1 Anyone awake?

2 Cannibalism! Does it include a how-to? Supermarket shelves are lookin' bare in Flint...

3 Does it include a how-to?

Kinda...some of the descriptions of what the Fiji natives were doing are kinda graphic.

4 . . . a leader who often treated his . . . seamen like crap. You had me at this.

5 For a second there I got all excited thinking this was the "Sea of Glory" book about the sinking of the USAT Dorchester in WWII.  My grandfather was on that ship when it went down and was lucky enough to survive it. 

6

That was my beach read this year, accidentally. Picked it up and couldn't put it down. I second the recommendation. I'm not sure the Ex Ex outclassed Cook & the Europeans. But it was a major expedition that never got the credit it deserves. Boy that "commodore" in charge was a dickhead. Also, an early report from the Ex Ex told the story of a mysterious white whale named "Mocha Dick". Herman probably drew Captain Ahab from the "commodore", Moby Dick from the whale, and Queequeg from the cannibals they encountered in Fiji.

If you enjoy a little history or sea dog tales, you just can't go wrong with this book!

7 Can I buy that for a dollar?

8 Philbrick also wrote In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex, another excellent book. About the only whaleship every rammed and sunk by a whale, the incident that inspired Moby Dick. Absolutely worth reading.

9 Is Sarah Palin going to make an election-day surprise game-changing endorsement in Michigan?

It would be huge because we need Pete Hoekstra in Michigan!

10 I need help identifying a book I read ages ago. It was about a young man on a British naval vessel during the age of tall masted ships. His father was captain and inducted the son into the order of the mariner or something. The father is killed, there's a revenge plot, a brother and sister who are asian, the sister is a love interest, black or maori first mate? I remember enjoying it but can't remember what it was. Any help would be appreciated. And thanks for Sea of Glory. It's going on my Shelfari bookshelf.

11 I need help identifying a book I read ages ago.
Posted by: ChicagoJedi

Doesn't ring a bell. I'd try Amazon; just type each noun of the above in the search field. I've found books that I couldn't for the life of me remember a single title word just with 3 nouns.

12 I picked this one up at Walgreens last year for $5; it was/is worth the 'extra' $4! the political nastiness and lack of funding to get the damned expedition started sounds like current NASA funding squabbles-our political class has never been interested in exploration or understanding of the world outside their cocoon! The craziness of the expedition itself, and then feuding for credit afterward just make for an incredible story of brave, egotistical, intelligent Americans seeking to explore while trying to keep knives out of their backs both figuratively and literally...

Worth the buck or bucks wherever you find it. It's a bit dry at first, but once ships actually start getting equipped I found it a page-turner. A permanent place on my shelf for this one.

13 "The latest Wells Fargo/Gallup small business survey is out and it's UGLY."

14 Thanks, wallydog, for the rec. on the other Philbrick book; I just went to amazon and ordered it. He also has a newer book out, on the Mayflower.

15 NSW, but very funny

16

What the hell is the deal with Bill Kristol and his strange behavior lately?  He was on fox last week slobering all over Charlie Rangel and I thought it was some kind of strategy hoping he would stand trial and make all his crimes public... But come today he's STILL making downright wierd comments praising Charlie Rangel...  WTF?  If you care about this country at all, you would NEVER defend a treasonous democrat who writes the tax code and thinks up new ways to ruin a person if they break a tax law.... but at the same time thinks he's free to break any law he wants.. afterall, he's graced the plebs with his superior knowledge and given them the wisdom of his tax laws..

 

From this moment on we should take anything Kristol says with a hint of complete bullshit.  Looks like he's a cocktail party kneepad scraper

(ooooohhh I hope if I defend Charlie on fox today, he'll still invite me to his famous 'greek god' dress up parties where we compete to slurp as much baby batter from our political contacts as possible!  Those are the bestest! yay)

17

I burn through a lot of books on tape because I have at least a 40 minute one way drive to decent groceries, hardware, etc.  I had listened to Philbrick's book on the Mayflower then found the audio version of Sea of Glory dirt cheap on e-Bay.  It's a tremendous story.  I second the recommendation.   

 

18 Ok, I'm getting Sea of Glory, but hey, don't sell Cook short.... I read a really good book on his pacific exploration titled; Blue Latitudes, by Tony Horwitz. He mixed the book with a chapter in the present then with one based on Cook's extensive journals. Horwitz retraces Cooks' tracks and it's really a great summer read.... and yes, he still gets it in Hawaii.

