Althouse: At the Mayapple Café...

April 24, 2020

At the Mayapple Café...

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... you can talk about anything you want.

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213 comments:

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Whiskeybum said...: Today we celebrated my baseball-fan grandson’s 9th birthday by going to our local park and playing baseball on the ball field there. We wondered what might be the response from any of the numerous walkers that visit the park paths daily these days. Would any ‘Karens’ call and make a complaint about that group of 8 (family) playing in the park (all spaced apart in our positions at least 15 feet apart, not that it makes much difference since we’ve been more or less in proximity to each other as a family since social distancing was started)? The town police department building is within eyesight of the field, so it would have been easy for the police to pop over if a complaint had come in. To our delight, not only did none of the myriad of walkers take exception to our game, but rather a few of them actually stopped to watch and to comment how nice it was to see normal life activities going on in the park once more. Restored some faith in good-natured humanity!; 4/24/20, 8:44 PM
Maillard Reactionary said...: Have you ever eaten the fruits? The only patch I know of is 60 miles away, and the deer always get them first. Home field advantage, there.

Deer also like oakleaf hydrangeas, as I discovered to my regret this week. The replacement is on the deck at the moment.; 4/24/20, 8:48 PM
AtmoGuy said...: I was talking to a friend today who owns a (previously) successful restaurant that has been closed for over a month now. He's not sure if he will ever re-open.

He mentioned that a former colleague of his works in catering at Lambeau Field. Apparently, the Packers have "quietly" been told that they need to prepare for the fact that even if the NFL resumes in the fall, Tony Evers won't let them play home games unless there is a COVID vaccine by mid-summer. They are preliminarily looking at playing either at the University of Minnesota stadium or the dome where the Rams used to play in St. Louis.; 4/24/20, 8:52 PM
Kathryn51 said...: Thanks for sharing Whiskeybum. When the nannies begin to complain on my NextdoorNeightbor, they usually get shut down - and we are in the government worshiping (and major employer) Washington State. Folks have common sense - our government "betters" do not.; 4/24/20, 8:54 PM
heyboom said...: With nature providing us with a record breaking hot day today, California blew a big opportunity to help eradicate this virus by doubling down on enforcing it's beach closures and other outdoor venue restrictions.

Typical.; 4/24/20, 8:55 PM
John henry said...: I finished reading Freedom's Forge this week. As I said before, I recommend it highly. Very readable, very interesting and I learned a lot about Bill Knudson and Henry Kaiser among others.

A lot of the stuff covered in the book I knew from elsewhere. For example, Charles Sorenson's "My Forty
Years at Ford" has a lot more detail about how he was able to build a bomber an hour at Willow Run. But I had never seen it all put together in one place before.

Four key takeaways that I didn't know, or never realized, before I had read this:

1) I know quite a bit about mass vs craft production. It is my profession. I had not thought about it in terms of the mobilization of American industry in WWII. Craft production means making each piece individually then fitting them together by skilled craftsmen. Not bad if you only need to produce one item. If you need to produce 2 or more, it is very inefficient. It also means that you can't stock spare parts because each unit is different and requires fitting. You also can't find skilled craftsmen. What you can get are machine tools that can produce millions of parts all identical. And you can find farmboys and others with no skills and teach them to run the machine tool in a couple days.

THEN, and only then, you can produce 23 bombers per day.

One of the reasons we could outproduce the Germans is because they had skilled craftsmen making the messerschmit. We had unskilled labor.

2) I had not realized the enormous output. I sort of did. I'd see aircraft output in one book. Then tank output in another and so on. All impressive but nowhere near as impresive as the totals:

In those five years, America’s shipyards had launched 141 aircraft carriers, eight battleships, 807 cruisers, destroyers, and destroyer escorts, 203 submarines, and, thanks to Henry Kaiser and his colleagues, almost 52 million tons of merchant shipping.

Its factories turned out 88,410 tanks and self-propelled guns, 257,000 artillery pieces, 2.4 million trucks, 2.6 million machine guns—and 41 billion rounds of ammunition.

As for aircraft, the United States had produced 324,750, averaging 170 a day since 1942.

3) Herman also claims that war plant employees died or were injured at a rate 25 time that of uniformed servicemembers. I don't think I had ever heard that statistic before.

4) Finally, the logistics of getting tens of thousands of companies great and small to pull together, to figure
out who could make what and
coordinate it all with no real power to legally compel is just mind boggling.

Great book. Read it.

So what's everyone else reading?

John Henry; 4/24/20, 8:57 PM
Gospace said...: An idea I’ve been spreading in several areas in the hope that some government functionary pays heed.

Every crewmember of every submarine returning to port from patrol or specop in the next few months ought be tested for CoVID19 antibodies immediately on return. Anyone shows positive it tells us the virus boarded a minimum of 72 Drago. That was patrol length when I was doing it. So we’ll have a 72 day look back on how widespread it was then. If a large percentage of the crew shows antibodies and the independent duty corpsman aboard can document crew with symptoms, that will tell us how contagious the virus really is. A submarine is the ideal environment for spreading viruses. IIRC, it would take about 3 weeks for all the viruses on board to be shared, and then, nothing more in the way of URIs until we got back.

The CDC weenies probably have no clue there’s a whole bunch of ideal testing subjects out at sea completely isolated from everyone else.; 4/24/20, 8:58 PM
John henry said...: I got a notice from Amazon that they had a hot deal on CS Forster books. I went over and scooped up half a dozen for 99 cents each.

Then they recommended a hot deal on Nevil Shute books.

Perhaps because Nevil's NY agent was Forster's mistress? Or perhaps they know what a fan of the great man I am. www.nevilshute.org I scooped up half a dozen books that I did not already have in Kindle for $1.99 to 2.99.I have them all in paper. Still missing a few in Kindle.

I finally got a Kindle version of Trustee from the Toolroom, his last, which ties for #1 in my heart with A Town Like Alice.

Gonna start reading it next. For the 15th or 20th time.

But I started with Requiem for a Wren (A/K/A The Breaking Wave One is the American title, the other the British or is it vice-versa?) Just finished it this afternoon. I knew it almost from memory though it had been ages since I read it. Shute called it a tuppeny romance that he wrote for the money. He alternated between fluff and serious books though I have a hard time telling which is which. It takes place in the month's before D-Day (Shute was on Juno Beach on D+2) and involves a romance between a royal marine frogman from Australia and a WREN ordinance ortificer. Just one of those great stories that has nothing much to it but that I always tear up over.

Any other Norwegians here?

What's your favorite Shute book?

John Henry; 4/24/20, 8:58 PM
Kathryn51 said...: Anecdote No. 1: Our daughter works(management)for an "essential" retail business. We are in the land of Microsoft privilege. They are deluged every day for delivery requests for 1 or 2 items. She regales us with stories of rich bitches (my term, not hers) that demand uber service for the smallest of items. $90 delivery fees for 1 item that costs less than the fee - because these wimps are "afraid" to come to the store.

Store is trying to hire. She interviewed a number of people. Most didn't even bother to show up for the interview. The two best were guys that had been laid off - but they WANTED to work. Not interested in unemployment + $600. Hired on the spot - with the knowledge that when their former employer opened up, they would be gone.; 4/24/20, 9:00 PM
Mark said...: Dolphin puns
https://youtu.be/RRryv9PFWoU; 4/24/20, 9:01 PM
YoungHegelian said...: It's strange that the first person I know who contracted COVID is the first person I know who has died from it. It's the harpsichordist/organist James Weaver. I link to his obituary because he was was a public persona, in his day a very big name in the American Early Music scene.

May he rest in peace.; 4/24/20, 9:02 PM
Ken B said...: Mayapples are poisonous at this time of year I believe.; 4/24/20, 9:04 PM
Crimso said...: Mayapple, source of podophyllotoxin. The podophyllotoxin derivative etoposide (one of the epipodophyllotoxins) is widely used in treating human cancers. Science!!!; 4/24/20, 9:07 PM
Kit Carson said...: that's a nice path in the top photo. it's so much nicer to walk on earth rather than asphalt or concrete.
the human body was designed for walking on uneven surfaces. each irregular part of the surface rotates the joints, tendons and ligaments of the foot, knee and hip, keeping them "in tune."
concrete or a treadmill does not produce these continuous micro-rotations and so an unexpected unevenness can produce a sudden slight turn of the ankle with the ankle or knee or hip unable to compensate well and thus more liable to injury.
plus, of course, walking on earth allows us to feel more connected to the great beyond.; 4/24/20, 9:10 PM
reader said...: Weather’s gorgeous in California and people are itchy for freedom.

From San Diego coronavirus Twitter alerts

Local COVID-19 deaths went up by two and total cases saw a record increase for a second day with an additional 183 confirmed cases. https://bit.ly/355I1zy

But...

From https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/coronavirus-update-reported-tests-spike-as-california-clears-backlog/

Yesterday saw a huge spike in testing, primarily due to the clearing of California’s test backlog. Unlike most states, California has had long delays in processing test results.

