The Writer Was kidnapped By Internet Hamsters

Posted on by accordingtohoyt

They’re demanding her weight in cheese crackers, and let me tell you that’s a lot of cheese crackers.

Okay, that’s a blatant lie. I mean, look at that face. Could he kidnap anything, except perhaps with an excess of cuteness?

Actually the writer has come down with something, or perhaps re-come-down with something. Seems to be stomach flu with a side of exhaustion.

This wouldn’t be a big deal for posting the promo post, which requires no original writing, BUT it’s a problem for getting a novel — Bowl of Red — ready to upload. And it must be uploaded by midnight, or bad, bad, bad things happen.

So I have my trustworthy team — Amy B. deserving particular notice as thorough and lightening fast — going through, and I’m entering corrections as fast as I can.

Of course, part of why it’s so late is that I was doing structural tweaks while coming down with this and took forever.

So, wish me well. And yes, I promise to crash and rest tomorrow. Also, possibly to put up promo post.

So this is not an I’m well post, but definitely an I’m alive post.

Debate: Does the left side of the isle behave like clinical narcissists? And if so is it because they are or because the dictates of their philosophy make them act that way?

While doing so, I beg you with tears in my eyes not to set fire to the koi pond — again — and not to feed the dragon marshmallows dipped in peanut butter. We all remember what happened last time you little maniacs did that, don’t we?

So. Behave. No. Behave the other way.

I’ll be back.

191 thoughts on “The Writer Was kidnapped By Internet Hamsters”

  1. I heard a rumor that the last time somebody kidnapped our Host, the kidnappers decided to give her back. [Very Very Big Crazy Grin]

    Oh, the kidnappers didn’t have to pay Dan to take her back but the laughter they received was bad enough. 😆

    1. The time before that, the aardvark paid the ransom. Technically.

      The kidnappers changed their names, moved to a new city, and dedicated the rest of their lives to anonymous good deeds.

      1. Not “Ransom Of Red Chief” as the Kidnappers didn’t have to Pay to give her Back.

        But they definitely found her a Major Problem. 😈

      1. “What I have are writing skills. Writing skills that make me a nightmare for publishers like you.”

      2. They are all related somehow.

        Ran across a funny discussion of a meme: the complaint that Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch were not Jewish in the MCU; the counter that it was disassociate them from Magneto; the observation that there are other Jews; and the retort that the person’s Jewish friends are in fact all related to Magneto.

        The discussion consisted mostly of Jews claiming to be related to Magneto, and most of the rest was Gentiles saying their Jewish friends were also, and a little bit on the complaint.

  2. As to the debate question, I believe the power of “and” needs to be embraced; Leftists are both.

    2. One of my hopefully-future-plans is a portal fantasy where it’s a barbarian from a world of sword and sorcery who gets deposited into our world and has to navigate the reality of the Current Year.

      Fortunately, he ends up with a ‘native guide,’ a woman who also takes it upon herself to enlighten him, and who finds herself getting quite frustrated in their exchanges. Like how she tries to explain that science is really completely different from the oracles of his world, that pronounce prophecies that are just the wishes of a corrupt priesthood, demanding sacrifices of blood and money and visiting punishments on any who disobey the oracle’s decree.

      She ends up getting the worse of the arguments, but then the barbarian wasn’t all that fond of the civilizations of his own world.

      Spoiler: he’s the one who ends up ‘converting’ her to barbarism.

      But he still insists she carry a gun while he sticks to his big sword during their dungeon crawls.

        1. I like it…

          I’ve always loved portal fantasies for the ability to put together characters who would never otherwise be able to interact. Saddle up and ride a saurian beast, and bring in the cyborg pirates too!

          The possibilities are endless…

          The prospect of allowing my modern female character to get a good look at what a matriarchal, goddess-worshipping society is actually like…well that’s just a side bonus.

        2. “That’s not a flaming greatsword +1.”

          [pulls out weapon]

          “[i][b]That’s[/b][/i] a flaming greatsword +1.”

