OMWC
How bad is my life? Bad enough that instead of reading something enlightening and fun, I’m reading Insulation Materials: Testing and Applications. Because work.
SugarFree
The Themis Files (2016-2018) by Sylvain Neuvel
Nice, short little trilogy about the ancient astronaut theory, giant fighting robots, and governments being assholes. It reads like it could have been published as a YA series without the clumsy garbage writing and Teen Vogue nonsense of most YA series.
The Cadaver of Gideon Wyck (1934) by Alexander Laing
Very interesting horror novel, part of the Valanacourt Reprint series of long out-of-print works. Up there with Lovecraft and other Weird Tales regulars of the time in terms of sheer gruesomeness–autopsies, induced birth defects, insanity. I can’t imagine how freaked out some Depress-era reader would have been if they had no idea what they were getting into.
First Blood (1972/1982) by David Morrell
Death Wish (1972/1984) by Brian Garfield
The Warriors (1965/1979) by Sol Yurick
Part of my ongoing interest in reading the source novels for the movies I liked growing up, then watching the movies again. Death Wish and The Warriors are very closely adapted (with the teen gang in The Warriors being far less noble and a whole lot more rapey in the movie.)
The pair with the biggest difference between novel and movie is First Blood. The Rambo of the novel is more violent and disturbed than the movie, snapping after having his severe PTSD triggered by hick police (the novel is set in Eastern Kentucky.) In the movie, he accidentally kills one policeman, the most sadistic of them; in the novel, he murders them all and plans on destroying the entire town. He doesn’t give an impassioned speech at the end, he just dies. No plastic explosive arrows in the Rambo literary universe.
Tulip
I’m reading Unsettled, by Steven Koonin. It’s a review of the actual climate science as opposed to the term “The Science” that the media and politicians talk about. He’s convinced the politicians have not read even the report summaries for policy makers. Covers hurricanes (no change in activity, no trend) etc and ties it back to IPCC reports and other reports.
mexican sharpshooter
I’ve been reading this.
19th Century crackpots suddenly make a lot more sense.
Im reading the elements of style, which I greatly needed, and into the wild, by John Krakeur
Fascinating book! I’ve always had an urge to leave society (or at least live on the very remote margins) so that book struck a chord with me.
There’s another one called “The Elements of Fucking Style”, which is similar but in a lighthearted, funny vein. Another one my Mom recommended is “The Grammatical Lawyer”, which is chiefly for lawyers but also very useful for anyone else who wants to write clearly and succinctly. Finally, if you can find “The Philosophy of Style” by Herbert Spencer, it’s worth reading. It’s just so rare, but you may find a PDF from some obscure community of Spencer devotees.
Check out The Transitive Vampire and Eats Shoots and Leaves. Those are my two favorite grammar books.
I’m a fan of both. Huge fan of The Elements of Style. I always found E.B. White’s tone kind of funny considering I knew him best from Charlotte’s Web. He’s a prick, in a good way.
And then Mujahedeen never beat the Ruskies.
If we weren’t already on a list, Mexi just got us on one.
‘The Themis Files’ has been on my radar for a bit when I actually get back to reading – I’ve stalled out and haven’t picked up ‘Fumbling The Future’ since I got about 20% into it.
Maybe this weekend.
Well, I am kind of triggered by that photo.
I’m ashamed to admit I have not picked up a book all year, other than to dust around them that is.
I listened to Jim Butcher’s Storm Front, The Long Earth Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter, and also Socks by the dear departed Beverly.
The Long Earth was a pretty fun read. I gotta say though, there really isn’t anyone out there who can elevate Sir Terry through a colab…
True enough, I supposed. I didn’t read Good Omens, but my wife gave it high marks.
I suppose. Man, I can’t multi-task worth a damn today.
Good Omens was my first experience with both Gaiman and Pratchett.
It’s a great book.
They did complement each other pretty well.
