OMWC
I make no secret of my deep deep love for the art of Grant Wood, maybe for the same reason I love jazz and bluegrass and Stephen Vincent Benet: it’s so… American. SP and I even took a Grant Wood tour through Iowa a couple years ago. Although American Gothic isn’t Wood’s greatest painting, it certainly is a great painting and is absolutely and unquestionably iconic. In “American Gothic: A Life of America’s Most Famous Painting,” author Steven Biel begins by outlining some of the history, biography, and context that led Wood to create this work and won him attention in all the “right” circles in the art world. Of course, even then, the painting was interpreted in hilariously deep and divergent ways- even funnier in that it’s possible that the painting was really created as a design and compositional experiment. Certainly Wood shows off a lot of tricks and nuances that appear in his later art.
From there the book traces the proliferation of the image and the inevitable variations on a theme, commercial appropriation, and parodies. Quite fun for me.
Nan Wood and her dentist
SP
I read a lot of mindless brain candy this month due to not feeling great and stress. Nothing worth mentioning here, really.
BUT I also read the most amazing Choose Your Adventure Story EVER.
🙂
SugarFree
I know I’ve talked about him a lot, but getting so many of you into Neal Asher, I started a full re-read, starting with the Polity short stories, going through the Agent Cormac series, the Prador Moon and Shadow of the Scorpion prequels, The Technician and the Penny Royal Transformations trilogy.
I’ve read them as they came out, but never in internal chronological order. Despite a few things, he has been remarkably good about maintaining continuity over 20 years of novels and short stories.
I have 1 chapter left in Neal Asher’s “War Factory”.
Thanks for the recommendation. Now I have try to find the rest of the series at a different library.
I read “prador moon”, “the technician” and “shadow of the scorpion” this month. I’m starting “Hilldigger” tonight.
Non-fiction, per usual. Specifically The Longest Afternoon
That book looks good. I went to Waterloo in July 2019. Hogoumont is really something to see.
Did you go to La Haye Sainte?
I did not. It’s privately owned as a residence, and tours must be limited. (There didn’t seem to be any info at the battlefield site about touring.) This was rather disappointing, as La Haye Sainte really captured my imagination as a child. La Haye Sainte sits along a well-traveled road, and the big battlefield monument (basically a giant dirt pyramid allegedly created from the dirt scrapings of the site) provides a great vantage point of the farm. Hogoumont is about a mile’s walk from the battlefield center, and has changed not at all in 200 years, apart from a small gift shop and a film they show in one of the barns. There’s a small chapel in the middle that was the site of intense fighting. A cross allegedly original to the battle mysteriously disappeared and reappeared a few years ago.
That sounds so cool! La Haye Sainte is hallowed ground for me. My 4x great grandfather was in the KGL 2nd Light Battalion
(he survived)
I’ve seen you mention that before. That is awesome. I love digging into family history.
Hmm…seems to be some kind of factual error. He keeps referencing a “Sergeant Stockmann”, but there was no Sgt. Stockmann. Stockmann was a Private. It’s very clear in the British military records. Nor did Stockmann get a battlefield promotion, as his Waterloo Medal listing (given years after the war), says Private.
May seem like a small detail, but if the bit about it being a Sergeant is the correct piece of info (rather than the name), then he may be referencing my ancestor.
If he is referencing my ancestor in his anecdotes, that dude had balls of titanium that probably also shot lasers.
Amazingly, a copy of the original source material is available as a paperback on Amazon, so I can get to the bottom of it.
I’ve been reading…
“Stanley and the Ship Trap” – An exposition heavy slog that just sort of stops mid-scene because I haven’t finished writing it.
“Junior Redemptioners” – A lovely character piece following superpowered juvenile delenquents in a reform program… that just stops mid-scene because I haven’t finished writing it.
“Slaves of Baranga” – a pulp-inspired yarn that I was writing for Glibs that just sort of stops mid-scene because I haven’t finished writing it.
“Prince of the North Tower” – A warfare heavy, character piece set in a fantasy world that stops at a chapter break, because I haven’t finished writing it.
And
“Never Deal With a Dragon” – A Shadowrun book whose characters are unsavvy to the genre and make odd choices.
Would it help if I mentioned that I’m really really really looking forward to Prince of the North Tower?
Never Deal With a Dragon – that was the first Shadowrun novelization, right? From back in like 1992? Yeah, that one almost turned me off to the whole game universe.
I want to get Prince of the North Tower done, because it’s mostly there and 107,000 words as it stands. (Just to be clear, this isn’t the sequel to “Beyond the Edge of the Map”, that’s “On Unknown Shores”, but is in the same world)
Yes, I believe “Never Deal With a Dragon” was the first. I don’t recommend the book all that much.
I need to jump back on Gridlinked. I’ve been reading as bunch of 99c short stories and novellas off of Amazon – the literary equivalent of peanut M&Ms.
I’m halfway into the second book of “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children”. I enjoyed the movie and Mrs. TOK found two of the three books in a thrift shop. The first book diverged from the movie a lot in the second half, in that the movie was more action-oriented and they wanted to end on it cleanly instead of on a cliffhanger like the book. The coolest thing about the books is that they were written based on old photos the author found in flea markets, etc. Some of the photos inspired parts of the book, and for other parts of the book he looked for specific photos from collectors. I thought that was a really cool way to write a book.