19 IP = 221.172.92.3

20

What impressed me about Sea of Glory was how everyone seemed to know everyone else in pre Civil War America.  The connections you make with other characters outside the book are interesting.

For example, Passed Midshipman Reynolds, who became Wilkes' bitter enemy, was brother to General Reynolds, one of the three Union officers who saved the day at the beginning of the Battle of Gettysburg.

21 An amazing group of adventurers, to be sure.  One wonders if they were able, unlike the Violet Vengeance-er, to properly apostrophize "It is" as "It's"?

(Hey, it's who I am, and really the only reason I ever post.)

-Brennan

22 Completely agree with wallydog 8.  I've read it a couple of times and its very good.  Well worth the read.  I'll add this one to the list.  Thanks, PA.

23 IP = 117.28.91.106

24 IP = 117.28.91.106

25 Sea of Glory sounds like a great read.

1789 Mutiny on the Bounty. Likely more sea Captains like that than portrayed in Captain and Commander.

26 Bill Kristol and his strange behavior lately?  He was on fox last week slobbering all over Charlie Rangel

White elitist guilt would only be a facade to cover the deals made between those two characters. Nonetheless, Bill Kristol would writhe if called a racist on air or in print. That would place him down there with the Tea Party.

27 I read his book on the sinking of the Essex and also recommend it.  I was actually at sea in the Indian Ocean this past February when I found it in the company man's room on the rig.  Harrowing tale as the small whale boats separated and the fates took some, saved some.   

28 Bill Kristol's character is immortalized as Iago in Shakespeare's Othello.

I absolutely am convinced that he orchestrated Jim Jeffords' switch back in 2000.

I did lots of looking at him at that time,  and I cannot get over his GLEE when he went on Hume's show with his exclusive.  Not concern,  as most conservatives would show,  but glee.

And why did Jeffords think that Bush was going to cut his dairy subsidy?  And why did Jeffords not talk to any GOP leader?    Jeffords said an "insider" had told him that subsidy was going to be cut.   Bush people were dumbfounded to learn he thought this,  and I think Kristol presented himself as an insider and fed him that story.

That's who Jeffords got his idea from,  and then he told Kristol when Jeffords went to talk to Daschle.  NO ONE knew this except Jeffords and Daschle,  not even other leaders of the democrats.

Jeffords told Kristol,  and rather than letting Bush and Lott know,  he sat on that information and  waited for his poisonous words to work their magic.   Voila!  Jeffords switches,  Bush loses his majority,  McCain gets what he wants with campaign finance due to GOP fearing he would switch,  too. 

So I do not trust Bill Kristol,  and have not since 2000.   By the way,  he's the one who pushed Quayle to cause trouble for Dad Bush.   That worked out real well for Quayle,  didn't it?

29

Re Hoekstra...he thinks that government needs to play a role in competing car technologies.

He is wrong.

Government needs to get out of the arena. Government killed his states auto industries. Government is incapable of just playing a role...it will smother anything it touches. Nevertheless...this Hoekstra is better than any Demoncrap.

30

Re the Philbrick book; There used to be men who lived and breathed America.

Now there is Obama.

*hangs head*

31 Good Morning M&Ms. I posted this on the ONT but it looks like it is dead.

On my morning walk which I just completed I noticed yet another homeowner performing teh stupid.  As I passed a relatively new house with one of those manicured instant lawns put in with sprinklers and rolls of centipede sod I noticed that they had placed a child's wading pool right in the middle of that lawn in the front yard. This pool was about 2 ft deep and about 10 ft in diameter. It will likely sit there the entire summer and kill a 10 ft diameter section of that front lawn.

As I passed the house I checked the driveway and yes it had a nice large expanded section in front of the garage which entered from the side. That would have made an ideal place to put the pool for the summer. But instead one of their car's was sitting there in that area. So likely the garage was full of "stuff" which I have seen rather common around here when the doors are left open. The garage becomes a store room for old junk that wouldn't bring $50 total in a yard sale while a $30,000 car sits in the weather outside.

32 I have to recommend the audio book for '100 Uses for a Dead Cat.'  It spoke to me; I cried.

33 I have to recommend the audio book for '100 Uses for a Dead Cat.' It spoke to me; I cried. I cried, too.

34 That would have made an ideal place to put the pool for the summer.

Posted by: Vic at August 03, 2010 07:40 AM (/jbAw)

The BACK yard would've been another logical choice. 

35 The garage becomes a store room for old junk that wouldn't bring $50 total in a yard sale while a $30,000 car sits in the weather outside.

