The 'What Are You Reading?' Thread

[KU0DM]

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Marquez.

[NQ6U]

Oaxaca, by Oliver Sacks

[WX7P]

The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers: Idiots Abroad Part I by Gilbert Shelton and Paul Mavrides

[WØTKX]

Re-reading "Ender's Shadow" by Orson Scott Card.

[N2NH]

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, William L. Shirer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rise_and_Fall_of_the_Third_Reich) (A slow read as it is full of history and long footnotes, but worth it).


The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich is a non-fiction (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-fiction) book by William L. Shirer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_L._Shirer) chronicling the general history of Nazi Germany (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_Germany) from 1932 to 1945. It was first published in 1960, by Simon & Schuster (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_%26_Schuster) in the United States, where it won a National Book Award (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Book_Award).[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rise_and_Fall_of_the_Third_Reich#cite_note-nba1961-1) It was a bestseller (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bestseller) in both the U.S. and Europe, and a critical success outside Germany, where harsh criticism stimulated sales. Academic historians were generally critical.
Rise and Fall is based upon captured Third Reich documents, the available diaries of propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Goebbels), General Franz Halder (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Halder), and of the Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galeazzo_Ciano), evidence and testimony from the Nuremberg trials (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_trials), British Foreign Office (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Foreign_Office) reports, and the author's recollection of six years reporting on the Third Reich for newspapers, the United Press International (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Press_International) (UPI), and CBS Radio (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CBS_Radio) —terminated by Nazi Party (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_Party) censorship in 1940.

to be followed by Up the Line, Robert Silverberg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_the_Line)


The story's protagonist is Jud Elliott III, a failed Harvard history masters student in 2059. Bored with his job as a law clerk, he takes up a position with the Time Service as a Time Courier.After an introductory course, Jud shunts up and down the time line ("up the line" is travel into the past; "down the line" is forward time travel, but only to "now-time," Jud's present of 2059) as a guide for tourists visiting ancient and medieval Byzantium (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantium)/Constantinople (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantinople).
Jud's problems include not only stupid tourists, but also greedy and mentally unstable colleagues who attempt to cause various types of havoc with the past. He is forced to break the rules in order to patch things up without drawing the attention of the Time Patrol.

[n6hcm]

atm nothing ... but that will change on monday when i start assisting in the operation of a mooc. i have a blog post to write, another blog post to edit, a travel award application to complete and a newsletter to write ... and on monday i also start reworking a literature review for a class in which i have an incomplete.

and all this ignores all the books i brought back from librarians gone wild! (http://ala13.ala.org/)

[NQ6U]

Now, Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy.

[KU0DM]

10112

[K7SGJ]

Uncle Johns 25th Edition Bathroom Reader

10117

[kb2vxa]

I'm reading this: https://forums.hamisland.net/showthread.php/26019-The-What-Are-You-Reading-Thread

On edit, keep clicking on the link each time it pops up. (;->)

[n6hcm]

i'm not reading schoolwork (for which i'll pay dearly in a few weeks, but i need a break). i was supposed to read chris kluwe's sparkleponies book but i can't find it. it's here somewhere...

[N2NH]

I finished The Valley of Creation by Edmond Hamilton (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3205800-the-valley-of-creation) a couple of nights ago, have started Up The Line, am dabbling in Thomas Merton (A Year With) (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/173381.A_Year_with_Thomas_Merton) and New York Noir. NY Noir is a 5 books-in-one compilation of short stories. Starting with Brooklyn Noir, each of the 5 boroughs of the city makes one book apiece and it was written over the period of a decade or so. A free sample in EPUB or MOBI is available here. (http://www.akashicbooks.com/catalog/nyc-noir-digit/)

[KC2KFC]

Lady Windemere's Fan by Oscar Wilde

[N2NH]

"Fenway 1912" by Glenn Stout

followed by "The Yankee Years" by Joe Torre

[N2NH]

Now on "The Screwtape Letters" by C. S. Lewis (of Chronicles of Narnia fame).

Adapted recently into a play too. (http://screwtapeonstage.com/about)

Putting Joe Torre on hold.

[K7SGJ]

Syndrome by Thomas Hoover.

[N2NH]

Finished "Revelations" by Elaine Pagels and "Brooklyn Noir 2" (various authors) - highly recommend both.

Presently listening to an audiobook of "The Problem of Pain" by C. S. Lewis. 2/3rds thru and excellent so far. To any who are of an open mind, may I suggest this to be read or listened to.

[NQ6U]

Anthony Bourdain, "A Cook's Tour."

After Tolstoy, I also read "Ham Radio's Technical Culture," by Krysten Haring and Bourdain's "Kitchen Confidential," the latter of which I had to stop reading in bed because I laughed so hard that it disturbed my wife.

[W5BRM]

Reading/listening to WB6NOA Extra Class test prep. Not reading much else.

[WØTKX]

Now on "The Screwtape Letters" by C. S. Lewis (of Chronicles of Narnia fame).


:lol:

That's pretty twisted and funny stuff. So now you'll have good responses for 'IzE as well? :snicker:

[suddenseer]

MSDS sheets. Trying to determine why my eyes still burn ater I leave work. It's not the refries.

[K7SGJ]

MSDS sheets. Trying to determine why my eyes still burn ater I leave work. It's not the refries.


Maybe something to do with the lighting or lack thereof perhaps? That was an issue for me where I used to work.

[NQ6U]

Neil Gaiman, American Gods.

Fun romp into fantasy with social commentary that will make you laugh out loud. Read it.

[KB3LAZ]

Cambridge exam course preparation papers. It would seem that work isn't done, even at 6:30 AM. Funny, one would think that is when it should start rather than end.

[N2NH]

Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalists by John Shelby Spong. A good starting point on realistic 21st Century Theology. The Vatican Diaries - a journalists view of the Vatican. Beginning Murder on the Rue Dumas and Haunted Catskills.

[NQ6U]

I'm on a Neil Gaiman binge. Read American Gods, then a couple of books of his short stories, now I'm reading Anansi Boys.

[K7SGJ]

Serpent by Clive Cussler. Fiction with some real events based on the collision of the MS Stockholm and the SS Andrea Doria, which sank.

[N2NH]

Finished LA Noir (pretty good), finally got Haunted Catskills which looks great.

Nothing like good timing.

[NQ6U]

Finished Anansi Boys, read Bourdain's Nasty Bits, read two more Gaiman novels (Neverwhere and Stardust, the latter of which I realized I'd read before but can't remember when), now about to begin Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl on the XYL's recommendation.

