Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

The words do not have to be perfect.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

People are complicated. Love is not.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

The GOP is a fucking disgrace.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Second rate reporter says what?

This blog will pay for itself.

Consistently wrong since 2002

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Mid Day Open Thread

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This post is in: 

The Thanksgiving feast was consumed both at home at VA ER.  The leftovers safely ensconced in bowls and freezer bags, and then taken out for turkey sandwiches and a turkey-vegetable casserole that I managed to throw together as an experiment that turned out rather nicely, I think.  The Christmas decorations were brought down from the attic and tossed up around the house, so that nightmare is over, thank God.  The Soonerson managed to get hired at the new Dairy Queen opening up a couple of miles away by the Home Depot (THE ONLY DQ IN THE OKC METRO!!!!), and the Christmas shopping is DONE, so that nightmare is over with as well.  All online, and none of the Black Friday nonsense.  We did drive around Thursday evening and Friday morning, mainly so we could point and laugh.  Yes, we’re bad people.

My Broncos won and WTF Alabama/Auburn?  Wow.

There’s other stuff on my mind, but my lunch break just got cut short because some doctor whined about something.

 

Reader Interactions

147Comments

  3. 3.

    NotMax

    Christmas shopping is DONE, so that nightmare is over with as well.

    Lumpofcoal.com had a special?

    Damn.

    Well, maybe next year.

  4. 4.

    Belafon

    Up until the interstates started taking over in Texas, you weren’t a town unless you had a Dairy Queen. When we would go on a trip on the state highways (1 lane each way for “are we there yet” lengths), we learned to look for one. Most of the time, it was a bathroom break and dad getting coffee to pay for it, but occasionally we could get ice cream. Rarely we would get food, but I loved the burgers (Hunger Buster, Belt Buster) and the steak finger baskets.

    I went to a Dairy Queen outside of Texas in the early 90s, and the menu had one burger and you had to pay for the vegetables separately. We did stop at one in OK on my way home this year after dropping my son off at college, and while the menu didn’t match what I see on a Texas menu, it at least was a full menu.

    ETA: Added a date to the last paragraph.

  7. 7.

    Bob

    “Dairy Queen” is my answer to one of those annoying questions you gotta answer to prove to some web site that you are who you say you are. Like, Where were you born? “Dairy Queen.” Stupid web site believed me. Ha!

  8. 8.

    ruemara

    This thanksgiving was all done as a visitor besides a few dishes. It’s very odd to have leftovers provided to me. I wound up throwing half out since I only gave myself leeway to eat taters and stuffings for 2 days. Very starchy year. You’re quite proactive for getting Christmas decor ready already. My box o’decor is just hanging off a shelf, staring at me. I may get out my gaydeer and array them in my beloved parade of fabulosity. The Gaydeer collection is my Christmas tradition.

  9. 9.

    ranchandsyrup

    Mmmmmmmm Blizzards are good.

    The Donkeys worried me for a bit yesterday. Also, I’m a little concerned for the mental health of Knowshon Moreno.

    We had a great weekend. Deep fried turkey on the beach for Thanksgiving. I refrained from drinking and didn’t get caught up in the politics. One party-goer was lamenting that he had to leave to hang out with his “scumbag liberal” family and a guy I had just met that was in from Chicago let him have it. “I’m a liberal, am I a scumbag?” The original speaker didn’t know what to say and he had to be rescued by the hosts. I found it to be hilarious.

    My wife and I had our first date night since our daughter was born and caught the Hunger Games (meh) at the Cineopolis. Great to order beers and food while watching. Went down to the Hotel Del Coronado for family pics by their xmas decorations and down at the dog beach with our pups. Perfect beach weather over the weekend.

  10. 10.

    NotMax

    Friend who worked at one back when tells the tale of how they were instructed to grind up wear-dated buns and such into bread crumbs, then mix that in with the meat to stretch it.

    One day someone got the proportions wrong, and instead of a burger smell when the cooking was being done, all it smelled like was toast.

  11. 11.