Yeah, those were pretty good, and I enjoyed the photographs. Didn’t feel compelled to continue after the second book, though.
I am finishing volume two of Stephen Kotkin’s soon to be three volume biography of the silver medalist in the “Asshoe of the 20th Century” event. “Stalin: Waiting for Hitler 1929-1941”, It is well written and you can soon anticipate Stalin’s next moves, and why, because he draws you into how Stalin saw the world so well. This book made re-watching the movie “Death of Stalin” so much more fun and humorous.
Early in the month I finished the biography of the gold medalist. “Mao: the Unknown Story” by Jung Chang”. Another great read but I discussed it this column last month.
I think I will give it a break before I read a biography of the bronze medalist.
Since life also needs some “up” reading I read “A Life Wild and Perilous” by Robert Utley. ALW&P is a history of the mountain man era and the expanding knowledge that led to the transcontinental trails. It was a bracing reminder that Americans didn’t always listen to public health experts and decided their own levels of risk tolerance.
I agree with SP about the fantastic choose your own adventure story. A tour de force well worth the nightmares.
And for humor I read my copies of “Bored of the Rings” and the “High School Yearbook” because the boys at the Lampoon were very bad, and by that I mean good, at their game.
I’m reading Walden, since I never read the whole thing in high school. So far, it’s just as pretentious as I remembered.
Continuing the long trek through Little House on the Prairie with the 3 year old. She’s gonna be such a shitlord when I’m done with her.
Thoreau had his mommy making his meals and doing his laundry. Out in the woods, my ass. Go out and find yourself while having to survive.
The Little House books are heavily featured in one of my books. My heroine worships Laura Ingalls Wilder (like, kinda literally) and her entire libertarian philosophy comes from her. She built an inn in Mansfield, Missouri to be close to Rocky Ridge Farm.
Technically, wouldn’t her libertarian philosophy be coming from Rose Wilder Lane?
/ducking
No.
I read The Maine Woods many years ago. Thoreau was a pasty hipster. Never read any more of his stuff, and skipped Emerson completely.
“Little House in the Prairie, that’s a fine wholesome show. It’s about blind children out west, and every week they have a fire, or someone gets an incurable disease. We enjoy it very much!”
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0742652/quotes/qt4191635
Best WKRP episode ever: sod your flying turkeys.
OMG! “Did Mr. Tarlik train the ducks to dance? No, we discovered a hot plate under the aluminum stand.”
candy is empty calories.
Also only 3 people? If other founding glibs did not contribute you could have made up shameful things for them to have read.
“Shameful” implies someone is capable of feeling shame…
“Starship Troopers”, actually. Never actually read much Heinlein, though of course I’ve heard of him repeatedly. Knew the movie (which I’ve never sat through but have seen clips over the years) was nothing-to-do-with-the-book territory in most ways, but just never had the itch until recently. Have to say, enjoying it immensely — but it likely helps that when he has the characters break into lectures on social responsibility and duty, he’s kind of preaching to the choir here.
Will probably check out “Moon is a Harsh Mistress” after this since that’s another “Always heard about it, never actually read it”.
Needed a sci-fi break after finishing the Longmire series up to the current book. Have a couple backlogged naval history books queued for context switching.
Starship Troopers (the movie) was in production, and someone brought up that it was a bit close to the RAH book. So they acquired the license. It was also one that was originally written as a juvenile novel.
Moon is a Harsh Mistress takes a bit of mindset to get into (at least it did for me), because it’s written first person with someone who doesn’t use articles (a, an, the).
Joe Biden Announces He Will Lead an Effective Strategy to Mobilize ‘Trunalimunumaprzure’
And it turns out that Hunter didn’t just leave his personal pornos on his laptop – he uploaded them to Porn Hub, including scenes with “family members”.
If Saturday Night Live was still doing comedy skits, they would be having a field day with this stuff.
I loved the movie and found it hilarious.
I think I’ve read just about all of his stuff by now. It took me roughly fifteen years to do so though. I remember being stoned sitting in my dorm in college and just randomly found a box full of RAH paperbacks on eBay for like 50 bucks. The “Juveniles” are all a lot fun to read. I think The Puppet Masters is my favorite though, tons of fun. The Lazarus Long books/stories are cool too but I can only put up with LL for so long.
Well, if I can put up with Thomas Covenant for those good Foamfollower and High Lord Mhoram moments, I can probably put up with just about any protagonist.
I love the Covenant books because I hate the protagonist.
“Hi, I’m Linden Avery and I can make Covenant look decisive and heroic!”
Yep, hate her too.
Is it the motherfucking, the sisterfucking, or the daughterfucking that turns you off?
Pretty much all of it. A guy I briefly dated in college was very into Heinlein and “how the relationships were structured”.. I read one,said you’ve got to be kidding me and dumped that jerk.
Good choices, but do not miss Stranger In A Strange Land.
I’ve recently been finding out that a lot of paperbacks (and I couple that I’ve lent out and never gotten back) I have in my library are either wildly overpriced on Amazon, or worth a hefty amount of money. They’re reasonably priced in digital formats.
