Tulip: The Patricia Fisher Cruise Mysteries series by Steve Higgs. Patricia discovers her husband cheating with her best friend. In response, she cleans out the bank account and sets out on a round the world cruise. I’m not an impulsive person, so I’m enjoying the series.
Fourscore: Finished reading Friends Divided, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson by Gordon Woods
While it sounds text booky it really could have been about politicians of any era. The two friends recognized their differences to the point of not talking to each other for several years. Every couple pages there are examples of modern politics and how the party system will not and can not ever disappear. Adams’ beliefs in the aristocracy of politicians, Jefferson’s ideas of equality.
Their reconciliation and how both would play their roles, one overtly and the other more clandestinely. Strangely it is said both died on the same day, the 4th of July, without knowing the other had died. A great look at the interwoven history of two presidents, the electoral system in place at the time. Looking at today’s politics and politicians nothing really has changed and our forefathers were very acute in the predictions.
Historical non-fiction has to be remembered that we are reading through the author’s eyes and interpretations. Different authors may have different interpretations but the results and conclusions should be similar.
Next on the list is Blood and Thunder-The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West A 500 hundred page thriller…
LCDR_Fish: Just to re-recommend – particularly in light of the advice we all keep asking for (and sharing) – in my opinion these are invaluable contemporary resources: Escape the City Vol 1 and Escape the City Vol 2 – they really do go together – only split for page-count/binding purposes.
Written by libertarian Free State Project programmer/farmer/author/etc Travis “FBI Threat” Corcoran – it breaks down all sorts of tasks from raising chickens/sheep/pigs, slaughtering and preparing said animals, planting crops, plowing, harvesting firewood – and goes down in the weeds (the autism is strong with this one) – including QR code links and budget breakdowns (probably sadly already unrealistic given the unexpected circumstances). Still, an invaluable resource with pros and cons for all sorts of different alternatives – be it stoves, power generators, tractors, etc. Highly recommended for all Glibs – whether you want to set up an off-the-grid ranch or just start a small backyard chicken coop or mini-orchard.
DEG: Finished:
One Land, One Duke by Ru Emerson – She has some interesting world building ideas. Her main characters are Mary Sues or Marty Stues. I was starting to root for the bad guys.
The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes: A Calvin and Hobbes Treasury by Bill Watterson –
Now Reading:
The Last Ringbearer by Kiril Eskov – This is an attempt to re-write the Lord of the Rings with the Elves being the bad guys, Mordor being the good guys. There are some interesting ideas here, but a) it’s poorly written and b) come up with your own world instead of shitting on an existing world.
The Courage to Face Covid-19: Preventing Hospitalization and Death While Battling the Bio-Pharmaceutical Complex by John Leake and Peter A. McCollough – I just started this. Leake wondered in the early days of the Covid Insanity why no one was working on early treatment. He discovered McCollough, and that McCollough lives in the same town. This book documents attempts at early treatment, concentrating on McCollough’s work. I just started the book and will have more to write on it when I finish.
Animal: Aside from a couple of works on test method validation, I’ve been enjoying a re-read of Hemingway’s Nick Adams Stories, and have been making my way back through Harry Turtledove’s Worldwar series, just for the hell of it.
I’ve also been doing a fair amount of reading on the Franco-Prussian War, for reasons that will become apparent in time.
db: I just finished reading Soul Catcher by Frank Herbert. It was the fourth novel contained in a hardcover compilation of Herbert books I bought a few years ago.
I’m not sure “Soul Catcher” could be published today. The story focuses on an Indian (Native American) activist, an academic, who, after his sister is raped by drunken loggers in the Pacific Northwest, believes he has been chosen by a spirit to send a message to the White world by capturing and sacrificing an “Innocent” in retribution for the innocents of his people who have been killed by whites.
The story follows him and his captive during their flight through the wilderness of the forests of Washington, and is an interesting study in the supernatural, extremism, insanity, innocence, and Stockholm Syndrome.
My next reading project is unsure. I have a number of nonfiction books sitting around on the TBR pile, including From Dawn to Decadence, Dangerous Ideas: A History of Censorship in the West, The Madness of Crowds, and The Origins of Totalitarianism, among others. I may choose one of them, or I may go to one or more works of fiction I have available, including The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which I’ve never read, or maybe go back to an old favorite work of fiction (Heinlein, maybe, or possibly Vinge).