    JCJ

    Ah Sooner, you must be a patient soul. I do not envy you having to work with doctors and their incomprtence with computers. When the hospital system where I practice went fully electronic (switched from half-way electronic with iCare/Centricity to fully electronic with Epic) the pissing and moaning was monumental. In my clinic we were already electronic (Mosaiq) so it wasn’t that big of a deal but my partners were still howling. Some things are definintely annoying with the electronic medical record (EMR) but overall it is a definite plus.

  12. 12.

    Fuzzy

    I cannot imagine being so well organized and ahead of schedule, I do like the point and laugh at the damn fools thinking they are getting a bargain. Is it the same stupid sheep doing this black friday thing every year or is this the second generation of easily conned idiots?

  16. 16.

    gbear

    When my sisters and I were 4, 5 & 6 years old, a Dairy Queen went up a block from our house. I’m sure my parents were thrilled. Every town in MN that has over a dozen commercial buildings has a Dairy Queen. They’re my favorite place to stop for a driving break when I have to travel out-state for work, even though I occasionally get a dirty look from a taxpayer when they see I have a state car.

  17. 17.

    Yatsuno

    Since I will be in hospital for Xmas, I don’t have to worry about buying anything for anyone. In fact I’ve been telling folks not to bother with getting me anything either. I’ll just keep it simple and aggravate the PTs for a couple weeks. That should be fun.

  20. 20.

    Yatsuno

    @ruemara: Left hip is getting replaced. It’s needed to be done for years but the timing is good now. Right one will be in a year or so, maybe sooner depending.

  21. 21.

    JWR

    Waiting for an open thread to ask if CBS has pulled another one with their interview of John Dodson, who’s just published a book about “Fast and Furious”, (another instance of a news story being overtaken by the accident and death of the actor from the movies of the same name.) I don’t know if it was a replay of the story CBS ran back in 2011, (to coincide with the publication of the book), or if Sharyl Attkisson is still after the coveted “Lara Logan Award for right-wing journalism disguised as News” award. Also, “The Unarmed Truth” will be published by “Threshold Editions, a division of Simon & Schuster.”

  22. 22.

    Chyron HR

    You have Braum’s and you go to Dairy Queen? Voluntarily?

    (That was “you” in the sense of Oklahomos in general, not you specifically.)

  25. 25.

    Ash Can

    Now that Bottle Rocket is back in school and I no longer have him and his Legos quite literally underfoot, I’m enjoying putting up Christmas/holiday/winter decorations at my leisure. Every year I have a few more, thanks to tag sale finds, so every year I try to cull enough out to make room for the new finds. I don’t think my culling is keeping up with my finding.

    The tree itself isn’t going up for another couple of weeks, though. We get a fresh one, and by waiting until later in the month to get it, it isn’t dried out by the time Christmas Day arrives.

  26. 26.

    MattR

    I know nobody actually cares, but I am still excited by the ridiculous week my fantasy football team had in a game I had to win to make the playoffs. I started Josh Gordon, Alshon Jeffrey and Eric Decker who had 684 yards and 8 TDs combined leading my team to a combined total of 182.3 for the week (The previous high score in the past 13 years we have done the league was 155.8) I now look forward to them scoring a combined 7 points next week in the first week of the playoffs leading to an early end to my season.

    @ranchandsyrup: I wouldn’t worry too much about Knowshon. Apparently he does it all the time. Or wait, maybe that means we should really be worrying about Knowshon :) Really, I think he is fine. Just has a different way of channeling his emotions.

    @Yatsuno: Good luck.

  27. 27.

    Stella B

    @JCJ: Epic’s unofficial motto is “We suck less”.

    I finished Xmas shopping too. I bought all but one item at the beginning of the month, but procrastinated until Saturday on the final item. Then I procrastinated all morning on Saturday until low and behold a 20% off coupon for the item arrived in the mail at lunchtime. That is the first time in more than 50 years that procrastination did not bite me in the butt.

  28. 28.

    Anoniminous

    @Fuzzy:

    It’s a lingering remanent of the 16th and 17th Century common practice of capitalizing all nouns all the time.

  29. 29.

    taylormattd

    my lunch break just got cut short because some doctor whined about something.

    Isn’t that always the way?

    Happy Monday in any event. :)

  31. 31.