Everybody knows you judge value by the highest price asked on ebay that never got a bid.
/updates homeowners insurance
Got it!
I read the manual for the software we use at work, and found a couple of bugs I didn’t know were there before.
I have read A fire upon the deep. It may be that I don’t like scifi that much but it was meh. I remember liking A Deepness in the Sky when I read it a while back.
I do like sci-fi, but I have never been able to get in to Vernor Vinge. Something about his writing style, I guess.
my problem was not the style but the zones of thought thing was to silly
No reading. My attention span is in the shitter.
Cocaine helps me.
Kinda similar. A couple days ago I remembered that I bought a book somebody here recommended- maybe a month ago? – but have been too busy to read it. I know I started reading it but put it aside to pick up later, and “later” never arrived.
how did it get there?
Children.
What little reading i’ve done has been about logistics and finance. Not very exciting or recommendable.
Funding Revolutions: From Hancock to Soros
https://www.amazon.com/Existence-Ontology-Peter-van-Inwagen-ebook/dp/B00I0UNGWQ/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=existence+van+inwagen&qid=1604075594&sr=8-1
Trying to finish this today, if I get enough time to do so. Really should have been done last night.
I take it you’ve been getting a lot of sleep recently.
YEP
It’s much better when I can read outside, smoking a cigar. 1. I’m out of cigars 2. It’s been raining and we have no way to shelter from it outside.
Reading this in bed, with the lights off, on a Kindle with a black background and white text…has been a challenge.
Are you doing this for school or are you a philosopher?
The latter.
Nice.
what does a philosopher do exactly?
An Ontologist simply is.
Reduces the sum total of human knowledge.
or to clarify how good is the money and how easy is the pussy
From my undergrad days I’d say often easy, not generally desirable.
I did briefly date a woman I met in undergrad, in the philosophy department, long after we graduated. Extrapolating from that, the pussy is good. Or, to be more precise, “All the women I have met from being involved with philosophy have had enjoyable pussies.”
Bruce Lee majored in philosophy, and he got all the tail he could handle.
Guards bank vaults, obviously.
He coalesces the vapors of human experience into a viable and meaningful comprehension.
I’ve been reading a lot of Glibertarians.com lately. It’s sometimes funny but it’s also kind of a cesspool. I question whether it’s truly family friendly.
It depends on your family.
/really misses live shows
What was done to the live music venue is just absolute evil. Even here in Texas where bars were basically singled out for awhile. Many bars can sell food and “pretend” they’re a restaurant but live music venues got utterly screwed.
It’s just disgusting.
It’s gotta be strategic. No concerts, churches, gyms, bars, etc. Places that build community are expressly forbidden.
Someone wants us weak, stupid, slow and utterly dependent. I’m not interested.
At least there’s a couple of venues here that have a restaurant, they may be limping along. But other than that, I’m expecting most of my hole in the wall venues to be dead if this continues. I have a feeling that at the end of this shite all that will remain are the LiveNation venues.
It’s gonna be like everything else: only the biggest and most famous bands will be able to perform live as the rules will make it so smaller bands simply can’t afford to comply. Regs ostensibly designed to control “the big guys” will inevitably bankrupt the “little guys” and leave the “big guys” better off due to less competition. I see no reason why live music will be any different.
Look fat, you don’t know what you’re talking about you, you, you, you know… the thing, think about it.
I have so many books going right now, i may have to take of leave of absence to finish the fucking things.
HOWEVER, I did read Asher’s The Line of Polity. It was of course really well written but I found it to be something of a slog compared with Gridlinked. I’ll continue with the series, but I need to catch up on some other stuff first.
I also read The Barbell Prescription: Strength Training For Life After 40, by Sullivan and Baker. They are Rippetoe guys, so there is a lot of crossover with Starting Strength and Practical Programming. I wish I would have read this earlier. Rip always talks about how SS is not appropriate for older people and this book presents some great strategies for getting bigger and stronger, even for geezers. Highly, highly recommended.
For Ian Rankin fans, the newest Rebus novel,A Song For The Dark Times, was just released. I’m just into it, so no review yet, but I’m just happy to have another one!
I like Rip but am not 100% sure of his advice… But it is probably better than 99% of the shit in fitness out there
He admits that he doesn’t know shit about nutrition, but I’ve never read anyone who even comes close on the proper mechanics of lifting and the best ways to program.
i think he is too rigid and dogmatic in his thinking and lifting advice. humans are more variable and there is a whole lot of room for adjustments.
Sure, but his goal is strength, period. Not bodybuilding, etc. His work is foundational – it’s up to the athlete to decide where they go after that.
My daughter is currently reading SS and is going to learn the lifts and do the novice progression. That’s the stuff Rip is great at.
The Barbell Prescriptions sounds like it would be right up my alley – going to check it out. Thanks!
More Rebus. Some Grisham. I hate Grisham’s dialogue. All of his characters sound like attorneys. A mechanic will sound uncharacteristically urbane.
For me Grisham has great setups but the end is usually a bit ho hum for me.
Also, too much exposure and you see he uses the same racist caricatures a lot.