OMWC,
I assume most of those insulators are for residential use not fun stuff like refractory materials.
You would indeed be correct. Nor fun stuff like electrical insulators.
Re-reading my biography of the greatest baseball player of all time. (Ty Cobb). Also recently picked up biographies of Jackie Robinson and Joe DiMaggio for $1 apiece at the little used bookstore in the library basement.
Man, Economy and State just showed up yesterday.
Pray for me.
Has anyone actually read the cookbook yet? I’ve thumbed through it, but never really spent any time on it.
(since we’re already on the list)
How to Serve Man?
I believe he means the Anarchist’s Cookbook.
Nice!
That must be some 5th wave feminist book.
It’s the punchline from a “The Twilight Zone” episode.
Cancer Ward, Solzhenitsyn
On the Plurality of Worlds, Lewis
Just got Supervenience and Mind from Amazon (my girlfriend wanted me to order things for the house on my account, I figured I would get more fun things in the same delivery), may start that if I can get out to the cigar lounge today
I’m reading Orient Express by Graham Greene. I just got done with Our Man in Havana and liked it well enough to stick.
On the slush pile:
Andy Weir’s new novel.
All of the Alan Furst novels after Red Gold.
The Not-So-Wild West, which I think someone here suggested.
An instructional audiobook on getting my Amateur Radio ticket. Don’t remember the name though.
re: Weir – I love, love, love The Martian but Artemis looked ‘meh’ to me – did you read it?
Artemis wasn’t as good as The Martian, but it was still a solid read. The ending was a little weak.
^This.
Artemis has a bleached asshole.
I gave up my ham license when they dropped the code requirement. I worked fucking hard to get 20 wpm proficiency and the damn kids today can do it too!
OT – thought of you with this.
The Most COMPLEX Pop Song of All Time
I thought the song was standard pop crap of the era when it was on the radio. But son of a gun – he’s right.
Another contender
How to Write a Fugue
via Britney Spears
Hey!!! I just watched that 2 nights ago. Serendipity! Collective consciousness!
Whew, I thought you were going to rickroll me.
I wish Beato would do some R&B (slow jamz) because a lot of it is quite complex by his definitions.
I’m happy several weeks ago he took on Autotune.
I wish he would do the same for dynamic compression, but other people have beat that horse repeatedly so it’s probably not required.
I like that he’s unapologetically GET OFF MY LAWN YOU DARN KIDS! and I WALKED TO SCHOOL UPHILL BOTH WAYS IN 6-FOOT SNOW!!!
What I hate about current music and its oddities/complexities is that I can’t find that off-beat music on the radio. I have to go hunting for stuff and sift through a whole bunch of stuff I don’t like.
Make yourself a dummy youtube account and let “the algorithm” work for you.
It’s what I do for J-Pop. Let it create a radio station based on my likes and dislikes.
The algorithm served me up a MickeyD’s commercial in mandarin yesterday!
Brushfire and Breakaway by Craig Alanson. Humanity befriends super powerful AI, works with AI to beat the crap out of oppressive aliens.
I like the universe, I like the overall plot arc, and I like the style. I forget how many books are in this series now (a dozen or so?), but these last two are top half of the stack. That said, probably only 2 more books worth of macro plot left before it gets plodding.
Oh, and I started through Hamlet. No particular reason, just caught my eye.
Hamlet is a hot mess.
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
Get thee to a nunnery!
Frailty, thy name is woman.
Ha ha! I used that line in a book.
“With very few exceptions, the longest amount of time I have ever dated any man is about eight hours, spread over three dates, at the end of which the man said, ‘Get thee to a nunnery,’ and when I informed him that meant ‘whorehouse,’ he said, ‘Good. You’ll starve to death before you get any work.’” Emilio started laughing again. “He thought he was smarter than he really was.”
“Did you tell him that?”
“Of course I did. People need to know these things if they want to improve themselves.”