    Mike E

    @jeffreyw: Looks like one my niece threw together post-feast, yum (she’s preggers, not a glutton :).

    I roasted the 22 lb bird for my sis, this time I detached the dark meat half from the breast. Both sides came out perfect.

  33. 33.

    FoxinSocks

    @ruemara:

    I love those reindeer! I got my brother a pair a couple of years ago and he threw them away. (cries) Just no sense of humor, I suppose.

    Where do you get them? The store I bought them from went out of business. I’d love to get some more.

  37. 37.

    soonergrunt (mobile)

    @Chyron HR: up until now, all we had in the metro was Braums (which is a great ice cream chain, for those who don’t know) so the new DQ will be a nice difference.

  38. 38.

    srv

    WH denies Obama planning Apology or Surrender tour to Iran next year.

    Bibi gracious to Benedict:
    Accompanied by his wife Sara, Netanyahu gave the Pope a copy of a book about the Spanish inquisition written by his father, a prominent historian, bearing the inscription: “To His Holiness Pope Francis, great guardian of our common heritage.”

    Daddy was Jabotinsky’s secretary, so he liked subjects like that.

  39. 39.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    Finished Xmas shopping last night – I was finished but Mr. Q needed to select a trinket for his sister. I just made an executive decision on what she’s getting.

    There is still a bit of turkey left – from a 7 pound (fresh, free range) breast that I roasted on a rack of vegetables and fresh herbs sprinkled with white wine. Compound butter with same herbs under the skin. I’m sort of turkeyed out.

    Yutsy, have a brief and productive stay in hospital for the bionic hip. Remember that PTs can make you hurt more than you can them – all in the name of rehab of course. Just sayin.

  40. 40.

    Anoniminous

    @Yatsuno:

    It’s typography not linguistics. I don’t know why it is common in Germanic languages. Have to delve into the history of writing and printing to find out. And – to be frank – I don’t care. :-)

  41. 41.

    shelly

    “both at home at VA ER”
    ***********
    I hope that was cause you worked there or were taking pity on the staff, and not cause you had a carving accident.

    Heard that Thanksgiving rivals Fourth of July for a busy ER

  44. 44.

    Dee Loralei

    Son and I got home around 9:30 last night from our Oklahoma misadventure. 12 1/2 hour marathon drive, that usually takes 8 1/2-9 hours. And I was the only driver, since he’s on pain meds. Foggy from South of OKC to basically Seminole, it took an hour and a half to drive a state highway stretch that usually takes 45 minutes. Stopped for lunch around 2:30 at what may be the last Whataburger joint in existence. Hit Little Rock around 5, thought we’d be home around 7-7:30. Then hit a 100+ mile traffic jam, at some points at complete standstill for 30+ minutes. Two autoplaza/truck stop places we stopped at in one town had lines 5 or 6 cars deep for gas and one had a 30 minute wait for the women’s bathroom. Sheesh. Finally found gas another 20 miles down the interstate.

    Anyway, his CT scan from the motorcycle accident showed some bruising around his pancreas and kidneys and some fluid build up, which is why they kept him in the hospital overnight. We got released and back to my Aunts around 5:30 Friday night. Needless to say, we did not go to my cousin’s son’s semi-final football game that night. I think we both were asleep by 9. Saturday we drove to Norman to eat at one of my favorite haunts from my college days, but the restaurant was closed for the holiday weekend, since there was no home game in Norman. I had a big sad. But we did discover this pretty great BrewPub on Campus Corner called the Blackbird. I had a few of their beers, a Pilsner and a Wheat beer that were very good. The menu looked awesome and his Basque Seafood Soup was amazing, I had the Caprese pizza and it was pretty damned good.

    We went back to my aunts and I made a marscapone Torte layered with homemade from the garden Pesto, and homemade from the garden sun dried tomatoes. For our entree, I made chicken and mushroom crepes, with a roasted garlic cream sauce. I poached the chicken in some left over champagne from Thursday’s Poinsettias and Mimosas. My son made the crepes. I also made a kale and raw Brussels sprouts salad. And everyone ate everything. So that was a huge success. We then went back to Norman to a Native American Gambling Palace. and after I bought a few drinks/ tips. We managed to only lose 3 dollars gambling and spend 20 on booze. So that was a success, it’s not often 2 adults can spend $23 for 4+ hours of amusement. Got back to y aunt’s house around 1:30 AM and then had that wild Sunday drive. Sheesh.