Rebus is often like that, too. I enjoy the setup and the characters, and the procedural stuff is great (even if Rebus’ remit is unbelievably expansive), but the payoff rarely pays off.
Rebus is the romanian word for crossword puzzle.
That’s interesting. It’s a different type of puzzle here in the US. Pictures with math symbols to take or remove letters or make compound words.
theoretically that has the same name here. it is used for a whole range of puzzles. but most associate it with crosswords…
They (crossword nerds) also classify crosswords with funky elements – squares that require a word rather than a letter or where the across and down fills are different- “rebus crosswords”
https://thefederalist.com/2020/10/30/new-ad-smears-opponents-of-race-based-hiring-as-white-supremacists/
Speaking of good reading this is a good read.
Kamala Harris supports racial discrimination (as if we didn’t know that already).
The Second Fredric Brown Megapack™ Fredric Brown *** Another good collection of mostly SF short stories, not quite as good as the first megapack for obvious reasons.
Confessions of an English Opium Eater Thomas De Quincey ** Not very good but it’s only 50 pages so no big loss, David Morrell (First Blood) has a historical fiction mystery series featuring De Quincey as the protagonist so I figured I’d read this first.
Betty Zane Zane Grey **** the first novel in The Zane Grey Megapack™ A historical account of Grey’s ancestors and the other families that founded Fort Henry on what would become Wheeling WV, frontiersmen and women and Indians, oh my.
“Betty Zane” bored the everloving crap out of me. I went from not caring about the title character to hating the title character, until I finally stopped the book. Her appearances just seemed custom designed to grind the plot to a dead stop.
On the other hand, if her romance arc were removed, I probably could have finished the book no problem. The drag on pacing made the rest of the work suffer, and I had no investment in the relationship.
Yeah the romance-y parts dragged a bit the rest kept me going, also I get to Wheeling once a year (or did pre ‘vid) and getting the background information on some of the monuments and plaques I’ve seen around town was interesting. Oh and I just realized I mis-transcribed my reading log to the comment, it’s only three stars not four.
I’ve never been much of a western fan (movies or books). But I feel like I should read SOME Zane Grey.
We spent October at home trying to get caught up with appointments and the like before we head back to Montana for a couple of months. Haven’t finished a book all month.
Someone here suggested America’s Second Crusade and I’m about 1/3rd of the way through it. Quite interesting but rather dry.
Also reading Dan Crenshaw’s book. I’m about 1/4th the way into it and I keep waiting for it to “take off.”
Looking for some fiction as an alternative.
Oh, and I made some tweaks to delta Vee thinking I might try shopping it out again.
Finished off the re-read of The Culture of Narcissism, need to look for a couple of later Lasch books next time I’m over at Baldwins. I rate Narcissism right up there with The True Believer – really, really good.
Just finished The Jaguar Smile by Rushdie (it was short and quite interesting) and just started Sowell’s Wealth, Poverty and Politics. Also reading Riding Shotgun by Rita Mae Brown aloud for the wife (she prefers listening to me than reading on her own, and I prefer that to most TV).
Have a couple of books on consciousness in queue: The Mind’s I and The Mysterious Flame. And I need to re-start on Churchill’s History of the English Speaking Peoples (stalled out in volume 1).
I am finishing up On the Burning Edge, a rare book that I did not purchase myself. My uncle was reading it because, apparently, my cousin who lived in Prescott at the time of the Yarnell fire knew a bunch of the Granite Mountain guys and was trying to get on with them the season prior.
“Black Elk Speaks”
Seems like every one has already read it and I’m playing catch up. Easy read but as a non believer I’m a little concerned about his herbal consumption as a young child. Maybe its me but interesting anyway and will give me some insight.
I need to take an evening or two and go through the newest Hamilton catalog and get some winter’s reading laid in, I’m down to almost nothing left in the reading cupboard.
I found a 1930s Book of Formulas in a wee free library the other day. You all would love it: how to make fireworks, lead solder, etc.
(Moj, thanks for the intel: sounds like an improvement. The shadow-ruffle suit must have been ’99-00 Viktor and Rolf — still can’t find pic — and I was right about Chas. James. One would never guess from my present Land’s End wardrobe that I was once interested in fashion. https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2014/charles-james-beyond-fashion/images )
PS. Apparently Dior got the New Look from *him*!
Glibs mostly, often while on the shitter.
Rereading volumes 13-16 of my favorite active comic in anticipation of vols 17-19 arriving in the mail tomorrow.
My favorite active comic is on book 21 now. I usually just re-read the web archive, though.
That guy was on a Schultzian pace there for quite a while. GG is on the web, but it looks better in print, and I’ve found I like binging it when the hardcopies come out.
Facebook, a place for
friendsfact-checksI posted to @Facebook the video of @JoeBiden saying he would raise taxes. He said it. It’s a video.
And this is what Facebook does to the post of Biden’s actual words.
Boss hands me puzzle box. “Open this.”
“I don’t know how.”
“I need it opened now.”
“Can you tell me how to open it?”
“Give it back, I’ll open it myself.” . . . “This isn’t the right box.”
Fin.