Golden Bough by James George Frazer – A famous work of comparative religion. Not sure if I’m going to finish it.. It’s over 900 pages (currently on 140-something) and I was a bit disappointed to learn that the factual accuracy has always been questionable. I really hate to put books down without finishing them, but if it’s not giving me anything enjoyable or didactic, and there are dozens of books in my pile that would give me that, why continue?
The Little Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens
(audiobook) Understanding Literature from The Great Courses – Interesting so far, although as I mentioned in a late night post the other day, I think it’s giving undue weight to feminist analysis. From the sound of it, you’d think the only thing women write about is how hard it is to be a woman, and everything men write about is filled with subtle hatred for women! In any case though, I’m feeling a bit more equipped to understand novels, plays, and poetry. Sometimes I feel like I consume works of literature but don’t really “get” them.
Sometimes I feel like I consume works of literature but don’t really “get” them.
Yup. I go a couple ways on that. One is the reaction I have to modern art. If I can’t appreciate the work without reading a dissertation on it, then is it all that good?
OTOH, contextualization can bring depth of meaning.
I think things can be a lot more exciting when the reality is truly unknown. The books and comics of the west while it was being settled would seem a lot more interesting if you actually had the chance to go do it. The idea of exploring the unknown oceans while actual explorers were still on voayges. Just that little voice in the back of your mind that ‘that could be me.’ We don’t get that point of view or ‘high’ that those of the period did.
That’s the view I take sometimes, but then another part of my mind says that maybe I’m too intellectually lazy and unsophisticated to understand it.
In any case, I’ve gotten my mind all in a tangle about art in recent years. Are there objective criteria for what makes art “good”, and how do we identify those criteria? And if it’s subjective, what’s the point of discussing it beyond “I like that” or “I don’t like that”? These are the questions I’m trying to find the answers to.
then another part of my mind says that maybe I’m too intellectually lazy and unsophisticated to understand it.
Yep. Been there, felt that.
I’ve settled on my answer to “what is the purpose of X artistic endeavor?” as “it’s to please the audience.” Sometimes I’m not the audience. If that’s an intentional choice by the creator, fine. If not, then they have made bad art.
-1 male gaze ?
The Golden Bough was apparently a big influence on Lovecraft, and is mentioned in the mythos as a gateway to more esoteric works such as the fictional tomes.
Last month I mentioned that I had picked up a couple of old books, The Egyptian and The Caine Mutiny and finished them both. Someone mentioned that the movie version of Caine had lopped off some supplemental material that largely helped the case. Also, IMO, Willie should have dumped May.
Still working through Verne’s Voyages extraordinaires, getting towards the end of Off on a Comet. This is a tough read because of the blatant abuse of the Jewish character, Isaac Hakkabut.
I may re-start the Hyperion series this month.
I’ve noticed that late 1800s and early 1900s novels are very anti-Semitic. In The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton, a Jewish guy brings up the possibility of marriage with the gentile female protagonist. She is described as being physically nauseous at the very thought of it, even though he’s not described as doing anything wrong.
And it seems like that’s not merely portraying the anti-Semitism – the narrative text simply shows this as the normal, understandable reaction if a Jewish guy proposed.
My 18th century pirate heroine is the widow of a Jew. I treated everyone’s disgust rather lightly.
“‘Mithter Jaggerth! Mithter Jaggerth!'” *
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2623.Great_Expectations
*(I don’t know why this “excitable Jew” lisps)
My recent reading material…
https://www.trec.texas.gov/sites/default/files/pdf-forms/20-15_3.pdf
LOL. Sexy.
I just refinanced my house yesterday. That was “fun”. I read every word, not.
Congrats.
Hookers and blow anyone?
My latest read was a book by a client that I was proofreading. A retiree section-hiked the Appalachian Trail.
Reading: S.M. Anderson: Bridgehead: The Eden Chronicles – Book Four – pretty good.