    I. AM. FUCKING. GLAD. TO. BE. HOME!

  45. 45.

    ruemara

    @FoxinSocks: I got them all from Borders as post holiday markdowns. That’s not even the complete collection of gaydeer. Although, nothing beat neon pink and green madonna & jebus or glitter pink jebus. It was like the living embodiment of tacky.

    @Yatsuno: Hmmm, safe surgery and swift recovery. Fingers crossed for you.

  48. 48.

    Suffern ACE

    @Anoniminous: It used to be that only the holidays were capitalized out of reverence to the feasts and celebrations. Then along came Mothers’ and Fathers’ Days and the whine from some smart Alec child about the lack of a Children’s Day. Having been told that “Every day is Children’s Day” all days not officially designated as set aside for non-Children became holidays and were capitalized.

  50. 50.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Noisemax has some pictures of the proposed Amazon drones…apparently Bezos is serious about this poorly thought out idea.

    Also in Noisemax, Do You Approve of Obama’s Job Performance? Vote Here. Seven questions, no ability to comment.

    I don’t approve of Obama’s Job Performance, but it’s because he’s on his think black ass on setting up those FEMA camps to process fascist scum like the Noisemax folks into something useful, like garden fertilizer.

  52. 52.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Roger Moore:

    Tuesday is named after some obscure Norse deity, Wednesday is for Odin, Thursday for Thor, Friday for Freya. Saturday is for Saturn (Roman), Sunday is for the Sun, Monday for the Moon.

    Caturday is named for one of the two true deities, the domesticated cat. The other true deity is of course the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

  58. 58.

    ranchandsyrup

    @schrodinger’s cat: Hey SC. Been enjoying yr blog posts. :)

    It takes somewhere between 3 and 4 gallons. Depends on the size of the turkey. You put the turkey in the pot and just cover it with water. Then take the turkey out and mark on the pot where the water line is. I put the oil back in the containers and I’ll strain it and reuse it for a couple of football parties and the xmas turkey. Good for about 5 fries or so. When I’m done with it, there’s a local grease-car enthusiast that comes over and picks it up. He uses it in his converted diesel car.

  60. 60.

    Belafon

    @Villago Delenda Est: I like how the first link is about Christie’s disturbing behavior. I haven’t clicked on the link, but I suspect it has something to do with occasionally agreeing with Democrats.

  61. 61.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @MikeJ:

    Well, once they’ve figured out that a whole bunch of redneck yahoos will use these drones for target practice, I’m sure Bezos will think better of it.

  65. 65.

    Tommy

    Total open threat comment …..

    Reading a book on a tablet is cool.

    I never thought I’d read a book on a tablet. Would laugh at you if you said I’d enjoy, much less do this.

    I might have 1,000 books in my house. My dad has around 15,000. He bought the smaller house across the street from where he retired to just “house” all his books.

    Now don’t laugh at Dan Brown’s books, but I got his most recent Andriod version of his book for like $2.95 this Thanksgiving weekend sale (I already bought the print version — just not started it yet). I bought one or two other e-Books, but not read much of them. Same with a few magazines I bought.

    But if you read Brown he talks about art, museums, places I’ve never been. I knew at least the Andriod had a feature to look up the meaning of a word, but didn’t realize you could do the same with locations and even works of art with two mouse clicks within the reader application. Take me to the place on Google Maps and then either Wikipedia or Google search.

    These things are search based clearly on the popularity of the church or painting, but also the location. I’ve found this about the most interesting experience I’ve had with a book ever, and this is saying a ton.

  66. 66.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Cassidy:

    The original wasn’t a bad action movie, either. It’s just that the premise of both is utterly ridiculous. Dropping paratroopers in Colorado? Hundreds of miles from the nearest front lines? How stupid is that? Did these commie guys think that Operation Market-Garden was sheer brilliance?