[K7SGJ]

Finished Anansi Boys, read Bourdain's Nasty Bits, read two more Gaiman novels (Neverwhere and Stardust, the latter of which I realized I'd read before but can't remember when), now about to begin Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl on the XYL's recommendation.

How many books do you read a week/month?

[NQ6U]

How many books do you read a week/month?

When I'm on a book-reading jag, as I am now, a couple a week for a few months running. Then I'll not read anything other than magazines or newspapers for a while until the urge to read a book hits me again.

[K7SGJ]

RR

[N7YA]

We have stacks of books all over this house. I am currently reading The Natural Navigator and Haunted Inns and Hotels. Just finished North To The Night...which was awesome!

[N2NH]

E readers rock. Back in the 70s, I had stacks of books around my apartment. Now I have more books to read and whenever I want a library book, I can download one from a 80+ association of libraries online. Comes in great when a blizzrd snows you in. Free books and newspapers - and no stacks - can't beat that

[N7YA]

I dunno...i guess i have a romantic notion of oddly shaped booked stacked all over the place. Kind of an old wizards shop kind of thing.

[N2NH]

I dunno...i guess i have a romantic notion of oddly shaped booked stacked all over the place. Kind of an old wizards shop kind of thing.

The XYL is a librarian by trade, so we agree, but they're evrn opening E-libraries with no books. They have computers instead. Thank the Internet and G. W. Bush. The internet for technology, Bush for cutting library budgets thus speeding this changeover.

Still, e-readers make it so you can travel with your whole library on a 7" flatscreen on no more than a Micro High Capacity SD Card. About the size of a small postage stamp. I'm posting from mine right now using the touchscreen.

[N7YA]

I will always have room for technology, and i will embrace it as long as its not designed to kill people. So that brings us back to books...we will be the weird, old collectors, i guess.


Besides, where would all of our cats sleep? :lol:

[K7SGJ]

I will always have room for technology, and i will embrace it as long as its not designed to kill people. So that brings us back to books...we will be the weird, old collectors, i guess.


Besides, where would all of our cats sleep? :lol:

Plus, when you get old(er) you can stack them on the front seat so you can see over the steering wheel.

[NQ6U]

Plus, when you get old(er) you can stack them on the front seat so you can see over the steering wheel.

Try and prop up a wobbly table with a Kindle and see how well that works.

[N2NH]

Try and prop up a wobbly table with a Kindle and see how well that works.

That's what laptops are for. Dead ones at least.

[NA4BH]

That's what laptops are for. Dead ones at least.

That's the way they do it in Minnesota.

[K7SGJ]

That's the way they do it in Minnesota.


They have laptops in Minnesota? Who gnu?

[NA4BH]

Beasts me

[K7SGJ]

Third base.

[NA4BH]

Your horse won't fit there

[WX7P]

That's the way they do it in Minnesota.

Jah, no need to get snippy, now.

[NA4BH]

Jah, no need to get snippy, now.

Whoa !! They only have 9,999 lakes, that would make anybody snippy. 10,000 my ass.................

[n6hcm]

I dunno...i guess i have a romantic notion of oddly shaped booked stacked all over the place. Kind of an old wizards shop kind of thing.

i see you've been to my house ... the stacks of books occasionally annoy the cats.

[n6hcm]

The internet for technology, Bush for cutting library budgets thus speeding this changeover.

actually, that slows the changeover since eResources cost libraries much more than dead tree resources. your XYL should know this.

[N7YA]

i see you've been to my house ... the stacks of books occasionally annoy the cats.

Same here. It pushes them out of their sleeping spots.

[N2NH]

actually, that slows the changeover since eResources cost libraries much more than dead tree resources. your XYL should know this.

She does. She also knows that many corporate libraries were shut down and went electronic with Fed Dollars during Bvsh II too.

[N2NH]

Half way through QB VII by Leon Uris.

A masterpiece.

[NQ6U]

Sharp Objects, another Gillian Flynn novel. She's good at her craft, which is writing compelling and insightful fiction.

[N2NH]

You know that fiddle of his? A gift from his boss...


:lol:

That's pretty twisted and funny stuff. So now you'll have good responses for 'IzE as well? :snicker:

[KC2UGV]

Currently finishing up "Homeland", by Cory Doctorow. It's the sequel to his book,"Little Brother". Marketed as "Teen reader" and "Yound Adult", but a great book, nonetheless.

[WØTKX]

Whoa !! They only have 9,999 lakes, that would make anybody snippy. 10,000 my ass.................

11,842, over 10 acres.

http://www.threadbombing.com/data/media/30/lake_nobody_cares.jpg

[NQ6U]

Medium Raw, by Anthony Bourdain. The XYL went on a used book buying spree a while back, lots of Neil Gaiman, Anthony Bourdain and Gillian Flynn, so I'm working my way though it all.

[koØm]

Born In Blood: The Lost Secrets of Freemasonry, By John J. Robinson

.

[N7YA]

Ive gone through a couple of books from my last post here. Im now on to Ghosts by Paul Roland.

[NQ6U]

Dark Places, the last of the Gillian Flynn novels. Done with all the Bourdain and Gaiman books the XYL bought too; I don't know what I'm going to do once I'm done with this one.

[N7YA]

Runelore by Edred Thorsson just arrived today...i have about 30 books ahead of it.

[N2NH]

"The Radical Right and the Murder of John F. Kennedy. - Stunning evidence in the assassination of the President."

By Harrison E. Livingston

In time for the half centenary of the assassination.

Interesting premise.

[N7YA]

Tibetan Book of Living and Dying arrived yesterday. Just picked up Haunted America at B&N and Seven Daughters of Eve came in the other day....books arriving daily. We have issues.

[N2NH]

Almost finished with the Aleppo Codex, follwed by Legends and Lore of Sleepy Hollow and the Hudson Valley,

After that by Who Discovered America?

[N2NH]

Finished the others, now on Who Discovered America? which is making a rather loose case that the Chinese did in 1421. Others are mentioned in passing. I think 1000AD (Vikings) and 450AD (Irish) have that beat, and I doubt if they were even the first since remains have been found going back to 30,000 BCE.

[NQ6U]

Finished the others, now on Who Discovered America? which is making a rather loose case that the Chinese did in 1421. Others are mentioned in passing. I think 1000AD (Vikings) and 450AD (Irish) have that beat, and I doubt if they were even the first since remains have been found going back to 30,000 BCE.