From https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/California-clears-coronavirus-testing-backlog-15222922.php

California has cleared its backlog of pending COVID-19 tests for the first time since it began reporting the numbers in mid-March, state health officials said Thursday.; 4/24/20, 9:14 PM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: Clockwork Heart by Dru Pagliassotti

I *really* liked this book!

Taya is an "Icarus" in the mountain city-state of Ondinium. Icari are sort of flying bike-messengers/mailmen/couriers for the city, but with a bit more social status than that implies in our world. Ondinium is apparently the only place in the world where the negative-weight, positive mass metal "Ondium" can be mined, though it is rare even there. An ondium armature negates enough weight that Icari can fly with metal wings.

Taya is happy in her job, but yearns to pass her diplomatic exams and see the world as a (flying) diplomat for Ondinium. However, her life changes dramatically when she makes a daring rescue during a "wireferry" (the cable cars which connect the citys different peaks and neighborhoods) crash. Saving the life of an "Elite" woman and her child propels her into the affairs of the city's upper-crust and into the heart of the conspiracy that imperils it.

I'm trying to figure out why I liked this book so well and I think there are several reasons:

1) The setting feels real and lived in. Now perhaps there are many elements that wouldn't make sense if I thought about them too hard, but nothing slapped me in the face and said "I'm here to challenge your suspension of disbelief!". Not only did it feel real, it felt like a place worth saving, and you could believe the loyalty the main characters felt for it. No one was blind to the problems of society, but they all felt they could be addressed in the society's own context. The police force was shown to be strict but fair, and not so bound by bureaucracy that they wouldn't deputize the citizenry when necessary. There was no real democracy, but different interests were represented on the council, and the press seemed to be completely free (if no more accurate than our own). Also there was broad sexual equality and a general lack of obsession with people's sleeping arrangements. There were obvious borrowings from Republican Rome, Victorian England, Mandarinism and Hinduism, but I felt they fell together well.

2) The characters were engaging. Taya is smart and ambitious, but no steely eyed hero. When circumstances force her to kill someone (a police officer who mistakenly believes she is trying to destroy the city's great babbage engine) in self defense, she feels terrible about it. She is also able to accept her eventual love interest for who he is without trying to polish all his rough edges. Said love interest is no "love at first sight" Mr. perfect either. In the "Night Huntress" books I just reviewed, there's an obvious "something" about the "fate-ed" lover from the get-go. Here it develops gradually.

3) The plot was interesting. The other "Juno" book I read recently, _Personal Demons_ was more Supernatural Romance, with the plot designed to bring the heroine and "hero" together. In _Clockwork Heart_, we get enough plot that it would work as a "buddy movie" even without the budding romance.

I really need to read the other books in this setting!; 4/24/20, 9:23 PM
Mark said...: News you can use --
The Pennsylvania Department of Health slashed the state’s COVID-19 death toll on Thursday by 201, saying probable deaths it had previously included in the count were eliminated after further investigation.

Again, because of the inclusion of unconfirmed, presumed "probable" cases, the day-to-day death count trend comparisons are totally skewed and, thus, next to useless. At least some places are seeing that there are problems with that approach.; 4/24/20, 9:23 PM
Mark said...: Flipper he ain't.
https://youtu.be/9vWqhDStb4g; 4/24/20, 9:24 PM
Original Mike said...: I'll have to walk down the hill to the Mayapple patch and see what's up.; 4/24/20, 9:26 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: sigh.

How do they know its not a Muslima with a scythe?; 4/24/20, 9:29 PM
Lucien said...: Is there any hard news out there about Kim Jong Un’s status? Dead, alive, pining for the fjords?; 4/24/20, 9:31 PM
Original Mike said...: The Raiders are in Las Vegas now?; 4/24/20, 9:32 PM
Michael K said...: John Henry, I am reading "The Vile and the Splendid," which is a poor title but is a great book about Churchill and WWII. He interweaves Mary Churchill and Goebbles' diaries to tell the story of the Battle of Britain. I have read a dozen books about this period but he has all sorts of obscure details.

Shute is my favorite novelist. I have read all his books multiple times. Trustee an df Alice are favorites. I reviewed "Requiem" at Amazon and got scolded for giving away the plot. "Round the Bend " is another favorite. He gets mystical at times. "Rainbow and the Rose" is an example as is "In the Wet."; 4/24/20, 9:33 PM
Original Mike said...: "I'll have to walk down the hill to the Mayapple patch and see what's up."

…that is, assuming my governor allows me to. I honestly don't know if that 2 block walk would be legal. I'm guessing it's not.; 4/24/20, 9:38 PM
Josephbleau said...: Any other Norwegians here?

ja jeg er her, men jeg vil ikke lese den mannen, han er for gal.; 4/24/20, 9:38 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: to the real heroes--Thanks, Celebrities!; 4/24/20, 9:39 PM
Original Mike said...: "I'll have to walk down the hill to the Mayapple patch and see what's up."

…that is, assuming my governor allows me to. I honestly don't know if that 2 block walk would be legal. I'm guessing it's not.; 4/24/20, 9:41 PM
Narr said...: What a conveniently timed Friday night book thread!

The IQ/inequality/class discussion had me thinking about two important figures of two centuries ago, who came from completely different backgrounds.

William Smith was the man who made "the map that changed the world"--as the title of Simon Winchester's book has it. A barely educated yeoman's son, he gave geology a scientific base by way of mastering the fossil record he encountered in decades and tens of thousands of miles of walking, sketching, mapping and writing--while self-employed as a consultant and engineer for mining, canal building, drainage, and hydrology. But he got pretty beastly treatment from the educated and monied, going into debt, serving time in a debtor's prison (not as bad as sounds!?!) -- and that's as far as I have gotten. Hey, I got distracted.

Alexander von Humboldt is "the most famous scientist-explorer you've never heard of." A Prussian noble, he received the best humanistic and technical education available; he was a prodigy, mastering engineering, mining, chemistry, botany, astronomy, you name it. He made years-long expeditions with the Frenchman Bonpland to South America where they charted jungle rivers and mapped Andean mountains, collecting, preserving, and eventually cataloging thousands of plant and animal specimens. He devised new methods of the graphic presentation of knowledge, corresponded with some of the greatest figures of the age, and after late-life expeditions to Siberia and Mongolia he set out a scientific world view in his work "Cosmos." Cool title!

Towns, counties, and ocean currents are named for him. He was apparently free of class, race, or religious prejudice to a notable degree for his time, and lacked any appreciation of music. He tested things for himself, including the power of electric eels.

Narr
Which he would write about the next day, when he could hold a pen again; 4/24/20, 9:43 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: @Meade

you might want to give This! a look
(if you dont have one already!); 4/24/20, 9:49 PM
Mark said...: Cats don't like Steve.; 4/24/20, 9:56 PM
John henry said...: Michael,

Round the Bend is certainly one of my favorites too.

I remember in 99 when my wife and I flew out to Albuquerque for the Centennial, first meeting of the Nevil Shute Society. I looked out the window of the plane and saw a Hanger with a huge "Cutter Aviation" on it and thought of Tom Cutter and his first Tiger Moth.

Round the Bend is a great story of an entrepreneur and is based, loosely, on a real person.

Ditto A Town Like Alice.

And the Dermotts in Trustee, and their voyage, are based, at least in initial McGuffin on a Voyage Miles and Beryl Smeeton made from Britain to Vancouver in the late 40's. As a sailor you would enjoy their books if you can find them.

Have you read "Slide Rule", his autobiography? It only goes up to 1938 but he always made it clear he only wrote as a hobby and his real love was engineering.

I find most of his books to be very inspirational.

John Henry; 4/24/20, 9:57 PM
Mark said...: A Simon and Simon crossover. And the 15 seconds I just saw of them on Magnum means that in my entire life, I have now seen 15 seconds of Simon and Simon.; 4/24/20, 9:59 PM
Mark said...: That FDA red siren alert alarm story in the MSM went down the memory hole real quick, didn't it?; 4/24/20, 10:01 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Well, as we are free, let us bomb building's Madison.

They know. Like Chicago is cool. Sometimes you bomb and you know you hope for the best. I knew some guys I think now are Madison/Dane officers.

They deserve every radical they face.

Go work somewhere else if you wanna be decent. Allow Dane to fester as they vote. It will happen within 3 years from now. Nobody has any concept of smug. Never acknowledged.

But they will still celebrate the bomber who tried to kill my dad literally.; 4/24/20, 10:02 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: If all those deaths every year are just called vlu, bet we know, it's really the glu, then we profit.; 4/24/20, 10:05 PM
narciso said...: a book i read years ago, the first of a series; 4/24/20, 10:10 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: The Better Than Jesus In Every Way Great Socialist Bernie Sanders just wanted, on his way to riches, what was best for Johnny Coen.

Bernie just wanted what was best for you. If the system Bernie gained millions from could have just in any small, mediocre way, benefitted you, well by God Bernie would have done everyething possible to sacrifice on your behalf as long as he gets 3 houses rich and a dumb bitch who can rape humdreds of teens simultaneously as it were....

