*ANNOUNCEMENT: I forgot to put this in yesterday evening’s post: If you have a blog and occasionally do reviews, or if you review for a professional venue, please email to bookpimping at outlook dot com and I’ll send you the link to download the e-arc. Needless to say no obligation of a review. Also, for the record, soliciting reviews and help promoting, because frankly I suck at the marketing thing.)
My finally getting the books up for pre-order yesterday is not an isolated event in terms of writers who have been silent or nearly so suddenly having new properties. Mostly authors to the right of Lenin, mind.
I’ll confess this makes me a little uncomfortable. It brings to mind all my lefty colleagues in the early oughts claiming they couldn’t write, because they were so busy purging and tearing out their hair over the horrible reich wing dictatorship of…. W.
Yes, I’m fairly sure they are engaged in similar antics now over Trump. I don’t know for a fact, because I haven’t been part of their circles and email lists since oh 2015. I’ll be honest, I still belong to a few of their groups — those that haven’t imploded — under the principle that I lurk and am very quiet, so they probably don’t remember I’m there. The other side of this is that I don’t remember I’m there. I mean, guys, why should I, precisely? I can watch their histrionics in real time on twitter and facebook. And… I don’t. I stumble on them periodically and go “Oh, no. Not that again.” Because the principal emotion evoked through all this is “It’s all so tiresome.”
Which I think is more to the point than our purging and tearing out our hair over losing an election. No. The last four — arguably twelve — years have been silence-inducing for completely different reasons.
And it took me a while to figure out why, and a while longer to conceptualize it, but I think I should share the thoughts — still half formed — in my head as I grapple with this, because I think a lot of you who are not writers might be facing the same issue… with modifications.
The other day, in a small(ish) discord group I belong to, a friend mentioned something about the newest Strange New Worlds having a character fall on knees and pray and how unimaginable this would have been 5 years ago. She meant it as a “taking the temperature of the culture” thing. Which is correct, but it’s more than that. Put a pin in it; we’ll come back.
Her mentioning this made me realize how profoundly I’ve — personally — changed in 5 years. I haven’t become someone else. All the principal impulses were there five years ago. But the unthinkable happened, and I tumbled with it. And like rocks in a tumbler, it changed me in significant ways, making things obvious that were occluded and in a way making me possibly harder and smoother.
And what five years it has been. Guys, if in 2018 you’d told me that — I’m sorry, I still think this was the reason — as a ploy to make us all dependent on government and scared and tank the economy to “win” the 2020 election, the democrats would lock the entire country down for a bad flu and run a scam on how this was the next black plague that would cause Europe to also lock down and be terrified? I’d have told you that while weed was legal in Colorado, you should definitely put the bong down and go breathe some fresh air.
And if you’d told me that after all this they would still need to fraud the election at the last minute, visibly, in front of G-d and everybody? I’d have been hitting that speed dial for the men in white coats which no longer exist in our society.
And yet… And yet it happened. And yet, we were locked down, and people were terrified, despite the fact that numbers like the Diamond Princess were out and clearly demonstrated this wasn’t even an existential threat for the over 80 set, unless truly horrific treatment protocols were engaged. (And they were. Most of that group died of respirator setting.)
Because it was unthinkable, (both in here and in Europe, TBH) and yet it happened and kept happening, it broke things in our brains. And the fracture lines are still shaking up inside each of us, and in society as well.
On that pin: yes, a lot of people — self included — have become more religious. Note, I am still me. I think I have more atheist friends than religious friends. And I don’t engage in battles, anyway. Particularly not in what I call “beating over the head with Bible verses.” If they don’t believe, that will just make them puzzled or upset. I know, because my own particular branch of Christianity is often beaten over the head with Bible verses by people who think they’re “owning” us, while we have our own interpretations of those verses, so at best our reply is “First of all, rude.”
Which is what argumentum ad Bibliorum (Yes, that is in fact son of bitch Latin) is at the best of times.
But my tolerance for religion in my entertainment has gone up. Oh, you can still drive me bonkers with the average “Christian novel” because the characters stopping every fifty pages to pray, or wondering if G-d wants them to kill the bad guy feels phony and tacked on. However, a character, in an extremity of feeling falling to knees and praying? Yeah, I can see that. 2020, man. 2020.
To be fair, I always had a high tolerance for religious characters, whatever their religion, even if it was a fictional one. Sincerely religious people exist and their beliefs is part of how they process events. It’s just that few people write them/wrote them convincingly.
Will that change? I don’t know. I would suspect so, from internal changes and also how I see people around me changing.
But the change is not all, or even primarily religious. Though it is ideological, personality, enormous.
First there is the sudden doubt of everything experts say, but more importantly everything they’ve said over the last oh 100 years.
While this is good — “scientific government” has been a disaster for the world at large and filled over a hundred million graves — it is also bad, because some things are actually true, established, and can be scientifically proven (Say the germ theory of disease) but now face a much bigger cliff to convince people.
There is also high skepticism of institutions and elected — and even more non-elected — leaders. Look, you’re not going to get me to admit there is a downside here. I’m still a libertarian. An OWL (Older, Wiser Libertarian) sure, but still a libertarian (And I miss L. Neil Smith something fierce.)
Our institutions by an large have been so corrupted by Marxists and Marxism-light that we really need to topple them and replace them. The problem is that second. We really need to make with the replacing, because we still need their functions to work. Take higher education — please? I don’t want it — it desperately needs a complete overall, not in style but in substance. Yes, yes, the founding fathers, in a society that moved by ox cart, thought well of universities which were logical successors of monastic learning.
But in the 21st century? 99% or more of the learning done at universities could and arguably should be accomplished either long distance or by formal apprenticeships, with perhaps a year (tops) in localized learning and communal discussion. TOPS.
Replacing that properly (not just changing the ideological sign which will accomplish nothing) will require breaking our heads out of the mold of centuries. It might be achievable now, after the shocks of the last few years, but it will still take time and (arguably) hurt like a mother.
In the meantime, in upper education as well as everything else, frankly, everything is going to be adrift.
And each country in its own way is clinging like mad to its fundamentals. In the US that’s fairly decent but — looks sideways at Europe — guys, you know what Europe gets up to when we’re not smacking it on the nose…
The point being, though, everything is tumbling. Or to quote the great Leonard Cohen:
Things are going to slide, slide in all directions
Won’t be nothing
Nothing you can measure anymore
The blizzard, the blizzard of the world
Has crossed the threshold and it has overturned the order of the soul
In the middle of this, those of us who write feel sucker punched, unable to hold onto a coherent vision of society long enough to actually write books.
Look, until last year I felt iffy about the shifter books because they take place in a diner and I didn’t know how to deal with the lockdowns. I still don’t, except mentioning them in the rearview mirror, honestly. And how do I deal with the fact that all night open diners now seem to be a thing of the past everywhere? (Something I will never forgive the bastards who locked us down for. There was nothing like coffee at two am in an urban greasy spoon (okay, fine, Pete’s Kitchen on Colfax) to plot and clear one’s head.) I still don’t know!
