestapo. . . .
His elder son Ernst Jr., then an eighteen-year-old naval (Kriegsmarine) cadet, was imprisoned that year for engaging in "subversive discussions" in his Wilhelmshaven Naval Academy (a capital offence). Transferred to Penal Unit 999 as Frontbewährung after his parents had spoken to the presiding judge Admiral Ernst Scheurlen, he was killed near Carrara in occupied Italy on 29 November 1944 (though Jünger was never sure whether he had been shot by the enemy or by the SS).
-
Junger may have been an asshole but he was no Nazi.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Pumpkin Spice! at September 29, 2024 10:21 AM (L/fGl)
116
"Farewell, My Lovely" - Raymond Chandler
"Farewell, My Lovely" - Raymond Chandler
Posted by: Auspex at September 29, 2024 10:21 AM (j4U/Z)
117
Also on my TBR stack is Robert Ruark's novel of Kenya before and during the Mau Mau Emergency (as the British called it), Something of Value. This one and Uhuru, regarding Africa in 1960 when Kenya and other countries were demanding independence from their colonial masters, are both great stuff as I recall. They have unblinking, un-PC portraits of the Kenyans and other Africans. Better grab a copy of each now before they get memory-holed.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 29, 2024 10:21 AM (omVj0)
118
51 85 Thanks, y'all -- I have a copy somewhere. My quip was intended for a laugh ... and to show that Mao's madness is current events, not history.
Posted by: callsign claymore at September 29, 2024 10:22 AM (49izV)
119
OT: Somebody did something to someone in Yemen.
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at September 29, 2024 10:22 AM (hH84v)
120
Is anyone else's first instinct to try to identify the books on the shelf when they watch videos like that? I tend to do that on any video that has shelves in the background...
Posted by: Castle Guy
I recognized the History of Civilization series of 11 books by Will Durant at 0:45.
Posted by: Castle Guy
I recognized the History of Civilization series of 11 books by Will Durant at 0:45.
Posted by: Archimedes at September 29, 2024 10:23 AM (xCA6C)
121
The whole business of "war guilt" is both stupid and self-defeating. It's American Puritanism put into foreign policy and it results in policy decisions guided by appeals to emotion rather than reason.
We should never have destroyed the monarchies of central Europe. They were a force for stability and without it, we unleashed chaos.
Woodrow Wilson is history's greatest monster.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2024 10:14 AM (llXky)
Can't disagree on any point. (Well, Wilson was pretty bad, but I wouldn't call him History's Bad Guy #1.)
The destruction of the Habsburg monarchy was a disaster in almost every way imaginable.
We should never have destroyed the monarchies of central Europe. They were a force for stability and without it, we unleashed chaos.
Woodrow Wilson is history's greatest monster.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2024 10:14 AM (llXky)
Can't disagree on any point. (Well, Wilson was pretty bad, but I wouldn't call him History's Bad Guy #1.)
The destruction of the Habsburg monarchy was a disaster in almost every way imaginable.
Posted by: Dr. T at September 29, 2024 10:23 AM (lHPJf)
122
I was looking on AbeBooks and ThriftBooks for a copy of H. Warner Munn's epic Roman history adventure, The Lost Legion. There are hardbacks there, but the sites are demanding $35+ for a decent-condition copy. No paperbacks -- maybe the novel was never issued in PB. I read it way back in the early '80s and loved it, and would like to revisit it. Guess I gotta pony up a little $$$.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 29, 2024 10:23 AM (omVj0)
123
Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at September 29, 2024 10:22 AM (hH84v)
More exploding pagers?
More exploding pagers?
Posted by: dantesed at September 29, 2024 10:24 AM (Oy/m2)
Posted by: Auspex at September 29, 2024 10:24 AM (j4U/Z)
125
Living in a library, very nice.
Of course no matter how many books he has read, if he is voting Kamala I'd consider him a confused fool. There are many such "well-read" but confused humans out there, but apparently more are women than men.
Of course no matter how many books he has read, if he is voting Kamala I'd consider him a confused fool. There are many such "well-read" but confused humans out there, but apparently more are women than men.
Posted by: illiniwek at September 29, 2024 10:25 AM (Cus5s)
126
I read books because it’s cheaper than movies.
Posted by: Eromero at September 29, 2024 10:25 AM (DXbAa)
127
Breaking from the books theme, I don't know how well Helene's inland effects are known to the Horde...just spoke to someone with family in the Asheville, NC area. Word is it's basically wiped out. They need everything from prayers on up.
Posted by: Brother Tim sez at September 29, 2024 10:25 AM (jMVL0)
128
One thing I don't know is how Prussia and Russia became arch enemies when as I read it from the Napoleonic wars through the 1800s they were very much allies. It fell apart somewhere.
Posted by: Skip at September 29, 2024 10:27 AM (fwDg9)
129
Woodrow Wilson is history's greatest monster.
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Darkly amusing video of historian losing his mind refuting Cooper on Tucker contending that Churchill was history's greatest monster
https://is.gd/PRYtZd
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Darkly amusing video of historian losing his mind refuting Cooper on Tucker contending that Churchill was history's greatest monster
https://is.gd/PRYtZd
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Pumpkin Spice! at September 29, 2024 10:27 AM (L/fGl)
130
Add me to those who try to examine book spines in photos. It's a kick to identify something that I own, too.
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 29, 2024 10:28 AM (p/isN)
131
just an observation: Alice is a better name for a quantum computer than The Red Queen
Posted by: Kindltot at September 29, 2024 10:28 AM (D7oie)
132
OT: Somebody did something to someone in Yemen.
Posted by: Biden's Dog
Explosions in Yemen are a form of urban renewal.
Posted by: Biden's Dog
Explosions in Yemen are a form of urban renewal.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 29, 2024 10:29 AM (I1AMe)
133
121 Blessed Emperor Karl I and Pope Benedict XV had a peace plan. It was rejected.
The only people who really won WWI were those bent on destroying throne and altar.
The only people who really won WWI were those bent on destroying throne and altar.
Posted by: callsign claymore at September 29, 2024 10:30 AM (49izV)
134
Breaking from the books theme, I don't know how well Helene's inland effects are known to the Horde...just spoke to someone with family in the Asheville, NC area. Word is it's basically wiped out. They need everything from prayers on up.
Posted by: Brother Tim sez at September 29, 2024 10:25 AM (jMVL0)
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I saw a flooding video from Ashville. Terrible. I spoke to our BD pup in Charlotte. No electricity for a day and a half - fridge/freezer contents tossed out. Also some flooding in business but minor damage. Grandpups advanced in their bookreading skills - even if they're only young enough to look at pictures.
Wishing all Morons in the path well and a speedy recovery to those who need it.
Posted by: Brother Tim sez at September 29, 2024 10:25 AM (jMVL0)
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I saw a flooding video from Ashville. Terrible. I spoke to our BD pup in Charlotte. No electricity for a day and a half - fridge/freezer contents tossed out. Also some flooding in business but minor damage. Grandpups advanced in their bookreading skills - even if they're only young enough to look at pictures.