OMWC: With all the things going on in my life at the moment, you’d think I’d be reading something deep and philosophical. Something meaty and yet comforting, a careful examination of the meaning of life.
Of course not. What I’m reading is Fundamentals of Inorganic Glasses by the always-entertaining Arun Varshneya. Want to know about phase behavior? Stress and strain? Band structure? Diffusion? Viscosity as a function of composition? Electrical conduction mechanisms including fast ion transport? It’s all there and I’m enough of a geek to find it fascinating. By the time I work through the entire thing, I might be able to converse intelligently with the grad students surrounding me.
Spudalicious: I am reading for fun again for the first time in a number of years. I went back to old school sci-fi from my childhood. “Way Station” by Clifford Simak fit the bill perfectly. Simak is a superb writer, and the story still triggers me as it did when I was a kid. “How about leaving the guy alone?”
Turn in your readings by July 23rd to be included in the next edition.
I finally finished Annals of the Former World (and thoroughly enjoyed it), and am in the last volume of Sassoon’s Sherston series (that I read to the wife).
Going to start Bernard Fay’s Franklin, The Apostle of Modern Times (published in 1929).
I’m gonna have to read on the flight. It’s at 5am tomorrow so I’m thinking no sleep for me due to natural an anxiety when I travel.
Might read Pure Goldwater or Benjamin Franklin to pass the time.
Townsend’s youtube has been reading through Franklin’s Autobiography, it sounds interesting.
Hitchens’ book of essays Arguably has one on a Franklin analysis by Jerry Weinberger that he claimed frames Franklin as a gifted satirist. Here’s Hitch:
I don’t know, I had it on, but wasn’t really paying attention.
Franklin was a witty mother fucker that’s for sure. I almost see a sprinkling of him in the late McAfee
Will have to check that out. My dad dumps books like crazy on me. Next place we are looking for we are looking to ensure we have a room that will be a library or reading room with glorious shelves of soon to be banned thought.
Wait…an FAA employee has flight anxiety…uh oh. Something we need to know?!!!
“Have you seen the mutants they employ in the towers?!”
Bunch of Morlocks hiding away in darkened subterranean rooms…
*snorts*
What do you have against us?
As an eloi, quite a bit.
Incorrect. Tower Flowers and Trolls is the correct terms. But Morlocks works too I suppose.
When you see the people I work with…nah it isn’t flight that gives it, it is just travel. I get excited, can’t sleep, etc. My only issue with air travel is the first and last 15 of the flight.
I worked with a former fighter pilot that said that flying is easy . . . it’s the transition from air to ground that causes all the problems.
The sudden stop at the end.
“So far, so good!”
Yeah, the holes in the Swiss Cheese are starting to line up.
Way Station is a perennial favorite. I re-read it not all that long ago; it still holds up.
I’ve never read it but free on Kindle with Prime, so I’ll be starting shortly.
Need some ‘vid recovery reading.
I read that for the first time a few years ago after seeing it recommended somewhere (possibly here, or maybe a best sci-fi list). It does hold up well.
My reading is pretty much just r/AmITheAsshole, which makes me the AH for reading nothing else.
Love that subreddit
It makes me feel better about my life.
Speaking of comparison, I’ve been watching a lot of true crime while I cross stitch, and I keep thinking about how many things could have gone so utterly wrong with marrying a guy I just met off the internet. I thought of NONE of those things during the brief courtship and wedding. NONE. *shudder*
You like reading creative writing projects?
At least 95% of the posts on there, and similar reddits, are clearly made up.
The fun is in the suspension of disbelief.
Once I started noticing patterns….
I never thought it would happen to me…
You’re only TA if you comment on AITA. Just reading it is fine.
Is “Am I the asshole?” like “Am I retarded?”
If you have to ask the question, odds are the answer is, “YES”.
My wife is absolutely hooked on that one and some similar ones.
It scratches the same itch that The Jerry Springer Show does.
MLW’s rant on the Leaphorn/Chee show sent me down that rabbit hole a bit. So it’s been mostly Hillerman for me.
I have a huge stack of unread stuff I will never get to.
OT, but since Tundra is here…
Biopic of Yoyo the Staffy
https://youtu.be/EBsaQzOhQb8
Awwww. Thanks, KK. Love that pup.
I’m not sure “Soul Catcher” could be published today.
Given the story centers around an Indian, maybe.
So she’s a thief? Absent some global property settlement, only half of that was hers to take.
I had no idea there were inorganic and organic glasses.
Oh, and I haven’t really been reading much of anything outside work.