But I’d guess, because outside the books I still feel a bit punch drunk, that the rest of you are going through a version of this, that this is universal and contributing to strange events with strange outcomes that keep the feeling of everything tumbling going.
In a way we’re like someone married for 50 years who is suddenly served divorce papers and then finds their spouse has had two other relationships going the whole time. Finding out what was true, what was a lie, and reestablishing our sense of self is difficult and mind-breaking.
And yet, here we are.
I’m glad I’m writing again. For those still stuck, let me advise you might have to force it in the beginning — I did stating around February last year — and find a support group to cheer you on (thank you to the terrible triplets of twitter — all different ages and looks — who kept me going. And their auxiliary corps like Fuzzy.) And if you can, if your writing field allows it, go as strange and far flung as you can. Another world, for choice.
If you’re not a writer, my advice is what I said before, but still useful.
1- Be kind to yourself. I know it’s five years, but five years is not too long to get used to the impossible happening. Give yourself grace. Give yourself time. Do something for yourself at least once a week. Carve some place and time to breathe and relax if you can. And forgive yourself for stumbles. You’re punch drunk in a world of punch drunks. Slips will happen.
2- Start figuring out how to replace compromised institutions, processes, ways of doing things. I don’t know your field, so I can’t tell you what needs changing. But I seriously encourage you to approach it from a “Do we even need the way this has been done for centuries? What if I turn it on its head?” Yes, some of the things are still needed/valid. But the processes have all changed. So examine each of the precursors first.
That’s it. Most of all, truly, give yourself grace.
No, you shouldn’t have known how to cope when the world broke. No one expected the world to break.
Now that it has, glue yourself together as you best can, and keep going.
Secure your oxygen mask before assisting those near you.
According To Hoyt 
And meanwhile, the layers keep coming off the onion. And nothing will be done, I’m fairly sure about that. When in reality, yes, people need to hang. And I’m not exaggerating.
https://acecomments.mu.nu/?post=415762
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Look, I’m an ‘ette, but I’m going to ask you to be very careful with Ace of Spades right now. I’ve issued this warning about others of my colleagues I esteem and admire in the past.
He’s hard core depressive, and seems to be going for a tumble with the black dog right now.
Sure, maybe he’s right. Or maybe the pig will sing.
BREATHE.
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It’s not so much what he’s saying–Ace has always had a tendency to blackpill a bit, I think that’s why so many of us like him so much because he says what we think in our darker moments. But look at all the pieces the articles are putting together. Brennan’s subordinates told him the Russiagate story was a hoax and he went with it anyway. Then Hillary amplified it. Meanwhile, the Obama White House blocked mention of the CIA’s skeptical assessment about Russiagate so that Trump wouldn’t be able to use the Presidential Daily Briefings to defend himself, and there’s impending evidence of collusion between Obama and Hillary.
It’s a little hard not to get blackpilled when you see people like Comey, Brennan, Hillary, and Obama doing breathtakingly illegal and immoral stuff like this and getting away with it. I can, however, reassure myself that they’ll get their reward in the next life, no matter how much money and power they give themselves in this one. And, this stuff is coming out and more and more people are seeing it. We just need to keep reminding them that this is how the Left works, always has, always (probably) will. And we move closer to victory.
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A lot of Trump supporters saw all this happening in real time back in 2015 and 2016, and it was well documented on blogs and Reddit forums that were later censored. Then 2020 happened.
My point is that we didn’t let the Marxists demoralize us. We simply kept fighting, even if it felt hopeless. And now look at what we have managed to accomplish?
These things coming to light in such a documented way is a win, just consider where we were five years ago.
It’s never foolish to keep hoping and praying and fighting. Most of the time it works, even if it takes five years.
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THIS.
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And even if it’s very hard on chronic depressives like me….
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Yes.The documented, stand up in court stuff may take time, but in the long run, this is what will work.
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I am very much willing to be patient for an American Revolution process, than rush our way to a French Revolution.
it doesn’t even have to have much in the way of retribution. As long as the (void-sphincter) (poo-avians) are defeated, that is sufficient for me.
Living humiliated and repudiated is likely much, much worse for them than a fantasy martyrdom. (grin)
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Horse, not pig. There is a story of a man condemned to death by a King. He gets a year reprieve and a promise of freedom if he can teach the King’s horse to sing. Some mocked his daily singing lesson to the horse. The reply was “Many things can happen in a year. The King may die, I may die, the horse may die. And perhaps the horse may even learn to sing”.
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“pig” is a Heinlein reference. (grin)
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Of course.
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WHY would Putin have wanted Trump to win the election? There was never any indication that a Trump presidency would be to Putin’s benefit, and President Trump took Putin to the woodshed repeatedly.
It’s also telling that Putin didn’t invade Ukraine until 8 months after the Biden* Regime’s bumbling exit from Afghanistan.
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My theory is the spin.meisters told themselves, “The rubes hate them Commies. We’ll tell them Trump is working with the Commies and they’ll hate him. Russia! Russia! Russia!”
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Yep. I am sure of this. This is how they make a lot of their decisions.
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They use that approach a lot. They really like to pull the “how can you support someone (or some policy) who’s so immoral and claim you’re a Christian???”
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Leftist trolls tend to be midwits who are convinced that they are smarter than everyone else. So the arguments they think will persuade us are breathtakingly stupid.
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“Because if Jesus is willing to forgive the likes of -me-…..”
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Amen.
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And the really impressive ones managed to quote Scripture in a manner that is both vacuous and irrelevant. (Ordinary run-of-the-mill ones tend to do only one.)
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“What specific immorality do you refer to? I’m not aware of any. And don’t quote the lies told about him by his enemies. I’ve heard them all, to the point of nausea.”
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Well, with Trump, it started out with his having been divorced and remarried. Nowadays, it’s usually immigration. David French, formerly of NRO, does it regularly.
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deporting illegal immigrants is in NO WAY immoral.
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The Idiotic Assholes always “leave out” the “Illegal” part. 😡
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“So you’d deport Baby Jesus out of Egypt back to Herod???”
Yes, I have seen that argument……
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Except that baby Jesus wasn’t in a foreign country. It was all the Roman Empire.
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Sarah, you know that, I know that, and anyone with two brain cells knows that… which is why Leftists keep spouting this.
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And while Egypt was a separate area of the Roman Empire, there were no laws preventing people from moving from Judea to Egypt.
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Eh, dude did some scuzzy things in his life. Which makes him… human?
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Yep. The irony, of course, is that they would have been working WITH the Soviets in the 1980s in the Communist-sponsored “nuclear freeze” movement, to hamstring President Reagan’s measures as much as possible while calling him every horrible name in the book.
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The irony is that just four years earlier Obama accused Romney of trying to re fight the Cold War after Romney warned against Russia.