Wishing all Morons in the path well and a speedy recovery to those who need it.
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at September 29, 2024 10:30 AM (hH84v)
135
Explosions in Yemen are a form of urban renewal.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 29, 2024 10:29 AM (I1AMe)
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That usually requires long-term planning. Yet in Yemen this seems to happen... on the fly.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 29, 2024 10:29 AM (I1AMe)
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That usually requires long-term planning. Yet in Yemen this seems to happen... on the fly.
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at September 29, 2024 10:32 AM (hH84v)
136
The rich aren't like you and me.
[Angelina] Jolie had been pursuing court action under the anonymous moniker “Jane Doe” related to an alleged altercation between her and [Brad] Pitt that reportedly took place on a private jet in 2016. After filing a Freedom of Information Act request in 2021, Jolie was seeking documents from the FBI about their investigation into the claims.
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The FBI doesn't investigate our spats.
[Angelina] Jolie had been pursuing court action under the anonymous moniker “Jane Doe” related to an alleged altercation between her and [Brad] Pitt that reportedly took place on a private jet in 2016. After filing a Freedom of Information Act request in 2021, Jolie was seeking documents from the FBI about their investigation into the claims.
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The FBI doesn't investigate our spats.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Pumpkin Spice! at September 29, 2024 10:35 AM (L/fGl)
137
After filing a Freedom of Information Act request in 2021, Jolie was seeking documents from the FBI about their investigation into the claims.
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The FBI doesn't investigate our spats.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks
The FBI gets involved in domestic disputes when they involve people who are part of their blackmail program.
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The FBI doesn't investigate our spats.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks
The FBI gets involved in domestic disputes when they involve people who are part of their blackmail program.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 29, 2024 10:38 AM (I1AMe)
138
I read somewhere that all of Europe was considering another war to be inevitable -- they just didn't expect it to become the Great War.
I also read that Austria-Hungary's military Plan Three had leaked -- and AH muckamucks knew this -- yet they still followed it when bullets began to fly.
I also read that Austria-Hungary's military Plan Three had leaked -- and AH muckamucks knew this -- yet they still followed it when bullets began to fly.
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 29, 2024 10:39 AM (p/isN)
139
I think the house featured in the video just ~might~ have enough bookshelves.
Love the wood and the view. Needs a Golden Retriever to force one to take walks in the surrounding woods to refresh the mind and get the blood flowing before settling in with a good book and the GR by the fireplace. The cat is a nice touch, unless it prefers to sleep on said book whilst one is reading.
Love the wood and the view. Needs a Golden Retriever to force one to take walks in the surrounding woods to refresh the mind and get the blood flowing before settling in with a good book and the GR by the fireplace. The cat is a nice touch, unless it prefers to sleep on said book whilst one is reading.
Posted by: March Hare at September 29, 2024 10:42 AM (jfX+U)
140
anyone else's first instinct to try to identify the books on the shelf when they watch videos like that? I tend to do that on any video that has shelves in the background...
Posted by: Castle Guy
I do it every time I see an interview with books in the background. It can give you clues as to the person's viewpoint, or, depending upon whether you like what they are saying, if the books behind them are to be recommended or dismissed.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 29, 2024 10:16 AM (I1AMe)
I do that too. Gives me an idea of what they fill their heads with.
Posted by: Castle Guy
I do it every time I see an interview with books in the background. It can give you clues as to the person's viewpoint, or, depending upon whether you like what they are saying, if the books behind them are to be recommended or dismissed.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 29, 2024 10:16 AM (I1AMe)
I do that too. Gives me an idea of what they fill their heads with.
Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at September 29, 2024 10:42 AM (g8Ew8)
141
Whoa, slept in.
"Ha ha!", cried Toad happily. "I am as clever as I look, and as brilliant as I seem!"
Mister Toad from "The Wind in the Willows" is my spirit animal.
Kenneth Grahame has a worthy successor in William Horwood, who continued the stories in "The Willows in Winter" and now "Toad Triumphant". It's a typical madcap adventure for Toad, in which he finds a lady amphibian as crazy as he and his riverbank friends are worried the two will amplify each other's lunacy. But it's also a gentle meditation on friendship as wise Badger tries to coax dear old Mole out of his existential funk, and Mole and Ratty take a trip upriver to the Beyond.
"Ha ha!", cried Toad happily. "I am as clever as I look, and as brilliant as I seem!"
Mister Toad from "The Wind in the Willows" is my spirit animal.
Kenneth Grahame has a worthy successor in William Horwood, who continued the stories in "The Willows in Winter" and now "Toad Triumphant". It's a typical madcap adventure for Toad, in which he finds a lady amphibian as crazy as he and his riverbank friends are worried the two will amplify each other's lunacy. But it's also a gentle meditation on friendship as wise Badger tries to coax dear old Mole out of his existential funk, and Mole and Ratty take a trip upriver to the Beyond.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at September 29, 2024 10:43 AM (kpS4V)
142
Somebody did something to someone in Yemen.
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey
Iran's Supreme Leader Reportedly Hidden Away in Secure Location After Israel Takes Out Head of Hezbollah
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Poor baby!
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey
Iran's Supreme Leader Reportedly Hidden Away in Secure Location After Israel Takes Out Head of Hezbollah
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Poor baby!
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Pumpkin Spice! at September 29, 2024 10:53 AM (L/fGl)
143
Thank God we don't live in a world where a bunch of buffoons can blunder us into a world war!
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Pumpkin Spice! at September 29, 2024 10:56 AM (L/fGl)
144
Iran's Supreme Leader Reportedly Hidden Away in Secure Location After Israel Takes Out Head of Hezbollah
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Pumpkin Spice! at September 29, 2024 10:53 AM (L/fGl)
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They need to go the same way. All of them.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Pumpkin Spice! at September 29, 2024 10:53 AM (L/fGl)
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They need to go the same way. All of them.
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at September 29, 2024 10:56 AM (hH84v)
145
I finally got my hands on a copy of "The Body Keeps The Score" by Bessel Van Der Kolk. It deals with trauma and the way it shapes the brain. Alas, as soon as I got it, I realized I cannot read it. The type is ridiculously tiny. I guess I'll have to wait for the e-book. I'm 349th in line at the library.
Posted by: grammie winger - cheesehead at September 29, 2024 10:59 AM (SfhV1)
146
Mister Toad from "The Wind in the Willows" is my spirit animal.
===
You're not alone there. And "The imp of the perverse" was my favorite Poe story.
===
You're not alone there. And "The imp of the perverse" was my favorite Poe story.
Posted by: From about That Time at September 29, 2024 10:59 AM (4780s)
147
Book Thread be slow this morning. Here's a topic, and a question I would like answered:
What constitutes an "unreliable narrator"?
