(The interior of Rizzoli bookstore on West 57th Street in Manhattan. Credit Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times )

Good morning morons and moronettes and welcome to AoSHQ's prestigious Sunday Morning Book Thread.

Blue City Blues

Manhattan used to have a ton of bookstores, but now they're disappearing:

Rising rents in Manhattan have forced out many retailers, from pizza joints to flower shops. But the rapidly escalating cost of doing business there is also driving out bookstores, threatening the cityÂ’s sense of self as the center of the literary universe, the home of the publishing industry and a place that lures and nurtures authors and avid readers.

And rents in Manhattan are like nowhere else:

“They were unsustainable,” Ms. McNally said. “Small spaces for $40,000 or more each month. It was so disheartening.”

I remember Rush Limbaugh complaining about this years ago when he lived in an apartment in New Yord City. He said, you just have to adjust your thinking to understand the rent situation in NYC. And back then, it was only $10,000 per month.

Naturally, an exquisitely liberal publication like the New York Times isn't going to mention this, but New York City is one of the most rent-controlled cities in the world, where building owners are saddled with a bewildering array of housing regulations and rules about what kind of rents they may or may not charge their tenants. The idea that these burdensome housing regulations may be a factor behind the high rents simply does not enter into their minds.

Years ago, as one of my first purchases through the 'Conservative Book Club' (remember that?), I picked up Excluded Americans: Homelessness and Housing Policies by William Tucker, who presented a large amount statistical evidence to prove a correlation between high rates of homelessness and rent control. Along the way, he spent a lot of time talking about NYC rent control and I was surprised to learn that Manhattan, now the home of $40,000/month rents, used to have so much housing that they practically had to give it away. Rents were affordable by practically everybody. Then they imposed rent control during WWII as a "temporary war-time measure" and that introduced distortions in the housing market that have become permanent. And nobody wants to repeal any of these regulations because too many politicians and legislators have used their positions of influence secured sweet, sweet deals for themselves (like a nice, upstairs apartment for $237.50 per month) and so there's no way they're going to want to change anything.

So the closings continue:

Independents like Coliseum Books, Shakespeare and Company on the Upper West Side, Endicott Booksellers and Murder Ink have all closed their doors.

And it's not just the little guys:

But now the chain stores are shutting down, too. Since 2007, five Barnes & Noble stores throughout Manhattan have closed, including its former flagship store on Fifth Avenue and 18th Street, which was shuttered in January. Five Borders stores in Manhattan were closed in 2011 when the chain went bankrupt, vacating huge spaces on Park Avenue, near Penn Station and in the Shops at Columbus Circle.

I'm tempted to jeer at the wealthy Manhattan liberals who have brought this turn of events upon themselves. Still, I hate to see all these bookstores closing their doors, and I hope that somehow, the trend can be reversed.

PS- Rush also mentioned that he couldn't get a garbage disposal installed in his kitchen because of the contract the building had with the garbage-collectors' union.

The Boss Always Finds The Good Stuff First

On Friday, ace posted a link to these two sentence horror stories. Some of them are deliciously creepy. I'm trying to think of one myself, but only could come up with this, inspired by Lovecraft, and it's kind of lame:

As I was gazing at the old photo of my grandfather, I happened to think of those poor people over on the coast in Innsmouth who gradually turned into groteseque fish creatures as they got older. Wait, is that a gill behind his ear?

And here's one for AtC and MWR:

Last night I had this horrible dream of feeling a bunch of huge, hairy spiders crawling all over me. I woke up choking and had to pull a large wad of silk threads and an egg sac the size of a golf ball out of my mouth.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 05:55 AM | Comments (238)
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There was this.

I like this.

We can all use some beauty in our day.

And some of this, whatever it may be:

Open thread.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 04:38 PM | Comments (167)
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So where are the best and worst places to survive zombie aka progressive apocalypse?

1. Texas with a survivability score of 67

With a low population density and more federally licensed firearms dealers, hospitals and Walmarts than any other state, Texas is an easy choice for best place to survive the zombie apocalypse. It also has more military bases than all but a handful of states, which will come in handy to protect your desert camp from zombie invasion, or, in the event that Fort Hood is lost, as a place to salvage supplies. If youÂ’re really worried about the ZA, a scouting trip to Texas could be a good idea.

50. Rhode Island with a survivability score of 14.75

And here it is, Rhode Island is hands down the worst place to survive the zombie apocalypse. Its population density is high, there are no mountains or guns, and, really, not much of anything else that would be useful either. So hereÂ’s some advice to Rhode Islanders, when the mysterious bitings/illnesses start, head south.

Posted by: CDR M at 06:01 PM | Comments (483)
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Final round of the Masters is today. Television coverage starts at 2 pm Eastern on CBS. The leaders tee off at 2:40 pm.

I confess, I haven't been watching. The little bit of coverage I did see was abysmal and my favorite player, Phil Mickelson, didn't make the cut on Friday. But I'll probably watch today because the field is very tight and should make for some exciting golf.