          1. Disputed.
            Obviously, it should be, and in most of the world it is.
            But in the US, it isn’t, necessarily.
            Sources disagree, individual stories may or may not be, and the chain of custody involves red yarn stretched across a room accompanied by the ranting of an unwashed man.
            Not to mention that prior to L. Ron Hubbard being a dick, authors made frequent use of each other’s characters. And HPL’s circle of Soggothery were huge fans of collaborative creation.
            But the IP holding concern which bought the still existing copyrights is guarding it like a dragon in a hill of gold.
            So…
            Not until 2028.
            Unless you have the resources to take on a multi-million company that regards you as an existential threat.

            A character in a free webcomic, you can get away with, because you do not directly profit from sales. Especially since it’s a parody, and the character is obviously being used as a metaphor.

      3. Sounds like ‘Beastmaster 2: Through The Portal Of Time’

        Dar, the Beastmaster, pursues his evil half-brother Arklon through the Portal Of Time to our world, is bailed out of jail by rich girl Jackie Trent…

        With Marc Singer, Kari Wuhrer, Sarah Douglas and Wings Hauser.

        Dar, staring at a plate of fancy rich-people food: “Is this to eat, or to look upon?”

        1. I saw that one. The shift to comedy was a little odd compared to the original, but it had it’s good points – Kari Wuhrer is always fun, and I liked that sorceress ally of the half-brother and all her anachronistic-seeming modern references, and stuff like: “I don’t know why everyone wants to cleave my bosom? If you ask me it cleaves just fine by itself!”

            1. If you’re riding a bomb, you might as well whoop, wave your hat and otherwise have fun with it. Many a stinker has been elevated to cult classic status by an energetic performance.

        2. I’d like to strike a balance between comedic moments and serious. Like, the girl’s first big revelation/turning point being when she gets captured by an evil wizard from the sword and sorcery world to get a magic McGuffin, and he replaces her with a mimic so no one will know.

          Naturally the barbarian saves her, but the shock comes later when she finds out the mimic has just been parroting canned phrases, talking points and slogans…and nobody has noticed.

          And she thinks: “What kind of person am I? And what kind of friends have I been hanging out with?”

      4. I wonder — since the portal from Earth to Barsoom is indeed two-way (as it appears in Burroughs’ histories of Mars), then what would the story have looked like if Dejah Thoris had been the traveler to John Carter’s world?

        1. Well first, I’m assuming there would be some kind of adjustment to her in transit so the higher gravity of earth wouldn’t crush her.

          Also, assuming she meets John Carter, he wouldn’t have any superpowers either, so it would probably be more akin to a classic western adventure.

          Unless there’s some other evil aliens around and Carter and Deja have to stop them?

            1. Unfortunately, the older that I get, the less realistic that I see the nudity on Barsoom.

              IE Clothing is protection against the environment and other problems. 😉

                1. Ah yes! Let’s not forget the “Cool” factor. 😉

                  Seriously, one generally Hard SF author had “Transforming” space-fighters that could become humanoid ground fighting-machines.

                  He basically defending this idea by invoking the “It’s Cool” factor. 😀

            2. She discovers that she can get shoes with steel toe inserts and spends most of the shopping trip trying to figure out an adorable outfit she can kill people with.

          2. Late 18th century clothes on a woman whose idea of a large quantity of high fashion clothing is bejeweled pasties and G string (at least according to one B. Vajello)? It’s going to make the scene in the recent (NOT 1984 the first one) Wonder Woman look mild. And where DO you high the dagger and weapons?

            1. Hiding weapons would be so much easier in a skirt.

              The trick is getting them out fast enough to do any good.

              1. Modify the pockets in the skirt, with a sheath hanging from an inner belt between skirt/blouse or just skirt) and first petticoat. Be seen removing items from pocket, so people don’t catch the 1) open pocket on the other side or 2) the reinforced slit ahead of the pocket that leads to the knife.

                Um, yes, I’ve given this some thought. Why do you ask?

                1. Oooh, ooh, there’s a gal who did an outfit very similar… the history fashion costume lady on youtube….

                  :dives off to try to find it, when it was watched on husband’s PC:

                  YES! Second result for Murder Skirt!