Wait, what has Bernie lost or sacrificed or, indeed, NOT GAINED?; 4/24/20, 10:12 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: If America were what decent people had thought, Hillary! would have not existed years ago before Dan Bongino seld him some books.; 4/24/20, 10:13 PM
Rory said...: "California has cleared its backlog of pending COVID-19 tests"

Looks like they also finished counting primary votes.l; 4/24/20, 10:15 PM
narciso said...: Like buck rogers crossed with the fountain head, is the way i'd describe it.; 4/24/20, 10:15 PM
NCMoss said...: Althouse, I don't know if your blog is the best but it is surely one of the best; thanks for all your effort and care.; 4/24/20, 10:16 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: There are still Americans, yet still little bitches allow our Republic to be squandered, crazy bitch punk-like.; 4/24/20, 10:17 PM
Michael said...: Michael K
Great book and the portrayal of Londoners during the blitz will sadden you when you compare them to ourselves during our current “war”.; 4/24/20, 10:19 PM
Narr said...: Ernest K. Gann wrote some wonderful books about flying (in the opinion of this groundling).

"Fate Is The Hunter" is a classic. His "in the Company of Eagles" is a WW I fighter-pilot tale, if you like that sort of thing.

Narr
I do; 4/24/20, 10:20 PM
Sebastian said...: To keep on keeping track, another day, another set of downward adjustments, from Power Line, courtesy of IMHE

Minnesota

April 11: 442
April 15: 656
April 22: 360

Wisconsin

April 11: 357
April 15: 338
April 22: 356

Iowa:

April 11: 743
April 15: 618
April 22: 365

North Dakota:

April 11: 369
April 15: 32
April 22: 356

South Dakota:

April 11: 356
April 15: 181
April 22: 93

Hinderaker adds: "I should perhaps add that our governor’s extreme shutdown order was predicated on a home-grown model that said there would be 74,000 fatalities without a shutdown, and 50,000 even with a shutdown–a number that was later revised downward, but nowhere near far enough."

So, from 77K to 50K to 360. Alarmism in a nutshell.; 4/24/20, 10:23 PM
narciso said...: we have the rest of tomorrow to beat this dead horse instead of genender and race swapping bond, come up with a comparable character; 4/24/20, 10:28 PM
hawkeyedjb said...: Such a lovely scene in the park behind our house this afternoon. Many families playing on the grass with their kids & dogs. I took our 'foster dog' out for a little ball-toss. He thought every ball on the greenbelt was fair game. No Rocky - you chase your ball, let the girls have theirs.

You sure?

Yes.

OK.; 4/24/20, 10:28 PM
FullMoon said...: The wife killed him,check the life insurance...

The backstory on the man who died after ingesting fish-tank cleaner is chilling<; 4/24/20, 10:32 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: FullMoon said...
The wife killed him,check the life insurance..."

If she did it, it was almost the perfect murder.

Kill husband and blame Trump. Every media hack and leftist loon on Twitter will cover for you.; 4/24/20, 10:38 PM
narciso said...: Greg rucka is a graphic novelist, thats where the series premiered, a little like anthony lejeunes atomic blonde.; 4/24/20, 10:39 PM
Michael K said...: . As a sailor you would enjoy their books if you can find them.

I have seen Beryl and Miles present their movie of their pitchpoling . They appeared at a program with John Guzzwell, another giant of sailing. There used to be a program at Orange Coast College with speakers. I saw them plus Irving Johnson who talked about "The Brigantine Yankee." He showed his home movies of rounding the horn on a square rigger,The Peking, as a boy. I also saw the Hiscocks.

I never had the time to do the long distance sailing I wanted to do but I did do some Mexican races and the Transpac.

I have also been to Australia a couple of times and was invited for a hunting trip in the Outback but never made it.; 4/24/20, 10:39 PM
Mike Sylwester said...: New Evidence Supporting Credibility of Tara Reade's Allegations Against Joe Biden Emerges

The article includes this passage:

On August 11, 1993, [Larry] King aired a program titled, “Washington: The Cruelest City on Earth?” Toward the end of the program, he introduces a caller dialing in from San Luis Obispo, California. Congressional records list August 1993 as Reade’s last month of employment with Biden’s Senate office, and, according to property records, Reade’s mother, Jeanette Altimus, was living in San Luis Obispo County. Here is the transcript of the beginning of the call:

KING: San Luis Obispo, California, hello.

CALLER: Yes, hello. I’m wondering what a staffer would do besides go to the press in Washington? My daughter has just left there, after working for a prominent senator, and could not get through with her problems at all, and the only thing she could have done was go to the press, and she chose not to do it out of respect for him.

KING: In other words, she had a story to tell but, out of respect for the person she worked for, she didn’t tell it?

CALLER: That’s true.; 4/24/20, 10:40 PM
Michael K said...: "Slide Rule" is good plus "Flight of Fancy," an account of his flying his small plane to Australia and back. He got a lot of material on that trip. A lot of "Alice" and "Round the Bend" are based on that trip. "Flight" is not listed on Amazon. There is also a newer biography of him.; 4/24/20, 10:45 PM
Narr said...: Poor Tara Reade--she should have respected herself, not Sleazy Joe.

Narr
Lotta good it did her; 4/24/20, 10:51 PM
narciso said...: Ironically the sponsor of the violence against woman act; 4/24/20, 10:52 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: I am half way through _The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood_ (Sam Wasson, 2020). It's in the genre of "Story-teller history" (I just made that one up).
Great if you are interested in Hollywood's transition from the 60s to the 70s. Many great anecdotes & stories, and a good x-ray into the details of studio film making. The first part of the book ends with the Tate-LaBianca murders. Wasson says that, until the police fingered Manson & his people for the murders, Polanski thought the killer might have been Bruce Lee.; 4/24/20, 10:54 PM
hawkeyedjb said...: "Ironically the sponsor of the violence against woman act"

Gotta know what you're sponsoring.; 4/24/20, 10:55 PM
narciso said...: Wow they were way off, one of the best non chandler homages to the genre.; 4/24/20, 10:56 PM
Yancey Ward said...: "What's your favorite Shute book?"

"No One Allowed On the Beach".; 4/24/20, 10:57 PM
Rory said...: The article now includes the original King video, and says Reade has confirmed her mother's voice.; 4/24/20, 10:58 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: Wasson says that the violence of the murders was so over-the-top, that the police thought it must have been a revenge killing. Polanski & Tate knew Bruce Lee because he had a side gig teaching self-defense to Hollywood stars.; 4/24/20, 11:00 PM
Anne-I-Am said...: Thanks for all the book recommendations. I sometimes feel that I have read every novel there is...basically. Makes me think of junior high English class. There are three plots: Man against man. Man against nature. Man against himself. I would add: Man against god(s).

It takes talent to take those themes and tell a new story. Only prodigious talent can do that and do it in a way that compels a reader who has read Conrad, Shakespeare, Homer, et al. Or forget them--tell a story that is interesting enough to capture the attention of someone who has read the far lesser talents.; 4/24/20, 11:01 PM
William said...: In the prior Mickey Mantle item, I discussed Jane Leavy's bio of him, The Last Boy. It's a good book, and I hope this new book doesn't supplant it. Leavy grew up across the street from Yankee Stadium and as a kid she hero worshiped him. He blew her off in a curt way one time when she asked for his autograph. Nevertheless, her love for him remained pure and undamaged. It was only as an adult reporter that she knew him as a drunken boor. Still though, enough of that hero worship remained that she wrote a sympathetic bio. Mickey had a tough life. Childhood poverty, childhood sexual abuse, and painful, life threatening childhood diseases. He could have been a worse man, and there were parts of him that were genuinely worthy. He played in pain for most of his career. He was considerate and generous to his teammates who were, in fact, the only people he ever had successful relationships with....This new bio apparently details all his worst moments, but that's not the truth of the man. The world is full of boorish drunks who don't win the triple crown and hit home runs almost out of Yankee Stadium.; 4/24/20, 11:02 PM
Yancey Ward said...: "Mayapples are poisonous at this time of year I believe."

That area should be closed to the public, then.; 4/24/20, 11:03 PM
narciso said...: Like the history of costaguana which was a colombian picaresque walter mitty tale through conrads oevre. (The twist is conrad stole his story and made it his own); 4/24/20, 11:05 PM
narciso said...: how was the play; 4/24/20, 11:07 PM
narciso said...: I cant say i read all of gravitys rainbow , it requires a source book of its own, but i read enough to get the gist of it.; 4/24/20, 11:09 PM
narciso said...: Ellroy is reaching pynchonesque length and not in a good way, his americam tabloid made him go a little far afield; 4/24/20, 11:11 PM
Anne-I-Am said...: You know, in the midst of all this Chinese Lung AIDS bullshit, real stuff is happening. Things that have no connection to this effing virus. A friend of mine called to tell me about her daughter accusing someone of anally raping her back when she was very young. What a thing to contemplate as a mom. What a devastating event.