  68. 68.

    Phylllis

    Christmas shopping is 90% done, including a new Samsung Chromebook for me. Did everything I could online, and the rest I need to get from a bigger grocery store than we have here in Mayberry. Going to do Biscoff gift baskets for my hairdresser and the gal that does my nails.

  69. 69.

    rikyrah

    Some folks can’t handle the truth.

    …………….

    Black female professor reprimanded for pointing out existence of structural racism to white male students
    By Scott Kaufman
    Monday, December 2, 2013 13:30 EST

    A faculty member at Minneapolis Community and Technical College, Shannon Gibney, received a formal reprimand for her handling of a discussion about structural racism in her Introduction to Mass Communication course.

    According to Gibney in an interview with City College News, a white male student asked her, “Why do we have to talk about this in every class? Why do we have to talk about this?”

    She claims she was shocked, because “[h]is whole demeanor was very defensive. He was taking it personally. I tried to explain, of course, in a reasonable manner — as reasonable as I could given the fact that I was being interrupted and put on the spot in the middle of class — that this is unfortunately the context of 21st century America.”

    http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/02/black-female-professor-reprimanded-for-pointing-out-existence-of-structural-racism-to-white-male-students/

  70. 70.

    ranchandsyrup

    @Villago Delenda Est: In the original movie they try to explain the tactics.

    Col. Andy Tanner: [Describing the invasion] West Coast. East Coast. Down here is Mexico. First wave of the attack came in disguised as commercial charter flights same way they did in Afghanistan in ’80. Only they were crack Airborne outfits. Now they took these passes in the Rockies.

    Jed Eckert: So that’s what hit Calumet.

    Col. Andy Tanner: I guess so. They coordinated with selective nuke strikes and the missiles were a helluva lot more accurate than we thought. They took out the silos here in the Dakotas, key points of communication.

    Darryl Bates: Like what?

    Col. Andy Tanner: Oh, like Omaha, Washington, Kansas City.

    Darryl Bates: Gone?

    Col. Andy Tanner: Yeah. That’s right. Infiltrators came up illegal from Mexico. Cubans mostly. They managed to infiltrate SAC bases in the Midwest, several down in Texas and wreaked a helluva lot of havoc, I’m here to tell you. They opened up the door down here, and the whole Cuban & Nicaraguan armies come walking right through, rolled right up here through the Great Plains.

    Robert: How far did they get?

    Col. Andy Tanner: Cheyenne, across to Kansas. We held them at the Rockies and the Mississippi. Anyway, the Russians reinforced with 60 divisions. Sent three whole army groups across the Bering Strait into Alaska, cut the pipeline, came across Canada to link up here in the middle, but we stopped their butt cold. The lines have pretty much stabilized now.

    Robert: What about Europe?

    Col. Andy Tanner: I guess they figured twice in one century was enough. They’re sitting this one out. All except England, and they won’t last very long.

  73. 73.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @ranchandsyrup:

    Anyway, the Russians reinforced with 60 divisions. Sent three whole army groups across the Bering Strait into Alaska,

    This is such total bullshit. Obviously, Milius thinks that Risk has something to do with actual military operations.

  74. 74.

    Tommy

    @NotMax: Don’t mean to hop in the middle here, but done this a lot (fry a turkey).

    But did your parents or you ever save something like bacon fat/grease for use later? Same thing. If you don’t do this then I totally understand you not getting what you do. I mean in my family we saved grease from bacon for later use.

    Now clearly it depends on what you fry. Can be gallons. I like peanut oil, which isn’t cheap. But it can be used throughout the year.

  75. 75.

    Belafon

    @Tommy: Are you using the kindle or nook software? If so, you can also get a whole lot of books for free, especially most stuff written before 1900.

    We’ve had this debate in my house. My mother and I, who really have read the most books, don’t really need the book, so a portable device has been great. My sister, wife, and son have to have a book to hold. It’s kind of an interesting dynamic.

  78. 78.

    Tommy

    @Belafon: Neither. Andriod. The Google Nexus 7. My dad and I are going back and forth on this. He has a PhD in Civil War history. I want to buy a book or two he likes and see how interactive it gets. I wonder if a book few folks read is an interactive as Dan Brown’s latest.