Thanks for doing these, Tulip.
I have finished Dune, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, and God Emperor of Dune.
I just started Heretics of Dune (1984). I really enjoyed the first three books, and the God Emperor, even with the weirdness.
I’m not sure about this one yet, it’s interesting, but doesn’t seem to be easy to follow, and I don’t think I like any of the characters.
Maybe I’m just getting burnt out on Dune?
Heretics is the beginning of a different trilogy that focuses on the non-prescience-based aspects of the Dune universe.
I believe Heretics is when I punched out., though it’s been a long while.
I think this will be my ending also.
I might give it a little longer, but it’s not the same as the earlier ones.
I made it on through Chapterhouse. That to me seemed enough closure, but sadly the Herbert spawn decided to milk the franchise. I read one prequel and nothing more.
Wise move.
I’ve reread Dune a couple of times but never any of the others, FWIW.
I think the first 2 are the best ones.
I really liked how the second one showed “heavy is the head that wears the crown”, and it’s not all rainbows and unicorns after you win the throne.
That’s true, and you read the rest to really get the responsibility that Paul shirked (and dumped onto his children, Leto II specifically).
I read them all and some of the prequels his son wrote.
I read the original series so long ago that I don’t remember much except really liking the first few books.
The prequels got boring and I tapped out of them. I think at “House Corrino” was where I tapped out.
Yeah, I read those. Lightweight compared to Herbert’s original books, but I still enjoyed the Atreides one, and the Harkonnen one to some extent, for the backstories.
I hated the compression of time in that. In Dune, these are supposed to be ancient enmities – and then in the prequels it was “nope, this just cropped up a generation, two at most, before the Dune time”.
I punched out after GEoD. The later part of that book just turned into a slog to me.
I liked God Emperor, but stopped reading with it, as I know longer cared for the universe.
I have been slogging through Spiritual Warfare: Four Views for a while now. It’s a series of essays followed by critiques, and it’s one of those “read slowly and think” books. I’m not in a “read slowly and think” mood all that often, so I make progress once or twice a week. I’d like to spend more time on it, but other things are going on that demand my time and effort.
I’ve also been working through Proverbs. I haven’t found it as impactful as the Psalms study I was posting here a few months back, but there’s definitely some wisdom that applies in spades to the current era.
I just started in on the latest edition of the Expeditionary Force from Craig Alanson. He has slowly been building the stakes since the beginning, and there are really only two major threats left in the universe. This book begins to tackle the first one.
I find Proverbs to be a practical guide for how to be a decent and self-aware and common-sense human being.
Memes can also be effective at that.
I’m also reading the current Expeditionary Force book. I’ve really enjoyed the series. Skippy and Joe keep me laughing.
I read a good number of different SF series.
I zipped through the Terran Scout Fleet books while I was on vacation; enjoyable, escapist reading. First book was free.
Set in the author’s much larger Omega Force setting but focusing on the small unit – just had to fill in a couple of plot points by inference, but nothing too bad. The protagonist is a Marty Stu, but they lampshade it, so it’s not so bad.
Read all of Josh Dalzelle’s books but missed the recent Terran Scout release. Just purchased it.
Omega Force is great. The original 3 books of Black Fleet series are amazing if you haven’t read them. The other 6 books are good, but the first 3 are superb.
db – Dawn to Decadence is a fabulous book, but be prepared to put it down while you dig into some reference he makes; at least that is easier in these days of the internet and google. That makes it a slow read (unless you don’t have the same curiosity I do).
I did start on this one a few days ago. So far, I’ve made it through the introduction.
My main problem is that most of my reading is done in the late evening, before bed. This is often not conducive to reading history or similar nonfiction. Most of my waking/most alert hours are spent working for my employer or for myself on various projects. I find it easier to read nonfiction in the time remaining, although I really do love reading history and nonfiction. I just tend to fall asleep quicker when reading them.
You won’t regret the effort – you’ll get one hell of an education.
Wait, this implies the existance of organic glass.
If such a thing exists, please tell us about it, I wasn’t aware of any glass other than the inorganic variety.
https://www.ceramicindustry.com/articles/95546-understanding-the-properties-and-structure-of-organic-glass/
Thank you.
I encountered ITO glass when I wrote patents for a touchscreen manufacturer. I don’t remember enough chemistry to know if the oxide part makes it organic or not. I don’t think so, but I don’t remember the exact structure “oxide” describes and whether there’s a carbon in it.