Too much shit, and poor quality shit, at that.  That's a real problem in our society.  People have so fucked up their interpersonal relationships that they fill the void with crap.

We had a major crap-flinging fest a few years back.  Kept tools, guns, books, some clothes, and my golf clubs.  Don't miss a thing.  Of course, now I have to drop $500 on all new baby shit, but I do that happily.  Other than that, money goes to utilities, food, clothes, and animal maintenance.  I'm pretty conservative, but there has grown in me a strong, hippie-like anti-consumerism, and I'm strangely happier that way.

36 The BACK yard would've been another logical choice. 

Posted by: Tami at August 03, 2010 07:58 AM (VuLos)

The back yard would have been better than the front, but it also had been done with rolled out centipede.  The driveway would have been ideal if they had left room as it would have meant no grass kill.

37 We had a major crap-flinging fest a few years back.

I need to have one of those but wifey got really pissed the last time I did that.

38 Who in the White House is assisting Assange?

The 39 year-old told journalists at the Frontline Club last night that US government insiders had informed him about discussions to charge him as a co-conspirator to espionage.

http://tinyurl.com/36r5mzy

39 I have to recommend the audio book for '100 Uses for a Dead Cat.'  It spoke to me; I cried.

Posted by: nickless

 

Bite me.

40 Who in the White House is assisting Assange?

Do we really believe anything this turd has to say?

41

I'm pretty conservative, but there has grown in me a strong, hippie-like anti-consumerism, and I'm strangely happier that way.

I know what you mean. I'm all for capitalism and everybody spending their money on what they want. After all, everybody's threshold for how much stuff they can handle having around them is different. But I personally cannot do with having too much "stuff" around me. Too much time and effort trying to keep everything clean and in order. Perhaps if I had more space to spread stuff around in, I'd feel differently...

 

42 Do we really believe anything this turd has to say?

Posted by: Vic at August 03, 2010 08:37 AM (/jbAw)

Good point.  But I want to believe this, I suppose.  Magical thinking, perhaps.

43 Who in the White House is assisting Assange?

Might be a clever psyop on Assange's part.  Get the WH running in circles on a non-existent mole hunt and there will be less attention focused on him.

Of course, it would not be surprising if someone in the WH was in fact helping him too.  With Ogabe's crew of malefactors you never know...

44 Of course, it would not be surprising if someone in the WH was in fact helping him too.

I guess it is possible but they would have to be doing outside the knowledge of Axelrod et al. If they were caught, which given time is likely, the political blow-back would be devastating.

They have to know by now that the can't hide shit too much anymore even with the MFM in their back pocket.

45 a strong, hippie-like anti-consumerism, and I'm strangely happier that way.

That's pretty much me these days.  No TV, no cell phone, no video games, I've made much of my furniture other than some really sturdy Steel Case office furniture which I picked up dirt cheap. 

Less is more.

46

Its a truly amazing story of madness, cruelty, cannibalism, petty revenge, reckless daring, cowardice, heroism, incredible sacrifice, and spectacular accomplishment in spite of shifting ill political winds in Washington

So it's a prequel then?

 

47
I read Sea of Glory a couple of years ago and it is good!  My favorite of that genre is South by Ernest Shackleton.  Ghosts of Cape Sabine by Leonard F. Guttridge also stands out in my mind.

48 Here's some good reading: http://tinyurl.com/2f6gzhx from WUWT -- A new must read paper: McKitrick on GHCN and the quality of climate data

49 #18

How about a spoiler alert? You just ruined the story for me.

50 #35  I'm pretty conservative, but there has grown in me a strong, hippie-like anti-consumerism, and I'm strangely happier that way.

There's no contradiction there. 

#37  I need to have one of those but wifey got really pissed the last time I did that.

*whipping sound*.  Just kidding.

51 41-the key is space. We just moved, and the house we rented is 1400 sq ft smaller than our previous home (which sold, Thank you Lord, in a little over a month!!) So sadly, our garage is filled with moving boxes we can't open until we get a storage unit or get rid of some things. We will move again in two years, so I hate to throw anything away just yet, but I agree-I'm tired of being enthralled by things. I am a bit ashamed at the money I spent on this stuff, when it could have been better used. So, ultimately, the smaller house has been a blessing, if for no other reason than to slap me upside the head and remind me to save the money, don't spend it on crap that will not bring 1 cent on the dollar at a garage sale. And I can't wait to find this book at the library. (Most of the boxes are books.)

52 #45  Less is more.

Even applies to decadence.