These human dramas aren't stopping because of this fucking virus. But it is sucking all the oxygen out of the room. Adding to the stress and the burden.

I hate what is happening. It is like a demon is attacking the entire country.; 4/24/20, 11:16 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Biden is toast- that Larry King video is going to sink him.; 4/24/20, 11:17 PM
William said...: I also read Richard Ben Cramer's bio of Joe DiMaggio: The Hero's Life. It's a good read, but there was something mean spirited about the way Cramer detailed all of DiMaggio's deficits as a human being.....Anyway, DiMaggio seemed to have an innate sense of dignity and balance. Despite only having an 8th grade education, he always appeared wise and knowledgeable. The man knew how to be a superstar.....DiMaggio's home life wasn't any better than Mantle's but, with the obvious exception of his marriage to Marilyn, it wasn't tabloid fodder.....I wonder why some Italian filmmaker doesn't make a picture about the saga of the DiMaggio family. They were far more typical of Italians than the Corleone or Soprano family. I think of the DiMaggio brothers Dom had the most success in life. After baseball, he founded a factory and his marriage was stable and happy. It's probably easier to be an All-Star than a Hall of Famer.; 4/24/20, 11:17 PM
narciso said...: Its like the blob, it consumes everything in its path, it renders most commentators about functional idiots (that may have beem their default setting to begin with); 4/24/20, 11:19 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: A senior scientist of Wuhan P4 lab has gotten out of China & is going to talk publicly?; 4/24/20, 11:20 PM
John henry said...: I have seen Beryl and Miles present their movie of their pitchpoling . They appeared at a program with John Guzzwell, another giant of sailing. There used to be a program at Orange Coast College with speakers. I saw them plus Irving Johnson who talked about"The Brigantine Yankee."He showed his home movies of rounding the horn on a square rigger,The Peking, as a boy. I also saw the Hiscocks.

Now you're just trying to make me jealous.

I went through a period in the 80s where I read all the books I could find on small boat voyages like the smeetons. Eric hiscock. Pierre Motessiea, Tristan Jones Alain Villiers and more

A fascinating genre

John Henry; 4/24/20, 11:20 PM
Ken B said...: Mike Sylwester
That's really weak because there is no mention of sexual harassment, and also because of the reference to respect.
Still not nearly enough to credible IMO. Contemporaneous evidence or it didn’t happen.; 4/24/20, 11:21 PM
etbass said...: John Henry, I followed your advice and downloaded Freedom's Forge on Kindle. I too was astounded that 25 times as many injuries and deaths occurred in manufacturing and production of war goods as casualties by the armed forces during WWII. It's amazing that this has been a "secret" all this time and with the many well deserved plaudits of the armed forces during the war, this hasn't been pointed out. All I ever heard was about Rosie the riveter.; 4/24/20, 11:22 PM
Yancey Ward said...: That is contemporaneous evidence, Ken. Her story is she told her mother, and her mother phoned in and mentioned it without going into detail. What else do you think the mother could have been talking about, if not some sort of sexual impropriety? Biden is finished- no female politician can be seen endorsing him now.; 4/24/20, 11:25 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Anne:

These human dramas aren't stopping because of this fucking virus. But it is sucking all the oxygen out of the room. Adding to the stress and the burden.

Not trying to be a wise ass, but do you appreciate the irony of taking space to say that the coronavirus is taking up too much space?

I do actually know what you mean, and there is a sort of information fatigue. I remember the OJ trial coverage being one of the earlier examples I remember. And Princess Diana's death. But 9/11 was the most interesting case. At the facility I worked, we had a daily meeting in the morning to review any incidents fro overnight and discuss plans for the day. I cannot recall how long after 9/11 it was, but during one meeting, one of the psychologists (my later mentor and business partner) said, "Is anyone else getting sick of hearing about 9/11?" We all agreed that our interest in watching nonstop coverage was waning but were experiencing some lingering guilt over it.

For what it's worth, I almost never watch television news anymore. Unless it's something urgent, I usually just read the news in the morning and check in a couple more times later in the day.; 4/24/20, 11:27 PM
Yancey Ward said...: It is possible to prove that is her mother on the phone call, though I think it 99.9% certain it is because it would be easy to prove the opposite, too. I am sure "The Intercept" has copied it now, but that video will be become increasingly difficult to find online over the next few days as the tech companies try to eliminate it every time it gets posted.; 4/24/20, 11:28 PM
Yancey Ward said...: The Democrats now have what they need to push Biden aside, and they will take it.; 4/24/20, 11:29 PM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: My only real vanity is my hair which is long and a natural, still quite bright blond even as I’m at the big 4-0 this year, and it’s falling out in drifts thanks to all this stress. I wish I could do something about it.

Last night my ten year old son and I watched Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure and it was wonderful to hear him laugh so hard. He has pretty severe anxiety and hasn’t been doing particularly well over the last few weeks. We adults do our bitching behind closed doors so as not to contribute but he still misses his routine and activities.

Reading Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey. She’s quite a wit and I enjoyed the other Alan Grant mystery, can’t remember the title, of hers that I read. This one is historical in nature and I mos’ def’ want to go somewhere, anywhere, than the here and now. The here and now is driving me batshit.; 4/24/20, 11:32 PM
Ken B said...: It’s too vague and it’s uncertain that it is contemporaneous since she doesn’t have a specific time period. We know Anita Hill was lying because she followed Thomas when he changed jobs. A similar argument holds here. The unnamed daughter had respect for the unnamed senator after she left his office. If that unnamed daughter was basically raped, why did she tell her mother of her great respect for the unnamed man?; 4/24/20, 11:34 PM
narciso said...: Oh i loved that book, yes reeves and winter (what ever happened to him) even joss ackland as the villain and bill sadler (as death) that idiot lawyer in florida reminded me of it.; 4/24/20, 11:36 PM
Birkel said...: Hang in there, Pants.; 4/24/20, 11:36 PM
Anne-I-Am said...: J Farmer,

I think you misunderstood me. It isn't that these small dramas would take up any space on the news. It is that the people dealing with these little nuclear bombs are already exhausted from dealing with the fallout from the virus. This friend is trying to take care of three kids at home needing home schooling. And a husband who works in a profession where he is exposed to possible viral vectors all day. And her own job, which is as an attorney dealing with family law--matters which can't just be ignored because of Panic!

Humans only have so much attention and energy. Even if we try to sequester ourselves from the panic peddlers, we are subject to constraints that push the melodrama in our faces all day long. No, you can't just run to the store. No, you can't visit your demented mother in the memory care facility. No, you can't go for a run in the park.

This is part of the cost of this artificially maintained panic that goes unseen and unremarked. So I am seeing it. And remarking on it.; 4/24/20, 11:36 PM
Mark said...: Weight of the evidence is for the jury to determine.; 4/24/20, 11:37 PM
Ken B said...: “ The Democrats now have what they need to push Biden aside, and they will take it.”

Now that is a possibility. The DNC doesn’t need to believe it to use it (as we have seen often). I agree they are plotting his removal. But he would fight that I expect.; 4/24/20, 11:37 PM
Birkel said...: Being a Democratic means you must respect Democratic rapists and offer them blow jobs. Just ask Nina Burleigh.

Ken B is a Concern Troll.
And a liar, but everybody already knew that.; 4/24/20, 11:39 PM
Ralph L said...: Are women biologically programmed to excuse rich and/or powerful men? It seems like feminism has made things worse. Before, they'd go to their fathers, husbands, or brothers for retribution, and that was a deterrent for many hairsniffers.; 4/24/20, 11:41 PM
Yancey Ward said...: It isn't the daughter speaking on the phone call, Ken- it is her mother. The word "respect" is the mother's, not the daughter's, but even it was the daughter's word, it wouldn't mean what you are trying to imply, especially as you try to add the adjective "great" to the transcript.

I am not surprised she couldn't put a month- I can't remember the times of big events in my life from 1993 either- certainly not to the month. Reade did remember it was in the time period of 1992-1993, though- and she did remember when she finally gave up and quit, which is also confirmed by documentary evidence- August 1993, the same time of the mother's call, and the mother's words make it clear she had left by the time of the call.