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I bluescreened an older my generation cousin– quite intelligent, yet liberal, old enough it was “I am liberal because I am educated– in a text discussion when he posed the gamestopper of “How can conservatives like military if they hate government?” and I was not just able, but gleefully able, to explain the idea of proper role of government.
He had no idea how to deal with the notion that I was operating off of principles, not Passed Down Writ.
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Nice!
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A fair answer to “why” is HRC.
As much as he -repeatedly- played her, he, of all opponents, -understood- her.
Having that sick twisted corrup vengeful bitch on “the button” was an intolerable risk to the Rodina.
Putin would have preferred George Patton or Gengis Khan over HRC.
Easy peasy.
I will always give Obama one thing for which I am truly grateful to his administration.
He kept that psychobitch out of the oval office. Thus he spared the Republic another Civil War. And possibly spared Earth a Thermonuclear War.
“….. thaaaat close….”
….
No. Putin didn’t put Trump in the White House. We did.
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“Better a smart enemy than a stupid friend.”
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I would characterize it as a “rout”, particularly in light of the military equipment they effectively donated to the Taliban as they ran away, but I guess it doesn’t matter in the greater scheme of things.
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That despicable mess was one reason why I now believe we need to shoot 95% of the officers above O6.
No one said “No, this must not be. I shall resign before I shall go along with this debacle that will so damage our Country – again.”
Did anyone? Even one? No? Not a single man of principle putting Duty – Honor – Country before Me – My Ass – My Career.
…sigh…
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There was one. A Marine lieutenant colonel spoke out against the stupidity in Afghanistan. He was fired, and denied his military pension. And the feckless f*ks went ahead and did it anyway.
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There was one that got famous enough to be on even mainstream TV, the resignation didn’t work to stop a dang thing, and the folks who demand such action then brain dump it so they can be pissed off at a nice, simple block of folks.
Which is what usually happens, and is why most people do not take that route.
You can do a lot more from the inside, and the folks who can have more effect from doing a big public show are aware of the special situation that makes that work.
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That “go along to get along” “you have to be inside to make a difference” is how they corrupt you into going along.
Oh yes it is. Oh no you wont make a difference inside.
The public show does more to defeat evil than surrender to the groupthink. None of those go-along folks made a twiddle of difference. They were participants.
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So you keep insisting, right along with demanding that others sacrifice everything for your judgement, no matter if it doesn’t work.
Reality keeps bringing up things like the guy in the FBI office that tipped off Bondi about the hidden files.
But then, you ignore that happened, too, including the immediate boot given to the head of that field office.
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And SecDef Hegseth just appointed him to head the Pentagon’s review of how officers are trained, evaluated, and promoted.
https://taskandpurpose.com/news/pentagon-officer-promotions-review/?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=mil-ebb
This is the Way.
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You mean that you don’t remember hearing about it.
Because even I heard about folks resigning rather than going along.
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Then we should see them among the witnesses submitting depositions and confirming document authenticity in front of Congress and the courts. Will we?
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At which point the goal posts for what will “count” will get moved yet again, because the world won’t suddenly flip over to that desired by those demanding others go and sacrifice to their satisfaction.
Same way that as soon as bad actors were actually getting fired– in a way that did NOT hand ammunition to the enemy, or hurt innocents– that demand got deep sixed.
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Deep-sixxed by who? Getting them fired was a good first step. We may not be able to prosecute them, but they’ll need to have cases built, and those who resigned can help.
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:looks directly up the line of comments, where anyone with the faintest hint of interest could answer the question themselves:
I do not have the time to chase you around in circles.
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There was a point in my trivial service when I defied someone very senior to court martial me, versus I would not obey their unlawful orders. I did not give two shits if they imprisoned me. The point had to be made. If -I- can do that, so can the rest of the folks in the game. And I didn’t have the relatively easy-peasy path of “resign”.
So yes, I do tend to expect things of my supposed “superiors”. And no, I do not concur with that bullcrap “have to go along to stay inside and make a difference – you mean you already quit and went along”.
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LTC is O-5. Any O-7s? Note I specified such in my original. Did you just miss that?
There is a -vast- difference in the noisy-protest resignation of a General, even a “mere” Brigadier. It is an earthquake versus an O5’s fart. Aristocracy versus “who?” Someone with real skin in the game punches out, people notice.
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Every layer of the onion is more rotten than the preceding ones. I shudder to contemplate what we’ll find further in.
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Overt beat over the head religion bothers me. This is not because someone mentions their religion. Or it shows up in various media. That’s fine. To me religion is personal. But the people who discuss their religion as the end of it and only their religion view is valid? Not so much. This isn’t just Islam. This is some Christian subs too. It isn’t because certain religions are very ostentatious with elaborate pageants (Catholic, etc). They are visible. But they aren’t in your face hitting you over the head.
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Right. Precisely. As for ostentatious… Don’t ask this writer about barroque. She’ll go for barroque every time. (RUNS)
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Vacationing in Switzerland last October we got to visit , in person, some real Baroque cathedrals. There is nothing that a virtual visit (no matter how carefully done) van do to compare to experiencing the Baroque majesty in person. If you have any interest in how a piece of history played out aver the past thousand years, a visit to the Abbey of St. Gall, and the town of St. Gallen, is wrth a couple of days. The cathedral is an “accessible” version of Baroque, and words fail me.
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I grew up going to mass in baroque churches. Not the local ones, but the ones near high school and college. this was the early 70s and everyone was like “streamlined and clean lines and…” And I was going “BUT gold and purple!”
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And DETAIL covering every single surface! You could spend hours carefully examining the relief sculptures over ONE of the confessionals in those cathedrals and still not grasp all the details.
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THIS.
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Well, you didn’t have to go all the way to Europe to appreciate ecclesiastical decoration. We grew up going to services in a couple of Gothic-revival or English Tudor revival Lutheran churches which had been built in the 20s and thirties, and incorporated elaborate decoration – mostly through stained glass windows, which referenced religious motifs. As a kidlet, I spent many an hour during particularly dull sermons, studying the nearest window, and connecting the images to the various Bible stories.
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Oh, I had those types of churches aplenty in my Roman Catholic upbrining , where the various immigrant groups – also early 20th century – would do their best to make the church as beautiful as possible. (The Greek Orthodox churches were even more ornate, and always with a purpose, of course.) But the “real deal” churches built during the peak of the Baroque era are not just quantitatively more impressive, they are an entire qualitative level up. These were built when money flowed to the Church like our money flowed to USAID (they made lasting artistic treasures, we got stuck with power hungry grifters). I don’t denigrate what exists in the US, and I lament that so much has been shuffled off to other places, or just torn down, because of demographic decline. The parishes out in my suburban area “rescue” pieces from the shuttered parishes, but having some nice bits isn’t the same impact as the originalas a whole.
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Aye. When circumstances dictated we leave the 1960s version of a woke* ALC church, we landed at an LCA** church, built (if memory serves) around 1920. Absolutely gorgeous stained glass window behind the alter and a pipe organ to die for.