              2. Depends on what you want to hide. Honestly I can’t say. Only worn a kilt once, didn’t have all the accesories (no sporran, no skean dhu). Honestly from what I’ve seen you’re more likely to cut yourself with the skean dhu than an opponent, and it’s in your sock. Maybe back of the thighs? Certainly not between my chubby thighs they already would chafe. Small holdout gun, ‘Thena’s burner, Type 1 phaser (Original star trek not the TNG Dustbuster). Maybe a mid lenght dagger/dirk. I only have a 30″ inseam so if the kilt’s just below my knees you’ve got 11-12″ of length. Throwing knives, throwing stars, chakram (if you can manage not to cut your thighs or had drawing it). And I can’t Imagine Dejah Thoris is some 6′ amazon like Wonder Woman. We’re likely talking my 5’ 6″ or smaller so shorter inseam. Although maybe her thighs don’t touch and likely her posterior endowment is mor than mine 🙂 so her skirt would be clear of the backs of her thighs giving better concealment of the whatever the weapon is.

              3. She’s an exotic (red skin, remember?) alien princess. Hiding the weapons would be optional. 😛

                For that matter, given her uniqueness and status, she could end up influencing fashion trends.

        3. Seeing as how Barsoom was “clothing optional”, it could have comedic potential. Or maybe a Burlesque one.

    3. My first thought was Gene Wolfe’s Wizard Knight duology.

      Nick Cole and Jason Anspach have started an interesting sub-genre, Wargate. They’re fun, but they don’t have quite the same fish out of water feel as traditional portal fantasy.

  4. Looking forward to your return to your feet whenever you can get around to it, dear hostess. Meanwhile, as long as you have to rest and have raised the subject of the link between crime and adorable little hamsters, allow me to direct your attention to the recent film “The Bad Guys” (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8115900/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0). Any further details would amount to spoilers ….

      1. I’m sorry, but I’m not sure what you mean. It’s not as if that’s a link to the movie itself, just its IMDB page. It’s available via Peacock and Amazon Prime, but prehistoric dire wolf that I am, we watched it via a Blu-ray checked out from the local public library.

        However you can, though, do watch it; it’s a delight, and the voice actors are terrific! Interestingly, the source material is a series of books for VERY young readers (1st-2nd grade), which you’d expect would have limited appeal, but the production crew somehow came up with the best old-fashioned heist picture/crime comedy in years. Have fun!

        1. I think Sarah is asking for you to email that link to her hotmail account, so that she’ll be reminded about that movie later on when she checks her email, otherwise it will slip her mind by the time she’s able to talk to Dan about it later on.

          1. yes, that was it. Particularly since I’m working on release of book. ALSO I’ll remember there was a movie, but not the title, and the search comments function is terrible.

        2. She means she’ll forget what the movie was and where someone told her about it, just remembering that there’s a movie that Dan will like. 😀

          I’ll email it to her.

          1. Now I get it! Thank you very, very much. I’m still kind of a newbie here — not by length of subscription, but by how much I’ve been able to participate in the comments. Retirement has made almost everything better!

            1. Retirement is great!!!!

              Almost to the end of my 7th year (have to think about it). Took the back door into mine. Knew I was retiring before 65, and after hubby, who is older, but never had a firm date. Then something happened (won’t repeat it again). It was like a switch. Helped that hubby’s response was “Quit. Quit now.” Did. Worked from home as much as I could get away with before giving notice. Having known chronic migraine and back issues had it’s bonus, hadn’t taken excessive advantage, ever, not entirely false given the problem. Not quietly quitting, unless learning how to quit at 8 hours, when on salary counts (extra time not expected, just I got lost in what I was doing,. I liked what I did.) Gave notice (after year-end bonus, not stupid), granted most of remaining time was accrued vacation, but still.

        3. (I just today finally remembered to get decaf green tea that my husband asked me to pick up… last month. Because it didn’t end up in any of the lists, because he just asked, so I was always going “I KNOW THERE IS A THING THAT I AM SUPPOSED TO GET!!!”)

          1. Damn, I sure have that t-shirt. If it’s not on the shopping list, it may or may not get bought, even if it’s something we get Every. Single. Week.

            (I’m the Designated Shopper. Have been since the mask mandates came down from Covidiocy. Not to mention that I was first to recover from the Mark I variant of the Coof. The interlude when I was disabled with a blown out knee was a happy time…)

      2. Peacock is also showing “They Live”.
        For now.
        The movie spends a surprisingly large amount of time not available on streaming services. (And yes, there are conspiracy theories about that.)

