Offsite Comments

Amazed and amused once again, Maet, at the topics you cover, some in concise depth.

They're not well-meaning people who are just a bit overzealous. They're horrible, nasty, awful people who want everyone who disagrees with them to be silenced and afraid.

Been thinking a lot about the trip to Chicago last year, visiting in-laws, staying at friends' houses. Democrats almost exclusively, and one of the houses we stayed at our hosts were genuine Communists. All very friendly, nice, amiable people, as a rule. The Communists live very well, and unless you examined their library, you might think them only average liberals. (NYTimes subscribers.)

Of course, we avoid any political discussions, or keep such topics to a bland level. Still, it's uncomfortable to be there and know what a huge gulf lies between them and our own Americanism, what they think of us or might think of us if they knew our principles, and how easily the fireworks could flare.

These are people we love dearly. It's really very sad.

Because, as Andrew B said, War!

Dang! Made the Sock Wall of Shame list again.

First of all, as I say every time (boring, eh?), I really only change my end-of-name tagline most of the time, not even so much a change as the obvious Hat socks. So, I should be disqualified. (Harrumph.) (But, of course, I'll continue to "cheat" to achieve this "fame.")

Second, 31 names? I bet I posted 100 comments in the past week, at least. The rotating IP at home (presumably) saves me from being higher in the list again. (Yay!)

And finally, with only 31 names? Some of you hearty real sockpuppeteers need to up your game! (Seriously!)

In before 100! (Just by chance.)

Also before the morning thread.

Howdy, OverNighters. Now to read the post...

Oh, a Golden Ager by S&S. Thanks. Just read up on him in the DCUniverseOnline wiki. Sometimes I have to V-8 forehead slap myself for not realizing I can websearch everything.

Of course, he may be dressed like Tracy, but the jaw isn't pointed enough! :D

Okay, I haven't been much of a comics reader since the 80s Indy crash, but... who is Doctor Occult? And why does he look like Dick Tracy?

It changed everything.

Posted by: mindful webworker - get thee behind me! at January 17, 2016 11:39 AM (hgso/)

Thanks for posting that.

436 Hmm... Unless... by non-book-related stuff you were referring to the rest of my blurb about Invulnerable?

Posted by: mindful webworker - book marque at January 17, 2016 01:48 PM (hgso/)

Back when Monty first started the book thread he used to enforce the "on topic" rule strictly. That has since withered away. I don't even comment on it anymore.

Me: There's a new thread. Doesn't mean the book thread dies, but does diminish its attendance somewhat....

Vic: But it does cut down on he non-book related stuff.

The book thread stays on-topic about as well as any thread (save maybe football) and doesn't get too much of the usual open thread chatter, and sometimes book talk does just lead in to other topics, but, yeah, maybe they should put up an open thread sooner?

Hmm... Unless... by non-book-related stuff you were referring to the rest of my blurb about Invulnerable?

Posted by: mindful webworker - in the Land of the Red Man at January 17, 2016 01:01 PM (hgso/)

My paternal grandmother lived on the Oklahoma Osage reservation as a kid. They weren't Osage, but her dad wrote a history of Oklahoma (and I'm blanking on his name) that was used as a textbook there for a while. One of the last old-time chiefs would sit in a place they had to pass to get to school and she said he scared them silly in all his traditional regalia.

There's a new thread. Doesn't mean the book thread
dies, but does diminish its attendance somewhat. Or just time moving on
does so.

Anyway, thought I'd once again drop a blurb for my little oddity, a science-fictionish webwork, Invulnerable.
It's not a book, so it doesn't really qualify for here, but it's mostly
text; you also can't buy it because it's free to read. ;D

Link in nick.

Comments may be left on the table of contents page, and there's
PayPal buttons on every page, which theoretically work, in case you for
some reason think the work is worth a buck, or just want to make a pity
donation like you would to a bum on the street with an illegible sign.

Posted by: mindful webworker - he arose from... the subway... at January 17, 2016 12:55 PM (hgso/)

But it does cut down on he non-book related stuff.

Speaking of "first peoples..."

Somewhere in the catacombs is a thick college volume I picked up and (mostly) read years ago, a history of the Osages. (The county next door is Osage Co., where Frank "66" Phillips made them rich from oil leases.) The book collected oral histories.

IIRC, the book could actually somewhat trace the Osages practically from their crossing the Bering land bridge to their settling in the North-East North America. What I found especially memorable (tricky as my biomemory can be) was that when they got to the NE NAm, they encountered indigenous people who had come in from the other direction - the Eskimos or relatives, I think.

Or my flaky mind may be making the whole thing up. It was a while ago.