At first guess I'd say it's a first-person or third-person viewpoint character who turns out to be much more than he appears at first. He is revealed to be the murderer in a crime story, or the one who has been manipulating events for his own purposes.
Beyond that, more subtly, I guess it could be a narrator who tells us he is something, a war hero or a successful businessman or -woman, whose own words somehow betray that he/she is neither.
What are some examples of books or short stories with "unreliable" narrators? How does it work?
What constitutes an "unreliable narrator"?
At first guess I'd say it's a first-person or third-person viewpoint character who turns out to be much more than he appears at first. He is revealed to be the murderer in a crime story, or the one who has been manipulating events for his own purposes.
Beyond that, more subtly, I guess it could be a narrator who tells us he is something, a war hero or a successful businessman or -woman, whose own words somehow betray that he/she is neither.
What are some examples of books or short stories with "unreliable" narrators? How does it work?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 29, 2024 11:00 AM (omVj0)
148
Regarding the Donner Party: in Fourth Grade the teacher would read to us from a "chapter book" for about fifteen or twenty minutes after recess. At one point she started a novel called _The Palace Wagon_, about a pioneer child and her (?) family going west with a big wagon train. They face hardships along the way but keep going. Then they get stopped by heavy snow in the Sierras, and . . . the teacher switched to a different book before finishing.
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 29, 2024 11:00 AM (78a2H)
149
"I read somewhere that all of Europe was considering another war to be inevitable -- they just didn't expect it to become the Great War."
If they wanted to see how it was destined to turn into Total War they only needed to look at how our Civil War played out.
If they wanted to see how it was destined to turn into Total War they only needed to look at how our Civil War played out.
Posted by: Ignoramus at September 29, 2024 11:00 AM (nFx0I)
150
Grammie --
Tiny type is one of the big reasons I do most of my reading on the Kindle these days. Well, that and shelf space.
Tiny type is one of the big reasons I do most of my reading on the Kindle these days. Well, that and shelf space.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 29, 2024 11:03 AM (q3u5l)
151
I think it was clemenceaus's revenge that drove this, a rather expensive exercise, wilson as a southerner should have known about war guilt
Posted by: no 6 at September 29, 2024 11:04 AM (PXvVL)
152
now if you want the psychobiography of karl wilhelm you see the 7 percent solution,
Posted by: no 6 at September 29, 2024 11:09 AM (PXvVL)
153
Wolf: a lot of stories have unreliable narrators. Look at most of H.P. Lovecraft stories. Most of them start out with the narrator saying "I'm crazy and I'm about to kill myself, but first . . . " and then on with the story. So right there, the narrator is explicitly unreliable.
Or Nabokov's Lolita, where Humbert, the narrator, is lying _to himself_ the whole book about Lolita and how she obviously wants him and is encouraging him and . . . but the reader can see that none of that is actually true.
Or Nabokov's Lolita, where Humbert, the narrator, is lying _to himself_ the whole book about Lolita and how she obviously wants him and is encouraging him and . . . but the reader can see that none of that is actually true.
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 29, 2024 11:10 AM (78a2H)
154
Read "Sacred Duty: A Soldier's Tour at Arlington National Cemetery" by Senator Tom Cotton. When the kerfuffle about Trump's visit to Arlington was in the news, Cotton did some media interviews. He might have otherwise been willing to talk to the media, but I didn't realize his connection.
The book was worth a read for the history and background. Cotton served in the Old Guard supporting ceremonies and funerals. He wasn't in the smaller group that handles the Tomb of the Unknown. The book tells the history of the Old Guard, the cemetery, the unit's training, mission and activities (including transfer of remains at Andrews), and history of the Tomb of the Unknown.
In literary terms, the book feels a little plastic in places. There are parts that feel like a Lake Wobegon story. Everyone meets high standards and is honored to do their duty to respect those who served and their families. Everything is crucially important and no cost or burden is too small. But it was worth a read to learn a little more history and how the Old Guard works.
The book was worth a read for the history and background. Cotton served in the Old Guard supporting ceremonies and funerals. He wasn't in the smaller group that handles the Tomb of the Unknown. The book tells the history of the Old Guard, the cemetery, the unit's training, mission and activities (including transfer of remains at Andrews), and history of the Tomb of the Unknown.
In literary terms, the book feels a little plastic in places. There are parts that feel like a Lake Wobegon story. Everyone meets high standards and is honored to do their duty to respect those who served and their families. Everything is crucially important and no cost or burden is too small. But it was worth a read to learn a little more history and how the Old Guard works.
Posted by: TRex at September 29, 2024 11:10 AM (IQ6Gq)
155
Europe had seen peace for a very long time and the generals were getting restless.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2024 10:18 AM (llXky)
There is an argument that war breaks out when balance of payments cannot be maintained. There were old tensions, scores and unresolved issues that had been around for a long time in Europe, but the major players were getting to a point financially that they were unable to maintain their own economies. Germany and France were suffering under their social welfare demands along with the demand being made by the national industries and Austria had been playing with borrowed money since Maria Theresa decided to make over Vienna. I believe that even England was having a banking crisis.
I have yet to see this worked up in a single book, and that may take someone like a second Friedman to chart it out.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at September 29, 2024 10:18 AM (llXky)
There is an argument that war breaks out when balance of payments cannot be maintained. There were old tensions, scores and unresolved issues that had been around for a long time in Europe, but the major players were getting to a point financially that they were unable to maintain their own economies. Germany and France were suffering under their social welfare demands along with the demand being made by the national industries and Austria had been playing with borrowed money since Maria Theresa decided to make over Vienna. I believe that even England was having a banking crisis.
I have yet to see this worked up in a single book, and that may take someone like a second Friedman to chart it out.
Posted by: Kindltot at September 29, 2024 11:11 AM (D7oie)
156
ferguson is a decent enough chap, but he should know better since he wrote the pity of war,
Posted by: no 6 at September 29, 2024 11:11 AM (PXvVL)
157
Regarding the Donner Party: in Fourth Grade the teacher would read to us from a "chapter book" for about fifteen or twenty minutes after recess. At one point she started a novel called _The Palace Wagon_, about a pioneer child and her (?) family going west with a big wagon train. They face hardships along the way but keep going. Then they get stopped by heavy snow in the Sierras, and . . . the teacher switched to a different book before finishing.
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 29, 2024 11:00 AM (78a2H)
Speaking of those ill-fated people, Jeff of History Hunters on YT posted from Nevada City today and does a little segment on DP relics.
https://tinyurl.com/yyt9nn9f
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 29, 2024 11:00 AM (78a2H)
Speaking of those ill-fated people, Jeff of History Hunters on YT posted from Nevada City today and does a little segment on DP relics.
https://tinyurl.com/yyt9nn9f
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 29, 2024 11:11 AM (0eaVi)
158
I finally got my hands on a copy of "The Body Keeps The Score" by Bessel Van Der Kolk. It deals with trauma and the way it shapes the brain. Alas, as soon as I got it, I realized I cannot read it. The type is ridiculously tiny. I guess I'll have to wait for the e-book. I'm 349th in line at the library.