Listening to: Jerry Pournelle: Clan and Crown
The sequel to Janissaries I never got around to reading. My library suddenly had it electronically so why not? Boring conversations, good battles.
He’s convinced the politicians have not read even the report summaries for policy makers.
No
freakin’
way.
There’s no time! Must act now!
For a change I got interested in a manga that isn’t especially derivative – Gothic Horror with a decidedly western theme.
The anime is on this season and made me interested in the manga. I’m trying to push through the series in Japanese, but there is a fansite in English of questionable copyright.
Shadows House – note this is manga so start from right to left and after that down. This site defaults turning pages from right to left, but physical manga actually goes left to right.
I’m still reading “The Barbell Prescription”.
After last month’s rather excessive binge-fest, this month was light. Mostly re-reading old favorites.
Started with a re-read of William Gibson’s Blue Ant trilogy (Pattern Recognition, Spook Country, Zero History). Damn, but I love these books. Pattern Recognition is arguably my favorite, but the 3 are such a joy.
Then Yoon Ha Lee’s collection of shorts, Hexarchate Stories. These are set in the universe of his Machineries of Empire series, generally featuring characters and or historical situations presented therein. The first 2/3 I found highly variable and generally weak. The last story, far and away the longest, however, is eminently satisfying. It fills in the “what happened next” after Revenant Gun, and, I think, provides a better ‘endind’ for Cheris and Jedao. If you enjoy Machineries of Empire, this is a worthwhile follow-up. I would strongly recommend against starting here.
Peter F. Hamilton’s Pandora’s Star and its second half, Judas Unchained. Not impressed. The writing and editing are both sloppy. It doesn’t have plot holes so much as gaping plot chasms. Judas Unchained was better, all things considered, but these books seriously needed some editors. Everything from story to sloppy or incorrect word choice to typos. It’s so over the top the sensa-wonda and action are swamped by the sprawl.
Re-read the Susan Sto Helit trio by Pratchett — Soul Music, Hogfather, and Thief of Time. I love Soul Music but Susan shines brightest in Thief of Time. That’s one of Pratchett’s best, imnsho.
Nice. The Blue Ant trilogy is IMO Gibson’s best work, and Susan Sto Helit is locked in an epic battle with Moist von Lipwig for the Best Terry Pratchett character.
Agreed on both counts.
I really enjoyed Pattern Recognition and Spook Country. I thought Zero History was a little weak compared to the first two. I think those were the first Gibson books I read and I naturally progressed to Neuromancer with which I was disappointed. Perhaps if I’d read it in the 90s it might have made more of an impact.
I liked Pandora’s Star and thought Judas Unchained was OK. I’ve picked up a couple of Hamilton novels since and found them just, blah.
Neuromancer with which I was disappointed
-_-
I know, right?
Neuromancer was utterly groundbreaking for 14 year old Slumbrew (cue some older Glib with an “aktually, ‘True Names’ was…”).
I suspect coming to it now may be a bit like I was watching Citizen Kane – I didn’t quite see what the big deal was until I was reading up on all the things that introduced that are commonplace now (e.g., opening in medias res , non-linear story telling, shooting Wells from the ground up to make him seem larger than life, etc.)
Nonlinear and in media res are two of my pet peeves with storytelling. There’s no reason they can’t be done well, and I’ve seen them executed well from time to time, but often enough I’ve seen the storyteller lose the plot and deliver a muddled, confusing mess.
The last season of WestWorld was almost unwatchable with all the crossed-up timelines n shit.
There was a third season?
Actually, I was thinking of the second season. The third season was at least more comprehensible, but neither came close to being as good as the first. Which was just brilliant, IMO.
Yeah, we’ll watch the fourth season, I’m sure. We are finding an almost complete lack of series that we want to watch these days.
Speaking of True Names, apparently MasterCard didn’t have any kind of filters set up on their Trans-card program.