Asians did "discover" the new world. They did it via the Bering land bridge sometime between 15,000 and 40,000 years ago, depending on the theory to which you choose to subscribe.

[N2NH]

Asians did "discover" the new world. They did it via the Bering land bridge sometime between 15,000 and 40,000 years ago, depending on the theory to which you choose to subscribe.

I have no doubt that there have been numerous migrations into the western hemisphere. Most Native Americans are considered to be Siberian. Siberians are related to Indians/Pakistanis and are caucasian. Many Indians when given a DNA test are found to be caucasian. Columbus was right for all the wrong reasons. This group, it is sometimes theorized, was preceded by Polynesians/Indians who ended up at the remotest reaches of South America in Tierra del Fuego. They are of a different culture and DNA from Native Americans. The theory is that they arrived between 55,000 to 30,000 years ago and the wave of Siberians who came afterwards did pretty much to them what Europeans did to Native Americans later.

Saw it on NOVA a few years ago.

[N7YA]

No matter who got here first, i think most of the country can tell Chris Columbus to go fuck himself now.

[K7SGJ]

No matter who got here first, i think most of the country can tell Chris Columbus to go fuck himself now.

But......but.......but.... he's the one that discovered Las Vegas.

[N7YA]

He can seriously go fuck himself then! :lol:

[NQ6U]

But......but.......but.... he's the one that discovered Las Vegas.

I thought that was Bugsy Siegel.

[K7SGJ]

I thought that was Bugsy Siegel.

Damn. I always get those two mixed up. Loved him in "Retired At 35".

[N2NH]

Just finished "Lost Towns of the Hudson Valley" by Wesley Gottlcok. In the middle of "Hidden History of the Mid-Hudson Valley" by Carney Rhinevault, mostly in the colonial era before the Revolutionary War in 1776. First story was about a the First British Governor of New York who also was a Transvestite and had an ear fetish among other idiosyncrasies. :lol:

[N2NH]

Simultaneously reading "The Hudson: America's River" by Frances F. Dunwell, a history of the Hudson Valley, centering on Rt. 9W. Three presidents, and a number of inventors including Samuel Morse lived in the area.

and "Grand Central: How a Train Station Transformed America" by Sam Roberts a history of the great terminal, the busiest in the world and one of the world's largest. Airports and Malls got started by the design of Grand Central Terminal, as did 'air rights.'

[NQ6U]

Picked up The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern. Nice Jewish girl.

[K7SGJ]

Picked up The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern. Nice Jewish girl.


Didn't she paly Rhoda in "That Girl"?

[N2NH]

Presently reading Haldeman's "The Forever War" for the 3rd time. New version that replaces the original edited one from the early '70s.

I am looking for Brian Garfield's* "The Paladin" but not an easy find. Seems it isn't an eBook yet either.

*Famous for writing Death Wish.

[NQ6U]

Finished The Night Circus, a fun read. I'm sure someone is going go make a movie out of it eventually. After that, I read Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil Gaiman's latest. Not bad, but not his best effort either. Currently reading Home Town, by Tracy Kidder.

[N7YA]

Just finished Celtic Traditions, started Close To The Light....but its turning into a Christian marketing handbook so im losing interest rapidly. But Devie just got me Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher by Timothy Egan. Its an account of Edward Curtis, a famous and well off photographer from the turn of the last century and how he threw it all away to live among, document and photograph that last free bands of Native Americans before they disappeared.

This morning, as part of our "Ok, i cant wait...lets open just one" Yule tradition, i selected one present and it turned out to be Fire In The Head; Shamanism and the Celtic Spirit by Tom Cowan. Im looking forward to that one! I have been eyeing Haunted America for the last week or two, so im guessing it will be promoted to the night stand very soon.

[KG4NEL]

http://www.bgsu.edu/offices/provost/academicprograms/images/img131784.jpg

Well, listening anyway...

[NQ6U]

http://www.bgsu.edu/offices/provost/academicprograms/images/img131784.jpg

Does Bruce Springsteen know about this?

[N7YA]

He probably told them to just take it....he hates that song.

[N2NH]

Just got a book from the Library: Forgotten Civilization by Robert M. Schoch, Ph.D. This is an impressive book. I think this is the same scientist that did a short series on PBS a few years back with alternate theories on numerous archæological sites.

This is a fascinating read.

[NQ6U]

Over the last two weeks I've finished War, by Sebastian Junger and Agent Zigzag, by Ben MacIntyre. Currently working on Motherless Brooklyn, by Jonathan Lethem.

[K7SGJ]

Roofing Tips From Lemon Grove

I can't tell if it's a mystery or science fiction.

The odd thing is that it isn't in five chapters. It's in five layers, and you have to scrape your way through it. Who Gnu?

[NA4BH]

It's a nail biter.

[K7SGJ]

I'm waiting to see if the guy suffering from shingles ends up getting hammered.

[NA4BH]

15 pound felt like it was lifted off his shoulder, he told the contractor.

[NQ6U]

I'm gonna follow JEF's backwards tech and put the shingles down first and cover them with the 15# felt.

[NA4BH]

That's shocking

[N2NH]

I'm gonna follow JEF's backwards tech and put the shingles down first and cover them with the 15# felt.

Don't forget to ground.

[W5BRM]

Zen and the Art of Radio Telegraphy.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00BVOBJDQ?pc_redir=1400606069&robot_redir=1

Thinking about taking up cw when i get my 817 in a few months. Been many many years since i used cw and even then i only used it rarely. Gotta rebuild my mental discipline though. Its slipped big time in the last few yearsm

[K7SGJ]

I'm gonna follow JEF's backwards tech and put the shingles down first and cover them with the 15# felt.

You already fucked up. The plywood goes on last.

[NQ6U]

You already fucked up. The plywood goes on last.

I tried that but the shingles got all floppy and kept falling through the rafters.

[K7SGJ]

I tried that but the shingles got all floppy and kept falling through the rafters.

It'll probably need around five layers.

[N2NH]

Now on The Glass Teat by Harlan Ellison. A series of essays and columns that he wrote in the late 60s in the Los Angeles Free Press (FREEP).

[N7YA]

I finished a HUGE book, Haunted America. Then i knocked out The Appian Way by Robert Kaster, an academic roadie about the ancient roads of Italy and all the history surrounding it.