I don't know that Biden did exactly what she alleged, but the call shows that part of her story was, in fact, true- she told her mother about some event that happened between the daughter and Joe Biden, and I now think it probable the rest of the story is true, too. Biden is toast.; 4/24/20, 11:42 PM
narciso said...: It strains at all the things that connect us with society it atomizes us down to the family or less, in some cases. Then you see how these draconian measures havent saved the vulnerable, theres a facility right up the block out of that acene in the stand where gary sinese has to escape. Ny not only returned patients back to facilities but it wouldnt allow them to be transferred to a hospital ship . What the (redacted) its less so around here you can walk to the store (and then run into scenes out of andromeda strain); 4/24/20, 11:43 PM
Yancey Ward said...: In short, I no longer believe it probable that Biden has no idea why Reade had a problem with him personally unless his dementia has wiped it from his mind- a not impossible thing.; 4/24/20, 11:44 PM
Jon Ericson said...: Concern troll!
Moby!
Concern troll!
Moby!
Concern troll!
Moby!
Concern troll!
Moby!
etc.; 4/24/20, 11:45 PM
narciso said...: Im glad theres a rebel spirit out there, even in oakland. From the conversation last night the brain is like a computer but infinitely more intricate the mind omes consciousness is something else. We might to be able to artificially create a semblance the former but the latter i dont think we'll ever achieve.; 4/24/20, 11:46 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: could Joe claim he couldnt have possibly digitally raped her

...since he isnt tech-savvy?; 4/24/20, 11:47 PM
Ralph L said...: Tey also wrote Brat Farrar which was OK and a miniseries years ago.; 4/24/20, 11:50 PM
Mark said...: It isn't the daughter speaking on the phone call, Ken- it is her mother. . . . some event that happened between the daughter and Joe Biden

I don't think one can say definitively that it "is" her mother. That the caller was identified as being from the mother's town is suggestive, but not conclusive. And, it only stated that "some event" happened with some unidentified senator, not that the unnamed senator had forcibly digitally penetrated her.

It has already been definitively established that Reade had made contemporaneous complaints about some objectionable conduct, but again without the specifics.

In short, the phone call is some evidence that might be considered, but it is not proof-positive. Reasonable jurors could find that it is not connected to Biden.

I certainly would not ask him to put on that glove in open court in front of that jury.; 4/24/20, 11:52 PM
Mark said...: The killing of Trip in the finale was totally forced. And the inclusion of Riker makes it easily dismissable.; 4/24/20, 11:55 PM
Ralph L said...: Biden has no idea why Reade had a problem with him personally unless his dementia has wiped it from his mind

Or he did it similar things so often he can't distinguish an act.; 4/24/20, 11:56 PM
Mark said...: It might have happened the way Reade says now. Might not have.

The evidence against Justin Fairfax and credibility of the women accusing him are much stronger. But the Democrat party and MSM don't seem to care one iota whether the lieutenant governor of Virginia is a rapist or not.; 4/24/20, 11:59 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Anne:

This is part of the cost of this artificially maintained panic that goes unseen and unremarked. So I am seeing it. And remarking on it.

Since we fundamentally disagree on the fist part, I'll set it aside and say that I completely agree with the remaining. A few years back an aunt I was closed to past away in her late 50s of cancer. She knew no strangers, and nobody ever had a bad word to say about her. There must've been over 100 people at her memorial service. Seeing that you become aware of just how many relationships any individual has and the ripples that a loss can send through groups of even unrelated people.

My mentor was himself an apprentice of Murray Bowen, a Georgetown psychiatrist who helped invent family therapy and developed a model of family therapy known as systemic therapy in the latter half of the 1950s. One of its primary concepts is the notion that the triangle is a basic unit of human relationships. A dyadic relationship is always unstable because as anxiety increased on one or both sides a third person will be pulled in in order to dissipate the anxiety. It describes the process continuing in a series of interlocking triangles.

While I was at the memorial for my aunt sitting in the back and people watching (as I am wont to do), my mind briefly returned to Bowen's triangles and to thoughts that used to plague me a much longer time ago when I was still a teen and what is sometimes referred to as the "problem of evil." The suffering that occurs in the world on any given day is beyond the level of any human being to contemplate. The physical torment, the sexual torment, the psychological torment, starvation, the lingering in debilitating illness, the fear of death or what you may endure before death, the loss of a child, the loss of a parent, the torture, the imprisonment, the injustice, the indifference. I readily understand why the reality of the world we inhabit makes people have to believe. But I also understand why I cannot.; 4/24/20, 11:59 PM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: Thank you, Birkel. :)

Anne, not to intrude on your conversation with Farmer, but you’re so right. Even if you want to stop thinking about this stupid crap day in and day out, there is not one part of daily life that it doesn’t intrude on. Sent oldest daughter to the store for powdered sugar today and she came home with a long story about how they are now only allowing one person per aisle at a time, so she had the absurdity of standing at the end of the baking aisle until the Walmartian admitted her after the woman ahead of her finished perusing the flour and exited the far end. Only to find that they did not have any powdered sugar. We just wanted to make some damn frosting!

All of this hysteria over 90 cases, one death (78 year old long term care resident), among 360,000 people in my county. 30% of businesses closed. It’s now a circle jerk where people are trying to out-respond each other which then encourages the rest of the hysterics and drama queens. Most people have no idea that it’s not really a threat to them at all but monkey see, monkey do. Drama! Danger! Excitement! Can’t even make plans to occupy the mind with better days to come because are we having summer camp? Are we having college football and marching band? Am I sending my daughter back to her university three states over? Should we sign the apartment lease before she loses it or is that too risky? Should I be stockpiling food? Everyday decisions more complicated than which Bond movie are we putting on before bed are all infected by this ridiculous uncertainty.; 4/24/20, 11:59 PM
narciso said...: Yes there was no reason for that, the seasin had been one of the best of enterprise. A dark precursor to what discovery and picard would yield. Yecch.; 4/25/20, 12:00 AM
Mark said...: And they don't care if Joe Biden is a sexual predator or not. Or Bill Clinton. Or Al Gore. Or John Edwards. Or Ted Kennedy.; 4/25/20, 12:01 AM
Darkisland said...: Michael,

You mentioned John Guzzwell. The name sounded familiar but I couldn't place him. Is he the master sailor who sailed with them on the first (and subsequent?) voyages?

I have a very distant connection to the Smeetons. In 1989 tzu hang was seized by customs agents, sank during hurricane hugo and now lies in the san juan landfill.

John Henry; 4/25/20, 12:01 AM
Birkel said...: A jury of Biden's peers would include the senators who made at least one waitress into a sandwich while she was at work, right?; 4/25/20, 12:02 AM
Mark said...: #MeToo fizzled out into the politically selective rather quickly.; 4/25/20, 12:03 AM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: Mr. Pants and I were talking today about how astonishingly efficiently the horizontal bands across society that supposedly hold us all together have vanished, without a fight, replaced by this absurd vertical orientation where we are looking up at our betters waiting for them to tell us where when what how why we may live our lives. Kids aren’t going to school, we gave up church with zero fight, we’re not allowed to spend time with our friends or extended family, people are separated from their workplaces. I’ve never seen anything like this and wouldn’t have thought it was possible.

I have no idea how anyone thought Grace Jones would be a compellingly sexy villainess. I know it was the 80s and geometry was in, but that haircut and eyebrows? Yech.; 4/25/20, 12:04 AM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: More from the House of Buttafuoco

The Cuomo Family Magic Coronavirus Cure
In lieu of treatments you might find with professionals, Cuomo's wife, a luxury magazine editor, reached for a handy regimen of 'oxygenated herbs.'; 4/25/20, 12:04 AM
narciso said...: It went thomas tailhook oackwood and then fhth about 25 years ago. No one weinstein thought it was open season because it was.; 4/25/20, 12:05 AM
Mark said...: I (yawn) watched a part of (yawn) the NFL draft.; 4/25/20, 12:05 AM
narciso said...: A view to a kill, that was ridiculous beyonf measure, walken was at least someone who fully regalled in the absurdity.; 4/25/20, 12:07 AM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: He serves on our vestry and they meet as usual, via Zoom, and one half of what they talk about is how they can keep the lights on and staff paid as no one is bothering to mail in offerings, and the other half is all the weak sisters wringing their hands about how we can’t start congregating again until there is a vaccine.

That’s some commitment there, ladies! From the same people who listen to lay addresses from visiting Nigerian Anglicans about how every time they worship they risk being murdered.

I just don’t get it. But that’s enough head shaking for one night. Be well, Althousians.; 4/25/20, 12:09 AM
narciso said...: I didnt get the patrick mcnee easter egg (i wouldnt see the avengers for nearly 30 years) he is an etonian like john steed.; 4/25/20, 12:10 AM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: (Roger Moore did not age well in the role. Whoever the blond chick is in this movie looks ridiculous next to him. Like she’s clinging to Gramps.); 4/25/20, 12:10 AM
narciso said...: Tanya roberts (yes it wasnt one of the better castings and he was about 60 then.; 4/25/20, 12:12 AM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: I have no idea how anyone thought Grace Jones would be a compellingly sexy villainess. I know it was the 80s and geometry was in, but that haircut and eyebrows? Yech.

At the time the buzz was she was the first Bond girl to take Bond in the female-superior position. (Cowgirl, I guess, I don't recall the actual scene).; 4/25/20, 12:12 AM
Birkel said...: Pants,
I don't think that's correct. But I think a solid effort has been made on the part of those who wish to control. And actual resistance can be observed. I think that resistance is much deeper than the MSM will present, certainly.

I also think fear of the unknown, an inability to weigh risks, an inability to think critically, and respect for "science" has retarded the natural impulse to resist the heavy hand of the state. That will pass. People are beginning to understand the opportunity cost of this massive overreaction.; 4/25/20, 12:12 AM
Birkel said...: Grace Jones was built like a mannequin. She was probably an excellent model because clothes always fit as designed.