😛
Boss hands me puzzle box. “Open this.”
“I don’t know how.”
“I need it opened now.”
“Gimme a minute, I keep a hammer in my office.”
–Head Cenobite
Unfortunately the puzzle box in this case is the modeling software he uses, which is very different from the modeling software I use and I don’t know how to get what he wants out of his software. He promised to get me trained, so there’s that.
I haven’t read anything in the last month and a half.
Who knew writing took up so much time. 😉
I did.
Whatever you bring to Glibs next, I’m looking forward to it.
Probably “Slaves of Baranga”, it’s 66% done, give or take. And not that long.
make it sexy
No. That’s not my field. Read Mojeaux for that.
Well, I ditched Glibs completely while I was writing C&C. OMWC came looking for me because he was worried.
So, yeah, writing does take up a lot of reading time.
Speaking of socialism and antisemitism.
“He wasn’t an anti-semite, at least no more than everyone else.”
-Ezra Pound
Cancel Brett Fav-re
My Vote is for what makes this country great, freedom of speech & religion, 2nd Amnd, hard working tax paying citizens, police & military. In this election, we have freedom of choice, which all should respect. For me & these principles, my Vote is for @RealDonaldTrump.
what is a Brett Fav-re?
A deity of the herdsmen of the frozen lakeshore.
Until he bent the knee.
If you ask him, he’ll send you a picture of his junk.
This is who!
A yarn site…weird
“Thats your opinion, unfortunately it’s on the wrong side of history”
Once again these mother fuckers think that they will be on the “Right Side” of history.
In 100 years Donald Trump will be one of those presidents people might have heard of but know nothing about. Like McKinley or Taft. In 500 years the only president who may be remembered will be Washington.
Hey! Taft was both President and Supreme Court Justice.
And McKinley was killed by his physicians. He could have survived the bullet if not for all the fingers that went digging after it.
Ironically, Trump will most likely be better remembered if he loses this election (single termer). Unless he pulled a Cleveland and ran again and won in ’24. Now that’s an amusing thought.
Pretty much nothing significant this month. Barely worth mentioning:
Machineries of Empire trilogy, Yoon Ha Lee — Ninefox Gambit, Raven Strategem, Revenant Gun Recommended with caveats. Non-Western space opera a plus, lots of horrible people doing horrible things to each other, in a horrible culture, better interpersonal interactions than engaging characters, a neutral to slight plus (or slight minus; very much a matter of personal taste), entirely absurd ‘machinery of empire, a minus, but well buried under the story. I was not impressed until late in book 1, read the next two based on the first one’s wrap-up. Still have mixed feelings (surprise).
Shortfall, book 2 of Robert Jackson Bennet’s Founders trilogy. I can’t recommend Bennet enough. I don’t think this quite lived up to Foundryside, but it’s still worthy.
Re-read some of Charles Stross’s Laundry Files, which are a fun blend of Lovecraft and British bureaucracy.
Re-reading most of Simon R. Green’s Nightside series; recommended as the fantasy equivalent of over-the-top space opera.
Serious reading;
Starting Husserl’s Ethics and Practical Intentionality, Susi Ferrarell
Still slogging through volume 2 of Roman Ingarden’s Controversy Over the Existence of the World. A masterpiece of ontology, but dense as neutronium. [There is no controversy over the world’s existence, only its mode of existence, I.e. realism vs idealism, in all their various forms]
I saw a video by Politico on YT yesterday: “The making of a one term president” it had a picture of Q. Adams, H.W., Peanut Farmer guy, and Trump. in the thumbnail. Though i think it will ultimately be Biden, i still think it so close, that i wouldn’t run such a video before the election.
If Biden is elected, my money is on him taking away Harrison’s notable achievement.
I finished the Neal Asher Agent Cormac stories and will begin reading his prequel The Shadow and the Scorpion followed by Prador Moon. I’m sure this winter will be filled with the Skinner or Rise of the Jain.
Read Prador Moon first, if possible.
I finished “Retief and the Warlords”.
I’m starting “United States v. Members of the Armed Services: The Truth Behind the Department of Defense’s Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program “
Im reading tea leaves and chicken bones.
This has to be hyperbole and just rhetoric right?
https://mobile.twitter.com/Millie__Weaver/status/1321931449650610178
*shrugs*
feels like one of those things that get tossed around in right wing circles for a week and then we never hear about it again.
They plan to shut down & take over Washington D.C. starting Nov. 4th until inauguration day to force Trump out of the White House.
Even if he wins? And inauguration isn’t until Jan 20(?).
I hope so.
Real, no-shit political violence is a genie that once out of the bottle, doesn’t go back in easily.
And Terry Gross was breathlessly reporting on the Oath-Keepers this week and their belief that violence is upon already upon us. How could they possibly believe that?
That is my thinking to…its one thing to sit around and talk about it, but any follower that takes any of those actions you know have a conspiracy to over throw the duly elected government.
They are positioning. Right wing paramilitaries are threatening violence so will need to deploy state sanctioned public order brigades to keep the peace.
The catch being that a lot of OathKeepers are in the state sanctioned public order brigades.
The current ones. And that membership will be helpful in identifying and neutralizing unreliable members of the police and military.