        1. Speaking of conspiracy theory (and T J Thyne’s character), I purchased the Bones TV series. Supposed to be delivered today through Wednesday, but they actually have to ship it first…

        1. I play a necromancer in Everquest 2.

          “Tlazolteotla rips out the enemy’s hearts and distributes the energy to the rest of the party.”

      2. May those that love us love us,
        and those that don’t love us, may God turn their hearts.
        If He can’t turn their hearts, may He turn their ankles, so we’ll know them by their limping.
        (Traditional Irish Blessing)

  6. So. Behave. No. Behave the other way.

    Oh, we’re being have. We’re very have indeed.

    I’m simultaneously watching the football game and our brand new robot vacuum cleaner. I can’t tell you at this point which is the more interesting.

    Do feel better soon, Sarah (arm punch).

      1. Not a Roomba, and sadly, not to be retained either way.

        So I set the thing up and let it wander around through the apartment, bumping into things and finding its way around them.

        As expected, when its battery depleted to a certain level, it would return to its docking station for a snack. But with this particular model, it was supposed to empty the dust it collected into the docking station as well. The recharge worked well enough, but the dust transfer action caused a circuit breaker in our apartment to pop.

        Twice.

        I printed out the return labels a little while ago, and that’s just as well, maybe. I found myself talking the the gizmo as it rolled around, which is kind of pathetic — I was turning into one of my own vignettes!

    2. “There are two kinds of people. 1) Those who cannot extrapolate from incomplete data.”

  9. Yes, the Left behaves like clinical narcissists about to go super-clinical. It’s part of abandoning prudence (aka practical wisdom).

  10. The camel swears he was not involved in the kidnapping. He got his editorial changes to Sarah days ago, and never followed up with a pesky editorial letter with extra minor changes in it or anything.

    As for the behavior of the left, while narcissism plays a (large) role, I’ve always felt that the dictates of their philosophy require sociopathy, or possibly borderline personality disorder, more than anything else.

  11. Take care of yourself and the kitties hope you feel better soon too! I kind-of feel like I wasted my weekend as well since I really did need to get some more floor cleaning done but I made up for it creatively, I hope.

    1. Peanut Butter and Marshmallow creme (Name brand Fluff) and some soft white bread makes one of New Englands most divisive treats the Fluffernutter. You either grew up with them and they are the taste of childhood or you recoil in horror.

        1. weefreeirish you are my type of Leprachaun/Brownie and have excellent taste. Of course coming from the Emerald Isle I would expect nothing less…

          1. Considering we passed through New England on our way to the Left Coast, if I didn’t have an appreciation for Boiled dinners, clam rolls, and fluffanuttas – it’d be a wicked shame.

            And it would be “clurichaun / clúracán” if one was to be absolutely precse. Precice. Psrisise. Feck.

            Precise. I’m not drunk enough yet.

      2. Fluffernutter sounds like something that makes me glad to have been raised in the Midwest. The only time I liked marshmallow was as part of a S’more.

        1. As I said decisive and an acquired taste. Easier to acquire than say Necco wafers or (late lamented) Pilot and Royal Lunch Milk crackers.

        2. “S’more”, and I find I can’t have more than one s’more with a marshmallow in it. One is okay. Seconds are too rich. Second s’more without marshmallow, third s’more without chocolate either, as I’ve hit the Milk Chocolate limit. Sad. I know.

          1. By the third Fluffernutter you’re well on the way to sugar shock. Likely why there is so much Type 2 diabetes in New England, we love us some sweet things. Goo Goo clusters and Pecan pies got nothing on the treats popular in New England 🙂 .

            1. “Sugar Shock” … Never knew why until I was 30 … Dang Reactive Hypoglycemia, emphasis on the later. Shoots up like a rocket, crashes even faster, flattens like a pancake (no artificial infusion of insulin required).

  14. Dear Hostess please take care of yourself. Be sure to be well hydrated as stomach issues can cause dehydration and that can lead to a nasty feedback loop (trust me, been there, done that, got the T shirt. Three 1/2 days hospitalized is NOT good). And good luck with Bowl Of Red, reminds me its time to preorder it.

  15. Yes, dictates of their philosophy demand it. Fight me. (channeling you know who, who was the sterling example of what this philosophy twists you into)

    1. They can’t all be clinical narcissists…I think. Probably. Maybe. What I do know is that Marxism in all its permutations is poison. A mind virus. I’m not sure there’s any hope for the fully infected.