But her public persona was not attractive.; 4/25/20, 12:15 AM
Darkisland said...: This morning in another thread I commented on what I thought was a wierd nasl drip being used on ms fredo.

Turns out that it was first used on Fredo and was an intravenous drip of:

"magnesium, NAC (a precursor to glutathione, said to be very helpful against COVID-19), vitamin C with lysine, proline, and B complex, folic acid, zinc, selenium, glutathione and caffeine (to combat the severe sinus headache). NAC is N-Acetyl-Cystine—an antioxidant amino acid (which is used for respiratory health) and replenished glutathione. NAC is also available in capsule form from THORNE." per ms Fredo's website.

The drip is the invention of and is performed by, a manhatten psychiatrist in the fredo home because hospitals won't let her do it. Can't imagine why not.

So my question to any of the medical professionals here: How the Hell is this legal?

Lots more detail on ms Fredo's website

https://thepuristonline.com/2020/04/the-cuomos-corona-protocol-week-3/

John Henry; 4/25/20, 12:15 AM
narciso said...: He was 58 when it came out, connery knew to outstay his welcome he was marko ramius and medicine man, scratch that.; 4/25/20, 12:16 AM
J. Farmer said...: @I Have Misplaced My Pants:

I have no idea how anyone thought Grace Jones would be a compellingly sexy villainess. I know it was the 80s and geometry was in, but that haircut and eyebrows? Yech.

"Sexy" may not be very accurate, but I do think Grace Jones has a kind of striking beauty in an eccentric kind of way. She seems to occupy one of those strange nebulous places like the "ugly-beautiful" person. She's one of the few people who, like Annie Lennox, made androgyny work. And Slave to the Rhythm is a great track.; 4/25/20, 12:16 AM
Yancey Ward said...: "I don't think one can say definitively that it "is" her mother."

Depends on what you mean by definitive. Reade has listened to the call, and says that it is her mother's voice. I believe her, and it can actually be proven- you can get phone records from even 40 years ago still.; 4/25/20, 12:18 AM
Birkel said...: Annie Lennox was talented, at least.

And David Bowie disagrees with your androgyny comment.; 4/25/20, 12:19 AM
eddie willers said...: There are three plots: Man against man. Man against nature. Man against himself.

Jack Woodford says there is one type of love story:

Boy meets girl.
Girl gets boy into pickle.
Boy gets pickle into girl.; 4/25/20, 12:21 AM
narciso said...: It riffed off some elements of moonraker, but lois chiles was leagues above tanya roberts (i was too young to know the double entendre at the time); 4/25/20, 12:22 AM
J. Farmer said...: And David Bowie disagrees with your androgyny comment.

Bowie was one of the few, too. And so was Jaye Davidson, though he only did two films. The Crying Game and Stargate; 4/25/20, 12:24 AM
Mark said...: A view to a kill, that was ridiculous beyonf measure

Well, all of the Roger Moore Bond movies were rather cartoonish. When they started getting more realism, they got more interesting and watchable.; 4/25/20, 12:24 AM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: I loved Moonraker when it came out. Must have seen it at least four times. Then I saw it years later, and couldn't believe how long & plodding it was, and how the QE3 nods had not aged well at all. I still liked Jaws and the little mouse that pulled the thorn out of his paw though.; 4/25/20, 12:24 AM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: How about the Genie on Liddsville?; 4/25/20, 12:26 AM
narciso said...: This last one, maybe the one i wont see in 30 some years, i caught tswlm on abc when they used to air movies on sunday night, moonraker in the first years of hbo; 4/25/20, 12:26 AM
narciso said...: Qe3? I think the set pieces fron california to venice to brazil went fairly smoothly. The novel had a more grounded plot that man from uncle borrowed; 4/25/20, 12:29 AM
narciso said...: Among the classic bond i would say fro. Ryssia with love fares well. Dr no was kinf of a snoozer.; 4/25/20, 12:30 AM
Mark said...: And the scariest man they ever would meet -- who seemed so nice and meek earlier -- rides off out of town in the night rain. And many were struck with some regret and dread at the hell that they had unleashed at his hand by their own invitation. But the one on whose behalf it had all been about had a slight smile on her face for the man who avenged her.; 4/25/20, 12:31 AM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: "grappling"

that's the word lefties are using now describing the quandary
Gropin' Joe has them in.

https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/1253696573411749894/photo/1; 4/25/20, 12:33 AM
J. Farmer said...: Regarding Bond, I've noticed the Brosnan era never seems to get much love. Brosnan was actually cast in an earlier Bond film but had to decline the role because a TV network picked up Remington Steele. I really enjoyed the Brosnan reboot GoldenEye and the following film Tomorrow Never Dies. The World Is Not Enough was boring and forgettable, but Die Another Day was memorable for how awful it was. They were right to stop it then and give some breathing room before rebooting with Daniel Craig.; 4/25/20, 12:33 AM
narciso said...: Russia, robert shaw's grant was a more calculating and amoral mirror to bond, he certainly didnt believe in anything he was just a thug.; 4/25/20, 12:33 AM
Mark said...: Uh-oh, triggered by Zapp Brannigan and her parents, Leela and Amy both claim Fry as their boyfriend at the same time.; 4/25/20, 12:35 AM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: I hope you’re right, Birkel.

Farmer, I agree that she has a very striking look, and her wrestling with/smooching on Christopher Walken is weird enough that it works, but her in bed with Bond was just cringey. I thought she was going to crush his head with her thighs, fem-bot style.

And, sidebar, I love Annie Lennox so much. Someone here at Althouse turned me on to her rendition of The Holly and the Ivy at Christmastime one year; I had never heard it before.; 4/25/20, 12:35 AM
narciso said...: Goldeneye, tomorrow was ok world was cringey, although carlyle was a good villain and marceau wasnt the typical bond damsel (the latter revisited the territory of frwl) they are identified with the cold war, but spectre is not of the east.; 4/25/20, 12:37 AM
Mark said...: Liddsville!

Was Charles Nelson Reilly ever on another real show? He was on Match Game, but that doesn't count.; 4/25/20, 12:37 AM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: The QE3 riff wasn't a set-piece it was the musical code to unlock an important door somewhere. Probably seemed like a good idea at the time.

I read the novel Moonraker, about the only similarities were the name of the villan and the fact that he cheated at cards. There was so little resemblance in fact that they didn't reissue the novel when the movie came out (well, I'm sure it was still in print, but they didn't put out a splashy movie edition) they got someone to novelize the script and put that out.

Remington Steele was a very frustrating show. It had all the elements to be great, but seldom was. I remember I sat down for one episode, expecting the usual, and came away thinking: Hey, this is great!. That prompted me to notice the credits, and that episode turned out to have been written by Brian Clemens, the main writer for the Steed/Peel Avengers. It's a shame they didn't use him more often.

I forget if it were the Brosnan period of Bond, or the Dalton, but there was one movie where the opening stunt actually played into the ongoing plot, which was a nice change.; 4/25/20, 12:40 AM
J. Farmer said...: @I Have Misplaced My Pants:

Farmer, I agree that she has a very striking look, and her wrestling with/smooching on Christopher Walken is weird enough that it works, but her in bed with Bond was just cringey. I thought she was going to crush his head with her thighs, fem-bot style.

I agree that the chemistry between her and Bond was nonexistent. It was like she had walked on from the Conan set.

And, sidebar, I love Annie Lennox so much. Someone here at Althouse turned me on to her rendition of The Holly and the Ivy at Christmastime one year; I had never heard it before.<

Lennox did an album of covers called Medusa. I particularly enjoyed her rendition of A Whiter Shade of Pale and No More "I Love You's".; 4/25/20, 12:40 AM
narciso said...: Was a good foil, marceau was the villain, she killed her father extorted enough out of the russian (actor escapes me now) out of vengeance.; 4/25/20, 12:40 AM
Mark said...: Phil Hartman was originally supposed to be the voice of Zapp Brannigan, but he was killed before they could use him. Thankfully, Billy West was able to do a passable Phil Hartman imitation.; 4/25/20, 12:41 AM
Birkel said...: Pierce Brosnan was fun in "The Thomas Crowne Affair" reboot.
Good cast and beautiful scenery.; 4/25/20, 12:43 AM
Joan said...: Pants, if you make the Ermine frosting that Inga recommended a few days ago, you don't need powdered sugar.

Great thread tonight, people. I just stopped working for the day and it was nice to pop in and see some discussion of other topics.

Narr: are you reading Humboldt's biography The Invention of Nature? I highly recommend it. Humboldt was so famous in the late 17th century that he has more places, phenomena, and species named for him than any other human. Still. He was hugely influential on Darwin, but no one ever mentions that. Every time I drive by Dewey-Humboldt on the way up to Flagstaff, I grit my teeth that people still revere the hack Dewey but have completely forgotten who Humboldt was. He did, indeed, "invent" the science of ecology. Kind of important, but since he was German, and there were those 2 World Wars... he is ripe for re-emergence. I learned about him in an absolutely delightful history of science course I took for my master's degree some years ago.