I started reading The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin, about an Englishman going down to Oz and trying and earn enough trust of the white-hating Aborigines to let him hang out and learn about the ancient Songlines that the natives have been singing since the dream time. I will finish that one, but first, im going to crank out a simple book for fun, Ghosts of New England.

After that...who knows. I have a few to choose from (this is just ONE pile).

12411

[N2NH]

I finished a HUGE book, Haunted America. Then i knocked out The Appian Way by Robert Kaster, an academic roadie about the ancient roads of Italy and all the history surrounding it...
After that...who knows. I have a few to choose from (this is just ONE pile).

12411

Nice selection. I'm doing the home is where your stuff is, so the Library must be my home. Downloading the books to the Nook from the Libraries here (still have the cards from the 3 Libraries in NYC too). Came in handy in the winter of 2012-13 when we were snowed in for 3 weeks...

http://sharing.wptv.com/sharewcpo//photo/2012/04/30/S009086349-300_20120430180154_320_240.JPG

Now beginning San Francisco Noir and Los Angeles Noir.

[koØm]

My son has summer homework, he has to read two books and and do a report on each. He picked 'Beloved' by Toni Morrison which, I read back in 1989 before there was a public Internetwork and, 'A Choice of Weapons' by Gordon Parks.

I am currently reading the Gordon Parks autobiography first and then I will re-read 'Beloved'.

.

[n6hcm]

At the moment I'm reading Train: Riding the Rails That Created the Modern World-from the Trans-Siberian to the Southwest Chief (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DMCVXDQ?ie=UTF8&camp=213733&creative=393177&creativeASIN=B00DMCVXDQ&linkCode=shr&tag=hcm-20&linkId=WHNIXP57BBBZP2E2&=books&qid=1403073157&sr=1-2) but I doubt I'll get very far into it before I have to return it over the weekend.

[N7YA]

Tonight may be the night i finish up Ghost Files of New England. Its a fun little read.

Next up...i have about 5 i can go with, but it looks like i will be putting The Secret Life of Water in rotation.

[K7SGJ]

Ah, The Secret Life of Water Mitty, a fun read.

[NQ6U]

Ah, The Secret Life of Water Mitty, a fun read.

He imagined he got drunk.

[K7SGJ]

He imagined he got drunk.

He imagined he saw a bushtit.

[N7YA]

I am reading "Say No More; The Story of a Minnesota Bushtit Who Said It All".

[K7SGJ]

I am reading "Say No More; The Story of a Minnesota Bushtit Who Said It All".

I hear everyone is raven about it.

[N2NH]

Just borrowed "In Fifty Years We'll All Be Chicks" By Adam Carolla. The blurb got me:


A couple years back, I was at the Phoenix airport bar. It was empty except for one heavy-set, gray bearded, grizzled guy who looked like he just rode his donkey into town after a long day of panning for silver in them thar hills. He ordered a Jack Daniels straight up, and that's when I overheard the young guy with the earring behind the bar asking him if he had ID. At first the old sea captain just laughed. But the guy with the twinkle in his ear asked again. At this point it became apparent that he was serious. Dan Haggerty's dad fired back, "You've got to be kidding me, son." The bartender replied, "New policy. Everyone has to show their ID." Then I watched Burl Ives reluctantly reach into his dungarees and pull out his military identification card from World War II.

Well, we'll see how well Adam makes his point. :lol:

[N7YA]

Just finished the Water book. It appears he was "debunked" by scientists, religious and big money people...but his book was mostly about living smaller, in harmony with the earth and eachother and you dont need big oil or religion...so of course they will seek to "debunk" him. He's alright by me.

I am now on to Wager With The Wind; The Don Sheldon Story. A legendary bush pilot in Alaska...i recognize most of the places and have been to his hometown of Talkeetna quite a few times. Its an older book, written by his friends and released in October of 1974, he would be dead a few months after that, so its kind of weird reading about him with that in mind. So far, though, its well written with a lot of adventures. Its a good read for the aviation minded among us.

[NQ6U]

I hear everyone is raven about it.

I heard it was for the birds.

[K7SGJ]

I heard it was for the birds.

You should tweet that.

[N7YA]

Are you two going to peck away at eachother all day?

[NQ6U]

Are you two going to peck away at eachother all day?

We are birds of a feather, after all.

[KG4CGC]

..............

[N7YA]

As Woodstock once said...."lllllllllllllllllllll"

[N2NH]

We are birds of a feather, after all.

And what do they fill pillows with?

[K7SGJ]

And what do they fill pillows with?

Foam rubber

[NQ6U]

Foam rubber

Dacron™ polyester.

[K7SGJ]

Dacron™ polyester.

Plumas de Bushtit

[NQ6U]

Plumas de Bushtit

Horsefeathers.

[K7SGJ]

Horsefeathers.


Only for whinny bastids

[N7YA]

Tears...

[N2NH]

Adam's book is nearly as funny as this thread. Recommend it, but only if you don't have a sensitive stomach.

Now a toss up between A Short History of Nuclear Folly by Rudolph Herzog and Six Days by Jeremy Bowen. The first is self-explanatory, the second is about the Arab - Israeli Six Day War in 1967.

[NQ6U]

I'm reading the installation manual for the stainless steel range hood I'm going to install in the rental unit next door. It's a riot—written in Chinglish.

[K7SGJ]

I'm reading the installation manual for the stainless steel range hood I'm going to install in the rental unit next door. It's a riot—written in Chinglish.

You don't need no stinkin vent hood. Just vent it through the wall into the unit next door.

[N2NH]

Got sidetracked by "Marvel Comics The Untold Story" by Sean Howe. If you were or are a fan of Marvel Comics then this is a must read. The story behind the scenes and the run up to the Silver Age of Comics in the '60s and beyond. I know it was a lot of fun reading them in the 60s but I never knew just how hard it was for the writers and the staff.

[K7SGJ]

Got sidetracked by "Marvel Comics The Untold Story" by Sean Howe. If you were or are a fan of Marvel Comics then this is a must read. The story behind the scenes and the run up to the Silver Age of Comics in the '60s and beyond. I know it was a lot of fun reading them in the 60s but I never knew just how hard it was for the writers and the staff.

I wish I had all of the boxes and boxes of comic books I had as a kid. I'd probably read them all again. I bet they'd be worth a fortune.

[N2NH]

I wish I had all of the boxes and boxes of comic books I had as a kid. I'd probably read them all again. I bet they'd be worth a fortune.