Posted by: grammie winger - cheesehead at September 29, 2024 10:59 AM (SfhV1)
Is there a way to get you a copy? I don't want you to have to wait.
Posted by: grammie winger - cheesehead at September 29, 2024 10:59 AM (SfhV1)
Is there a way to get you a copy? I don't want you to have to wait.
Posted by: BurtTC at September 29, 2024 11:11 AM (k+bsZ)
159
Is there a way to get you a copy? I don't want you to have to wait.
Posted by: BurtTC at September 29, 2024 11:11 AM (k+bsZ)
You're sweet BurtTC. I don't mind waiting. My brain will still be here for a while.
Posted by: BurtTC at September 29, 2024 11:11 AM (k+bsZ)
You're sweet BurtTC. I don't mind waiting. My brain will still be here for a while.
Posted by: grammie winger - cheesehead at September 29, 2024 11:13 AM (SfhV1)
160
Not to be contrary, but Pride and Prejudice is not the best entry point for Jane Austen. That distinction goes to Northanger Abbey, which is a delightful spoof of the Gothic horror novel, surprisingly metafictional for its time. It's short, sweet, to the point, and best of all, FUNNY!
Posted by: werewife, princess of Delray Beach at September 29, 2024 09:16 AM (wwf+q)
=====
AGREED!
Posted by: werewife, princess of Delray Beach at September 29, 2024 09:16 AM (wwf+q)
=====
AGREED!
Posted by: mustbequantum at September 29, 2024 11:14 AM (RxnYx)
161
There's a YouTube channel called "The Great War" about, well The Great War. The most recent episode is about war aims. Two things stand out:
First, Austria actually accomplished all her war aims. Serbia was overrun, Italy was knocked back, Russia was crippled. It's just that the price of all that was Austria ceasing to exist. Be careful how you phrase that wish . . .
Second, Germany's aims were: a European continental customs union centered on Germany, France humbled and made into a German ally, and pushing back Russia out of eastern Europe. It took them a hundred years, but they did it!
So Austria and Germany won WWI, just not the way they hoped.
First, Austria actually accomplished all her war aims. Serbia was overrun, Italy was knocked back, Russia was crippled. It's just that the price of all that was Austria ceasing to exist. Be careful how you phrase that wish . . .
Second, Germany's aims were: a European continental customs union centered on Germany, France humbled and made into a German ally, and pushing back Russia out of eastern Europe. It took them a hundred years, but they did it!
So Austria and Germany won WWI, just not the way they hoped.
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 29, 2024 11:14 AM (78a2H)
162
its funny in an ironic way, the zaydis do have a reasonable grudge against the saudis, they stole four provinces the quarrelsome ones where the hijackers, came from
but against israel they regret they didn't kill all of them in 1948 farhud,
but against israel they regret they didn't kill all of them in 1948 farhud,
Posted by: no 6 at September 29, 2024 11:15 AM (PXvVL)
163
Wasn't one of the problem was there was no one like Bismarck to stop the Kaiser?
Posted by: Anna Puma at September 29, 2024 10:19 AM (wxgaw)
the classical argument is that the Diet could support a war started by the general staff, but were unable to stop one. This was the explanation of why the Japanese got dragged into war by their war party in Manchuria and couldn't seem to back away, as the Japanese had styled their legislature on the German model.
Posted by: Anna Puma at September 29, 2024 10:19 AM (wxgaw)
the classical argument is that the Diet could support a war started by the general staff, but were unable to stop one. This was the explanation of why the Japanese got dragged into war by their war party in Manchuria and couldn't seem to back away, as the Japanese had styled their legislature on the German model.
Posted by: Kindltot at September 29, 2024 11:16 AM (D7oie)
164
""The Body Keeps The Score" by Bessel Van Der Kolk. I guess I'll have to wait for the e-book." Posted by: grammie winger
Amazon has it on Kindle
Amazon has it on Kindle
Posted by: illiniwek at September 29, 2024 11:16 AM (Cus5s)
165
Amazon has it on Kindle
Posted by: illiniwek at September 29, 2024 11:16 AM (Cus5s)
Yes, I saw that. I usually don't spend more than 5 dollars for a book. I might have to loosen the purse strings for this one.
Posted by: illiniwek at September 29, 2024 11:16 AM (Cus5s)
Yes, I saw that. I usually don't spend more than 5 dollars for a book. I might have to loosen the purse strings for this one.
Posted by: grammie winger - cheesehead at September 29, 2024 11:17 AM (SfhV1)
166
Wolf: a lot of stories have unreliable narrators. Look at most of H.P. Lovecraft stories. Most of them start out with the narrator saying "I'm crazy and I'm about to kill myself, but first . . . " and then on with the story. So right there, the narrator is explicitly unreliable.
Or Nabokov's Lolita, where Humbert, the narrator, is lying _to himself_ the whole book about Lolita and how she obviously wants him and is encouraging him and . . . but the reader can see that none of that is actually true.
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 29, 2024
***
I can see the Lolita deal -- that being the more subtle version I was guessing about. But is the Lovecraft narrator necessarily unreliable because he's on the edge of madness thanks to the events he's witnessed? If he actually saw the events, the appearance of the Elder Gods, let's say, and reports them accurately, is he necessarily unreliable within the logic of the story? Yes, if he were reporting all this to a court or a doctor, they'd consider him unreliable. But do we need to? (cont.)
Or Nabokov's Lolita, where Humbert, the narrator, is lying _to himself_ the whole book about Lolita and how she obviously wants him and is encouraging him and . . . but the reader can see that none of that is actually true.
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 29, 2024
***
I can see the Lolita deal -- that being the more subtle version I was guessing about. But is the Lovecraft narrator necessarily unreliable because he's on the edge of madness thanks to the events he's witnessed? If he actually saw the events, the appearance of the Elder Gods, let's say, and reports them accurately, is he necessarily unreliable within the logic of the story? Yes, if he were reporting all this to a court or a doctor, they'd consider him unreliable. But do we need to? (cont.)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 29, 2024 11:19 AM (omVj0)
167
Is there a way to get you a copy? I don't want you to have to wait.
Posted by: BurtTC at September 29, 2024 11:11 AM (k+bsZ)
You're sweet BurtTC. I don't mind waiting. My brain will still be here for a while.
Posted by: grammie winger - cheesehead at September 29, 2024 11:13 AM (SfhV1)
I looked to see if there was a large print version... apparently not. I would think that would be almost universal by now, at least for best sellers, which this one certainly is.
Posted by: BurtTC at September 29, 2024 11:11 AM (k+bsZ)
You're sweet BurtTC. I don't mind waiting. My brain will still be here for a while.
Posted by: grammie winger - cheesehead at September 29, 2024 11:13 AM (SfhV1)
I looked to see if there was a large print version... apparently not. I would think that would be almost universal by now, at least for best sellers, which this one certainly is.