If I recall, “Organic” chemistry requires carbon.
Right, that much I remember. I don’t remember if “oxide” merely implies oxygen or if it implies a more complex structure.
Most polymer materials are glassy in their solid state, AKA solid material with no long term order.
I am currently rereading Worm, an extraordinarily well done modern superhero serial.
In this universe, similar to our own with minor exceptions (9/11 never happened, $1 coins instead of bills, fuckton of superheroes everywhere) superpowers started appearing in the 1980s. This gives us the big, series-wide arc of WTF are superpowers and where did they come from? Since that’s a main question, there isn’t any solid theoretical basis for understanding powers, just some inductively-derived hypotheses. One of them is that powers seem to first manifest when a person is under extreme stress/trauma which not coincidentally leads to more supervillains being created than heroes. And yes this does mean that in more shithole countries, there are more supes, but this story is set in the US where the money and media are.
The main POV character is a Taylor, a highschool girl wanting to be a hero who is setting off for her very first patrol. Unfortunately, her superpower is controlling bugs. So when she gets into a fight with a local villain, both heroes and villains assume she’s a villain, and when the heroes are bigger assholes to her than the villains are hijinks ensue.
I should clarify, there really aren’t much in the way of hijinks here. The violence is pretty brutal, extreme, and dark. This is tied to the series equivalent of kaiju/raid bosses being no-shit-existential level threats (currently Newfoundland and Kyushu have been wiped off the map, and Madison WI is sealed under a dome after an encounter with one of these that implants long term randomly activating homicidal mania in those that observe “her.”) In order to model the fact that some of these enemies are simply overpowered, before a fight with one of them, the author determines a death rate (when fighting Leviathan, it’s 25%, against Behemoth is larger) and then literally rolls dice to see which characters bite it. While there are some supervillains that are just in it for the money, the series includes all of the supervillain types, including those in it for power and those who are psychopaths, sadists, and angry nihilists.
The series was released as chapters of 5k – 10k words for quick reading, and those chapters are grouped into arcs that are either the Monster-of-the-Week or a major character/long term plot development. Each of these arcs ends with a chapter from a different POV which is how the author gives details about what’s going on without needing to rely on exposition. And some of these one-off POV characters are the aforementioned psychopaths and angry nihilists. There is very little exposition in this series, and the author does a very good job of dropping hints from dialogue in order to give you a sense of things without you actually knowing the exact details until they’re immediately relevant. The author is pretty good at making you understand the character’s motivations to the point where the main character straight up-murders a major hero by filling their lungs full of wasps, you’re cheering them on. It takes the main character ~20 arcs before she murders someone, then a few more before she adds two more bodies. And then the eschaton begins…
The author is obviously immersed in woke culture, but doesn’t make it too preachy. Yes, there are government mandated therapy sessions for the heroes to deal with their trauma, and most/all of the protagonists are women, but there isn’t “Yarr! [Identity] power!
I’ve only got two more arcs left. End-of-the-world prophesies are coming to pass, and the main focus has become not trying to save the world, but maybe save some of all the possible worlds. While the characters do gain some new strengths, there is very little power inflation. New and ever-more broken enemies (like one who’s superpower is “I win.”) are dealt with by planning, ingenuity, and creativity. But when the Big Bad can nuke the British Isles (including Ireland) while hovering over Iraq, there’s only so far creativity can take you.
Something something norms and institutions.
“I believe we have to codify Roe v. Wade into law. And the way to do that is to make sure that the Congress votes to do that and if the filibuster gets in the way, it’s like voting rights, it should be … an exception … to the filibuster for this action to deal with the Supreme Court decision,” Biden said in remarks at a press conference in Madrid when asked if he would declare a public health emergency in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling overturning the 1973 landmark decision.
I, for one, am glad that there can be exceptions for things that Democrats want even if they are legally/constitutionally no federal issues.
And then we’ll need an exception for gun control.
And then we’ll need an exception for the green leap forward.
And on and on and on.
What exactly are you going to codify into law? SCOTUS said it isn’t the Federal Government’s business. Not that they care of course.
Just finished Harry Siddebottom’s “Iron & Rust”
About the mess that was the Third Century Roman Empire. Completely decadent and corrupt – and somewhat inept – while facing enemies on all sides. It feels familiar when I pick it up after looking at the news.
I’ve often looked at historical comparisons to the gradual moral decline and fall of Rome and a certain country.