I do too. I had about 2,000 of the '60s ones including some very rare X-Men. Seems that, according to Stan Lee, only 9 copies of first 30 issues were sold. I had 5 thru 40. BUT I did get to meet Stan a few times on a radio show I engineered. This was in the 70s. He asked me where I bought my X-Men and then shook my hand. Seems that the printer had an agreement with him to only keep printing if they sold at least 9 issues and I was #9. He gave me a No-Prize after stating I did what the Mighty Thor couldn't do. Save the X-Men. :lol:

[KC2KFC]

The Majesty of Calmness by William George Jordan. I found it at a thrift store.

[N7YA]

I know i put a hold on going Amazon-crazy...but i just ordered a copy of The Real Frank Zappa.

[N2NH]

"The Island at the Center of the World - The epic story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony that Shaped America" by Russell Shorto.

BLURB follows:


When the British wrested New Amsterdam from the Dutch in 1664, the truth about its thriving, polyglot society began to disappear into myths about an island purchased for 24 dollars and a cartoonish peg-legged governor. But the story of the Dutch colony of New Netherland was merely lost, not destroyed: 12,000 pages of its records--recently declared a national treasure--are now being translated. Drawing on this remarkable archive, Russell Shorto has created a gripping narrative--a story of global sweep centered on a wilderness called Manhattan--that transforms our understanding of early America.

The Dutch colony pre-dated the "original" thirteen colonies, yet it seems strikingly familiar. Its capital was cosmopolitan and multi-ethnic, and its citizens valued free trade, individual rights, and religious freedom. Their champion was a progressive, young lawyer named Adriaen van der Donck, who emerges in these pages as a forgotten American patriot and whose political vision brought him into conflict with Peter Stuyvesant, the autocratic director of the Dutch colony. The struggle between these two strong-willed men laid the foundation for New York City and helped shape American culture. The Island at the Center of the World uncovers a lost world and offers a surprising new perspective on our own.

Revue follows:

As the song goes, "Even Old New York was once New Amsterdam." Unfortunately, for many Americans, that is the limit of their knowledge about the Dutch colony that was seized by the English in 1664. Shorto, author of two previous books and articles published in the New Yorker and the New York Times Magazine, presents an outstanding and revealing chronicle of the Dutch presence on Manhattan Island. Much of his research is based on recently translated Dutch primary sources that have languished in archives in Albany. Written in elegant prose, this enthralling story provides original perspectives on several historical figures, including Henry Hudson, Peter Minuit, and Peter Stuyvesant. Shorto also highlights the contributions of Andriaen van der Donck, an energetic, charismatic man who played an integral part in creating a dynamic, diverse, and tolerant society that appears refreshing when compared to the neighboring Puritan-dominated colony in Massachusetts. This is an important work. Jay Freeman

From HERE. (http://www.amazon.com/Island-Center-World-Manhattan-Forgotten/dp/1400078679/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1405574454&sr=1-1&keywords=the+island+at+the+center+of+the+world)

[n2ize]

I rarely read literature, fiction or non-fiction. I generally read text books, mostly Math and Science textbooks or books about computers and computer technology.

[N2NH]

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CjXtoDbakPE/SSipgfQGNFI/AAAAAAAABIw/lc7RhJ1CocE/s320/binary.jpg

[K7SGJ]

I rarely read literature, fiction or non-fiction. I generally read text books, mostly Math and Science textbooks or books about computers and computer technology.


That explains a lot........ :stickpoke:

[KC2KFC]

I rarely read literature, fiction or non-fiction. I generally read text books, mostly Math and Science textbooks or books about computers and computer technology.
That's too bad. I read somewhere, recently, reading fiction improves brain function.

[N2NH]

A book by the Washington Post on the Snowden leaks and what they mean to anyone on the Internet. WaPo won the Pulitzer for their coverage on the Snowdon Affair.

BLURB Follows:

NSA Secrets: Government Spying in the Internet Age

The NSA's extensive surveillance program has riveted America as the public questions the threats to their privacy. As reported by The Washington Post, NSA SECRETS delves into the shadowy world of information gathering, and exposes how data about you is being gathered every day.

From his earliest encrypted exchanges with reporters, Edward Snowden knew he was a man in danger. Sitting on a mountain of incriminating evidence about the NSA surveillance programs, Snowden was prepared to risk his freedom, and his very life, to let the world know about the perceived overreach of the NSA and the massive collection of personal information that was carried out in the name of national security by the U.S. government.

The Washington Post’s complete coverage of the NSA spying scandal, which it helped break, is now collected in one place to give as comprehensive a view of the story as is known. From the first contact with Snowden to the latest revelations in worldwide cellphone tracking, the award-winning reporters at the Post have vigorously reported on the scope of the NSA’s surveillance. Snowden called the internet “a TV that watches you,” and accused the government of "abusing [it] in secret to extend their powers beyond what is necessary and appropriate." Here, the secrets are revealed of those who tried in vain to remain in the shadows.

Webpage ($2.99 B&N ePub or Amazon AZW) (https://account.washingtonpost.com/actmgmt/help/washington-post-e-books)

If anyone wants to know how to read these ebooks on their computer, just download Calibre HERE. (http://calibre-ebook.com/)

[N2NH]

Plum Island, by Nelson DeMille

BLURB follows:

Wounded in the line of duty, NYPD homicide detective John Corey convalesces in the Long Island township of Southold, home to farmers, fishermen -- and at least one killer. Tom and Judy Gordon, a young, attractive couple Corey knows, have been found on their patio, each with a bullet in the head. The local police chief, Sylvester Maxwell, wants Corey's big-city expertise, but Maxwell gets more than he bargained for.

The early signs point to a burglary gone wrong. But because the Gordons were biologists at Plum Island, the offshore animal disease research site rumored to be involved in germ warfare, it isn't long before the media is suggesting that the Gordons stole something very deadly. Suddenly a local double murder becomes a crime with national and worldwide implications.

This is a page turner for me and a good who-dun-it, similar to the classics, but with a more modern approach. Not bad and I recommend it to anyone wanting something to read in the air-conditioning, the beach or a long train ride.

[NM5TF]

just finished re-reading George Orwell's "Animal Farm" for the Nth time....1 of my favorites "...all animals are equal, but some are more equal"

now re-reading Jack London's "Call Of The Wild"....what a magnificent story !!!

after that will take on Graham Hancock's "Fingerprints Of The Gods" again....fascinating theory he has about lost civilizations and
the precession of the Equinoxes....