Posted by: BurtTC at September 29, 2024 11:21 AM (5v131)
168
A little plastic. . But it was worth a read to learn a little more history and how the Old Guard works.
=====
We need people like this, excessively focused, to maintain what should be maintained. But it is best when done in almost a monastic approach, as a highly specific military unit is.
And today's attention whores are most decidedly not.
=====
We need people like this, excessively focused, to maintain what should be maintained. But it is best when done in almost a monastic approach, as a highly specific military unit is.
And today's attention whores are most decidedly not.
Posted by: From about That Time at September 29, 2024 11:21 AM (4780s)
169
Re: unreliable narrators . . . There's a short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman called "The Yellow Wallpaper." I've seen it interpreted as a supernatural story, as a case history of schizophrenia, and even as a proto-feminist tale. Since we don't know which case is "true," and when we finish the tale we still don't, I suppose we could call the woman who has these visions an unreliable narrator.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 29, 2024 11:22 AM (omVj0)
170
So Austria and Germany won WWI, just not the way they hoped.
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 29, 2024 11:14 AM (78a2H)
Careful now, people might think you're Pat Buchanan.
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 29, 2024 11:14 AM (78a2H)
Careful now, people might think you're Pat Buchanan.
Posted by: BurtTC at September 29, 2024 11:24 AM (5v131)
171
Darkly amusing video of historian losing his mind refuting Cooper on Tucker contending that Churchill was history's greatest monster
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Pumpkin Spice! at September 29, 2024 10:27 AM (L/fGl)
Tom Woods (a Columbia PhD in history) talked with Darryl Cooper in more depth of what he was saying on Tucker. It is an interesting perspective.
It is an hour of History profs discussing history, and the problem with enforced orthodoxy.
Cooper is a podcaster, and he does a history podcast, pulling together other people's source materials. He did a history on the Jonestown cult too.
https://youtu.be/Kr42yvQD37A
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Pumpkin Spice! at September 29, 2024 10:27 AM (L/fGl)
Tom Woods (a Columbia PhD in history) talked with Darryl Cooper in more depth of what he was saying on Tucker. It is an interesting perspective.
It is an hour of History profs discussing history, and the problem with enforced orthodoxy.
Cooper is a podcaster, and he does a history podcast, pulling together other people's source materials. He did a history on the Jonestown cult too.
https://youtu.be/Kr42yvQD37A
Posted by: Kindltot at September 29, 2024 11:25 AM (D7oie)
172
Does anyone know the redemption process for Amazon? I defray delivery dates and they give me credit for Kindle stuff in return. I don't use them. I'd pass the code along to someone if that's the way they handle it. Or is it at checkout?
Does anyone know the redemption process for Amazon? I defray delivery dates and they give me credit for Kindle stuff in return. I don't use them. I'd pass the code along to someone if that's the way they handle it. Or is it at checkout?
Posted by: Divide by Zero at September 29, 2024 11:26 AM (RKVpM)
173
I really doubt the Israelis are planning to kill Khamenei himself. But I hope they are. What a great thing that would be.
I also hope they plan to kill Islamist leaders in America. It would be totally awesome if they blasted Tlaib right in her rotten chaunch while she was shrieking on TV someday soon.
I also hope they plan to kill Islamist leaders in America. It would be totally awesome if they blasted Tlaib right in her rotten chaunch while she was shrieking on TV someday soon.
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at September 29, 2024 11:28 AM (awTae)
174
Tom Woods (a Columbia PhD in history) talked with Darryl Cooper in more depth of what he was saying on Tucker. It is an interesting perspective.
It is an hour of History profs discussing history, and the problem with enforced orthodoxy.
Cooper is a podcaster, and he does a history podcast, pulling together other people's source materials. He did a history on the Jonestown cult too.
https://youtu.be/Kr42yvQD37A
Posted by: Kindltot at September 29, 2024 11:25 AM (D7oie)
In a better world, Tom Woods would be hugely famous, and sell millions of copies of his books.
Alas... Cooper himself has acknowledged he was being overly dramatic/provocative with his wording with Tucker.
It is an hour of History profs discussing history, and the problem with enforced orthodoxy.
Cooper is a podcaster, and he does a history podcast, pulling together other people's source materials. He did a history on the Jonestown cult too.
https://youtu.be/Kr42yvQD37A
Posted by: Kindltot at September 29, 2024 11:25 AM (D7oie)
In a better world, Tom Woods would be hugely famous, and sell millions of copies of his books.
Alas... Cooper himself has acknowledged he was being overly dramatic/provocative with his wording with Tucker.
Posted by: BurtTC at September 29, 2024 11:28 AM (5v131)
175
141 ... "Kenneth Grahame has a worthy successor in William Horwood, who continued the stories in "The Willows in Winter" and now "Toad Triumphant"."
AHE,
I wasn't aware of the Horwood sequels. Thanks for mentioning them. Just ordered a copy of Willows in Winter. (Of course, the local library doesn't have any of them. Grrr!) If it is only half as good as Wind in the Willows, it should be wonderful.
AHE,
I wasn't aware of the Horwood sequels. Thanks for mentioning them. Just ordered a copy of Willows in Winter. (Of course, the local library doesn't have any of them. Grrr!) If it is only half as good as Wind in the Willows, it should be wonderful.
Posted by: JTB at September 29, 2024 11:28 AM (yTvNw)
176
I have not been reading this week, I have been doing chores getting ready for the winter. Maybe.
Posted by: Kindltot at September 29, 2024 11:29 AM (D7oie)
177
He may have been just kidding around, but when someone starts calling my boy Winston a monster, it's time to start sharpening the saber.
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 29, 2024 11:30 AM (78a2H)
178
Church bell says pay attention.
Posted by: Eromero at September 29, 2024 11:31 AM (DXbAa)
179
He may have been just kidding around, but when someone starts calling my boy Winston a monster, it's time to start sharpening the saber.
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 29, 2024 11:30 AM (78a2H)
It's more to his point that no one is above being second guessed, when it comes to recognizing that WWII was the worst event in human history.
And if we can't ask how it could have been avoided, at least on the scale it reached, then we're not talking about history, we're talking about something else.
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 29, 2024 11:30 AM (78a2H)
It's more to his point that no one is above being second guessed, when it comes to recognizing that WWII was the worst event in human history.
And if we can't ask how it could have been avoided, at least on the scale it reached, then we're not talking about history, we're talking about something else.
Posted by: BurtTC at September 29, 2024 11:32 AM (5v131)
180
And given the fact we're on the brink of WWIII, I think the questions are relevant.
Posted by: BurtTC at September 29, 2024 11:33 AM (5v131)
181
It must be weird for the IRGC right now ... You obviously need to send the Supreme Leader into hiding, but at this point you have to wonder if that's exactly what the Jews *want* you to do, because they know where you'll send him and they're hiding under his bed.