I’d link to the twitter account of someone who had fun with that, but it’s been suspended.
Seriously though, what kind of moron puts their True Name out there in public for anyone to know?
Finished The Master and Margarita and a short self-help book.
Reading John McWhorter’s The Power of Babel.
Is there a book club in the Forum? Would anyone be interested in one?
I also purchased The Anarchist Handbook. Sadly, it did not come with a gun or alcohol.
I need to read The Master and Margarita again, it’s been far too long. The introductory remarks about Kant always makes me laugh.
I should read it again too…a lot of it went over my head.
You rang?
I am reading Nova Roma: De Itinere in Occasum by Anderson Gentry. It’s a fun little alt-history page turner.
I will graciously accept all of your stats as true…but vaccinating a million teenagers to prevent one fucking death does not “far outweigh the risks”!!!
We are so bad at risk evaluation it sickens me. We must be the most risk averse society that has ever walked the Earth. And it’s going to be our undoing too.
I agree with you 100% and also waffles – but anything that puts you into the ICU can mean long lasting health issues after you leave.
So there is more benefit than preventing the 1 death, but still not worth the cost.
OK… now do long term affects on the same age group past 3 years… I’ll wait.
Rubella says Hi! Mumps isn’t that far of either. Neither is chicken pox.
Tell me again why males need to get the HPV vaccine?
Because it’s on the vaccination schedule! Shut and get in line for your injections.
Same reason why college inoculation requirements apply to distance learning students who never set foot on campus.
Because some males have cervixes?
Good point! Forgot about that possibility.
Tell me why schools are requiring the HPV vaccine for in person classes. Are the kids fucking on the desks?
The people I know who did Teach for America have seen things man.
For primary and secondary schools a quick check noted it was only few states and only females, but we can all expect that to change.
So they can stick their dicks in peoples asses and not give them ass cancer? Poor Farrah.
I guess I didn’t realize chicken pox was *that* deadly.
Well it will be to those adults who don’t get their boosters, because chickenpox is pretty rough on them.
Ah right, Gustave’s link isn’t specific to just children.
Multiple lies of omission
1) We have ZERO long term safety data
2) We don’t even have safety data from monkey trials
3) Under emergency use authorizations, we’re supposed to be collecting ALL safety incidents and documenting, which we are not doing.
4) We have safe and effective therapeutics and prophylactics
5) The “vaccines” are not working in the same way they were hypothesized to work. Specifically, the S-protein is not staying confined to the immunization area, and the S-protein has been determined to be cytotoxic.
In short, it is still a huge fucking risk that is not worth taking because we have safe, cheap, and effective alternatives. So go fuck yourself Rochelle, you stupid bitch.
#1 is the kicker. If nothing else crops up long term the gamble pays off but if not, well that’s an enormous problem for a group that has their whole life ahead of them. Possible unknown unknowns need to be considered, particularly for those who have relatively risk of a bad case of Covid in the first place.
The fact that the spike proteins are showing up in the ovaries in abundance is a huge, massive, gifuckingnormous red flag.
The idiots are gambling with the fertility of an entire generation.
the S-protein has been determined to be cytotoxic
i was wondering what he has been up to since the glibbening!
With any luck he was drafted and sent to Syria.
I assumed Cyto was Cytotoxic from TOS. Is that incorrect? Has anyone seen them together in the same room?!
vaccinating a million teenagers to prevent one fucking death does not “far outweigh the risks”!!!
That’s stunning. and and not in the good way.
Nothing. I’m reading nothing and you can’t make me.
So there.
You’ll read this reply.
Nope.
This is Your Brain on Parasites, by Kathleen McAuliffe.