  79. 79.

    Belafon

    @Tommy: When you want, you can download the software to your nexus for either company, or both. There are also readers that are compatible with both, so you can download books from both places and read them in one app.

  80. 80.

    catclub

    @Villago Delenda Est: I just thought they will be very inefficient for fuel. Getting shot down is an added touch. Somebody else has already made Snowcrash references
    to privatized airforces. Once you have package delivery drones, they will need air to air protection drones. I wonder if the smarter yahoos will shoot with jamming electronics.

  81. 81.

    catclub

    @Tommy: “I wonder if a book few folks read is an interactive as Dan Brown’s latest. ” I was going to ask just this question. I suspect: no.

  82. 82.

    Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)

    Spent a week in Alabama with the parental units. Got home just in time to see the Iron Bowl (ugh!), and now lining up an appointment for a dental implant. FSA max was reduced to $2500 this year, and it’s about to go bye bye.

  85. 85.

    rikyrah

    Saturday, November 30, 2013
    Another Failure To Communicate
    Posted by Zandar

    NY Times columnist Timothy Egan has noticed that the entire GOP strategy these days is making sure President Obama (and everyone who voted for him) fails.
    ………..

    Egan has some good points here, but let’s go over two things here. One, what’s different about Barack Obama compared to the previous 43 POTUS, and two how terrified are the Republican tea party rump of an America that allows someone like Barack Obama to become President?

    It’s gotten to the point where not only Obama must fail and suffer, but everyone who supported him. We all have to pay for messing up “their” America. So yes, that includes anyone Obamacare is trying to help. That includes making it harder for the people who supported the President to vote. That includes making it harder for the people who supported the President to feed their families, and earn a decent wage, and get decent health care and schools and opportunities.

    Which is fine with the GOP. They don’t see it as rooting against Americans, because they don’t see us as “real Americans”. We’re just “those people”.

    http://zandarvts.blogspot.com/2013/11/another-failure-to-communicate.html

  86. 86.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @catclub:

    I got about 100 pages into Snowcrash before the implausibility of a glibertarian paradise forced me to put it down. Stephenson’s wink wink nudge nudge “Hiro Protagonist” grated on my nerves, too…

  87. 87.

    schrodinger's cat

    Isn’t it funny that Andrew Sullivan rants about Obama being AWOL on the job (because of the healthcare.gov’s problems) while he is on a vacation to Ye Olde England. How many days till he turns into a cheerleader for Christie?

  88. 88.

    dexwood

    and the Christmas shopping is DONE

    Ack! You’re one of them! Though, I do have a friend who always has her Christmas shopping done by September. I hate her.

    Stopped in at the Post Office this morning for ten postcard stamps. 30 people in line ahead of me, all mailing Christmas packages by the looks of things. Who are these people ready to mail packages on 12/2 I asked myself. Fortunately, I knew how to use the self serve postal machine standing alone and unused in the corner.

  91. 91.

    Bobby Thomson

    @rikyrah: I don’t think the Republicans needed the election of the president to attack those groups. That’s been their M.O. since Nixon.

  92. 92.

    srv

    @Villago Delenda Est: Actually, the glibertarian representation was quite realistic. It was a parody of anarchy.

    Reason: Snow Crash is almost a parody of a libertarian future. Do you think the affinity-group-based societies you outline in that book are on their way? Do you see that as a warning note, or a natural state we’re progressing toward?

    Stephenson: I dreamed up the Snow Crash world 15 years ago as a thought experiment, and I tweaked it to be as funny and outrageous and graphic novel–like as I could make it. Such a world wouldn’t be stable unless each little “burbclave” had the ability to defend itself from all external threats. This is not plausible, barring some huge advances in defensive technology. So I think that if I were seriously to address your question, “Do you see that as a warning note, or a natural state…?,” I would be guilty of taking myself a little bit too seriously.