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at September 29, 2024 11:34 AM (awTae)
182
Or Nabokov's Lolita, where Humbert, the narrator, is lying _to himself_ the whole book about Lolita and how she obviously wants him and is encouraging him and . . . but the reader can see that none of that is actually true.
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 29, 2024 11:10 AM (78a2H)
Nabokov's laugh out loud novel, "Pale Fire" is a clever variation on the unreliable narrator.
Wherein a mad neighbor of a dead poet steals the poet's last manuscript, a 999-line poem titled "Pale Fire" to annotate it and prove that the poem about himself and his obsessions.
Very funny, very clever stuff, one of my all-time faves.
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 29, 2024 11:10 AM (78a2H)
Nabokov's laugh out loud novel, "Pale Fire" is a clever variation on the unreliable narrator.
Wherein a mad neighbor of a dead poet steals the poet's last manuscript, a 999-line poem titled "Pale Fire" to annotate it and prove that the poem about himself and his obsessions.
Very funny, very clever stuff, one of my all-time faves.
Posted by: naturalfake at September 29, 2024 11:34 AM (eDfFs)
183
Primanti Brothers has gone all Red Hen on J.D. Vance.
They'll be out of business in a year.
Posted by: Auspex at September 29, 2024 10:24 AM (j4U/Z)
I read an account of what happened there. According to the local GOP county chairman, the manager told the Trump supporters that Vance wasn't welcome there. The supporter informed her that Harris had made a stop there a month before. The manager replied "Well, if he wants to stop in and order something, we can't stop him." When the JD team arrived, the manager bolted outside and, according to the county chairman, told JD's people that the the senator was not welcome and if he stepped inside, she'd file trespassing charges. Primanti corporate got involved, whereupon JD entered the building, stayed a couple of minutes, paid for everyone's food, and left.
They'll be out of business in a year.
Posted by: Auspex at September 29, 2024 10:24 AM (j4U/Z)
I read an account of what happened there. According to the local GOP county chairman, the manager told the Trump supporters that Vance wasn't welcome there. The supporter informed her that Harris had made a stop there a month before. The manager replied "Well, if he wants to stop in and order something, we can't stop him." When the JD team arrived, the manager bolted outside and, according to the county chairman, told JD's people that the the senator was not welcome and if he stepped inside, she'd file trespassing charges. Primanti corporate got involved, whereupon JD entered the building, stayed a couple of minutes, paid for everyone's food, and left.
Posted by: mrp at September 29, 2024 11:35 AM (rj6Yv)
Posted by: naturalfake at September 29, 2024 11:35 AM (eDfFs)
185
That's fine with me. I'd be happy if entire States started banning politicians from being there at all. They're all criminals. It would be great if States just started filing charges on all that stuff... Tell people like Harris "if you ever so much as set foot in Oklahoma, we're going to have police waiting to arrest you."
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at September 29, 2024 11:40 AM (awTae)
186
When the JD team arrived, the manager bolted outside and, according to the county chairman, told JD's people that the the senator was not welcome and if he stepped inside, she'd file trespassing charges. Primanti corporate got involved, whereupon JD entered the building, stayed a couple of minutes, paid for everyone's food, and left.
Posted by: mrp at September 29, 2024 11:35 AM (rj6Yv)
I don't know how a nation sustains itself like this. When half the country hates the other half. All while rapidly activating the world to hate them.
Things fall. And this is how they do.
Posted by: mrp at September 29, 2024 11:35 AM (rj6Yv)
I don't know how a nation sustains itself like this. When half the country hates the other half. All while rapidly activating the world to hate them.
Things fall. And this is how they do.
Posted by: BurtTC at September 29, 2024 11:42 AM (5v131)
187
khamenei was trained at the Peoples University (formerly Patrice Lumumba) in Moscow, along other alumni like Carlos the Jackal
he was a guest of Evin prison, I think he can handle himself
he was a guest of Evin prison, I think he can handle himself
Posted by: no 6 at September 29, 2024 11:42 AM (PXvVL)
188
Yeah, the thread's a little slow. I expect the weather has something to do with it. More important things to do than be on the book thread if you live in the southeast.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 29, 2024 11:44 AM (0eaVi)
189
I've got to get moving soon myself. Being the defiant sort I am though, that means I have to put ON some pants.
Buy Tom Woods' books!
Buy Tom Woods' books!
Posted by: BurtTC at September 29, 2024 11:47 AM (5v131)
190
Sometimes it's enough to make you think that all intelligent species have a built-in self-destruct switch set to trigger once there's a strong possibility of escaping the confines of their own planets.
Suppose it would explain why SETI hasn't found much of anything...
Suppose it would explain why SETI hasn't found much of anything...
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 29, 2024 11:49 AM (q3u5l)
191
Morning book folk.
Finished off (with several research books now on the backburner)
AH Lloyd's Long Live Death.
The book is a rabbit hole I will probably never dig out of.
Sent me onto many side trips to the internet and back into my own stacks of stuff. Took months to get through as I'd do a couple of pages and find myself off on days of side reading. Tanks and plane stuff.
Loved it.
Started Roald Dahl's Going Solo which I found in my mom's pile of books to read. Am now searching for Boy which seems to be a prequal to Going Solo. Mom is looking for it too. She works at the local library used book store. Buys books then reads and donates back.
Finished off (with several research books now on the backburner)
AH Lloyd's Long Live Death.
The book is a rabbit hole I will probably never dig out of.
Sent me onto many side trips to the internet and back into my own stacks of stuff. Took months to get through as I'd do a couple of pages and find myself off on days of side reading. Tanks and plane stuff.
Loved it.
Started Roald Dahl's Going Solo which I found in my mom's pile of books to read. Am now searching for Boy which seems to be a prequal to Going Solo. Mom is looking for it too. She works at the local library used book store. Buys books then reads and donates back.
Posted by: Reforger at September 29, 2024 11:49 AM (xcIvR)
192
I don't know how a nation sustains itself like this. When half the country hates the other half. All while rapidly activating the world to hate them.
Things fall. And this is how they do.
Posted by: BurtTC at September 29, 2024 11:42 AM
I was at Lowe's yesterday at the customer service desk ordering something. There was a brand new sign there warning that the use of profanity and threats of violence against employees would not be tolerated.
Anyone ever see anything like that in the past? No, because people didn't do that shit.
I absolutely have no doubt in my mind that one of the side effects of the mRNA shots is hostility.
I don't know how a nation sustains itself like this. When half the country hates the other half. All while rapidly activating the world to hate them.
Things fall. And this is how they do.
Posted by: BurtTC at September 29, 2024 11:42 AM
I was at Lowe's yesterday at the customer service desk ordering something. There was a brand new sign there warning that the use of profanity and threats of violence against employees would not be tolerated.
Anyone ever see anything like that in the past? No, because people didn't do that shit.
I absolutely have no doubt in my mind that one of the side effects of the mRNA shots is hostility.