[WØTKX]

That's too bad. I read somewhere, recently, reading fiction improves brain function.

With the likely exception of narcissist manifestos like The Turner Diaries and Atlas Shrugged?

Oh, and anything by L. Ron Hubbard.

[NQ6U]

Maps and Legends, by Michael Chabon. A sample:


"His was the kind of madness that reads the random text of the natural world and finds messages and secret connections, the agency of elves and demons and other liminal beings."

God damn, I wish I could write like that.

[N7YA]

That is pretty good, i must admit. :yes:

[NQ6U]

That is pretty good, i must admit. :yes:

Chabon could write about the most banal topic and make it sound like poetry. That was from a non-fiction work, and it referred to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's father, who died in an insane asylum.

Here's a excerpt from his (IMHO) greatly under-appreciated novel, The Yiddish Policeman's Union:




"The Yiddish Policeman's Union," says the pie man's daughter, sitting down on the bench beside Landsman. She has taken off her apron and washed her hands. Above the elbows, her freckled arms are dusted with flour. There is flour in her blond eyebrows. She wears her hair tied back in a black elastic. She is a hauntingly plain woman with watery blues eyes, about Landsman's age. She gives off a smell of butter, tobacco, and a sour tang of dough that he finds weirdly erotic. She lights a menthol cigarette and sends a jet of smoke toward him. "That's a new one."



The first time I came upon that paragraph, I must have read and reread it five times in succession, just reveling in it's linguistic artistry. My wife doesn't like me to read his stuff in bed because I keep bothering her, reading passages out loud.

[N2NH]

Nelson DeMille's book got me started in Mystery/Detective books for the first time. Been delving into Hammett, Chandler, Christie, Queen and Stout.

Listening to Ellery Queens "The Cat Has Claws" while reading "The Door Into Summer" (Heinlein) for the 3rd time and "Tell Me Why" (Time Riley) about the Beatles from 1967 to the Present, particularly their breakup. Both books are page turners.

[N7YA]

I think i am going to pass on the books by all former KISS members...aside from Ace Frehley. I read his book, it was ok.

[N2NH]

I think i am going to pass on the books by all former KISS members...aside from Ace Frehley. I read his book, it was ok.

I'm not a big KISS fan. Queen, yes. KISS were more or less local guys from Long Island.

Have you had a chance to hear Nikki Sixx show, Sixx Sense? It's syndicated (FM) and on in the area here.

[N7YA]

I haven't. But i do know he thinks Gene Simmons is a douche...which is like saying a book has pages and words. Gene is a complete douche, Paul is a company man, Peter is a bitter old man and Ace is a complete space cadet...but he's my favorite because all he wants to do is have fun, play rock and roll and be Ace Frehley. I cant argue with that!


But yeah, Ace is as tuned in as a single gym sock.

[N2NH]

I haven't. But i do know he thinks Gene Simmons is a douche...which is like saying a book has pages and words. Gene is a complete douche, Paul is a company man, Peter is a bitter old man and Ace is a complete space cadet...but he's my favorite because all he wants to do is have fun, play rock and roll and be Ace Frehley. I cant argue with that!


But yeah, Ace is as tuned in as a single gym sock.

What was Ace's book called? I'm going to look it up and give it a try.

My favorite spacey rocker is Keith Moon. Just thinking about him makes me laugh. The Beatle book is better than I expected... pretty long, but when they're this good you don't want to finish too soon.

[N8XE]

Currently reading:

Pale Blue Dot - Carl Sagan
My Four Years in Germany - James Gerard
Audiobooks:
A Brief History of Everything - Bill Bryson
The Civil War - A Narrative, Volume 3 - Shelby Foote

I don't watch TV very much

73, Jason N8XE

[NM5TF]

Robert Anson Heinlein's "Stranger In A Strange Land"---the unabridged & UNCUT version...:clap:

includes some 60K words cut from original release in 1961...sex, sex, and more sex.....:snooty:

[N7YA]

What was Ace's book called? I'm going to look it up and give it a try.

My favorite spacey rocker is Keith Moon. Just thinking about him makes me laugh. The Beatle book is better than I expected... pretty long, but when they're this good you don't want to finish too soon.


Its called No Regrets. :lol: ...go figure.

I would have loved to read a book by Keith Moon! And i will agree on the Beatles. I think that would be a good read.

[N2NH]

Its called No Regrets. :lol: ...go figure.

I would have loved to read a book by Keith Moon! And i will agree on the Beatles. I think that would be a good read.

Got the next best thing. A book about Keith Moon. Dear Boy: The Life of Keith Moon, by (http://ebooks.nypl.org/8E51183F-D564-4598-87A9-89DBE01B4E8D/10/50/en/ContentDetails.htm?id=4DBA1985-0A23-43A8-8B98-4B2D186AB490)Tony Fletcher (http://ebooks.nypl.org/8E51183F-D564-4598-87A9-89DBE01B4E8D/10/50/en/BANGSearch.dll?Type=Creator&ID=294848&PerPage=24&SortBy=CollDate) (Updated 2005) (http://ebooks.nypl.org/8E51183F-D564-4598-87A9-89DBE01B4E8D/10/50/en/ContentDetails.htm?id=4DBA1985-0A23-43A8-8B98-4B2D186AB490)
Next week's read.:yes:

[N7YA]

Thats the thing with auto's penned by people other than the books namesake...you never know if people close to that person are going to come out and say that the book was all false crap, or if its the most accurate representation of that person to date.

I would hate to think that Keith Moon was actually a mellow, stay-at-home guy who only did this stuff for the camera....except for the OD'ing part, that was kind of real.

[N2NH]

Thats the thing with auto's penned by people other than the books namesake...you never know if people close to that person are going to come out and say that the book was all false crap, or if its the most accurate representation of that person to date.

I would hate to think that Keith Moon was actually a mellow, stay-at-home guy who only did this stuff for the camera....except for the OD'ing part, that was kind of real.

The book actually sez the opposite. What you saw? That was Keith. If anything he was just as bad if not worse in private. There was the story of how Led Zeppelin got it's name. The original group in the UK was The New Yardbirds having come out of The Yardbirds. They were trying to come up with a name for their group since a US tour was looming and the Yardbirds hadn't done too well in the US. When Keith Moon heard that they wanted to change the name, Keith said that it would go over like a lead balloon. Hence Led Zeppelin was born. At least that's how I heard it. So far, I've just scratched the surface. It's a week or so away from becoming the book in my hands, but I am looking forward to it.