  16. The Reader is anxiously waiting for BOR. But not so anxiously that he wants you to push through illness. The Reader paid a decade long price for doing that when he was much younger – bad idea. Take care – we want many more stories.

  17. Debate: Does the left side of the isle behave like clinical narcissists? And if so is it because they are or because the dictates of their philosophy make them act that way?

    Yes.

    And it is a distinction without a difference. They both need to be decorating gibbets and feeding crows this Christmas. Unless they repent. But I might deserve worse than I’ve received, so I’ll leave their fate up to the rest of you…

    1. No smoking the Koi, externally OR internally. The silver fantails are expensive and hard to replace as it is.

            1. Well if it’s Bruce the Shark and his pals, yes. Otherwise you’re on your own. Althogh admittedly more people are killed by cows in an average year in the US than by sharks 🙂 .

  19. (rubs hand together)

    Unsupervised again!

    Ohboyohboy.

    What does this button do? It might be the one that turns off the self-allergy stuff? Or the one that generates a Douglas Adams ‘SEP’ (Somebody Else’s Problem) field over the US East Coast? or …

    Success to your work, and confusion to your enemies!

    1. Just do NOT, I repeat NOT mess with the coffee maker/espresso machine. It is touchy. It has a temper. Jeff is the only one who can make it behave after someone else messes with it. Jeff makes the Incredible Hulk (original version) look like an old-order Mennonite if he has to re-work the coffee maker.

      1. I still get flashbacks to the time the coffee maker cloned itself. A precise clone. Except for that one, teensy, terribly important detail…

      3. With an excellent ability to discern who goaded the pink elephants and blue mice into it, so don’t even try it by proxy.

      4. If it’s the Jeff I’m thinking of, he’ll rework it into a spaceship. Next time you want coffee it best be on Mars.
        (Waves at Jeff G., her brother in Heinlein.)

  21. How about this time we feed the dragon some koi dipped in peanut butter and set fire to the marshmallows?

    1. Um, since we are a week and a day from Halloween, with a waning moon . . . You just do that. I’m going to be in a shielded circle on the other side of the continent.

        1. Intelligent Dragons don’t “mess around” in another Dragon’s Lair.

          The Diner is Fluffy’s Lair. (Actually its Sarah’s Lair but Fluffy is “Second-Dragon”.)

            3. Because they are far too common, and usually tasteless.

              Alas, given a choice between a lawyer and a pound of tofu, most dragons would take the latter.

              1. Wow, lawyers blander than tofu that’s a thought. Maybe hit them with a big dose of Sesame oil?

                1. Lawyers?

                  400F used motor oil, neck deep. (Head down or feet down, your choice.)

                  (Not all of them; our friends’ daughter is a defense attorney in Nevada; she is OK.)

            1. Yeah that game ate quarters faster than a Defender game. My reaction time even as a 20 something was just not good enough

  22. Off Topic (or is it OOF! Topic! ?) or even Topic Revisited…

    Presuming minotuar in plural (I have met another, so it is possible), what is the collective noun (e.g. “Gaggle of geese” “Murder of crows” etc.)?

    Suggested (in https://accordingtohoyt.com/2020/02/13/a-propos-nothing/ ) have been:

    Amiability
    Labyrinth(ine)
    Maze
    Herd
    Range

    I have my preferences, of course, but then it’s not like the geese or crows picked their term themselves.

  23. Are All liberals clinically certifiable Narcissists? I can’t prove all but it is certainly predominant in their most visible members, Obama Clinton (both) Gore, Pelosi on and on. One odd thing I note is the daddy issues in their presidential candidates. Obama’s Dad split, Clintons Dad Split, Carters Mom ran the joint (dad deceased?). Kennedy was not his dads favorite son that one (Joe Jr) died in WWII and JFK seemed to be making up for it all his life. Rose Kennedy really seemed to rule the roost. Also JFK seems like textbook narcissistic. The womanizing is a way of saying “Look How Fricking Marvelous I Am”. Something deeply odd and significant here, but I cant tell if I’m seeing a trend or if my clever monkey mind has made a pattern out of whole cloth.