Anne-I-Am, I am not trying in any way to diminish the anguish of you or your friend, but I would caution against memories recovered from the "very young." One of my good friends had the indignity of her own early-20s son accusing her of constantly physically abusing him when he was in early elementary school, which is patent nonsense. Memory is a very tricky thing, and it is easy to "remember" things that never happened at all.

And not for nothing (she says, pulling the pin from the grenade before tossing it...) but what's the point of bringing it up now, unless it is having some impact on her current life? The idea that once you've been harmed, you're permanently a victim and thus incapable of living a happy and fulfilled life is incredibly damaging in and of itself.; 4/25/20, 12:45 AM
J. Farmer said...: Pierce Brosnan was fun in "The Thomas Crowne Affair" reboot.
Good cast and beautiful scenery.

Completely agree. That was one of the most beautiful looking movies of the era. The set designers and costumers did a fantastic job. Renee Russo never looked sexier. They even made Dennis Leary bearable.; 4/25/20, 12:46 AM
narciso said...: That was close encounters tone. Well the opening in golden eye led to ths main plot even it was 8 years apart. Many from that era were rarely faithful to the source material.; 4/25/20, 12:46 AM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: How's *that* for a toppah!?

Charles Nelson Reilly was great at that over-the-top role. (All of the Kroft stuff had larger-than-life villans that must have been a lot of fun to play: Witchypoo & Benita Bizarre in The Bugaloos for instance). He was also in Uncle Croc's Block (with Jonathan Harris!)

The web-comic Basic Instructions did a riff on him a few years ago: You know it's amazin at the time we didn't realize he was so obviously...GREAT!.; 4/25/20, 12:48 AM
narciso said...: Ditto with thomas crowne (with a soundtrack with nina simone) fyeo was a little more grounded, the antagonists were not as fanciful.; 4/25/20, 12:49 AM
Mark said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/25/20, 12:52 AM
Mark said...: I forgot that was Eddie Munster on Lidsville.

https://youtu.be/lMLkKMMCcIc; 4/25/20, 12:53 AM
Jon Ericson said...: Bond...; 4/25/20, 12:53 AM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: I thought Procol Harum did fantastic version of A Whiter Shade of Pale in Denmark in 2006. I don't know who besides the lead vocalist were originals, but it was the best I've heard.; 4/25/20, 12:54 AM
rehajm said...: That vaccine leftie politicians believe is inevitable may never appear.

I'm a bit tired of the now ubiquitous articles pleading we just don't know yet so you better not take hydroxy z-pack on your own.; 4/25/20, 12:55 AM
Mark said...: And now, here's something we hope you'll really like --
https://youtu.be/hbfcV_OYsHA; 4/25/20, 12:55 AM
narciso said...: Kristatos didnt want to rule the world, he wanted to steal a vital item and fence it to the soviets. He had the western govt fooled (like many real life villains today) with living daylights joe don baker wasnt the villain jeroenne kraebbe was, but he was an one man spectre. Playing east against west.; 4/25/20, 12:56 AM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: Oh Joan! I actually do make ermine frosting. Perhaps oddly, Inga and I discussed that some time ago, when she was in one of her lucid cycles. I just needed it for something specific. I did look at the recipe she posted, which is somewhat different from mine as it calls for cooking the sugar with the flour and milk, and intend to try it. My recipe just calls for cooking the flour and milk together and then beating them into the sugar and butter, and it takes ages to get the sugar incorporated so it’s not gritty. I’m interested in trying the Wilton recipe to avoid that problem.

I wanted to make cafeteria bars, which have oats and peanut butter in the base and a rich pourable chocolate frosting for the top, hence the powdered sugar. Ran out of time anyway, so whatevs. I made a nice pulled pork in the instant pot for lunch and beef stroganoff with broccoli for dinner, with a loaf of garlic bread on the side. Quarantine 15! Mr. Pants is going to drive through the taco stand in the morning for our traditional Saturday breakfast. God bless Texas.; 4/25/20, 12:59 AM
narciso said...: So much of this is white noise, rehajm, we know what does kill people, ventilator hcq in proper concentrations at the right time is effective.; 4/25/20, 1:03 AM
Mark said...: The Mathematics of Wonton Burrito Meals.

I don't think Fry got that right.; 4/25/20, 1:05 AM
J. Farmer said...: @Joan:

One of my good friends had the indignity of her own early-20s son accusing her of constantly physically abusing him when he was in early elementary school, which is patent nonsense. Memory is a very tricky thing, and it is easy to "remember" things that never happened at all.

The McMartin Preschool case was one of the more prominent and egregious examples of this. It's practically a case study on how to do everything wrong, from the police investigations, to the "expert" testimony, to the prosecutors office, to a community seized by a moral panic. Despite the outlandish and often contradictory claims to the total lack of any physical evidence, people were kept in jail for years on trials that ended in not a single conviction. People simply considered it impossible that children would admit to suffering abuse that never happened.; 4/25/20, 1:06 AM
narciso said...: Close enough, the series was never the same when it came back from hiatus.; 4/25/20, 1:07 AM
Kyjo said...: I watched a beautifully done anime film the other day, In This Corner of the World. It’s the story of an artistic, daydreaming girl, a daughter of a seaweed-harvesting family near Hiroshima. It begins in her childhood just before WWII and follows her as she is sent off to Kure for an arranged marriage, her ever cheerful work to become part of her new family despite being a stranger, and the struggles of all these people as the war wears on and Kure becomes a target of frequent firebombings by the US. The story is quite episodic, which I find is fairly common in anime, but can feel a bit disjointed to a Western audience. Some may also fine it gets rather too melodramatic and maybe a bit rushed toward the end with the inevitable A-bomb and Japanese surrender. And it just barely touches on Japanese citizens’ complicity in the Empire’s brutal attempt to conquer and control East Asia. Nevertheless, it paints a compelling and heartwrenching picture of ordinary Japanese trying to maintain dignity, beauty, and good as their mundane lives and increasingly thraatened by the depredations of war, and it tenderly portrays the fraught interpersonal relationships of people brought together by social tradition, wartime nationalism, and deepening psychological numbness and despair over hideous circumstances outside of their control. The artwork is rendered with incredible realism, bringing to life the bustling pre-war environment of Hiroshima and its rural suburbs, but flights of creative fancy intrude quietly to represent the thoughts and experience of the main character and Ma she daydreams and tries to reconcile herself with tragedy and the heartache of stolen opportunity. Worth a watch for those of you with who enjoy high-quality anime and the theme of resilient civilian life in the absurd circumstances of war. If you believe Grace of the Fireflies, you’ll enjoy this less emotionally tormented story, though in my estimation it never reaches the artistic and dramatic accomplishment of the Ghibli film.; 4/25/20, 1:07 AM
Mark said...: Snidely Whiplash vs. Simon Bar Sinister?; 4/25/20, 1:08 AM
Anne-I-Am said...: Joan,

Points I made to my friend. And she is able to grasp. (Complicated by the fact that the supposed perpetrator is a relative.)

The point was more that everyday life...which is often full of very serious issues...goes on. But the Virus! Panic! Death! Danger! eats up bandwidth. And some people act like it is all that anyone should be concerned about.

Going to bed now. Night all Althousians.; 4/25/20, 1:08 AM
narciso said...: I take mcmartin and i raise you the angelo fuster witchhunt, atarring janet reno.; 4/25/20, 1:09 AM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: And now, here's something we hope you'll really like --

Fan mail from some flounder?; 4/25/20, 1:09 AM
J. Farmer said...: So much of this is white noise, rehajm, we know what does kill people, ventilator hcq in proper concentrations at the right time is effective.

Over reliance on ventilators may have been counterproductive. Everything is so anecdotal so it's hard to draw any conclusions, but it's possible that the pathophysiology of the disease may depend on underlying conditions in the lungs. Some people reportedly present with symptoms that look more like altitude sickness than traditional respiratory distress. In some cases, a regular nasal cannula may be preferable. There is also some indication that putting patients in prone position may help with alleviate some of the distress on the lungs.; 4/25/20, 1:11 AM
narciso said...: My parents had to scrounge for food at the black market, were not there yet, its enough this enforced scarcity.; 4/25/20, 1:11 AM
Kyjo said...: I If you believe Grave of the Fireflies is a masterpiece of the genre. Apologies for the typos. In This Corner of the World is available on Netflix and I think can be rented or purchased on Amazon Video.; 4/25/20, 1:14 AM
J. Farmer said...: I take mcmartin and i raise you the angelo fuster witchhunt, atarring janet reno.

I'll see them and raise you Kern County; 4/25/20, 1:14 AM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: Snidely Whiplash vs. Simon Bar Sinister?