(*) Said minister was so busy with the civil rights movement that he couldn’t be bothered to visit my father at home after his first (and second worst) heart attack. Considering that Dad was the treasurer of the congregation, I suspect said minister had a serious cranial/anal infarction.
The second church had its problems, but perhaps more traditional. (#2 minister running off with a staff member. Their spouses Were. Not. Amused.) I haven’t been there since 2014, so don’t know if it has survived the ELCA brain virus.
(**) ALC Americal Lutheran Church. Danish roots. LCA Luthern Church in America. Swedish roots. They merged to become the lamentable ELCA. OTOH, a few visits to ELCA churches imply that TPTB don’t always affect the congregations. Maybe.
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Pipe organs are expensive to buy and even more expensive to maintain, which is why churches are generally converting to fancy audio/visual systems with surround sound and projection TVs.
The local Craigslist had *two* pipe organs a few years ago, “take them away.”
I *wanted* them, but unfortunately (or fortunately?) had no place to put them. [sigh]
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I took a couple of music classes at U of Redacted. Two of the practice rooms had small pipe organs (don’t recall how many manuals) that looked seriously cool.
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I love small baroque churches, and trying to find all the symbolism. And the occasional, “OK, of all the bishop saints, which one is that?” Mass in a baroque church … Happy kitty sigh.
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I have Sirius’ weekly baroque program on now.
Noticed a while ago how many restaurants now close mid-afternoon and either only do breakfast and lunch or close for three hours and re-open for dinner. Son had a family turn up one minute before closing last night and after feeding them had a woman turn up just about begging to be fed. Something. Not meat. He fed her tater tots and she left satisfied. Then he pointed out to the cook and server those people paid several hours of their wages. Which is why you don’t discourage the family who wandered in five minutes before closing to leave. (Happened in front of my beloved. Server is now on his @#$% list and lucky not to be seeking new employment).
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“Baroque and Beyond” hosted by Robert Aubrey Davis (I’ve heard him say that tagline so much it’s like a single word in my head) is not only a weekly fave listen, but possibly the major reason I keep my Sirius subscription.
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which Sirius channel?
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Symphony Hall, Channel 78, Saturday AM and repeated on Sunday evening
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Thanks!
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Their classical channel. I think it’s Channel 78, or simply the Classics channel on the app.
They repeat the program on the channel, or you can call it up any time on the app.
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Thanks!
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We still have late night eateries (even all night) here in DFW. The breakfast / lunch only places are pretty common though. The “close for three hours open for dinner” has been around for as long as I can remember… but it was usually restaurants that were more upscale / took more prep time, or were in a business are where you had a lunch crowd, and then a dinner after work crowd.
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As long as you have a Handel on it…
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So, if it’s baroque, don’t fix it?
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If it isn’t barroque,
don’t fix it.
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I had a bumper sticker with images of Bach and Haydn facing each other across the text, “If it ain’t Baroque, fix it!’.
Should rig up another one . . .
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No deep insight from me, but there is a diner near me (just over a mile from my house, sidewalks the entire way through the suburban neighborhood), named “Bistro 24”. Fancy name the current owners came up with when they bought the “Marchwood Diner” a whole bunch of years ago. Yes, it is a 24/7 diner. They’re still around!
In this neck of the woods, the border between the western edge of Philadelphia suburbs and Amish country, the predominant culture is Pennsylvania Dutch, AKA old, OLD German. The majority of diners have always been breakfast/lunch diners, but breakfast starts at 4 AM (or earlier) when you’re farming, so they tend to be open long before the rosy-fingered dawn makes her appearance.
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What shocked us last October on our trip between Eugene and Tetons, and back, were the lack of open restaurants of any kind. Going it was Sunday (coming back was a Thursday). We expected the Burns diner to be open for breakfast, it wasn’t (guess who CAN’T eat McMuffins, or similar … bad, bad, bad, idea. Better to not eat at all. Short term anyway.) No Sheri’s anywhere (already shutdown). Most Denny’s were closed too (found one that was open). Most the route (outside of Oregon) was major freeway. Oregon was cross country on the highway system (126/20) Black Bear Diner for the win (Bend, coming home). They are growing. Started northern CA and spreading south and north.
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Other than Black Bear Diner, many reasonably-priced chains have cut hours or permanently closed in Western Washington. My favorite coffee shop is slammed in the morning, but now closes at 1pm due to lack of business after the smaller lunch crowd.
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We don’t have a Black Bear Diner locally. Closest one is coming to Salem to a repurposed Sheri’s. Suspect Eugene is next. Do have an Elmer’s, moved from Gateway & Beltline to Valley River, that we go to occasionally. Just it is so limited on what I can have, especially now.
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I don’t know if they’re still around, [they are. perkinsrestaurants dot com] but Perkins had decent meals along I-80 from Utah through Nebraska (didn’t try in Iowa or Illinois). Mostly stand along, though one in Salt Lake City is tucked in a business building and is more of a lunch destination, though it had a good dinner.
There’s very few restaurants I can trust (gluten issues might not kill me, but at times I might wish it did), but Perkins had something edible, always.
The website shows locations. Nothing in Oregon, though.
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Black Bear Diner has some good meals. Including a very apropos salmon plate. I think it was Shasta City as the start point (right next to the south end of Lake Shasta.)
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I read that as opossum plate and was about to protest. …
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Yes, to all the above.
The standard 2 egg breakfast, 6 slices of bacon, hash browns or fruit, and your choice of toast type, is more than enough for me (don’t eat the toast anyway, too much, can’t/shouldn’t now).
Bend has one. First we experienced. We hit a few on our last trip to Tetons, going and coming, since the rest have disappeared.
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About that God-shaped hole in society…. Well, I hope my latest book fits there. It’s far from Christian in the schmaltzy sense. My beta readers are still working through it, and I need to make the cover, but I let it rest over the last week while I was at Son of SilverCon (read about it on my blog) and, of course, found some typos when I reread it again.
Next I have at least two stories to write after I do my two books as print on demand as well as ebooks. Then it’s buying a decent microphone and creating audio versions.
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Thank you for saying it loudly and clearly. Our civil rights were taken from us unapologetically. THEN they ran a successful coup in 2020. I will never forget.
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it was so IMPOSSIBLE one feels stupid even saying it. BUT it happened.
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It feels awful to know that not only did TPTB forcibly take our civil liberties, but how many of my dear friends and family, coworkers and church authorities not only cooperated, but gleefully so. Turns out, Germany wasn’t unique in their populous full of informers, and collaborators with evil.
And because, now more than ever, I am a believer in the Providence of God Himself, I think this was allowed so we would see the masks off.
We need to know who the collaborators will be. And also our BS detectors needed to be fine tuned.
I guarantee that this was not a one and done attempt on their parts. It will be up to us to make round 2 go less easy for them.
But we’ve got this. To quote St. Joan of Arc, “I’m not afraid. I was born for this!”
Thank you to everyone on this site, most particularly our esteemed hostess, for being a light in the darkness and sanity in the midst of Bedlam. It was much easier to avoid the black dog and his pack when I wasn’t the only one who could hear the baying and know it for what it was.