    Speaking as an observer who has many friends with libertarian instincts, I would point out that terrorism is a much more formidable opponent of political liberty than government. Government acts almost as a recruiting station for libertarians. Anyone who pays taxes or has to fill out government paperwork develops libertarian impulses almost as a knee-jerk reaction. But terrorism acts as a recruiting station for statists. So it looks to me as though we are headed for a triangular system in which libertarians and statists and terrorists interact with each other in a way that I’m afraid might turn out to be quite stable.

  93. 93.

    MikeJ

    @Belafon:

    My sister, wife, and son have to have a book to hold.

    My guess is they aren’t trying to read 1,000 page+ Stephen King or John Dos Passos on the bus.

  94. 94.

    Belafon

    @Villago Delenda Est: I think you were reading Snow Crash wrong. To me it read as a dystopia of what the US would look like if true libertarianism were to take over the country, with everything, including street intersections, for sale.

    Plus you miss a great side story of one of the main character’s car being fixed up a piece at a time, and then finally stolen by the people repairing it, at which point they leave him a note explaining what happened.

    ETA: Corrected spelling.

  97. 97.

    MikeJ

    @NotMax: I thought Snowcrash was great. I thought his trilogy thing was tedious.

    Reamde was pretty good as a whole, but the 100 page chase scene was dull. Of course I think action scenes in most movies are dull too. They never seem suspenseful. Just get on with it and shoot that guy or not and then get back to the actual story.

  98. 98.

    NotMax

    @dexwood

    Post Offices here always put up notices reminding that unless any parcel post item being sent out of state is mailed before Dec.6, chances are very high that it won’t arrive before Xmas.

  99. 99.

    NotMax

    @MikeJ

    Chacun à son goût . Friends with a married couple who foist Snowcrash on anyone they can.

    Cannot fault them, as I tend to do the same with Dhalgren.

  101. 101.

    Pogonip

    @Belafon: Kindle had The Silence of the Lambs for $1.99 the other day. More shelf space freed up! Silence holds up well. If you haven’t already been warned at this late date, skip the sequels, Hannibal and Hannibal Rising (“I know I’m going to miss her/the Nazis ate my sister…”). I once read some advice to writers to the effect that if you fall in love with one of your characters you should immediately kill him off because you’ll lose all perspective and never write a decent story about that character again. It’s a shame Thomas Harris missed that article.

  102. 102.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Belafon:

    Well, I can’t stand glibertarian anything, even parodies of it.

    By contrast, I was at least able to finish The Diamond Age and thoroughly enjoyed Cryptonomicon, so it’s not Stepehnson that is my problem. :)

  104. 104.

    srv

    @Pogonip:

    I once read some advice to writers to the effect that if you fall in love with one of your characters you should immediately kill him off because you’ll lose all perspective and never write a decent story about that character again

    Unfortunately, George R.R. Martin took that bit a bit too literally.

  105. 105.

    Amir Khalid

    @Pogonip:
    Red Dragon‘s pretty damn good too, and it yielded two creditable movies. Because of the huge success of Silence Of The Lambs as book and movie, Hannibal was a hugely anticipated event in the book biz. But then it turned out to be so completely mental that I’ve ignored the whole franchise since.

  108. 108.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @MikeJ:

    The Glibertarianism was not front and center, in my view, in Cryptonomicon, unlike in Snow Crash.

    Also, I think Cryptonomicon was better written and had a much better attempt at an end.

  112. 112.

    Pogonip

    @Amir Khalid: I think Hannibal Rising pretty much killed off the franchise ( so to speak). Either that or Lecter tracked Harris down and ate him with some fava beans and a nice chianti.

    There was a good movie of Red Dragon, Manhunter. I forget who played Lecter but he was at least as good as Anthony Hopkins.

  114. 114.

    Amir Khalid

    @Pogonip:
    Brian Cox. The remake starred Hopkins as Lecter.
    ETA: And isn’t there a recent TV show about Lecter as a promising young shrink?

  115. 115.

    Belafon

    @srv: “George R. R. Martin, Joss Whedon, and Steven Moffat walk into a bar and everyone you’ve ever loved dies.” Joke going around the internet.

  116. 116.

    Pogonip

    @Belafon: I’ll never forget THAT ending. Lecter and Clarice are replaced by pod people who look just like them but behave completely differently!