Finished Door into Summer. Will start Memos from Purgatory by Harlan Ellison. Ought to be quite a ride.

[NQ6U]

Just finished Swann's Way, the first book (of seven) of In Search of Lost Time*. I was always a little afraid of tackling Proust but was pleasantly surprised to find that, despite the occasional thousand-word sentence, it was quite readable. I enjoyed it.

I am taking a break before I start the next volume, however.




*aka Remembrance of Things Past.

[N2NH]

Listening to Detroit: An American Autopsy by Charlie LeDuff. Excellent. (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/detroit-charlie-leduff/1113472363?ean=9781594205347)

Reading Tinsel Town: Murder, Morphine and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood by William J. Mann.. (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tinseltown-william-j-mann/1118705883?ean=9780062242167)

[n2ize]

"Park Avenue... Sou'.

[N7YA]

Im on to 'Fire In The Head' by Tom Cowan.


So far, so good. :)

[NQ6U]

Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides. Won the Pulitzer Prize in 2002.

[K7SGJ]

Just finished Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, again, for the umpteenth time. Still a good read.

[N2NH]

The Hot Zone by Richard Preston (non-fiction):


The bestselling landmark account of the first emergence of the Ebola virus. A highly infectious, deadly virus from the central African rain forest suddenly appears in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. There is no cure. In a few days 90 percent of its victims are dead. A secret military SWAT team of soldiers and scientists is mobilized to stop the outbreak of this exotic "hot" virus. The Hot Zone tells this dramatic story, giving a hair-raising account of the appearance of rare and lethal viruses and their "crashes" into the human race. Shocking, frightening, and impossible to ignore, The Hot Zone proves that truth really is scarier than fiction.

[wa6mhz]

I am headed for the human's litterbox, and taking the DEC 14 QST with me! Great project on an 8877 KW amp in this issue!

[K7SGJ]

I am headed for the human's litterbox, and taking the DEC 14 QST with me! Great project on an 8877 KW amp in this issue!

Oh no, toidy germs.

[NQ6U]

Oh no, toidy germs.

You'se gets a lot more dan toidy goims from da terlet.

[N2NH]

Starting "Murder at the Vicarage" a classic by Agatha Christie. It's a lot more fun than I thought it would be.

BLURB: The tranquil village of St. Mary Mead, which nestles picturesquely in the rolling hills of the English countryside, is not quite as peaceful as it might first appear.

Over dinner at the vicarage, the vicar, his glamorous young wife Griselda, the handsome artist Lawrence Redding and Hawes, the nervous curate, discuss how they each would murder the odious Colonel Protheroe. Only Miss Marple has the foresight to warn them not to tempt fate.

The next day, Protheroe is found with a bullet in his head, slumped across the writing desk in the vicar's study...

[koØm]

http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/ham-mac/

.

[N2NH]

A series of Christmas short stories by Dame Agatha with both Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple stories.

The title story in audiobook form...


http://youtu.be/RCgxcB5g3zg

[NA4BH]

A good little book

http://www.summersdale.com/coverbook/Shit_Happens_So_Get_Over_It_RGB_cropped.jpg

[N2NH]

The Joy of the Gospel by Pope Francis. (http://www.amazon.com/Joy-Gospel-Evangelii-Gaudium/dp/1593252625/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419659007&sr=1-2&keywords=the+joy+of+the+gospel)

[N8XE]

Just finished listening to Silent Night, a book about the WW1 Christmas Truce of 1914. Now listening to "A Failed Empire: The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev (The New Cold War History)"

And on my Kindle: Just finished "A Christmas Carol" by Dickens (which is my tradition this time of year). I am back to reading "The First World War" by John Keegan

And on the toilet, The 2015 World Almanac... it's like Wikipedia in book form!!

Jason N8XE

[NQ6U]

Just finished with The Thousand Mile War, a chronicle of military action in the Aleutian Islands during WW II.

[K7SGJ]

If I didn't know better, I'd say it sounds like you guys are war mongers.

However, for what it's worth, I just finished up Pendulum of War: The Three Battles of El Alamein not too long ago. Good read.

[N2NH]

Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's History-Making Race Around the World by Matthew Goodman (http://www.amazon.com/Eighty-Days-Elizabeth-Bislands-History-Making/dp/0345527267)


On November 14, 1889, Nellie Bly, the crusading young female reporter for Joseph Pulitzer's "World" newspaper, left New York City by steamship on a quest to break the record for the fastest trip around the world. Also departing from New York that day--and heading in the opposite direction by train--was a young journalist from "The Cosmopolitan" magazine, Elizabeth Bisland. Each woman was determined to outdo Jules Verne's fictional hero Phileas Fogg and circle the globe in less than eighty days. The dramatic race that ensued would span twenty-eight thousand miles, captivate the nation, and change both competitors' lives forever. The two women were a study in contrasts. Nellie Bly was a scrappy, hard-driving, ambitious reporter from Pennsylvania coal country who sought out the most sensational news stories, often going undercover to expose social injustice. Genteel and elegant, Elizabeth Bisland had been born into an aristocratic Southern family, preferred novels and poetry to newspapers, and was widely referred to as the most beautiful woman in metropolitan journalism. Both women, though, were talented writers who had carved out successful careers in the hypercompetitive, male-dominated world of big-city newspapers. "Eighty Days" brings these trailblazing women to life as they race against time and each other, unaided and alone, ever aware that the slightest delay could mean the difference between victory and defeat...

Musical Interlude in which Doris gets her oats.


http://youtu.be/cTDg29LPqdo

[N2NH]

In a Glass Darkly by Agatha Christie.


The narrator is startled by a vision in his mirror: He sees a man with a scarred neck strangling a beautiful blonde. He later meets the woman in his vision, Sylvia, and notes her fiancé's scarred neck. He tells her of his premonition, and the engagement is broken off. But is that all there is to it?

[KC2KFC]

I am currently reading "The Proud Tower - A Portrait of the World Before the War 1890-1914" by Barbara Tuchman. A fascinating read about the decade and a half before that fateful August in 1914.

[KC2KFC]

"Blowing the Bloody Doors Off and Other Lessons in Life" by Michael Caine.