I’ve seen stuff about antifa and left wing professional protestors organizing to protest stargin Nov 4 until /shrug
But nothing about a “Coup”
IF they actually have federal workers involved and its not just LARPing, that….will not bode well for them. Trump lose/win, if the Federal Government doesn’t do anything about that then it will just grow (see cities on fire for reference).
The first thing about a conspiracy/coup, is to keep it a secret. Hence the Russiagate/Impeachment stuff. I don’t think you will see any out in the open involvement of federal agencies, or workers.
The eleven herbs and spices neutralize their oracular properties, btw.
Son’s GF is into tarot and probably Wicca. I show him your work now.
I’m on an email list serv for a large organization based in DC that leans hard left. I just received an email this morning warning of civil unrest coming to DC and that we should start prepping now for at least a week of no access to food/water/etc just as if a major hurricane was coming. In addition to the supplies aspect, it also stressed the danger from other people and to seek shelter behind locked doors.
I mention this as support that it sounds like trouble may be brewing and that warning did not come from a right-wing source. Also, our regional chain grocery store (far from DC) was cleaned out of many freezer and pantry staples today.
Everyone here has been cleansing the shelves in preperation for anything. There is a lot of precaution being taken. I don’t know if it is worry over the election, new shutdowns or both.
Just got back from Costco. Arrived about an hour after it was open and there were already lines at the register.
Yup. Our local walmart (really the only big chain grocery store in our area) has been chaotic.
*buys even more ammo*
Seriously though, these are weird, weird times.
Fucking Chinese curses.
I was seconds from pulling the trigger last night on 600 rounds of 5.56 for ~$400 (incl shipping/taxes). Couldn’t stomach it though.
I can’t even fathom. I used to (back in the olden days of February) be able to put 100 rounds down the range for $15-20, and I wasn’t buying in bulk. My “no way in hell” point for 223 is $0.50. Unless civil society begins falling apart, I’m going to sit on my hands and hope that prices come down before I run out.
Gun show in Morgantown, PA this weekend. Don’t think I’m going to bother going.
There are a couple in the area here this weekend, but I came to the same conclusion. With ammo going nutzo, the only things I’m in the market for right now are optics, and I’m sure those prices are stupid, too.
Lots cancelled up here.
Amoskeag plans to have its November auction and have its viewing hall open. Details on viewing hall rules/restrictions thanks to the Lil Rona Panic to come soon.
Related.
We can’t anticipate exactly how Trump and his enablers will try to attack democracy (although we have been gaming out a number of different scenarios), but we know that the stakes are too high to sit on the sidelines and wait. That’s why we’re making plans to be in the streets before the polls even close, ready to adapt and respond to whatever comes our way.
You have to destroy democracy to save it from being “attacked” by Bad Orange Man.
I’m guessing that by ‘his enablers’ they mean ‘his voters.’
*sigh*
Well, I’ve said it before. If shit’s going to kick off, let’s get it over with while I’m still relatively young and limber.
Target Rich Environment – Larry Correia
Larry is always a good solid comedy/gun fetish modern fantasy writer. I’d recommend his work to anyone looking to escape and blow shit up in their imagination while they do it.
I wish he’d write more Grimnoir books.
Ditto. I honestly don’t really care for his Monster Hunter stuff, but the Grimnoir line was great.
https://monsterhunternation.com/2020/10/08/october-update-post-3/
I have a new Grimnoir trilogy planned (set in the 1950s).
Sadly, it sounds like it will be quite a while before he even starts those.
Finished rereading the Saxon Tales by Bernard Cornwell in Prep for the release of the 13th and last book next month. I love these stories, and reading them reminded me how badly the show missed the mark on Uhtred. I enjoyed the show, but Uhtred in the books is a decision maker, and makes things happen. His plans don’t always work, but he always has plans. In the show, he woders from place to place and follows the decisions made by Edward and Athelread.
Also read Destroyer of Worlds by Larry Corriea. Cannot wait for the next one, excellent storytelling and action.
Currently reading In the First Circle by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn It’s about a special Gulag of engineers in Stalin’s Moscow trying to invent an encrypted phone. Then they get put on a project to figure out who called the American Embassy with information about the USSR attempting to steal nuclear bomb secrets.
It’s a good book and has a level of doom overhanging all the prisoners and the people in charge. Minor complaint there are too many Russian names and I have a hard time differentiating between the various characters. Also every character seems to have an extensive backstory so it drags a little.
Overall I would recommend it if you like One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, same author and same kind of book.
The Complete Works of Epictetus – Really been throwing myself into Stoic philosophy these past few years with very good results. After this one, I have some books on Chinese philosophy and Buddhism that I’m going to delve into.
The Aeneid – Almost done; I’m almost to the end of Book 10: “Captains Fight and Die”. I’m not enjoying it quite as much as the Iliad and Odyssey, but sometimes I just like to be familiar with major historical works like this.
Alexander the Great by Philip Freeman (audiobook) – Loving this one. A very fascinating story of Alexander and the empire he created.
Do not take up another language. It’s sapped my will to try to read long form anything.