Conried & Swift were both great, but Hans Conried's other Ward work as Uncle Waldo on Hoppity Hooper gets overlooked. Until they toned him down a little, it was a great almost-villan snake-oil salesman gig.; 4/25/20, 1:16 AM
Mark said...: Spies and ex-spies.
https://youtu.be/RqAm62U17Pg; 4/25/20, 1:16 AM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: I love western animation and have tried to get into anime, but I find that the character design often hurts my eyes and the storylines often hurt my mind.; 4/25/20, 1:18 AM
narciso said...: Well i liked ghost in the shell, the ones eho made the film deserve a fatwa. What went wrong here. Also one of the classic soace operas star blazers from the 70s; 4/25/20, 1:20 AM
narciso said...: They made the latter in a live actionfilm in japanese (with english subtitles(; 4/25/20, 1:21 AM
Jon Ericson said...: I've got a soft spot for Cowboy Bebop.; 4/25/20, 1:21 AM
Mark said...: The old hand-drawn was superior to the initial computer animation, but it got better over time.; 4/25/20, 1:22 AM
narciso said...: That ones pretty good.; 4/25/20, 1:22 AM
Mark said...: It's the first appearance of Lrrr! Ruler of Planet Omicron Persei Eight.; 4/25/20, 1:31 AM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: Saw a very funny talk several years ago at a convention by a voice actor who specialized in dubbing English onto imported anime. (Unfortunately I can't recall his name). Apart from some interesting details on the work he had stories of when things go wrong. For instance, Japanese is a less compact language than English so the characters speaking on screen in Japanese take longer to convey the dialogue than a straight translation into English would fill. Normally the firms who get the American rights have a contract that allows them to write additional dialogue to fill the gaps (which leads to the verbose anime style of talk). In one instance they did not have that right, so they had to do a literal translation and talk..like..this..for..the..whole..show. The guy said the recording engineer finally couldn't take it anymore and just quit on the spot. Another time they somehow didn't get the right to translate the lyrics of songs featured in the show.. and about half the plot was given in song..; 4/25/20, 1:31 AM
Kyjo said...: @Unknown, I understand the feeling. Certain elements of character design and animation style with Japanese works still present as noticeably foreign, that is, strange. Even in this one such elements popped out with regularity, by the renditions of the scenes and the intense and sympathetic characterization, along with a j’ai nais c’est quoi Japanese aesthetic sensibility with deep roots in Japanese culture that is a large part of the film’s ambience, are for me enough to overcome these problems. This was also the case for me with the series, Mushi-Shi, which takes some Japanese folklore and really produces a magical and mysterious atmosphere set in medieval Japan. The young adult oriented adventure fantasies and high school student stories have never really interested me, though occasionally I do like a really inventive story dealing with serious philosophical themes, like Death Note. And I’ll always the childlike magic and haunting nostalgia of the beloved Ghibli films.; 4/25/20, 1:32 AM
Kyjo said...: Of course many of the Saturday cartoons I watched as a child were animated in Japan, so that may be a factor which unconsciously helps understand some Japanese conventions. But spiked-hair and jewel-eyed, whether combined with sharply muscled or gauntly stretched bodies, will always take conscious effort not to reject out of hand. I’ve also discovered a strangely odd number of offputting Christian-esque storylines which borrow themes and settings from the world’s most widespread religion and never have more than the shallowest understanding of its famous stories, primary themes, and basic theology. But then, look how Americans perceive and portray Buddhism.; 4/25/20, 1:43 AM
J. Farmer said...: @Kyjo:

I understand the feeling. Certain elements of character design and animation style with Japanese works still present as noticeably foreign, that is, strange.

The transition from Japan to South Korea as a source of creative inspiration beginning around 2000 or so has been interesting.; 4/25/20, 1:47 AM
Churchy LaFemme: said...: There do seem to be a lot of sexy warrior-nuns :-)

It's interesting that Saturday Morning as a cartoon haven is basically gone now too.; 4/25/20, 1:49 AM
Kyjo said...: @Farmer, are you referring to animation or something else? I don’t know that I’ve watched any Korean animation.; 4/25/20, 1:49 AM
Joan said...: Back to the all-important frosting issue... I only recently discovered, despite having the Fannie Farmer Baking Book in my kitchen for more than 20 years, a fabulous chocolate frosting recipe -- you ready?

Ingredients: 1/2 cup sour cream (you could probably use strained Greek yogurt), 6 oz semisweet chocolate (chocolate chips are fine), pinch of salt.

Method: Carefully melt the chocolate (any good chocolate will do, I use Trader Joe's pound plus bittersweet) so it doesn't break. Stir it so there are no lumps. Beat in the sour cream and the salt. Ta da! Can be piped. Spreads beautifully. Never sets, either. Abso-freaking-lutely delicious AND it doesn't make too much.

How did I miss this, all these years? Seriously, this stuff is amazing. Highly recommended. It's easier than ganache, which itself is super easy: melt chocolate, stir in heavy cream, eat. (Ina uses instant coffee... if you have good chocolate, you don't need it.) But then you need to have heavy cream around. Years ago, I figured out a low carb version. You can sub coconut cream for the heavy cream in that one, if you're avoiding dairy.; 4/25/20, 1:55 AM
J. Farmer said...: Just in general. South Korea exports a ton of its popular culture all over the world. When I was younger, if someone was interested in “Asian culture” it meant Japan. Now I see far more interest in South Korea and less in Japan. They’re called koreaboo.; 4/25/20, 1:56 AM
Kyjo said...: @Unknown, I think that has much to do with the social expectations of upper-middle-class families. Shouldn’t your kids be engaged in some sporting or artistic extracurricular activity with their peers, building leadership skills and an impressive list of meaningful accomplishments for the inevitable 4 years of university and parentally disappointing liberal arts education, or induction and allconsuming training for rigorous and respected upper-middle-class professions?; 4/25/20, 1:56 AM
Kyjo said...: @Farmer, I have noticed that, too. This started really with the consumer electronics and auto export industries. The spread of Korean pop culture is another area in which the Koreans have successfully emulated the post-war Japanese model. It helps that the Korean diaspora in the Weat has grown substantially, too. Korean cuisine is however not quite there yet, I reckon.; 4/25/20, 2:00 AM
Joan said...: I will have to look into these anime movie recommendations when the school year ends (if it ever ends... I am a hamster on a wheel at this point.) My youngest and I finally got around to watching Spirited Away and really enjoyed it, and I would like to watch more.

That said, we ALWAYS choose to watch with subtitles, because the dubbing is just so very, very bad. Made the same choice recently for watching Netflix' Korean zombie series Kingdom, with no regrets. Come to think of it, that story was practically live-action anime. At only 12 episodes total across the 2 seasons, it wasn't too much of a commitment.

I do wish I could get here earlier... time zones and life style conspire against me.; 4/25/20, 2:04 AM
Jon Ericson said...: Not for kids.; 4/25/20, 2:28 AM
Ralph L said...: When they started getting more realism

Like the Venetian palazzo sinking into the lagoon?; 4/25/20, 3:48 AM
Michael K said...: Blogger Darkisland said...

Michael,

You mentioned John Guzzwell. The name sounded familiar but I couldn't place him. Is he the master sailor who sailed with them on the first (and subsequent?) voyages?

Yes, he is well known for sailing Trekka, his 20 foot sailboat that he built and sailed around the world. He met the Smeetons in Hawaii, I think, and then agreed to help them take Tzu Hang around the Horn. He repaired it after the first pitchpole and helped them get it to Chile for repairs. I think he declined the second trip but have not looked up the story. Trekka is still in BC where he built it and originated and ended his voyage.; 4/25/20, 4:37 AM
Mr. Forward said...: Biden-Reade 2020.; 4/25/20, 4:55 AM
gilbar said...: i've been reading (well, listening to) Richard Feynman's Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!

i don't know that he was the Laziest man, ever; but he certainly was one of the most Laziest
Very entertaining book.; 4/25/20, 5:13 AM
stevew said...: "Cats don't like Steve."

Fair enough, steve don't like cats. Or dogs for that matter. I don't wish them ill, just prefer them to stay away.

Lovely spring photos. We are in full on spring mode here. That means wide swings in weather. Yesterday was cool (40's), gray, with light rain on and off. Today is supposed to be sunny, clear, and in the mid-60's. Not sure about wind but the sun should produce a breeze by early afternoon. A nice walk will be grand. I think I'll visit the local family cemetery (not my family) that dates to the early 1700's.

We have a buyer for the house but we're about $5k apart on the price. Mrs. stevew is adamant about getting rather than giving those dollars. It is a very small fraction of our asking price and does not harm the overall financials of our move and downsizing goal. Wish me well.; 4/25/20, 5:19 AM
Rory said...: "Was Charles Nelson Reilly ever on another real show? He was on Match Game, but that doesn't count."

He was the whacky neighbor in a short-lived series called "Arnie," c. 1970.; 4/25/20, 5:29 AM
Meade said...: "Mayapples are poisonous at this time of year I believe."

That area should be closed to the public, then.

Hahaha. Or just shut down this time of year.; 4/25/20, 6:23 AM