To the last Ukrainian we will
fightprint and spend!President Biden said Thursday that the U.S. plans to send an additional $800 million in security assistance to Ukraine including advanced air defense systems and other “offensive” weapons.
Biden disclosed the plans during a news conference following a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Madrid, where he declared the alliance united in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“This summit was about strengthening our alliance, meeting the challenges of our world as it is today and the threats we’re going to face in the future,” Biden said in opening remarks at the press conference.
Biden said the new assistance package would also include more counter-battery radars, artillery and ammunition, including ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) that the U.S. has recently supplied to the Ukrainians. Biden also predicted that other countries would send HIMARS to Ukraine.
Not like young Americans are excited to fight WWIII.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/military/every-branch-us-military-struggling-meet-2022-recruiting-goals-officia-rcna35078
We’d need to purge the entire officer corps and start recruiting and training from scratch before we can fight any war at this point.
I won’t go that far, but I like the direction you’re going.
Hell, you don’t even need a GED anymore! Just need bodies and good ole foot soldiers that can’t think for themselves.
Imagine being a DI or MOS school instructor these days.
I can imagine a LOT of them clocking out at 20.
I personally know two Marine NCOs, both decorated combat veterans, who resigned rather than do a tour as a recruit instructor. This was in the past five years or so, I can’t imagine that things have gotten better.
“Are you quitting on me?! Then quit!”
Secret is that you’ve never had to have a GED (legislatively) but it ends up being restricted further down the chain.
The Army put in 6 people and has already turned it off because of bad press.
We are going to have the worst year in recruiting since the all voluntary army stood up.
Hell, isn’t it three-quarters of the potential pool that can’t make the first cut? You’re going to have to have a lot of well targeted success in that environment.
Cut out another 30% of the population that refuses the vaccine and the slice of pie gets real thin.
This all feels like Iraq 3.0 where the president has no fucking clue but everyone whispering in his ear that this is what we need to do.
This is more like “Drop a Deuce 3.0” where the president has no I idea he missed on the first couple.
I generally have three books that I read simultaneously;
On my Kindle I read all 14 of the James Bond books published by Ian Fleming. After that I picked up Reaper Man and currently reading Soul Music.
On my phone I read a couple of BOLO books that a friend gave me. After that I re-started Atlas Shrugged, then switched to Moving Pictures and am now in the middle of Pyramids.
My book-book is an Ornery Bunch: Tales and anecdotes collected by the WPA Montana writers project.
The Least of Us. It’s about fentanyl and meth. It’s an good book, but if you want the TLDR version you can listen to the Econtalk podcast with the author.
Hacking of the American Mind. The science in the book was interesting, but the author goes off the rails when he starts talking about history, politics and economics. There were so many errors and outright falsehoods on those subjects that it makes me question his take on science or The Science.
I’m currently reading A Gentleman in Moscow based on Russ Roberts’ recommendation. It’s been enjoyable so far. The author’s style is much like Salman Rushdie who I also enjoy.
On topic, I’m listening to “Fundimentals of Eastern Civilization” from the Creat Courses. the professor is unsurprisingly a Sinophile. No big deal, you really expect that someone teaching that kind of course to actually like the subject matter.
What irks me is when he over-credits China for technologies beyond the lot that they actually did, with weasel words to get around the emergance of those technologies earlier in other parts of the world. There’s plenty of achievements that are real, why burn your credibility by doing that?
I hate when people do that.
My reading is entirely case law, motions, complaints, replies, FDA/CDC
studies and reportsbig pharma propaganda, and the federal rules of civil procedure.I feel like… if fighting the administrative state were like swimming, I’ve done the English Channel about 7 times.
The level of mendacity and cognitive dissonance needed to support these mandates makes my brain hurt; the number of lives destroyed makes my heart ache.
Back to work.
Doing great work Ozy and we all thank you for it!
More like a critical, critical position for western, and particularly American, elites it seems.
“How long is it fair to expect American drivers and drivers around the world to pay a premium for this war?” one reporter from the New York Times asked the president during his press conference in Europe.
“As long as it takes, so Russia cannot in fact defeat Ukraine and move beyond Ukraine,” Biden said. “This is a critical, critical, position for the world.” …
“The reason why gas prices are up is because of Russia. Russia, Russia, Russia,” Biden said. “The reason the food crisis exists because of Russia.”
THe Ruskies are the cause of all of America’s self-inflicted ills. It is known.
Marsha, Marsha, Marsha.