    1. Whatever it is, there seems to be something really weird around some of the senior democrats.

      Like Arkancide. It really is deeply weird, because if HRC had murderers on tap, you would think that she would be enough of a sicko to keep them busier than the Arkancide model implies.

      But, if not that, what?

      Possibly hanging around senior democrats is really that much legitimately bad for mental health?

      But, Epstein may have killed himself, but even if so, the circumstances are themselves evidence of some form of wrong doing.

  25. Why is it An Existential Threat To Our Democracy when a majority of the American people vote for something the Democrat politicians and their big-money donors don’t like? Seems more like the very essence of democracy to me — We The People telling them all to get stuffed.

    Why do Democrats rail endlessly against the Evils of Big Business — then celebrate Big Government? And why do they relentlessly drive the Big Government to destroy small businesses, which benefits Big Business?

    Lizzard Cheney doesn’t want Donald Trump’s testimony to the ‘January 6th Commission’ to be broadcast on TV because that might ‘turn the proceedings into a circus’. Turning that farce of an inquisition into a circus would be a great improvement.
    ———————————
    The U.S. Capitol is OUR house. Congresscritters are just the help.

    2. Democracy is basically a criminal act. Wolves deciding on sheep dinner. ‘Our Democracy’ is really the criminal acts of Democrats.

      I oppose democracy and favor republics.

      I would surely like to be an existential threat to ‘Our Democracy’.

      I will have to settle for just simply seeking justice.

    3. Why is it An Existential Threat To Our Democracy when a majority of the American people vote for something the Democrat politicians and their big-money donors don’t like?

      Because people voting for (and worse, possibly even electing) The Wrong People who might be able to do The Wrong Things actually, literally is a threat to Our Democracy as they mean it. There’s no misunderstanding or hyperbole or metaphor involved.

      Our Democracy, as in Ours not Yours, Deplorable Scum. Our Democracy is Ours by the grace of God (uh, uh, we mean Marx), and you can’t mess it up for us, it’s Ours! History says so!

      Once upon a time (about a century and a half ago, give or take) the most common term for what we know as The Democratic Party was instead… The Democracy. No kidding, read it in Dinesh D’Souza’s books, read it in comtemporary (e.g., during the Recent Unpleasantness) publications, though I’m still not sure exactly where this term came from originally.

      (Somewhere I have a mostly-written guest post, including a wonderful, extensive quote from the New York Times that says it all very well. Of course, that one is from 1863 or so…)

  26. Does the left side of the [a]isle behave like clinical narcissists? And if so is it because they are or because the dictates of their philosophy make them act that way?

    Like others before, I wish to Embrace the Power of ‘And’ here. Many or most of them do act so much like narcissists (even herd narcissists, which ought to be impossible but clearly isn’t). And their philosophy (a la Marx) is basically, totally and rottenly narcissistic — wherever the reality disagrees with Our Prophet Marx, it’s reality that has to give; wherever and however their opponents get in the way, they see only their own villainy reflected, projected, instead of the real individual people who are (sometimes) trying to get their attention and be heard.

    Herd narcissism truly ought to be oxymoronic, since narcissism by definition is always about me, me, ever and only and always me. Except, the grand leftist viewpoint doesn’t often see individuals at all, it’s at best a member ‘identifying’ as a part of some officially-recognized group; and to the extent most true-believing leftists have stopped seeing even themselves as real individuals, but have instead ‘identified’ with political groups, victim groups, oppressor groups. They can exist only as images in someone else’s approved, collective mirror. ‘Thought leaders’ do their thinking for them; collectivism isn’t only an idea, it’s a compulsion; any deviation from the herd’s latest-model mentality is punished with shunning or expulsion or all-out mindless attack. (So eerily reminscent of Body Snatchers dynamics…)

    Humans are basically not built to be hive-mind components; yet they try, they really do try.

    Now whether that was true from the beginning, or has been imposed or created in them along the way by leftism, might be really hard to tell. Again, perhaps, embrace the power of ‘and’..?

      1. I am.. shall we say, not exactly religious (if someone else is, that’s fine. In fact, great on them) but I am increasingly subscribing to this theory, alas.

        1. The Leprachaun and the Minotaur are onto something. I’m wondering if I get my perception on some of our upper crust Democrat pols I might not find that their knees go the wrong way and have little bumps on their forehead like the things that harassed the Doctors Burroughs and Doctors Carter. Either that or they’re Eddorians, but even an L2 wouldn’t see through that. As for the Father of Lies and his upper minions they are rather above my pay grade.