Posted by: Divide by Zero at September 29, 2024 11:50 AM (RKVpM)
193
This goes to X, but is incredible. The hurricane takes out their entire treeline like dominos:
https://tinyurl.com/3wm72bzk
Samaritan's Purse is working from 5 locations. Ryan Hall Y'all's group got a couple of Starlinks set up in Asheville for communications. Seems like the TN National Guard was deployed overseas, just in time for this. The destruction is appalling.
https://tinyurl.com/3wm72bzk
Samaritan's Purse is working from 5 locations. Ryan Hall Y'all's group got a couple of Starlinks set up in Asheville for communications. Seems like the TN National Guard was deployed overseas, just in time for this. The destruction is appalling.
Posted by: Notsothoreau at September 29, 2024 11:51 AM (MpVUb)
194
Extra late today, missed the 7:30 Mass, had to go to the 9:00 and have read at least some of the content this morning.
As usual, never enough time for reading. I'm working my way through my second reading of A.H. Lloyd's Vampires of Michigan. I rushed through it the first time because I just had to find out what happened to the main character, Zip. This time around, I'm taking my time, enjoying the characters a bit more this time around.
Thank you, Perfessor, for another great book thread. Hope you all have a great week.
As usual, never enough time for reading. I'm working my way through my second reading of A.H. Lloyd's Vampires of Michigan. I rushed through it the first time because I just had to find out what happened to the main character, Zip. This time around, I'm taking my time, enjoying the characters a bit more this time around.
Thank you, Perfessor, for another great book thread. Hope you all have a great week.
Posted by: KatieFloyd at September 29, 2024 11:52 AM (AM5m/)
195
I absolutely have no doubt in my mind that one of the side effects of the mRNA shots is hostility.
Posted by: Divide by Zero at September 29, 2024
***
I'll bet that hostility is also a carryover from the months of the Sniffle Scare/Face Diaper Hoax, in which the employees gleefully acted like tinpot tyrants. The customers remember, and the employees wish bitterly they still could lord it over the customers.
Posted by: Divide by Zero at September 29, 2024
***
I'll bet that hostility is also a carryover from the months of the Sniffle Scare/Face Diaper Hoax, in which the employees gleefully acted like tinpot tyrants. The customers remember, and the employees wish bitterly they still could lord it over the customers.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 29, 2024 11:53 AM (omVj0)
196
Anyone ever see anything like that in the past? No, because people didn't do that shit.
I absolutely have no doubt in my mind that one of the side effects of the mRNA shots is hostility.
Posted by: Divide by Zero at September 29, 2024 11:50 AM (RKVpM)
Maybe, but maybe it is just how civilizations end themselves. With all of us tearing at each others' throats.
I was listening to Curtis Yarvin being interviewed by some Brit chick the other day... he's a cheerful sort. He's the one who believes a benevolent monarchy is the way to go, and democracies will inevitably fall apart and commit suicide.
And here we are.
I absolutely have no doubt in my mind that one of the side effects of the mRNA shots is hostility.
Posted by: Divide by Zero at September 29, 2024 11:50 AM (RKVpM)
Maybe, but maybe it is just how civilizations end themselves. With all of us tearing at each others' throats.
I was listening to Curtis Yarvin being interviewed by some Brit chick the other day... he's a cheerful sort. He's the one who believes a benevolent monarchy is the way to go, and democracies will inevitably fall apart and commit suicide.
And here we are.
Posted by: BurtTC at September 29, 2024 11:54 AM (5v131)
197
Well, I must be off to handle chores. Thanks, Perfessor and the rest of you for a fun Book Thread!
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 29, 2024 11:55 AM (omVj0)
198
I'll bet that hostility is also a carryover from the months of the Sniffle Scare/Face Diaper Hoax, in which the employees gleefully acted like tinpot tyrants. The customers remember, and the employees wish bitterly they still could lord it over the customers.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 29, 2024 11:53 AM (omVj0)
Yeah, I don't believe Covid caused anything, I think it revealed things.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 29, 2024 11:53 AM (omVj0)
Yeah, I don't believe Covid caused anything, I think it revealed things.
Posted by: BurtTC at September 29, 2024 11:55 AM (5v131)
199
I was listening to Curtis Yarvin being interviewed by some Brit chick the other day... he's a cheerful sort. He's the one who believes a benevolent monarchy is the way to go, and democracies will inevitably fall apart and commit suicide.
And here we are.
Posted by: BurtTC at September 29, 2024 11:54 AM (5v131)
Yeah, but today's Marcus Aurelius has a habit of becoming tomorrow's Commodus.
And here we are.
Posted by: BurtTC at September 29, 2024 11:54 AM (5v131)
Yeah, but today's Marcus Aurelius has a habit of becoming tomorrow's Commodus.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 29, 2024 11:55 AM (0eaVi)
200
At least we made 200 comments. Thanks for the thread, Perfessor.
Posted by: OrangeEnt at September 29, 2024 11:57 AM (0eaVi)
201
Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing at September 29, 2024 09:23 AM (Q0kLU)
Have you read Goldhagen's "Hitler's Willing Executioners?"
Have you read Goldhagen's "Hitler's Willing Executioners?"
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at September 29, 2024 11:57 AM (d9fT1)
202
I think things were getting meaner and uglier before Covid reared its engineered head. That lunacy may have accelerated it, but I have the impression that the seeds were already there.
And on these cheerful notes, it's off to another day of accomplishing zip-a-dee-do-dah.
Thanks for the thread, Perfessor.
Have a good one, gang.
And on these cheerful notes, it's off to another day of accomplishing zip-a-dee-do-dah.
Thanks for the thread, Perfessor.
Have a good one, gang.
Posted by: Just Some Guy at September 29, 2024 11:57 AM (q3u5l)
203
After the mRNA shot rolled out official incidents on airplanes increased by 500% of a baseline five years before. That's a lot of sudden hostility.
After the mRNA shot rolled out official incidents on airplanes increased by 500% of a baseline five years before. That's a lot of sudden hostility.
Posted by: Divide by Zero at September 29, 2024 11:59 AM (RKVpM)
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Pumpkin Spice! at September 29, 2024 12:00 PM (L/fGl)
205
4 Did not read this week.
Posted by: rhennigantx
FOADIAF you useless kunthole. Do we come in your house and piss in your cheerios? Fuck off.
Posted by: rhennigantx
FOADIAF you useless kunthole. Do we come in your house and piss in your cheerios? Fuck off.
Posted by: Tom has an unhealthy interest in the back naughty... at September 29, 2024 12:00 PM (48F2H)
206
WE HAZ A NOOD
Posted by: Skip at September 29, 2024 12:01 PM (fwDg9)
207
This goes to X, but is incredible. The hurricane takes out their entire treeline like dominos:
https://tinyurl.com/3wm72bzk
-
Damn that global warming!
https://tinyurl.com/3wm72bzk
-
Damn that global warming!