Formerly, Trump, Trump, Trump.
Not ‘formerly’ at all. The nonstop obsession continues.
I’m included in a text chain with some friends that has been all about the January 6 hearings for weeks. Lots of fretting about the end of democracy, Trump the antichrist, etc. I have not replied once.
I have not replied once.
I’d have fun fucking with them.
I probably should, but I find alternative viewpoints aren’t really welcome these days. They’re good enough guys, and I keep it light; I don’t need to have everything in common with friends. I just wish a whole segment of our society hadn’t broken their brains over the election of one dude.
Wow, those Russians sound terrible. Maybe we should nuke them.
Don’t give them ideas.
If only we had a President that could crush them with mean tweets.
I <3 the internet.
Nice.
Lol.
Excellent.
As far as reading, I’m still finishing the anti federalist papers…
They’re great. Highly recommend.
My wife asked me if the Spanish flu was as exaggerated as COVID.
I told her no, and listed differences.
She said everything I am saying is the same thing the CDC is saying now.
In a hundred years, everyone will be convinced that it was as bad if not worse than the Spanish flu.
She got me with her “You’re the most skeptical person I know, how come you’re not skeptical about that?”
I haven’t really looked into it, but I’m now wondering how much of what she said is correct.
Thoughts?
I have commented that we glibs are so certain about our doubts/preconceived notions/ fears that maybe we should pause and double check our assumptions.
When i said that, gas was 2$/Gal.
sigh
Without my certainty, I have nothing.
A couple of things:
The Spanish flu was deadlier, and especially for younger people. There is no reason to believe the death count for the Spanish flu was exaggerated (that I know of); it is plainly obvious that the death count for COVID is exaggerated (the switch from “died of” to “died with” guarantees that).
Even if you take the death counts at face value, the Spanish Flu was worse.
What are you saying that is the same as what the CDC is saying now?
With COVID, there were financial and power incentives to exaggerate the numbers. I don’t know of any such incentives with the Spanish flu.
The incentives ran counter – since there was a war on and truth was being generally suppressed. You know, for the sake of morale.
Google says it was only pandemic status for two years as well.
” and especially for younger people”
I think this is the most critical point. Taking CDC & WHO numbers (I know), covid has predominantly effected the elder or those with risk factors.
As slumbrew notes below, it is continually studied. The absolute lowest global estimate right now appears to be 17 million.
Yeah, we have to remember that infections were the leading cause of death at the time, except for the very old. It was normal and pretty much accepted as how things were. The Spanish flu must have been pretty bad to rise above the noise and cause the fear it did. Compare that to COVID, I doubt the spike in deaths would even have been noticed by most people if they weren’t publicized.
Using Wikipedia as a starting point (I know, I know), it looks like this subject is revisited periodically in various journals, with a range of mortality stats.
Given the range of time and locations those studies were performed over, I think we can rule out some over-arching conspiracy to make it sound worse than it was.
The range is around 1% to around 6% of the population killed by the Spanish Flu.
Even at the low end, it was way worse than covid.
The Spanish flu killed quite a lot of famous people, many of whom were rather young. This is something completely absent this time. Just among prominent Viennese painters there were two casualties: Egon Schiele (28 yo) and Gustav Klimt (55 yo).
Also Max Weber as I recall.
Of course.
A Florida judge on Thursday ruled that Florida’s new law that bans abortions at 15 weeks is unconstitutional and “violates the privacy provision of the Florida Constitution.”
The law, which was set to go into effect on Friday, does allow exemptions in cases where a pregnancy is a “serious risk” to the mother or a fatal fetal abnormality is detected if two physicians confirm the diagnosis in writing.
Is it ever explained how the right to xyz trumps right to life?
You are assuming the conclusion that a fetus has rights. Just as the pro-choicer/abortion side assumes that a fetus has no rights. That is the unbridgable divide on this issue.
The question is when a fetus becomes a person with 14th amendment rights to equal protection under the law (as I see it).
Yeah I mean, I get that it is hardly insightful to say the pro-abortion side never truly addresses when life begins. Is the position no rights are absolute?
The closest I’ve seen are some pro-abortion folks that say you have no rights until birth.
NY passed a law saying abortion was legal up to the moment a full-term baby heads down the birth canal. Therefore, not human; not a person; no rights. Thus, only the birthing person’s rights matter.
I find this obscene. But many people buy into it completely.
Thus all of Casey’s wrangling about viability versus the original Roe trimester scheme.