          1. “As for the Father of Lies and his upper minions they are rather above my pay grade.”

            Ah, but you can read about them.
            The Screwtape Letters, by C. S. Lewis

            1. Unfortunately like Gharlane of Eddore and his ilk the minions and lord of Hell can fool my powers of perception and make me see what the want me to see. Cutting through that kind of stuff takes an L3 and there are but 5 of those, all descendants of Kim and Clarissa Kinnison.

  27. As much as I like Sarah’s writings, why on Earth (or any other planet for that matter) would I kidnap her? Then I’d have to provide food, clothing, shelter, medical and dental, writing space, internet access, and attention. True, she’s really independent and self-supporting; but I mean really, Dan’s already doing a lot of that for me and everyone else. 😉

    2. You’re an otter, not a hamster. You’d have to have an otter reason for kidnapping her.
      (I couldn’t help myself. It just slipped out.)

        1. /emote Looks at the carp.

          “To eat it, or throw it; that is the question:
          Whether ’tis more prudent to assuage the pangs of the stomach
          the grumbles of an empty belly,
          Or to take fish against a Sea of punishness,
          And by opposing end them: to chomp, to eat
          No more; and by eat, say we end
          the belly-ache, and the thousands of meals
          That Flesh is heir to?”

      2. You do know that otters are opportunistic carnivores, don’t you? We eat small rodents for appetizers. Beavers and muskrats are too much trouble; and forget about capybaras!

        1. Small apology to Burl Ives …

          There’s a little white duck,
          Bleeding in the water.
          A little white duck,
          Bitten by an Otter.

          He took a bite from a lily pad
          And said ‘Yum um, a duck sal-ad’

          Quack, quack, Aaaack!

  28. “Does the left side of the isle behave like clinical narcissists? And if so is it because they are or because the dictates of their philosophy make them act that way?”

    Um, who cares? The enemy has identified his/her/xirself, and that’s all I need to know, really. The why’s and wherefores of their emnity are not really that useful, beyond targeting and basic tactical concerns.

  29. Debate: Does the left side of the isle behave like clinical narcissists? And if so is it because they are or because the dictates of their philosophy make them act that way?

    Why not both? Many of them are so desperate for any kind of validation that they’ll do anything to get that validation. And, to get that validation, they’ll do anything to get it.

    1. Also, the popularity of the “eternal High School” in the left side of the isle’s entertainment. Mostly feral children, pretending to be adults, and having other people pay for the repairs needed because of the consequences of their actions.

  30. From AoSHQ, a couple of 20th Century quotes:

    Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear. — Harry S Truman

    A love for tradition has never weakened a nation, indeed it has strengthened nations in their hour of peril. — Sir Winston Churchill

    Proverbs 14:12, ESV states: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” Solomon probably wrote that 1000 BC.

    Rudyard Kipling wrote “The Gods of the Copybook Headings” around 120 years ago.

    We, as a society, have no excuse for not horse-whipping, tarring and feathering, and riding those “woke”, commie, and perverted mountebanks ruining everything all the way out of town on split rails. That we didn’t reflect more poorly on us than it does on them.

    Truly we are “lesser sons of greater sires.”

    What are we going to do when they steal this election, too?

    (asking for a friend)

    1. We pray. We stand stand firm in the Knowledge that the LORD is fully sovereign over all things, and that all things have been known and turned to His ends since before time existed, and that all we must do is what He commanded: love Him first, love others as ourselves flowing from that first love. And we protect and shepherd that which He has commended to our care as good stewards and servants.

  31. Dear Hostess, will you be putting a link up to Bowl of Red on your site so we can click through? My understanding is you get some (nominal) additional value out of that and I’m all for keeping the authoress and her assorted felines fed and housed. I’m in no great hurry as I’m rereading “A Canticle For Liebowitz” which had been on my mind recently (fire Deluge don’t ya know) and there was finally a Kindle version. I’ve only just reached “Fiat Homo” so I have a couple days before I need more textual input 🙂 .

  33. Prayers for a good and full recovery, and please let your body really really heal, don;t just improve enough to flog your poor body forward again and relapse.

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