I bet you think this book is about you, don’t you? Well, it is. So I was reading that anti-libertarian book, A Libertarian Walks into a Bear, when I get to this chapter describing a possible scientific explanation for the insanity of the Free Town Project. This hypothesis goes back to the early 1900s in Tunisia. No shit. I thought I was dreaming when I read what it had to say, so I’ve been on a mission to explain it to others so when I hear my peeps talk about it too, I won’t feel crazy. Anyhow, that lead me to read more details about it, and hence, TIYBOP.
And likewise this is in the cue: Shadow Disease chronic active Toxoplasmosis: How it deceives medicine and makes us sick – and how to diagnose and treat it, by Uwe Auf der Straße. I am down in the rabbit hole.
I’m glad I don’t live in the universe without plastic explosive arrows.
So long, and thanks for all the fish.
Just finished off Lives of the Stoics and Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday (with Steven Hanselman as co-author on Lives). Fascinating stuff. These people took philosophy seriously (witness Cato). After going through these, I’ll have to read more of the modern Stoics.
That’s one way to lower your self-esteem.
The Stoics always make me feel like a useless asshole.
Seneca’s Letters on Ethics is very worthwhile.
I’ve delved into Stoicism in recent years and have benefited immensely. The only problem is that I now find it harder to connect and empathize with people who are angry or depressed over ultimately insignificant things, and they often seem upset that I’m not reacting the same way as them. Not really sure how to deal with that.
Not really sure how to deal with that.
“Grow the fuck up, Buttercup!”
Assume
a can openerzero risk to those actions you wish to promote (by force).Martin Gurri’s The Revolt of the Public, almost halfway through. After that, Christopher Lasch’s The Revolt of the Elite.
I was at an estate book sale day before yesterday, pawing through the precious tomes of some guy who died recently. His daughter was there, and after striking up a conversation with her, she said “You and my Dad would’ve gotten along famously.” The books that were left were his most-cherished, and I found a few volumes of history that I’d been looking for over the years.
To my shock, four of the books I bought had their previous owners’ names in the front, who I recognized from decades ago — friends I’d lost touch with. I looked them up and found out the wife had passed in ’99 from ovarian cancer, and the husband died in February of this year, 72 years old, from complications due to diabetes. His funeral still hasn’t been held yet due to the L’il ‘Rona.
I think I’d better go. He and his wife were great people.
The guy whose estate I was buying from must have bought these books from another estate sale which happened only a few months ago after the husband died, and then he up and dies himself.
“All is vanity” kept going through my mind as I figured out the sequence of events.
One of the books is the middle volume of Martin Gilbert’s three-volume History of the Twentieth Century. I’ll get to it after I finish The War Lover: A Study of Plato’s Republic by Leon Craig.
Quite a story. I spend a lot of energy trying to stay in touch with old friends. It definitely hurts when they don’t pick up or never call back.
Finished off a re-read of the Aubrey/Maturin series with the last 3 volumes.
“Lucky:How Joe Biden Barely Won the Presidency” by Allen and Parnes. This is the same duo who wrote “Shattered” about HRC losing in 2016. A few things struck me. “Fortify” is being used in multiple books to try and deflect the illegal conduct by government and private actors to try and seal the deal for biden. I expect it to be a part of our language for years to decades. Nobody actually likes biden- he was just the candidate that scummed on top of the electoral stew as the most likely to beat Trump. If Trump had listened to his closest advisors he probably still would have won in 2020- despite impeachment, near total MSM & elite hostility, and the politicization of the King Flu. He made multiple own goals (or dropped passes if you will) during the campaign. I don’t believe the authors for a second that the reason Joe hid in the basement was concern about “da VID”. The authors accidently drop enough hints that his advisors knew there was no way biden would win if he went in public. Bonus: Harris comes off even worse with the story about how she sought the VP nod.
“Bodyguard of Lies” by Anthony Brown. If the country is going to splinter I figured a re-read of the story of the most important intelligence and deception campaign of the 20th century was in order. BoL is the story of the strategic campaign (and subsequent sub-operations) behind protecting Operation Overlord. I first read it during the SF course because it shows exactly how the government will sacrifice the small during wartime to protect larger efforts.