The politicians and their despicable toadies I could at least understand trying to keep their phony baloney jobs, but family and friends? It hurts my heart to remember that I can never really trust them again as much as I love them.
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“I’m not afraid. I was born for this!” This sentence keeps going through my head a lot. I’m still afraid, it’s just irrelevant.
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Yeah. Fear is momentary, cowards get to relive it as long as they live.
Choose your own adventure. I prefer to hold my head up high…
As long as it have a head to hold up anyway.
Perhaps I really could be a martyr if they killed me quick. I’d rather not find out. But none of us are getting out of this alive, which was one of the paradoxes of the Pandemic. You aren’t living forever no matter what. So I find myself more brave then I was at the beginning of the whole pandemic nonsense.
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Yeah. In my estimation, the clot shot wasn’t the Mark of the Beast, but it may have been a trial run to see how much Old Scratch could get away with. Which was a lot, but there was enough pushback that it backed off. And as previously stated, hopefully it opened some eyes.
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Sister and BIL weren’t fooled by the panic that ensued. The still got the clot shot I don’t know how many times. They wanted to travel overseas. They caught that bug. So they went along with the program. BIL’s attitude was “already older than my father when he died. I have same issues, not as bad. Traveling now, not waiting.” Sister: “Mom’s 90. Her siblings, 87 and 78, are alive and smoke. Grandparents and their siblings lived to be over 90. I can beat whatever they throw at us. Traveling.” Hubby & I got the shot so we could go to Canada (not that it helped, we both got COVID, me twice). Our son never got the shot, and won’t. Hubby and I won’t get the boosters. Why?)
Has the clot shot contributed to my problems? Or COVID itself? Or heredity? I couldn’t prove anything. Class action comes around (which an aunt-in-law will be part of for her late *husband if it happens, whose heart problems were linked to the clot shot), then my response will be “Didn’t have heart problems before, prove it wasn’t the clot shot. Dad died of arterial disease not heart. Grandparents were 90 before heart problems.”
(*) Second husband. Uncle and she divorced after almost 30 years together. She (and us) just lost uncle at the end of June, age 76 1/2 to cancer.
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Yeah, all this time we’ve all been thinking “Man, those Germans eh? What the hell?!” but it turns out we live in 1936 Germany.
Certainly turned my head, I’ll tell you that.
I’ve always known that if you get in trouble, no one will help you out. Even if there’s a literal crowd of people there, not ONE of them will step up. I’ve been the first responder several times over the years, literally shoving gawkers out of the way and being the first and only guy to help the accident victim before the fire department gets there.
Before 2020 I always put that down to shock. But now I wonder about that, given the number of people I know personally who took great delight in shaming the un-vaxxed, calling for forced jabbing, and of course the little camp-guards who ran around making sure everyone’s mask was over their nose. -Eagerly- complying with ludicrous lock-down regulations, and informing on anyone who didn’t comply.
People who knew better at the time. People from whom I have heard no apologies.
Oh, and the government is trying to get 8 years jail time each for the two people who organized the Freedom Convoy of truckers in Ottawa. Tamara Lich and Chris Barber. This after -illegally- invoking the “Emergencies Act”. Otherwise known as the War Measures Act.
So yeah. 1936 Germany. Fun.
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Makes me hope some folks down here might learn from mistakes made in the Great White North. Unfortunately, it seems the ones that need the lessons are too stupid to learn.
Some folks can be taught. Others can learn by example. The rest have to piss on the electric fence for themselves.
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“argumentum ad Bibliorum”
Ah, yes, the “chapter and verse” fallacy.
(I have climate-change-religion relatives, education liberals all, who don’t know what to do with the fact that I am quite unapologetically unswayed by their, er, detailed religious proofs)
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Yep.
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Sarah, I’m at least as libertarian as you are (and older, but probably not wiser) but I don’t miss L. Neil Smith at all. I found The Probability Broach and its sequels to be cringe-inducing. J. Neil Schulman and James Hogan. . . them, I miss.
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L. Neil Smith was a friend.
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Ah, I see. Sorry if I gave offense.
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You didn’t give offense, but wordpress apparently hates you and pus you in spam.
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Ah, I see. Sorry if I gave offense.
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No. Tastes differ. But he was a friend. I miss him and Jerry Pournelle as friends, terribly.
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He lives on in his legacy. I just saw “the gripping hand” used in a mainstream outlet op ed 2 days ago.
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(That, of course, is Pournelle’s legacy, not Smith’s.)
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c4c
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In a reminder to always be leery of what LLMs tell you –
Carl Benjamin (Sargon of Akkad) asked Grok to describe the political leanings of someone who posted on X. Part of Grok’s reply stated that the individual in question is “… mildly authoritarian libertarian…”
/smh
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LOL
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That’s a stock joke around here: join the authoritarian libertarians!
Take over the world, then leave it alone.
Better than a mildly libertarian authoritarian?
maybe an authoritarian librarian.
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I think a lot of the guys around here fantasize about authoritarian librarians. Mind you, not judging, but….
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Actually a librarian by academic training (MLIS, UC Berzerkley) though never worked in the field.
Dad was USAF officer.
Some tendency towards authoritarian librarian, indeed!
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it’s the glasses. Glasses are hawt
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Two words: Sarah. Palin.
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I have heterodox/unorthodox views on classifying libertarianism among ideologies.
The sanest summary is that I think quite a lot of ideologies have in common the factor that they appeal to theory obsessives while they are at univesrity, and some of them come out determined to realize the theory.
So the key factor would be the internal mental life, and how the ideologue lets that shape their determination to make thing real. The worse ideologies, their ideologues consitently and eventually tend to be determined to kill as many people as it takes to create the thing.
Libertarians may be more of a mix, and perhaps trending to not committing a lot of murders.
It is sorta the ‘maybe universities are really bad’ unified theory of ideology.
Anyway, I think there was a time when someone thought I was trolling, or joking, or wordplaying, when I actualyl was trying to seriously make a point, with a curving around sort of relationship to a dispute they were having with another party.
I think my general position is that people should be leery of trusting me. (Others may differ on whether my actual behavior is very persuasive of me having that position.)
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Grok must have been reading the BBC. They used to call Milei in Argentina a “libertarian authoritarian.” It happened so often that it couldn’t be a mistake – they really believed that he could be both. I didn’t try to reason out how they got there.
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It’s like when people call Musk – who has lots of kids with a number of women – an incel.
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Well, Hunter Biden is pretty elder statesman like, and intellectually capable, by the standards of today’s Democratic Party.
Today’s Democratic Party is a dumpster fire, but they will clean things up a bit, in appearances, before the next cycle.
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The BBC is full of retards who think tax cuts and eliminating foolish regulations on things is proof you’re literally Hitler. Yep, -reducing- the size, scope and cost of government is totalitarian. Uh huh. Fer shur.