  117. 117.

    dexwood

    @NotMax:
    Yea, here too. Plus, local stations carry PSAs with the information. I rarely mail Christmas packages, though, and hadn’t been paying attention to deadlines. Last year, I did mail a Christmas package to Ecuador six weeks before Christmas. My friend thought it was pretty good service getting it on January 3rd.

  118. 118.

    Pogonip

    Applause for Brian Cox! Give that man some fava beans.

    Is anyone going to read book 6 of Westeros, if it ever comes out? I’m not. I got bored with Tyrion riding pigs and taking inventory of turtles, and with Stannis going to war against General Winter and advancing maybe six miles over nearly a thousand pages.

  119. 119.

    MikeJ

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    The Glibertarianism was not front and center, in my view, in Cryptonomicon,

    The entire plot involves trying to get enough gold to use create an alternative currency and offshore data haven and it’s going to make everything perfect and wonderful and do away with gubbmint forever.

    Snow Crash is set in a dystopia where the glibs have had their way, and doesn’t really have anything in it to recommend libertarianism.

  121. 121.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Pogonip:

    advancing maybe six miles over nearly a thousand pages.

    Oh, so pretty much like the Western Front of WWI?

  123. 123.

    Cassidy

    @Villago Delenda Est: Most major modern war fiction has a silly premise just because you can’t quite show the scope of it. Another reboot that would have been much better as a tv series.

  124. 124.

    Tommy

    @catclub: I like Gabriel Marquiz. Tom Robbins. Well folks you would not think I liked Brown. But I do. That interactive of these books was stunning. Honestly not tried many others.

  125. 125.

    Violet

    @Amir Khalid: Yes, there is. And it’s quite violent and bloody for a network TV show. I watched the first episode kind of by accident (TV was paused, I saw it was on and decided to check it out). Will not watch another–not into that kind of blood and gore. Acting was good, though. After that, I accidentally saw a few bits and pieces of it when turning on the TV. Always with the blood and gore. Every single time.

  128. 128.

    NotMax

    @Violet

    Always with the blood and gore.

    Always found it mildly amusing that a certain former vice-president’s business partner’s last name is Blood.

  130. 130.

    Mnemosyne

    @Amir Khalid:

    G and I have a running joke that whenever I don’t recognize an actor, it turns out to be Brian Cox.

    He was just in the Dr. Who 50th anniversary show playing the show’s BBC creator. It was pretty good, actually.

  131. 131.

    Amir Khalid

    @Mnemosyne:
    By the way, we should remember not to confuse Brian Cox the actor with Brian Cox the (much younger) British scientist and TV personality.

  132. 132.

    NotMax

    @NotMax

    Should anyone be under the impression that the comment was a misfired attempt at joking, his business partner really is named David Blood.

  134. 134.

    Origuy

    @Pogonip:

    advancing maybe six miles over nearly a thousand pages

    I gave up on Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time books for that reason.

  137. 137.

    Pogonip

    @Redshift: Chortle.

    I didn’t know there was a Lecter TV show. I’ll have to settle down with a glass of Chianti and watch it next time it’s on.

  140. 140.

    Violet

    @Pogonip: If you like that kind of thing, the first episode was gripping and the acting was good. That’s what I watched. Just not my kind of show at all. Too bloody. I like the actors and wish they’d focused more on the suspense and scary part of it and not the blood and gore.

  141. 141.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Violet:

    Blood and gore is fine. It’s the bewbies that cause the network switchboards to light up like the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree.

  143. 143.

    Mnemosyne

    @Tone in DC:

    You know, I have no doubt that the teenage boys in that situation were acting like, well, teenage boys. They were probably talking loud and even (gasp!) swearing occasionally.

    But, as with so many stories involving AA, normal teenage behavior is by definition criminal if a black kid is doing it. It was the whole stupid hoodie claim with Trayvon Martin that of course a black kid in a hoodie is up to no good, while a white grandmother in a hoodie doesn’t get confronted by self-appointed rent-a-cops. Hmm, almost as though the problem is the color of the person inside the hoodie and not the article of clothing itself.

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