However, I do read lots of short form here. https://www.satorireader.com/
Really clever site that hopefully could be used on other languages. He provides serial stories that are also read by native speakers. Specifically for a Japanese leaner the charters used can be adjusted by level, but the vocabulary and grammar remain at an adult level.
I just read the 2nd half of the two part Harry Dresden book. I enjoyed it, but his books are getting a little like the Dragon Ball or Lensman series, where everything keeps getting more powered up.
“And then Harry went Super Zeyan 3 and smacked the evil vampire lord in the teeth”….
I’m half way thru “United States v. Members of the Armed Services: The Truth Behind the Department of Defense’s Anthrax Vaccine Immunization Program “. The author is kind of a wonk. He’d fit in well around here.
Speaking of…. Where has he been?
I’m waiting for the mass market paperbacks for the latest Dresden books.
I kindled them. Not much more than waiting for the paperback.
I dislike eBooks for anything other than reference materials. Not going with hardcover as I have the entire rest of the series in mass market paperbacks.
I read a Dresden book every once in a while, but by the end I’m exhausted and have no desire to read another one any time soon. Not sure why they have that effect on me, but it happens every time.
As the series went on, he increasingly wrote for adrenaline addicts. It does tend to be exhausting, especially if you’re not one.
Not about reading, but listening: I’ve been on a classical Music kick, and man…. I didn’t realize how much of the classical music i like was written by Tchaikovsky
You know who else was influenced by Russians?
I read somewhere that the vast majority of classical music performed today is either Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, or Tchaikovsky.
My tastes in classical seem to gravitate towards the Italian – Paganini, Corelli, Albinoni, Boccherini, Verdi, and others.
Most likely True.
I mostly only know a few songs that i like by title and composer. So when i stumble on a song that i know but don’t know who wrote it i kinda get surprised by who wrote it.
I don’t care for him much, but Rachmaninoff, now… Angsty Russians.
Still stuck into the Asher series. Finished Brass Man, started Polity Agent.
Many thanks for the recce, SugarFree.
Just finished Mao’s Great Famine. I knew it was bad, but didn’t realize how bad.
This was the second book in Dikotter’s trilogy covering the major events of Mao’s rule (although this was the first one he wrote). Depressing: I probably need to read something more upbeat before I read the third one.
I also read Nevil Shute for the first time in about 30 years, “A Town Like Alice.” Decent.
Dikotter has balls. He is at the University of Hong Kong..
I read “Mao’s Great Famine”. Yep, it’s depressing. I found a criticism of the book written by a Communist. The criticism was not very good. I ran some quick Google searches but did not find the criticism.
He’s been at UHK since 2006. I wonder if he has an exit strategy. Since he’s Dutch, I assume he won’t have any trouble going back there if/when the SHTF.
I’m a little surprised he went to UHK since he was a full professor at SOAS at the University of London which is quite a prestigious gig.
I read Hungry Ghosts a few years ago.
It was horrifying, very informative, and hard to get through.
Oddly, I can’t recommend it enough.
I haven’t read the book, but I like the movie version of A Town Like Alice.
@UCS, i just realized that i didn’t respond to you in the last thread. Yes Election night i wouldn’t mind organizing a Multiplayer Crusader Kings 3 game with anyone who wanted to participate from here.
The rest of my incomplete reply was:
“DOES NOT COMPUTE”
And some fake error messages.
Doesn’t it have an asynchronous play by turn feature? I’m pretty sure that Stellaris does.
/doesn’t have CK3, not going to get CK3, has enough time sinks.
IDK, i haven’t done CK3 MP before, CK2 was realtime as is HOI4, both of which i have done MP with.
realtime on that type of game does not sound like fun. I spend most of the game paused so I can collect the information needed to take actions.
And just checked and it appears I was wrong.
Those seem (to me) like the kind of games that are begging to be played asynchronously instead of real time.
Started reading Jeff Shaara’s “Gone for Soldiers.” a novel about those young officers who fought in the Mexican American War (one of those that few people know anything about.)
Even less well known is the Mexican-Canadian War
I was there when the Canadians invaded Cabo.
I really enjoyer all the Sharra book’s, if I wear the type to re-read books I’d be tempted to revisit those.
Interesting. NSSF just announced that the SHOT Show is cancelled for 2021.
https://shotshow.org/nssf-announces-2021-shot-show-cancellation/
Given the planning lead times of such an event and uncertainty on a number of levels, I wouldn’t expect any large trade shows or conferences, except for shitty virtual ones, until 2022 and probably not until 2H 2022.
I started Grapes of Wrath about two months ago and haven’t finished it. I go through inspired reading phases about once every two years, where I read constantly for a couple months and then get worn out. This time I ran out of gas in the middle of the book. I’m trying to force myself to pick it back up and finish.
that book was an absolute slog when I had to read it in highschool. The way the chapters jumped made it even tougher to follow.
I read something once. . . .true story.
true story.
You don’t like fiction?
You have something in common with Derpetologist then.
Went to a Grant Wood exhibit in Boston some years ago. It blew me away. So much I hadn’t seen and seeing good art in person is so much better than via other media not matter how high quality. I just kept going back through the whole exhibit. Hard to tare myself away.
“Hard to tare myself away.”