53 That's pretty much me these days.  No TV, no cell phone, no video games, I've made much of my furniture other than some really sturdy Steel Case office furniture which I picked up dirt cheap.

I could be happy with a fancy wall tent and a cheeseburger, these days.  Alas, my children can not, so we have a TV, a Wii, wife and I carry cell-phones (pretty much a necessity for us).  I don't watch TV, except for football and some DVDs--one daughter is rewatching a Red Box DVD about the Greek gods right now.

Great Depression II is making austerity all the rage, I suppose.

54

Hard men, doing hard things and that gives me a hard on...

not in any ghey way.

(apologies to the Boondock Saints II)

55

Hard men, doing hard things and that gives me a hard on...

not in any ghey way.

........

56 We will move again in two years, so I hate to throw anything away just yet, but I agree-I'm tired of being enthralled by things.

My daughter moved into an apartment from a house that she had been renting a few years ago. The apartment was much smaller than the house and of course she didn't have room for all the junk.

She went down and rented one of those storage units at a cost of $35.00/month. She too kept it for two years at a cost of $840.00 until she got behind on the payments and they told her to come and get her stuff.

I helped her move it out. Half of it went to the dump as it was ruined by the heat/cold and the other half was pure junk. She held a yard sale and netted about $25 and then threw away the rest.

Sometimes it takes a hard lesson to really learn. 

57 I shouldn't have let them watch the Greek gods program:  Duh Boy is in the front yard with a knife sheath as a sword and a frog gig (??) as a javelin.

It'll be OK until he skins the dog and wears the pelt as armor.

58 58 I shouldn't have let them watch the Greek gods program:  Duh Boy is in the front yard with a knife sheath as a sword and a frog gig (??) as a javelin.

It'll be OK until he skins the dog and wears the pelt as armor.

I guess he just watched the part about the Labors of Hercules?

59 57-ouch-that is a hard lesson. And we moved from central Virginia to Florida, which is wreaking havoc with our case goods-wood doesn't like changes like that. Since we move every two year, one would think we could streamline more, but we carry all of our memories with us, since we don't have a permanent home. That makes it hard to part with things, but in the end, they are things. No need to get attached. It may have been a hard lesson for your daughter, but she learned it early-so kudos to her!

60 Other cool things forgotten by history books: The Finian Invasions of Canada, The Copperheads, Johnson Co War, LA Water Wars, various Mexican border conflicts, etc.

61 I guess he just watched the part about the Labors of Hercules?

Posted by: Kratos (Ghost of Sparta) at August 03, 2010 09:10 AM (9hSKh)

Yeah.  If I let him watch to much Zeus he tries to swallow his sister.

62
About a year ago we cut back.  No health club,  different electricity provider,  higher insurance deductibles,  almost no eating out,  etc.  Feels good to add that all up and see we're saving over $800 a month.

63 I shouldn't have let them watch the Greek gods program:  Duh Boy is in the front yard with a knife sheath as a sword and a frog gig (??) as a javelin.

When we were kids and the old Disney show Zorro came on after watching it we went outside and broke off elements of an old "log periodic" TV antenna my father had stored awaiting installation and started sword fighting with it. We soon found that it may be a little dangerous so we then did sword fighting with my mothers spider lilies.

Needless to say after that the britches got warmed up pretty good.

Ah the good times of the 50s.
 

64 I didn't know the etymology of the word "toxin".  It's from the Greek word for "bow", and came about from Heracles dipping his arrow tips in the poisonous blood of the Hydra.

65

The garage becomes a store room for old junk that wouldn't bring $50 total in a yard sale while a $30,000 car sits in the weather outside.

Hey, no worries Vic, now that Government Motors is up and rolling again they can always buy another $30,000+ car, with your tax dollars.

Welcome to the socialist utopia!

 

66 When we were kids and the old Disney show Zorro came on

Many a child bears a zig-zag scar somewhere because of that show.

67 #62  Yeah.  If I let him watch to much Zeus he tries to swallow his sister.

Good point.  Don't let him watch any further if they mention Hercules' unofficial "13th Labor".

Keep in mind that you're watching revisionist history.  If you want the true story about Greek mythology, you have to play God of War.  .

68 The Heracles legend is interesting.  Born of the union between god and mortal, suffered horribly, descended into Hades to rescue the dead... Interesting prefiguring.....

69 Forgot the part where he dies and ascends to Olympus at the behest of Zeus.

70 The chick playing Persephone is teh hot.

71 69 The Heracles legend is interesting.  Born of the union between god and mortal, suffered horribly, descended into Hades to rescue the dead... Interesting prefiguring.....