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Mind my own business and try to see that my own actual needs are met(1) first, and try to help strangers (2) as a lower priority?
Jawohl, mein Treatler.
Self-interest heil!
(1) or satisficed
(2) presuming I don’t mean stuffs like hurting my immediate family in an effort to make sure street junkies can go buy drugs?
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The former friend of 27 years who got me kicked out of our gaming group for being a Trump voter always called himself a “left-leaning libertarian,” which should’ve been a clue that he wasn’t right in the head, but I guess I’m kind of slow like that.
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“Left-leaning libertarians” are actually fairly common in my experience. Basically, they’re teenagers: “I should be able to do whatever I want. And when it ends badly, it should be YOUR responsibility to clean up the mess and get me back on my feet.”
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We had a gaming friend in World of Warcraft who lived in Portland (first hint) and swore up down and sideways that she was a hardcore libertarian. Except that she supported every whackjob hard-left thing that Portland ever did, and voted for Bernie Sanders, and pretty much broke off our friendship when Trump beat Hillary and I made some silly FB post about it. She died a few years ago and all of our other hard-left gaming friends still to this day eulogize her as this awesome and friendly person…except to me and my wife, after 2016, she was pretty dang vicious. Especially to my wife, which I will not abide.
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Yeah, “left leaning Libertarian” is a red flag. On the bright side, now you know what’s up with that group.
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“Libertarian Socialist” is worse.
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I’ve been rereading the full David Weber The “Honor Harrington” series lately from the early 1990’s. The treatment of religion with the Greyson twist has been interesting and makes you think from a “different” perspective and was/is done without beating you over the head but with a subtle ‘every day’ approach. Good stuff.
I got ‘burned’ by our local church establishments (I could not find one that didn’t go along) when they not only supported but encouraged the panic pandemic foolishness. They also went all in on DEI, BLM and were offering “workshops” on dealing with being white. So, while I still firmly believe I don’t trust any of the local establishments anymore. With the passing of my wife in February I have worked very hard to not self-isolate and stay socially engaged. So far it’s working but It’s currently barely enough even if it does keep the black dog at bay. The usual “go to church and meet someone nice” isn’t an option and while the buddies at the bar are nice guys and all I haven’t had any cute senior cougars hitting on me. Being retired (no work/job) is an additional social restriction.
Oh well, I’m still getting out and about and may look at one of the local “senior centers” to see if that is viable. I have looked at the senior communities and assisted living places and they have no appeal while also coming across like a communist commune. It’s only been a few months and I’m still adjusting – Sarah’s observations and advice today are very good and I appreciate it, thanks.
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Does Weber have a time machine? He perfectly captured the Democrat mindset in ‘War Of Honor’.
Like the Democrats, the High Ridge regime was utterly fixated on their domestic political infighting. They saw foreign enemies, and allies, only in terms of how they could be used to gain political advantage. They deliberately sabotaged any progress toward ending the war with Haven, because they found the continued state of war useful. They alienated their allies, goaded Haven into launching a devastating attack, and then tried to escape responsibility.
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Agreed – I have been amazed at the current political crazy today and what was going on in the Star Kingdom. It’s made the read more fun for me too!
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Both the People’s Republic of Haven and the Solarian League are American analogs. Haven is an America that failed to solve its deficit issues and went conquistador to get the money to pay off the drones.
The Solarian League is what happens when the bureaucrats take over.
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Haven was quite explicitly pre- and post-revolution France. Weber did everything but hit the reader over the head with it. They even had a Committee of Public Safety, whose head was named Rob S. Pierre, which I always thought was a little too in-your-face. But then I realized that not everyone knows all that much about the details of the French revolution. (Growing up in France and attending French school, it was one of the subjects I heard ALL about in history class, but how many Americans know who Robespierre was?)
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Also, Esther McQueen was going to be Haven’s Napoleon, overthrowing the revolutionary government and taking power herself. But then Eric Flint wrote Crown of Slaves, and Weber decided that the slave-trading Mesans were a more interesting antagonist than Haven. So he had McQueen fail in her coup where the real Napoleon succeeded, and then Weber took the plot in a different direction where Manticore and Haven could (eventually) team up against Mesa.
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Actually, IMO McQueen was a Red-Herring.
On the Bar, David Weber said that we had met the Napoleon character long before we McQueen.
We had met Tom Theisman at the time David Weber made that comment.
The Napoleon in the Honorverse restored the Old Haven Republic instead of taking over Haven.
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Mr Weber himself commented on taking too far the analogs of France, England, etc.
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I think it was both. But yes, I caught the French references, too. (Upon finishing The Short Victorious War I laughed and said, “David, you son of a -!”
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Meeting in the tennis court is what forced me to put the book down, I was laughing so hard.
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I didn’t catch the significance of that one. I was amused by Parnell’s arrest warrant, signed by Rob. S. Pierre.
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… But you’re right that the Solarian League is an America analogue that has been run by its deep state equivalent for centuries.
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No time machine, but he certainly has a good appreciation of what has happened before, and will again
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Speaking of, which one of you jokers gave Dave Mustaine a Time Machine?
Back in the ‘90s, I’d listen to Medadeth songs and go, “this level of paranoia is why we don’t do drugs, mkay?” Then 2020 happened.
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I wouldn’t be so hard on the churches. Churches are full of, and run by, old people. There was a 24×7 psyop going on to scare old people to death. The churches really didn’t have a choice.
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I started writing during the lock downs with a sort of practice fan-fic, and ended up with one of the shorts being a travel story. And yeah, I just sort of set it in a weird amorphous period pre-TSA. It felt strange, like I was writing about a world that was gone and never coming back.
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Yeah. I remember going through Kai Tak airport in Hong Kong back in the 80s and watching the ChiCom national airline passengers all lined up undergoing pat down searches prior to boarding and thinking, “I’m sure glad I live in a free society.”
Granted, we’re still better than most, but we’ve lost a lot of ground. Thank God we may be clawing some of it back.
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My wife and daughter have recently started watching The Good Doctor. I just catch parts of episodes here and there, but I’ve been surprised by some of the non-woke treatments of various topics. One episode touched on transgenderism, with the main character (a high functioning autistic with savant syndrome?) being adamant that the patient was a boy, and needed to be treated like a boy for medical purposes. Another episode brought up guns, and had several of the supporting characters being pro-gun, with reasoning behind why they were. Granted the show started in 2017, but even for then it isn’t something I would have expected from a Hollyweird studio to air.
More close to home, there was a near mid-air collision over Minot, ND (my old hometown) between a B-52 doing a flyover of the State Fair, and a passenger jet coming in for a landing. It’s still being investigated, but from what I’ve seen so far it was likely the tower’s failure to inform both planes of what was happening. Had they collided, debris from the passenger jet would have likely landed in my old neighborhood, which is about half way between the fairgrounds and the airport terminal. I didn’t realize the airport doesn’t have a radar, just a radio navigation aid.
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There are a lot of airports, and the FAA only has the aviation surveilance radars at some of them.