It still weighs on you?
Who are you and what have you done with Switzy?
His wheat was adulterated and it vetched him.
Staring into the mirror I presume.
Belgium gets a 6 week vacation.
If only Trump was more competent, then Europe wouldn’t be in this situation.
This
His evil power has no bounds.
Secret Nazi President.
https://www.pennlive.com/life/2020/10/mcrib-is-back-mcdonalds-takes-the-fan-favorite-nationwide-in-2020.html
Doesn’t even look that great in a photo.
I consider it a life goal to eat a McRib when I’m in my nineties.
The Covid will get ya before then. Better do it now.
Doesn’t it come back every year?
I have never had one. Are they any good?
No. They are the pork rib equivalent of McNuggets, ground offal shaped kind of like a rib.
Its been sooo long since I’ve had one that I don’t remember, but probably not. Cuz I still fondly remember those old deep fried apple pies.
Ah yes, I also consider it a life goal to eat a McDonalds apple pie after it has been raised to the proper serving temperature of 1,000,000 degrees.
I don’t know, kind of but not really.
No.
At least when I worked at McDonald’s (back in the 90’s) the meat is essentially shaped sausage meat that’s heated, then dunked in an overly sweet barbeque sauce. Then served on a roll with pickles and onions.
But because they keep it in limited rotation, it’s a cult classic type of thing.
I was almost trampled by a stampede of construction workers when the McRib “came back” the first time. Blue collar necessity, apparently.
I went to MCD’s last week, don’t remember the last time I ate there, probably a couple of years ago. They are still the King when it comes to french fries.
It’s a ground pork burger with fake rib lines, pickles and BBQ sauce. It’s not bad and for some reason addictive. I’m not ashamed to say it, I’ll be getting one a week.
When I was in high school, my friends and I rinsed one off to see what they really look like. It was a disgusting gray color.
33-year-old Leonard Shoulders was waiting for a bus on Saturday in NYC when the ground opened up beneath him and he fell 15 feet into a pit of rats
https://twitter.com/DoctorYasmin/status/1322023914814332932
https://twitter.com/HBPolymath/status/1322025081653125120
WHO THE FUCK KNOWS WHO INDIANA JONES IS AND DOESN’T KNOW THAT THIS HAPPENS IN THE LAST CRUSADE!!!!@Q#@$!@#ETQ@!#$D
And Last Crusade was the best one, so any Indiana Jones fan should be familiar with it.
Bronx.
https://www.thecut.com/amp/2020/10/sinkhole-opens-in-nyc-sidewalk-plunging-man-into-rat-pit.html?__twitter_impression=true
Poor Joe….
Seriously I am guessing that is his stutter getting in the way?
?
He’ll do it, too!
What a bunch of Twitter addicts. Now that I have TwatBlock activated for the site, the number of Twitter links you lot put up jumps off the page.
Geez. Get a real platform, already.
You’re not my supervisor!
It’s absurd. Twitter is a sewer. I do not understand why anyone reads the garbage posted there. Even more incomprehensible is that, instead of keeping their shame to themselves, they repost the links here.
I only read the links i see here, and Michael Malices Feed.
I look at it as a favor. I’m certainly not going to directly use the platform.
If I click through to Twitter, am I not using the platform?
Its usually quite easy, if I recall, to cut and paste from Twitter. I’m sure there’s amusing things there. Why not cut and paste them here?
That’s why I said directly.
I do get your point, however.
Given I’m ad blocked they aren’t getting much out off my click.
I didnt know how I was going to like the twatblock, but I’ve been happy with it so far. Not too many clicks to override if something catches my eye, but it prevents a lot of exposure to derp radiation.
As I mentioned in an earlier post of WAWR I had bought a copy of The Storm of Steel: Original 1929 Translation by Ernst Jünger. It arrived and currently I am where the Battle of the Somme is just starting. Ernst is quite a story teller although it is evident some of what he is describing got lost in translation from German to English. One complaint is the frequent usage of slang for the weaponry being used- for example he mentions be bombarded with “toffee apples” but doesn’t explain what it is. I had to look it up – it’s a type of British trench mortar. I have not had read much on WWI trench warfare but his depictions are absolutely terrifying.
The German Army had a long fascinating debate in the 1920s about what had gone wrong and what might be done differently next time. Junger was a major protagonist in that debate, and although he ultimately lost out to more traditional voices like von Seeckt, he was given a respectful hearing. (The main weakness of his Psychological School was that it was more mysticism than military science – everyone agreed that psychological factors mattered, but no one, including Junger, could translate that into a workable theory of warfare.)
“The Roots of Blitzkrieg” covers the debate quite well.
I’ve found this guys videos mesmerising. He has a few that are put to music, but even the shorter ones (like this) with no music are really cool to watch.
https://www.theblaze.com/news/bobby-orr-endorses-president-trump
Bobby fucking Orr
Biden’s just making a list of his enablers.
He was but he forgot what he was doing and wandered off down the road.
The fuck? Too many pucks to the head?
You find this surprising?
I’ve been trying some audiobooks. Currently on “A History of the Middle Ages” by Crane Brinton.
Good stuff when I want to close my eyes but still “read”.