[KC2KFC]

"Agatha Christie an Autobiography"

[KC2KFC]

"Murder is Easy" Agatha Christie

[KC2KFC]

"Economic Facts and Fallacies" Thomas Sowell

[kb2crk]

Enemy Contact, Mike Madden
A continuation of Tom Clancys Jack Ryan series.

As for TV I caught Amazons Good Omens. Good Show

[kb2vxa]

Mary Shelley has been spinning in her grave with enough force to drive a dynamo ever since John L. Balderston butchered her Frankenstein to make a movie in 1931. He turned her erudite monster of the world who spoke perfect Victorian English into a grunting Neanderthal and dispersed any notion that Dr. Frankenstein had already destroyed his work on a female creation. Balderston couldn't get enough juice together to avoid the monster out of control trope, there's more box office when the story is split in two and Mary Shelly becomes the hissing Bride of Frankenstein. It took many movies later for Gene Wilder to make it clear HE was Doctor Frankenstein and not the grunting, growling monster. Unfortunately Mel Brooks ruined the name of Waterloo's Prussian Hero: Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher for the sake of a few cheap laughs.

When the whole of Chapter 20 is removed and along with it key dialog like “You have destroyed the work which you began; what is it that you intend? Do you dare to break your promise? I have endured toil and misery; I left Switzerland with you; I crept along the shores of the Rhine, among its willow islands and over the summits of its hills. I have dwelt many months in the heaths of England and among the deserts of Scotland. I have endured incalculable fatigue, and cold, and hunger; do you dare destroy my hopes?”

“Begone! I do break my promise; never will I create another like yourself, equal in deformity and wickedness.”

“Slave, I before reasoned with you, but you have proved yourself unworthy of my condescension. Remember that I have power; you believe yourself miserable, but I can make you so wretched that the light of day will be hateful to you. You are my creator, but I am your master; obey!”

“The hour of my irresolution is past, and the period of your power is arrived. Your threats cannot move me to do an act of wickedness; but they confirm me in a determination of not creating you a companion in vice. Shall I, in cool blood, set loose upon the earth a daemon whose delight is in death and wretchedness? Begone! I am firm, and your words will only exasperate my rage.”

The movie lost the whole idea that Mrs. Shelley conveyed in her novel, beware the creation of an artificially intelligent being superior to its creator. Perhaps the author most borrowed from is Issac Asimov and there is even an AI robot named Asimo, one of the first out of Japan. What are the most borrowed are his Three Laws of Robotics;
1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2) A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
Then in his Foundation Quadrilogy the robot we met in Caves of Steel, R. Daneel Olivaw at the end was discovered to have been controlling the last 30,000 years of galactic history, and survived by replacing parts as they wore out including his positronic brain. Fate, AI be thy name.
It was R. Daneel Olivaw who authored The Zeroth Law that can supersede the other three;
0) A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.
In The Wrath of Kahn Spock comes up with a variant, actually a problem in physics, a bit of Vulcan illogic: The Needs of the Many Outweigh the Needs of the Few. With the Enterprise in imminent danger of destruction, Spock enters a highly radioactive chamber in order to fix the ship’s drive so the crew can escape danger. Spock quickly perishes, and, with his final breaths, says to Kirk, “Don’t grieve, Admiral. It is logical. The needs of the many outweigh . . .” Kirk finishes for him, “The needs of the few.” Spock replies, “Or the one.”
Food for thought, Spock being half Vulcan represented AI with a few built in safeguards that could be reasoned with, Kirk managed. Then there were his parents, Amanda needed the patience of a saint to put up with Sarek. Klingons wondered but said little of how Vulcans managed to put up with the horrible stench of humans. And so it went in the Star Drek Mythos until Gene Rottenberries died, being Jewish he was buried before sundown thus avoiding olfactory upset.

Mythos borrowed from the Lovecraft Mythos, Rottenberries borrowed from John Smallberries of Buckaroo Banzai fame. If you look at the builder's plates on the bridges of various Federation craft you'll see references to Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems in tribute to Buckaroo Banzai. There's even a Star Wars Easter egg in one of the movies (naturally I forgot which one) where a tiny R2D2 runs across the bottom of the main view screen.

As long as I've gone from reading A Modern Prometheus to blundering across GNDN conduits, were you as perplexed as I over all the conflicts in Amok Time where we're introduced to strange Vulcan mating practices. Perhaps that's where the insult "yomama mates out of season" originated. First I wondered why this high muckety muck carried in a sedan chair Vulcan matriarch T'Pau was exceptionally confusing. Why was she the only Vulcan ever to speak with a thick accent calling him Spoke. Cummon now, every being in the galaxy except the reptilian Gorn speaks perfect English! Where were Spock's parents? Could it be that between prearranged marriage and the aversion to inter-species sex made them too embarrassed to attend? They must have been the only two genetically compatible, or Kirk would have left a trail of little bastards from here to Beyond Antares. That IMO was the best song to come out of Star Trek sung by Nichelle Nichols, who’d previously performed for Duke Ellington. Lastly my question has been asked by space aliens along the way and always sidestepped, "If yours is a mission of exploration, why the warship armed to the teeth?" That sounds much like the question Montezuma asked Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés in 1520.

On forgetful edit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiMUV7riSAM

[kb2crk]

Well that book lasted two days. Not bad. Time to find something else.

[KC2KFC]

"The Path Between the Seas - The Creation of the Panama Canal 1870-1914" by David McCullough

[W5BRM]

"The Path Between the Seas - The Creation of the Panama Canal 1870-1914" by David McCullough


Just added this one to my Audible list. Been thinking about for a while. Any good?

[KC2KFC]

Just added this one to my Audible list. Been thinking about for a while. Any good?
I've just begun the book, but so far I'm enjoying it. McCullough has done the research and makes you feel like you are a part of the history. He discusses De Lesseps who was given credit for building the Suez Canal. It was interesting to find out De Lesseps was not an engineer, but more of an entrepreneur. The book was written in the mid 1970's around the time of the Torrijos-Carter Treaties. It only covers the history up to 1914. I have a keen interest in the late Victorian/Edwardian era of history.

[KC2KFC]

Just finished the book "1918 The Last Act" by Barrie Pitt. Very well written book about the final German offensive which ultimately failed for many reasons, including Ludendorff's loss of nerve.

[KC2KFC]

Just finished "The Battle of Verdun" by Alan Axelrod. It was nothing but back and forth and so many lives lost with nothing gained. War is such a waste.

Just started "Voices of the Codebreakers" by Michael Paterson.