The legend also highlights the Greek god's penchant for screwing with humanity.  Hercules (sorry, I like the Roman spelling better), was the product of one of Zeus' rendezvous with mortal women.  Instead of Hera being pissed at Zeus, she vents her anger at Hercules, trying to kill him in his crib with snakes and then later causing him to murder his family.

Damn the Gods.

72

I read this book 5 or so years ago...

Simply incredible!

It seems that the ExEx also propelled the United States to invest in a system of universities.

The incredible volume of materials and information that had been collected during the voyage was simply beyond the nation's ability to evaluate.  We had too few scholars and too few universites and colleges to begin to study and catalog the cargo of stuff....

I was dumbfounded to read the book and realize just how expansive and important the ExEx was, and just how large of a treasure trove of stuff and information came back.....and then to hold that  in juxtaposition to the fact that throughout all of my school years, no one ever saw fit to inform me that this even occurred!

This trip had it all over Lewis and Clarke.

Zebulon Pike got a mountain named after him, that almost every schoolchild knew (back during the stone ages).

And yet no one knows the name Charles Wilkes.

73 Jean, for the border wars there are good books about Los Diablos Tejanos (Capt. Jack Hays- Texas Rangers) and the Rip Ford's Texas (John Salmon Ford- Texas Ranger).  Mexico used to respect us.  It took about 20 Rangers with Walker Colts to put the fear of Texas in them.

74

61 Other cool things forgotten by history books: The Finian Invasions of Canada, The Copperheads, Johnson Co War, LA Water Wars, various Mexican border conflicts, etc.

And the First Korean War in 1871

75 I read another one of his books about the ship the Essex.  It was what Moby Dick was based on.  The sailors were adrift at sea without food and water after being attacked by a whale.  They resorted to canabilism and most of the crew died.  Several sailors were rescued which is how the story was known.

76 sorry, I like the Roman spelling better

Truly odd, coming from you......  ηρακλής

77

Hmm, I've been hankering to buy a good book, but couldn't rationalize spending the money...may have to take a run to the local Dollar Tree (last time I was there ManBearPig's book flooded the shelves...it wasn't moving).

Zorro was my childhood hero. 

I can remember playing cowboys and Indians, war games, etc. -- but we had real horses, used our BB guns, and in a nearly tragic moment of "keeping it real" my cousin snuck a real hatchet and machete from Grandpa's barn...he got into a bit of trouble...  Using Grandma's rouge and lipstick as war paint for me and the ponies also wasn't the best move...

Being a wise parent, I gave my kids paint ball guns and home made pugi sticks...got ahold of my makeup though (some things never change).

78 True story:  I went into a Dollar Tree some months ago, and the book section was absolutely choked with Al Franken.

79

I just moved recently, and in an effort to get rid of more junk and save space, I threw away all the cases for my CD collection (which I don't even use anymore anyway) and DVD collection, and put the discs in books.  Got rid of about 5 boxes.

I've also gone to only having cable during football season, which is the only time I watch it.

80

unknown jane we used all those plus had the benefit of lightning bugs (fireflies to you Yanks).  Smeared on the face they made some hideous night war paint.  We considered it good clean fun to have BB gun fights across the dam between the two tanks, a distance of maybe twenty feet.  Brutal.  Never put out an eye like we were warned but I did sport a BB sized bruise on an eyelid for a couple of days.  We had war with every known weapon from clods to Daisy products.

81 if you like that, you'll love Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose. it's about the Lewis and Clark expedition to chart the Louisiana Purchase and find a land route to the Columbia River headwaters. Awesome reading.

82 Okay I'll hush about BB guns after this comment.  The Daisy pump BB gun was cool but the magazine that unscrewed from the barrel was considered too slow to load when your cousin was bearing down on you. (Our speedloader was pour a bunch on BBs in your mouth and spit them into the gun).  But my genius little brother with the pump discovered that with the magazine removed a Roman candle fit perfectly into the barrel.  Now you've got a Roman candle you can aim.

83 Muppet Fart,
If you have the gas something awful try Muppet of Magnesia.  It works wonders for your kind.

84 83  It's a wonder more of us didn't come to grief, isn't it?

85 IP = 122.96.158.37

86 IP = 114.114.254.55

87 "Sea of Glory" was great. Philbrick's "Mayflower" and his book about the whale attack on the Whaleboat the Essex in 1819 was harrowing. (I think it was "In the Heart of the Sea") He has a new book out on the Battle of Little Bighorn out now. Great historian.