The Miami Building Collapse Is a Warning
When I saw Thursday morning that a condominium building had partially collapsed near Miami Beach, the first question I had wasn’t if anyone had died (that was second), but to wonder why the building had collapsed in the first place. Really, it was to wonder if a building collapsing in Miami would be investigated as a potentially climate change–related disaster.
My first thought was human-fuck-up. But hey, you do you.
Note to self: Ignore anything said at any time about any thing by Susan Matthews. How would the consequences of climate change undermine a building?
Rising ocean levels, some seem to be guessing.
That part of Florida has about 3 -6 inches of topsoil, then you hit coral and the water table is about 18 – 36 inches down regardless. I’m not seeing how the minuscule amount of sea level rise (if there was any at all) would cause a partial collapse. North and inland of there, the state is largely limestone and consequently rather sinkhole prone but I don’t think that happened in this case.
Yes, and if sea level change were truly causative here, we should expect to see other buildings in the same area collapsing more frequently in the near future.
Somebody predicted that take on this very site either yesterday or the day before.
Don’t be quick to dismiss it as crackpot-speak. The screaming minority will take that and run with it and it will become the narrative.
“show your proof”
“The
Sciencebuilding is settled!”(eerily, autocorrect capitalized the S above)
Reminds me to pull Angle of Repose out of the stack.
it amazes me that slate has any readership. “Reliably stupid take” is what comes to mind when I think of them.
We live in country that has denied trespassers/vandals due process, and millions of people are okay with it. Reliably stupid seems to be the only mode of operation we have now. It’s all insurrection, white supremacy/privilege/racism, climate change, pandemic, and democracy dying all day, everyday. Just bounce them around like pinballs and keep the useful idiots enthralled.
?
Oh, and gun violence. Thanks for reminding me.
Let’s see now: Chicago 335 homicides so far this year. Okay, you only need 14 more to beat last year’s total there Chicago. You gots to bring your A game this weekend though.
Next weekend – the holiday weekend – should be lit AF.
Let’s see if the shot in the junk o meter gets moved.
There is literally nothing that cannot be viewed through their preferred set of political lenses.
The more obvious question is why our esteemed building inspectors didn’t draw more attention to the fact that the building was sinking for the last couple of decades at an alarming rate.
I saw an article saying is was sinking in the 90s already.
Mailchimp suspends the Babylon Bee “accidentally,” reinstates the Bee, gets thanked by the Bee, gets dropped by the Bee:
https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/mailchimp-suspends-babylon-bee-harmful-information
Supply problems everywhere, as far as the wallet can see.
Shutting down the economy for a year on purpose: How does that work again?
Reading Joe Abercrombie’s A Little Hatred. Fine so far; I’m not terribly far into it. I kinda like the part where one society is industrializing, but apparently there are no firearms. I’m a little suspicious that every character so far (except possibly one) who isn’t a bumbling idiot or a psycho is female. We’ll see how it goes.
Just finished listening to John Keegan’s Intelligence in War. As ever, the quality of the writing is excellent, just excellent. The book is a series of case studies on the value of intelligence in various battles or campaigns. His conclusion, in a nutshell, is that we overrate that value. EVen with near-perfect foreknowledge, a superior force can be defeated (Crete, WWII). The widely lauded Bletchley Park operation in WWII – also overrated, They cracked some German codes, some of the time. Some very useful info, some of which was most useful in helping convoys avoid U-Boats in the Atlantic (some of the time), but the Battle of the Atlantic would have been won by the Allies anyway. He also looks at Nelson’s search for Napoleon’s fleet in the Mediterranean, the Pacific “cruiser war” in WWI, and the epilogue looks at the Cold War (his verdict: spies spend most of their time spying on spies, and have produced very little of value). As a bonus, he is bitterly critical of the conflation of information-gathering and covert warfare in the intelligence community.