Although I agree that life, biologically defined, starts at conception, I can no more find that inviolable than you can find the up-to-the-moment of delivery acceptable. Since both extremes are ruled out, a compromise is the only solution and some will find ANY compromise untenable.
Since both extremes are ruled out, a compromise is the only solution and some will find ANY compromise untenable.
Correct. There is no answer.
The provision at issue:
The question being begged is, what else is included in “except as otherwise provided herein” that might authorize abortion restrictions?
Much serious – very concerning.
https://twitter.com/jeremykauffman/status/1542523452946382851?t=e0oSMI35Vpk0vJ7v_Q8KIA&s=19
That’s satire, right?
Yes and no – he really is running for congress.
Yes.
He’s a hardcode libertarian. He’s behind Odysee/LIBRY.
His campaign ads tend towards satire.
If Bruce Fenton doesn’t make it through the Republican primaries, I’m voting for Kaufman.
That guy is great. I’d vote for him.
#Metoo
That’s great.
Perfect. Since cheating is all the rage, he’s got my (phony) mail-in vote!
“Send money. It helps…
I promise.”
Most honest campaign slogan ever.
Jacqueline Carey’s The Sundering series does the Lord of the Rings reverse perspective thing, though it has original characters and is not just a retelling of LOTR. I thought it was pretty good.
I found Soul Catcher to be one of those rare novels that catches you up in its conceit, and whisks you along for a mental ride. You’ll probably dream about it, and may find yourself looking at the world differently for a while.
I found Blindsight such a book – still sticks with me years after reading it.
Thanks, added to my list.
Update:
Dutch farmers still pissed.
“Seize their tractors!”
-Trudeau
Human beings are going to deliberately starve and freeze ourselves to death. What a bright, forward-thinking era.
It gets better.
Hoo boy.
At least the World Economic Forum folks will be able to continue to stock their collectible car warehouses.
So the EU is committing suicide.
It’s so much neater than Huntington’s clash of civilizations ending in warfare.
I just started reading Tower Of Skulls: A History of the Asia-Pacific War: July 1937-May 1942 by Richard B. Frank. One interesting fact I read in the prologue was that in 1937 there were only two sovereign Asian nation states – Thailand and Japan and two with compromised sovereignty, China and Mongolia. The rest of Asia was more or less under colonial rule of other powers. Hard to fathom that was only 85 years ago. Having read one of Frank’s other works – Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 which was outstanding I’m looking forward to dig into this one.
https://www.amazon.com/Tower-Skulls-History-Asia-Pacific-1937-May/dp/1324002107
That reminds me of the fun fact that only England participated in WWII from the very beginning to the very end.
I was digging through my garage when I stumbled upon “The Fourth Turning” by Strauss and Howe. As a bookmark was an early draft of a review I was writing at the time, back in 97 or so.
Basic theory is that every 80 or 90 years can be broken into four predictable stages, based on demographics. The cycle begins in a golden age, then a spiritual “awakening” after follows a 20 year period of growing cynicism and unraveling. The final stage is a great crisis, where all is reset. Our current cycle began at the end of ww2. The boomer generation was one of rejection and spiritualism. Gen X was part of the unraveling. The millennial generation will be the ones who the US through the crisis.
Crazy shit is that their description of the crisis period (they pegged it at 2005-2025, but in later decades put the start of the crisis at the crash of the housing market in 2007) is scarily accurate.
Thinking of writing an article on it, it’s that good.
The millennial generation will be the ones who the US through the crisis.
Oh, dear.
Radioactive avocado toast and struggle sessions! Sounds nifty!
There are still people who will rise to the challenge.
My thought also.
“Gen X was part of the unraveling.”
Fist bumps 50% of Glibs.
I’m half way thru book 8 of the Expanse.
The show runners obviously had no intention of carrying on the series or were going to go into a completely different direction because none of the hanging threads of the TV show had anything in the same galaxy as to where the books went.
Show runners were pretty sure they were going into their final season so attempted a bit of fan-service, IMO, but there was just too much to deal with.
Still, one of the best adaptions ever done.
Eh, the last season hinted at stuff on Laconia which became the focus of most of the last three books. It was never developed of course.
Sounds like they were merely spartan with their attention.
What the helot are you talking about?
Well, I’m a book and half in and no children have been resurrected by helpful alien dogs on Laconia so far.
Fair. That one seems to be completely made up by the TV people. I was referring to the constant shots of the orbiting construction platforms.