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Now With Pumpkin Spice! at September 29, 2024 12:03 PM (L/fGl)
208
The first time I read "Pride and Prejudice," the vocabulary was somewhat daunting. That was 20 years ago, I have no problem with it now. I do enjoy some dialog that never makes it in to a file. E.G. "I could forgive Mr. Darcy's pride if he had not mortified mine."
Or "Fine eyes? Oh when can I wish you joy?"
I am currently reading the third volume in Taylor Marshall's "Sword and Serpent" Trilogy about St. George, the dragon, Constantine, and Diocletian.
Or "Fine eyes? Oh when can I wish you joy?"
I am currently reading the third volume in Taylor Marshall's "Sword and Serpent" Trilogy about St. George, the dragon, Constantine, and Diocletian.
Posted by: no one of any consequence at September 29, 2024 12:04 PM (+H2BX)
209
A perfect example of unreasonable hostility in comment from (48F2H) who sounds vaccinated and boosted.
A perfect example of unreasonable hostility in comment from (48F2H) who sounds vaccinated and boosted.
Posted by: Divide by Zero at September 29, 2024 12:04 PM (RKVpM)
210
That was paraphrased.
Posted by: no one of any consequence at September 29, 2024 12:07 PM (+H2BX)
211
There is an argument that war breaks out when balance of payments cannot be maintained.
It's a good thing that we have infinite money.
There is an argument that war breaks out when balance of payments cannot be maintained.
It's a good thing that we have infinite money.
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at September 29, 2024 12:09 PM (63Dwl)
212
The video was pretty amazing, but the piano noodling was intrusive. Background music should be...background.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at September 29, 2024 12:18 PM (Ux/Nh)
213
One of my most treasured possessions is a gift that my wife gave me many years ago: a Roman "as", or penny, bearing the image of the Emperor Nero. For something that's nearly 2,000 years old, it's in fine shape. I do enjoy speculating about the hands through which that penny passed before it was secreted in a horde, and finally found its way to my possession.
So, you can imagine my interest when I saw the new book "Moneta: A History of Ancient Rome in Twelve Coins", by Gareth Harney, a numismatist and historian. This is a superb history, thoroughly researched and beautifully written, which has much to offer both the newcomer to the history of Rome and the reader who is steeped in it. His description of how coins were minted is fascinating, as is his telling of the origin of the word "money" (geese are involved). If you have any interest in ancient coins or classical history, run - don't walk - to your bookstore and pick up a copy. Highly recommended!
So, you can imagine my interest when I saw the new book "Moneta: A History of Ancient Rome in Twelve Coins", by Gareth Harney, a numismatist and historian. This is a superb history, thoroughly researched and beautifully written, which has much to offer both the newcomer to the history of Rome and the reader who is steeped in it. His description of how coins were minted is fascinating, as is his telling of the origin of the word "money" (geese are involved). If you have any interest in ancient coins or classical history, run - don't walk - to your bookstore and pick up a copy. Highly recommended!
Posted by: Nemo at September 29, 2024 12:25 PM (S6ArX)
214
TRex, I don't know how much you know of Tom Cotton's backstory, but it's fascinating. He has ivy background through law school--Harvard or Yale or both, I forget--and was clerking when 9/11 happened. Volunteered. They tried to put him in JAG, and he said, No, front lines.
Remember Geraldo Rivera drawing a map on the beach? Those were Cotton's guys.
He wrote a sizzling letter to the Wall Street Journal saying You're getting us killed.
The funny part of it was, Democrats insisted "Tom Cotton" was a fiction, because his background was too perfect!
Remember Geraldo Rivera drawing a map on the beach? Those were Cotton's guys.
He wrote a sizzling letter to the Wall Street Journal saying You're getting us killed.
The funny part of it was, Democrats insisted "Tom Cotton" was a fiction, because his background was too perfect!
Posted by: Wenda at September 29, 2024 12:27 PM (w59se)
Posted by: mnw at September 29, 2024 01:08 PM (NLIak)
216
"I was listening to Curtis Yarvin being interviewed by some Brit chick the other day... he's a cheerful sort. He's the one who believes a benevolent monarchy is the way to go, and democracies will inevitably fall apart and commit suicide."
Poul Anderson made a point somewhat like that in his Hugo award winning novella, "No Truce With Kings."
Poul Anderson made a point somewhat like that in his Hugo award winning novella, "No Truce With Kings."
Posted by: Pope John 20th at September 29, 2024 01:13 PM (gUhSx)
217
What are some examples of books or short stories with "unreliable" narrators? How does it work?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius
An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius
An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 29, 2024 02:03 PM (Tp/Ms)
218
Speaking of unreliable narrators:
Len Deighton wrote in the foreword to a collection of his Game, Set, Match trilogy that his lead charactor, Bernard Samson, who narrates the books, is speaking from his own point of view, and that the reader would have to interpret Samson's grouching; that some statements weren't necessarily true.
To which I reply: Life is too short for that extent of investment.
Len Deighton wrote in the foreword to a collection of his Game, Set, Match trilogy that his lead charactor, Bernard Samson, who narrates the books, is speaking from his own point of view, and that the reader would have to interpret Samson's grouching; that some statements weren't necessarily true.
To which I reply: Life is too short for that extent of investment.
Posted by: Weak Geek at September 29, 2024 02:06 PM (p/isN)
219
My son gave me the Fingerpost book. He's always trying to make me more Cultured. I felt so cheated, I would never read anything else by Pears, even though he's a skilled writer.
My son asked how I liked it. I said it just didn't work for me. Me either, he said. What a cheat.
Perhaps the first thing we agreed on.
My son asked how I liked it. I said it just didn't work for me. Me either, he said. What a cheat.
Perhaps the first thing we agreed on.
Posted by: Wenda at September 29, 2024 03:19 PM (w59se)
220
That Aldritch library looks like the 2nd story library in Dragon Age II
Posted by: docweasel at September 29, 2024 06:17 PM (q5MUR)
221
"The hurricane takes out their entire treeline like dominos" Posted by: Notsothoreau
Doesn't seem to be a lot of wind. One commenter said:
"POS Cypress trees….weak root system, top heavy, but grow fast & cheap."
That seems correct to me. Once ground is saturated, some of those fast growth trees fall easily.
Doesn't seem to be a lot of wind. One commenter said:
"POS Cypress trees….weak root system, top heavy, but grow fast & cheap."
That seems correct to me. Once ground is saturated, some of those fast growth trees fall easily.
Posted by: illiniwek at September 29, 2024 07:04 PM (Cus5s)
222
"a history of the american colonies" not available on Amazon either. Author?
Currently reading The Attack" by Kurt Schlichter and The Afghan Campaign by Steven Pressfield.
Currently reading The Attack" by Kurt Schlichter and The Afghan Campaign by Steven Pressfield.
Posted by: Heresolong at September 29, 2024 08:47 PM (evZX6)
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