Here's a link to the live leaderboard.

And here's a quick recap of the action so far, courtesy of Yahoo Sports.

There are ten players under par after three rounds. The co-leaders, Bubba Watson (who won the green jacket in 2012) and Jordan Speith (who is only 20 years old!), are at five under par. Four other players are within two strokes of the leaders, including Miguel Angel Jiminez who posted a six under par round on Saturday.

If I were to recommend a fan favorite for the Morons (and 'ettes), it'd probably be Bubba simply because he seems to be something of a good old boy, who drives this:

more...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:30 AM | Comments (201)
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I'm still a bit sensitive over all the work I put into last week's post only to have it butt-stomped by a rain-out. Thus, this week, you get the bare minimum.

Misery loves company, eh?

The Duck Commander 500 was a complete washout last Sunday. First it was an hour delay. Then another hour delay. Then another. Finally, they threw their hands up and moved it to noon. On Monday. I didn't see it so I don't have a lot of details to report.

Right off the bat, on lap three, Dale Jr. suffered a fiery crash after crossing into the grass and losing a tire, but he's doing fine and will be participating in the race today. Thank God for that.

The winner of last week's race was Joey Logano, bringing the total to seven different winners in the seven races to date.

Yep. Texas.

more...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 02:30 PM | Comments (223)
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Meet Eddie. Soldier. Combat veteran. Lifesaver. Belgian Malinois. (video at the link)

This was his retirement ceremony.

Staff Sgt. Shannon Hutto thought his bomb sniffing dog Eddie was just being lazy when he wouldnÂ’t move from a certain spot one hot day in Afghanistan in 2012.

But Hutto then saw what Eddie smelled: a homemade bomb, partially buried in the dirt. It was six inches from HuttoÂ’s foot.

"It was a high stress moment."

They gave him pie after the honors. This is appropriate and good because, pie.

ALSO Gandalf's white horsey passed recently.

Run Shadowfax. Show us the meaning of haste. Video of him and the White Wizard below the fold.

tip Kevlarchick re: Blanco more...

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 09:28 AM | Comments (29)
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Good afternoon and welcome to the second edition of the HI/DIY thread.

I should note in this post and will do so in all the posts which follow, that the mention of any specific tool/product, or brand of tool/product, in no way constitutes an endorsement of the product by myself or the proprietor of this blog.

The highlighting of any specific tool/product is purely for the sake of informing readers that such a product exists and in no way suggests, unless specifically noted, that I have ever personally interacted with the tool/product.

Please make your tool/product purchases wisely and do not rely upon the inane scribblings of some chick who rents her home for guidance.

There. I feel better now.

On with the show!

Here at the HQ there are certain themes that are a given and are understood by all as being paramount to life as a Moron or Moronette: booze, bacon, and boobs are the most recognized of these but, might I suggest, that another natural element fit in beside them. A byproduct of the need for nourishment, it has served well throughout all of mankind. It has provided shelter and clothing, it has allowed us to tame the beasts and, most importantly, it holds up your trousers each day. The wonderful, aromatic, versatile-as-all-get-out material to which I refer is leather.

It is my opinion that leather has gotten short shrift around these parts and I am about to remedy that forthwith. Here are a few suggestions as to how even the lowliest DIYer can incorporate leather into their home:

Okay, so those aren't exactly the manliest uses of leather, but it's a start. You don't think John Wayne came out of the womb wearing chaps do you?

more...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:55 AM | Comments (372)
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So, this happened:

Adrianne Haslet-Davis, who was injured in the Boston Marathon bombing and lost part of a leg, was scheduled to record a segment for NBCÂ’s Meet the Press, hosted by David Gregory.

Haslet-Davis says she requested that the names of the alleged bombers not be mentioned during the segment, but according to her tweets, a name was mentioned anyway and she became upset

Read the round up at Twitchy.

Gregory apologized via Twitter, but I'm not feeling inclined to forgive him because I a hater, that's why.

Also, open thread to discuss politics.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 07:25 AM | Comments (188)
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Get it while it's hot.

Posted by: andy at 03:20 AM | Comments (217)
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Is this a yeti?

Come on, you know damn well that's a yeti.

Okay, so you're claiming that's a dog. Well, fine, smartie-pants -- but how would he know to imitate a yeti unless he had actually seen a yeti?

You will have to admit that this is a yeti, at least.

A baby yeti.

That's obviously a yeti. It's carrying around a chunk of snow, for crying out loud.

Admit it's a yeti. You can lie to me, but don't lie to yourself.

So now you say "That's a Japanese Macaque," and I say:

That's just another word for yeti, Poindexter.

And Speaking of Something Which Isn't This: Two-sentence horror stories.

Most of them fall into the same few patterns, but the one about the kid complaining about a monster under his bed is darned good.

Posted by: Ace at 03:36 PM | Comments (538)
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