Actually, not completely made up. There is some resurrection stuff but from a different source.
No, same source.
https://expanse.fandom.com/wiki/Xan_Bisset_(Books)
one of the tie-in novellas (which I didn’t read): https://expanse.fandom.com/wiki/Strange_Dogs
They paid a lot of money for those, dammit! How ELSE are they going to get their money’s worth?
In the books, the construction platforms were the whole reason they picked Laconia – once they got them running and turning out advanced warships, the Sol system was in trouble…
https://www.wfmz.com/news/area/poconos-coal/family-blames-fatal-schuylkill-county-wreck-on-penndots-failure-to-fix-ditch/article_87e38028-f7f1-11ec-92a8-f3122a2fdf47.html
So, this was avoidable.
They didn’t even cover it with temporary plates?
Road crews usually only use plates when they don’t backfill with dirt/gravel.
So was this.
Yikes.
It’s about 2.5 hours northeast of me, but as I understand it, envision an earthen levee with a railroad track along the top, flanked by lots of tall trees, and you have to get dump trucks and combines up and over that without warning of a train coming, AND you can’t see down the track because of the trees.
Family blames fatal Schuylkill County wreck on PennDOT’s failure to fix ditch
Road flaws like that will Schuylkill someone.
Without government, who would fuck up the roads?
I’ve driven parts of 895, but not that part.
We had that happen on a township road a mile from our house. The nextdoor neighbor hit it about 15 minutes before I would have. Minor injury to her, totaled the car.
Reading “Ways & Means” about how the War for Southern Independence was financed. Fiat money kept the war going and the amount of debt was staggering. The Rebs could have financed a great portion of the war had Jeff Davis not made the decision to embargo cotton before the Union blockade became effective.
The flip side of that was the gold and silver from California and Nevada sustained the war effort for the Union.
Gold and silver helped but were insignificant compared to greenbacks created out of patriotic promises and new legislation that they were “legal tender for all debts public and private.”
Speaking of reading, this hasn’t impacted me, but it’s because nobody buys my books. This has been going on for a couple of months, but it’s awful.
Read and return? WTH?
I briefly worked in a Waldenbooks store. One day a lady came in to return a book titled something like,. “How to Plan a Marriage.” I was kind of a doofus and said something like, “OK, I guess it didn’t work out.” Her reply was: “No, I got married so I don’t need this anymore.”
I worked at B. Dalton, people would try to return text books, encyclopedias, you name it, without a receipt. They would swear on their Mama’s grave that they’d bought the books there, which was impossible.
We had one lady who would buy every single one of the top 10 hardcovers, and then return them about a month later. After a while she was told that she either had to stop doing that, or be banned from the store. She stopped doing it.
Wow, what a terrible idea. It’s nice to be able to return something you accidentally bought, but 7 days? That’s waaaaayyyyyy too long.
I will return a book if I get about 20 pages in and hate it. Otherwise, I try very hard not to purchase books by accident.
For accidental purchase, I feel like 12 hours is plenty. Maybe extend to 48 hours for those “nope, this isn’t what I wanted” situations.
Calvin & Hobbes? Where are all the BIPOCs? Where are all the nonbinary characters? SO PROBLEMATIC.
Uncharacteristically, I’ve been listening to audiobooks more than reading books most recently. Tucker Carlson’s collection of previously printed articles, The Long Slide (mentioned by others here in past months, IIRC) is a pleasant diversion when I’m working out at the Y.
For the written word, I’m taking another stab at Alison Weir’s Wars of the Roses, but it has so far failed to “grab” me. (Probably my own attention deficit.) I’ve also barely started the first of the Thomas Covenant books, but first I’m going to try a “palate cleanser:” Inspired by a comment from TO’G about the childhood pic I posted of my sisters and me, I’m going to indulge in a kid lit classic I missed back in the day – Beezus and Ramona.
Aw shucks. /blushes
Quite long gaps between early Ramona titles. B&R in ’55, R. the Pest in ’68 (where curly-haired girl shows up), and then a bunch in the ’70s.
As I heal, I have been reading the Maigret books, in no particular order, which is fine.
But I just felt the need for something different, so I picked up Brightness Reef today, with is the first book of the second Uplift saga. I never read these, but enjoyed the first series.
Vague recollection:
The second saga was inferior to the first.
Well, this is pretty great:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9r597vJbSQ
Darude’s Sandstorm performed by Synthony and the Auckland Symphony Orchestra