I had a few quibbles/questions, but definitely recommended.
”…spies spend most of their time spying on spies, and have produced very little of value.”
This is likely true, certainly true in the western world. Every really good intelligence coup in the United States post-WWII has either been produced by technical means, or was a walk-in.
Considering the quality of people that fill most of government, it strains credulity to think that the intel world is full of exceptionally competent people.
I can say first-hand that I have met some legitimately brilliant people working in the IC. They were all on the tech side of things though.
I believe the Soviets had more luck with “HUMINT” than we did, because England and the US were rotten with commie traitors during and after WWII. That’s how the Soviets got the atomic bomb as fast as they did, anyway.
But spies are like lawyers – they mostly make work for each other. He ranks every other kind of intelligence gathering above what spies can deliver.
I think his one-sentence summary was something like “Intelligence is not the mistress of victory. It is, at best, its handmaiden.” I do love his prose.
+1 “Angleton wasn’t paranoid enough”
To some people, Mother was a true American hero. To others, he was a whacked-out lunatic.
In point of fact, he was both.
I will say that the biggest human intelligence score of the cold war went down as a direct result of Angleton being put out to pasture. The whole thing is detailed in David Hoffman’s excellent documentary, The Billion Dollar Spy. Check it out.
Keegan is normally someone I put a good deal of stock in when he says (writes) something. However, his account of the Dardanelles in WWI runs directly counter to some other highly reputable writing I’ve read.
Not reading much since I’m driving. Just finished listening to “Mercenary’s Star” the second Battletech novel, and am in the middle of a book on Neanderthals whose title is too long to easily remember.
On the plus side I’ve reached my first stop, checked into my hotel and completed the preliminaries such as the clenliness inspection (it passed) and getting online.
Now I have to decide on dinner and how not to hurt myself with a hotel chair whose maximum height setting is “too low for small children.”
I’m going to go hunt down some food. Later people.
Someone is a little too into his Neanderthal book.
*imagines UCS dressed in camo and brandishing a spork*
If I can get into the mindset, I might write more “Silver Lotus”, since that was the story I was thinking about when my mind wandered as the narrator talked about Neanderthals.
“Artemis has a bleached asshole.”
Nice Its Always Sunny reference.
Also, Artemis Pebdani is a solid would.
I figured she’d be too skinny for you. As for Always Sunny, it’s a truly great show.
Exceptions can and have been made.
Artemis and the Waitress are both solid. Wood and Wood.
I get a kick out of the fact the Waitress and Charlie are married IRL (as are Dee & Mac). Must make the scenes between them extra fun.
I did not know that.
Gov Shitstain is waking up to reality.
https://www.oregonlive.com/coronavirus/2021/06/oregon-emergency-covid-19-restrictions-will-be-lifted-no-later-than-june-30-brown-says.html
Sent her a message that it doesn’t matter, she’s already being ignored.
I have two going in the main right now; Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake, and Kaputt by Curzio Malaparte.
Dark and dreary gothic, and dark and gory WWII memoir/fiction/meta-novel.
I also have a few books on air guns, such as patent drawings, ignition methods, and such. Gotta get that obscure tech reading in!
“Permanent Midnight” by Jerry Stahl, and volume 3 of “The Best Science Fiction of the Year” by Neil Clarke.
I wonder if Nephilium is able to account for his whereabouts.
Wedding crashers: Groom punched at wedding reception; guests join in to stop suspected beer thieves
/that dude has one helluva shiner there
“Oh no, he’s punched the groom”
“Meh.”
“Now he’s stealing the beer!”
“GET HIM!”
She seems nice.
Woman Busted For Brutal Attack On Ex-Boyfriend
*Victim suffered torn scrotum, exposed testicle
The bleach got to her brain.
That’s worse than a five finger death punch.
19th Century crackpots suddenly make a lot more sense.
That aint no shit.