Frankly, we built a lot of air strips, and some of them are still useable mechanically, but the budget isn’t there to put the radio equipment in, and keep it working.
There are a bunch of different sorts of radars, that do different things. ASR-11, per wikipedia, has a range of 60 nautical miles. The WSR-88D weather radar that NOAA operates is about two or four times that range. To achieve that range, the physics require a certain amount of transmitted power.
There are safety issues with working with those transmitters, and there are maintenance issues with keeping the pedestals for the mechanical scanning working. This winds up making the business slightly expensive, and you would pick and choose which airports have the levels of traffic to make the radars cost effective.
There are a lot of close range navigation aids that use less power, and would be cheaper to operate. I believe improving those may be an area of ongoing research.
The Moore’s law revolutions of the IT world have been slowly making their way into radios, so it should be possible to do some safety things more cheaply and better in the future.
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The Air Force Base, about 20 miles north of town, has a radar. The NORAD radar site south of town was shut down in ’79, it had a range of about 250 miles for threat detection.
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Bob, also, military aircraft and civilian aircraft operate on different radio frequencies (UHF vs VHF). Most military aircraft can switch to VHF if they need to, but not all, and no civilian aircraft (aside from some search-and-rescue, and those are often part of the military-auxiliaries) have UHF on board. So the controller has to flip radios to talk to everyone, if Minor tower is, indeed, talking to everyone.
I few out of a civilian airport that military helicopters sometimes used for training. We had to remind the Army that at night, they are invisible and silent, and hovering over the runway without listening for us could lead to terminal, loud surprises for everyone. We announced the way we were supposed to, we had lights on, and they tried to remember to monitor the non-Army frequency.
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Here’s a thought — this goes all the way. 0bama goes on trial, and is convicted, if not of treason, then of other, serious crimes. Along with all the smaller fish.
Then Trump issues a pardon. Only one, for 0bama. The rest get hung out to dry.
Democrats lose their shit, everywhere.
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Which is EXACTLY how it ALWAYS goes in the history of forever.
But, perhaps, that may send a tingle of a warning down the line to wannabe minions of tomorrow. A couple of them should be smart enough to see which way the arc of history actually bends, right? Right?
We figured it out in spite of the propaganda, some of the youngling might too, given contemporary examples.
Possibly.
Hopefully.
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I think it would be pretty fun to watch them lose their schlitz. First thing they find out is how FEW of them there are.
Once you stop -paying- the rioters, the crowds get really small.
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Sorry, Handel & Bach
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Haydn, Vivaldi, Frescobaldi, Palestrina, Buxtehude, H. Schütz.
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Gödel, Escher, Bach
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I’m tired of this flat spin that we’re in, but I also know that there isn’t a LOUD handle to pull to bail out.
Our only options are to get this creature back flying right, or crash.
…I’m really hoping to pull us out the spin.
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“But my tolerance for religion in my entertainment has gone up.”
Mine too. If only for the novelty, honestly. You find Christian institutions depicted in a positive light in some strange places, like Korean soap operas. My beliefs, viewed with approval? Amazing!
In my own books there’s a thread of religion running through. It’s a little weird, because I’m a little weird frankly, but when you’re busy having robots waking up as actual people and hanging out with humans, the issue arises. Like, where do you and your robot girlfriend go if you want to get married? Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster?
I didn’t understand why I almost never see anyone else talking about that sort of thing in a practical manner, until Sad Puppies. Since then it has become abundantly clear that in Dead Tree, you are not allowed to talk about it. It is forbidden to speak of religion in a positive way. You can only trash it.
Which is why I don’t read Dead Tree anymore. It’s boring, and stupid.
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It’s not the Dead Tree. My Dead Tree books also contain Christianity in a positive light, just like the ebooks. ’cause they are the same books.
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I think he means trad pub.
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Yep. All the Big Five and all the Big Retail, fully captured by the #XtianHaters(TM)
Same thing in Canada but worse because government funded. It’s official government policy here to trash Christianity in books, films and music.
On the bright side, nobody ever buys any of their crap. CBC has six-digit viewership numbers, heading down toward five-digit.
“Most nights in non-pandemic times, The National, the CBC’s flagship late-night news, draws fewer than 500,000. That’s a third as many viewers as CTV’s Toronto affiliate brings to its local newscast.” Toronto Sun does not point out that CTV is not doing great either.
I was told somewhere that a “Canadian Best Seller!!!” is anything over 5K copies. That’s a run-away best seller featured on end caps at Chapters/Indigo and stocked at all the smaller outlets (if there are any still left out there).
My minuscule dozens of ebook sales are actually not that bad compared to Canadian Dead Tree publishing. Fiction books by Canadian authors regularly fail to crack 1000. That’s why Canadian publishers won’t touch you unless you come bearing a Canada Council grant for the full print run etc.
I want y’all to imagine me going to the Canada Council with my robot girlfriend books and applying for a government grant for Canadian Dead Tree. They’d froth at the mouth. A White Male Canadian, daring to apply, with a [shudder] GENRE BOOK?!!!! REEEEEEEE!!!! So many micro-aggressions, you know.
Or so I imagine, having met a few of these people outside of work. Toronto dwellers, pink hair, side shave, rich parents, the usual deal. Real rocket surgeons.
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True, but that’s orthogonal to the Dead Tree matter.
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People confuse things. First person and present tense, for instance. Or trad pub and paper books….
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All night diners were never a thing in my area, other than Waffle House. But when the restaurants re-opened after the lockdowns, most of them chose to only be open four days a week. And some of them cut their hours to lunch-only.
I still don’t understand the economics of that; they have to make their monthly nut of rent, electricity, gas, insurance, etc. whether they’re open or not. But it is “the new normal” here.
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A lot depends on how much traffic you have. The late night takes 1-2 people on for the whole period (short order cook and host/hostess/server unless you make it counter service only. And Short order cook is probably the highest paid person in the joint. Margins on meals are low to start with (best money is on drinks alcoholic or otherwise there’s a reason they push the drinks hard), so you need heavy turnover. Also you usually WANT the place open Friday, Saturday and at least some of Sunday but need to let your folks have SOME time off, so Tuesdays and Wednesdays local places are often closed especially in vacation areas where that is the dead time of the week. Restauranting is hard and the market changes so yoiu can be going great guns and all of a sudden the style changes and your popular Brazilian-Thai fusion diner is dead.
And yes the chain ones have gone the way of the whales here in the Northeast. Big Boy and Howard Johnson’s are long gone. Friendly’s are nearly gone, as are IHOP and Denny’s, A few of the actual Diners (E.g. Miss Worcester in Worcester Ma, originally a display joint for the Diner making company) are still there, but even they will come and go as diner type food goes in and out of style. You’ll find a few all night joints (especially coffee shops) in university towns near Colleges or universities, but those come and go. Rt 1 used to have more of that but with I-95 properly connected up nigh on 40 years the truckers no longer get diverted on to RT 1 so all the all night food there (And the cheesy pay by the hour hotels and strip clubs) have been turned into little pointless shopping plazas.
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Friendlies’ gone? Say it isn’t so!
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Nearly all. There’s one still open near me. (When some relatives came from far off to attend a funeral, the parent had promised the children a trip to Friendlies, and they went there.)
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As Mary noted they’re nearly gone. When my girls were little there were 4 within easy driving range (Danvers, Peabody, North Andover, and Andover). Of those only the Peabody one remains and its attendance is anemic at best. I see dead ones converted to other things all over Massachusetts. Definitely an endangered species. A Fribble and a Big Beef on toast with crinkle cut fries. That would really kill your waistline… but oh so tasty.
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For me it was a platter of fried clam strips and fries, followed with a sundae.
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Not a fan of fried clams in general, but their fried shrimp were very good. And living here on the North Shore the sources for fried clams (e.g. Woodmans and the Clam Box who argue over who invented the fried clam) made Friendly’s a bit like taking coal to Newcastle. No limits to Ice Cream either, White’s Farm in Ipswich is excellent as are Benson’s (Boxford) and Richardson’s (Middleton). Friendly’s did have the advantage of putting it all in one place and having sit down service. Woodman’s and the Clambox have seating but in season they are mobbed with lines out the door even for take out. The battle of the waist band is hard in places like this :-) .
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Actually, prayer is a very good way to calm your brain and restore rational thought when you’re overwhelmed, brain-fogged, frazzled, unable to decide, and in extreme or hopeless situations. Doesn’t really matter which religion you are either, although if you’re a polytheist you have the added problem of choosing the right god or goddess to pray for help. After all, Ares isn’t the best choice to pray for help on solving romantic relationships, except at the point of a sword.
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Heh. You got me to think about Ares writing a romance advice column in the Mount Olympus Times. :-D
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And all I can see is a thousand letters from Hera complaining about what a horn dog Zeus is and that she can’t see what he sees in those mortals.
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Although if I remember right, Ares DID steal Aphrodite away from Hephaestus in some versions of the legend.
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Fair’s fair. Coffee & Covid makes a compelling case that Trump’s taking the Obama thing all the way: https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/benedict-obama-wednesday-july-23
I still wouldn’t bet the farm on an Obama prosecution because (1) it’s a high bar to clear, (2) Trump tends to ask for the stars so he can get the moon, and (3) there are lots of outcomes that get most of the benefits without as much risk. But C&C is right that Trump has made claims that are hard to walk back, and (IMO) the cautious reaction from the media suggests they’re not sure how much dirt Trump has. Should be interesting either way.
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–
–
Conclusions from Article.
Democrats roasted their own goose.
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Okay. Comment to this is in “moderation” (quoted article some).
Biggest take is not only the quotes (if ever out of moderation) but that Obama’s office issued that the announcement out of the Oval Office on the Treason charges in front of the press pool and in front of a visiting head of state is a “distraction” despite the example already set by Trump of winning libel suits and filing another. They went with “distraction“.
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That’s a good point. Normally, I’d just chalk that up to them pushing their preferred narrative, but it occurs to me that’s all they can do here. They can’t argue it’s untrue because the evidence is on Trump’s side. They can’t argue it was taken out of context because Trump can release as much context as he wants. “Well, it was dirty but it wasn’t illegal” isn’t exactly a winning argument and might hurt them in court. They can’t even use the classic “That scandal is old news” trick because the prosecutions are new.
Suddenly the slow, tepid response makes a lot of sense. They’ll bang the “dictator” drum as loudly as they can, but they’re not in a strong position here, and they know it.
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Some zings are delivered by rapier point.
Some via the stroke of a battleaxe.
Trump just used a nuclear arc-light mission. He dropped a frikkin dino-killer. We need a new metaphor, there is no walk-back, take-back, revise/extend on that delivery. Sherman is marching to the sea with Bolos and Posleen.
Popcorn?
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Megatons per second. [munch] Yeah, that’s some good popcorn.
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I would add, be ready to extend grace to others on the INDIVIDUAL level. They are also being tumbled. Do so with wisdom though.
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THIS.
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All the precedents have been set. All the unthinkables, thought and done.
Trump has thrown a glove in the face of his foes. It had a pound of lead in it. And Obama’s reply was … mewling.
Whelp, this is certainly going to be … interesting.
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maybe AI will take away the need for university?
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are you joking or insane. No. it won’t. Distance learning will, though.
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Concur.
There’s a joking argument that many faculty do not have a truth model, and do not reason, and for that reason the universities directly created some of the opportunities and ‘opportunities’ for AI.
I think by default trusting university research is silly, and automatically assuming full valuation of the research projects is absurd.
I’ve looked into extent it is really time effective to self-study or homeschool a undergraduate engineering degree. There are niche advantages to an established set of trainers, if the other management is not toxic and destructive. (IE, the racism and sexism of too many stupid woke.)
If we treat engineering the discipline as something we can verify without universities, it would be possible to argue some of it as having a value that exists, that there is a reality behind the jargon.
But, from the outside, a cargo cult view of the universities is satisficed so long as there are a bunch of jargony words. AI can probably do that sort of satisficing well enough.
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“I think by default trusting university research is silly, and automatically assuming full valuation of the research projects is absurd.”
Yeah, I was taught the point of research is that you’re supposed to DIS-prove it. Then if it can’t be disproven no matter how hard everyone tries, could be you’ve got something there.
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Or as I put it in a story I wrote a couple of years back:
For me that is really what COVID was, the end of the world.
I still have the same job but only half the gaming group who meets very irregularly. C and I’s favorite restaurant didn’t survive COVID nor did the places around my office I frequented.
That donut place and the bar across the street were based on two haunts from my real life. The bar, where C had been working for a couple of years and my primary third place where we played trivia twice a week and for once in my life I was a regular who all the staff and regulars knew, finally gave up the ghost a few months ago having never recovered from COVID lockdowns.
I suspect the difference between the world of December 6, 1941 and December 6, 1946 (yes, 46…the draw down had barely started in 1945) is not much greater and maybe even less, than the change from March 1, 2020 to September 1, 2022. All the change in half the time.
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“I suspect the difference between the world of December 6, 1941 and December 6, 1946 (yes, 46…the draw down had barely started in 1945) is not much greater and maybe even less, than the change from March 1, 2020 to September 1, 2022.”
I agree. On a philosophical level and possibly an economic one too. You could say that the governments of the West burned all the respect they had built up since the 1918 pandemic.
Certainly now, 2025, no one with a grain of sense is under the impression that government is there to protect them. We are viewed, at best, as a government asset. A resource, available to do things the government wants done.
I never thought that before, pre-2020. I always thought government foolishness was down to incompetence and the odd bad actor here or there. But now I think it isn’t foolishness, it’s a plan.
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I used to dismiss comments like “They don’t see the USA as a country but just an economic zone” and “Lines goes up is all that matters” as hyperbole.
Now I consider them descriptive.
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