There's a new thread. Doesn't mean the book thread dies, but does diminish its attendance somewhat. Or just time moving on does so.

Anyway, thought I'd once again drop a blurb for my little oddity, a science-fictionish webwork, Invulnerable. It's not a book, so it doesn't really qualify for here, but it's mostly text; you also can't buy it because it's free to read. ;D

Link in nick.

Comments may be left on the table of contents page, and there's PayPal buttons on every page, which theoretically work, in case you for some reason think the work is worth a buck, or just want to make a pity donation like you would to a bum on the street with an illegible sign.

BurtTC: This "God" you are fighting might not actually be, you know, God.

As I've often said, when I encounter folks who disbelieve, and ask after what they think God is like, I can pretty much always say, yeah, I wouldn't believe in a God like that, either!

It changed everything.
Posted by: mindful webworker

That rings an old, painful bell, but I love the happy ending in your version.

Only up to comment #150, but wanted to post this before the thread wore out / got buried by food or football.

*

The other day, my beloved companion of over forty years and I traversed another difficult patch. (Someone said on some thread recently, all fights are about stupid stuff.) Afterward, she read me what I've quoted below -- sorry for it being kinda long.

She introduced it by recalling something I've sometimes said, if the Devil set out to mess up our lives, relationships, family (immediate and extended), how would it be different than it has been, the obstacles internal and external we've faced?

=====

Relational Attacks
(from Captivating by John & Stasi Eldredge)

Another common enemy that often is at work in women's relationships is a spirit of accusation. In our friendships, in our relationships with peers at work, and especially in our marriages, we often feel that we are a disappointment to others, that they disapprove of us. We feel in their presence that we are not enough, or that we are too much. After we leave a time with them, we're plagued by a deep sense of failing. We feel frustrated and irritated and ashamed that we feel that way. Our hearts often land in shame and isolation, or we go to resentment ... and isolation.

Do you know what I am talking about? Do you recognize this in your own life? That replaying of conversations you've had with people, that sense of having blown it, or that other sense of just being really irritated at them? Have you noticed how the feelings grow as you continue to mull it over? Now, who do you suppose would have a vested interest in ruining your relationships? This is exactly What Paul warned the Corinthians about when he said, "For we are not unaware of his schemes" (2 Cor. 2:11).

Well, a spirit of accusation was operating in our marriage for the first ten years of our married life. I felt John's disapproval over how I spent my time, my relationship with God, even how I chopped vegetables. I felt as though everything I did disappointed him somehow. I could not live up to his (unspoken) desires. It's hard to offer your heart and love to a person when you feel that way. Our tendency is to withdraw in shame or anger. At least, that's what I do.

Then one night, after an unusually uncomfortable dinner, John wanted to know how he was failing me. He often felt, he said, that I was disappointed in him, that he couldn't do anything right, that I disapproved of how he lived and who he was.

What?!

This was unbelievable to me. I felt nothing of the sort toward him. I wanted to be more like him. I told him that I didn't feel that way toward him, but I certainly felt that from him - felt that I was a deep disappointment to him. He told me that was utterly untrue. He felt nothing of the sort. It was then that John and I realized we were not alone in the room. We were being attacked by a spirit of accusation that had effectively worked between us for ten years, operating to isolate us from one another and ultimately destroy our marriage.

We got mad. Together, we took a stand against it and commanded it to leave. This can feel a little weird at first, talking to the air and saying stuff like, "I bring the cross of Christ against you. In Jesus' name I command you to leave." Sometimes you have to be firm and pray several times. As Peter said, "firm in the faith" (1 Pet.5:9, emphasis added). But leave it does!

What a relief. What a breakthrough for us. To be able to look into my husband's eyes now and not have mine clouded over by false accusation allowed me to see his love for me as true and real and deep. We now could believe that we liked each other, were for each other, and that the truest thing in our marriage was committed love.

It changed everything.

MrScribbler: I really dug the first part of Man in the High Castle. It was one of those can't-put-the-book-down reads. And then it all went to hell.

Aw, dang it. (The show already reflects that. I'd hoped for better resolution.)

Village Idiot's Apprentice: "so where is the Japanese Trade Minister now?"

I'm just gonna go with "Da Fuqua" when describing the ending.

Odd, as there was strong discussion concerning a possible Season II.

Only up to comment #60, so I don't know if this has been mentioned, but, Amazon has green-lighted the next season.

I had thought it was going to be a complete tale, and was only barely warned by a single comment on AoS that the conclusion was not a true ending but a seasonal cliff-hanger.

Surely someone has read the book and can tell us (if they are similar) how many seasons it'll take at this rate to complete the story? If they will give us an ending!

When I think of "life-changing books," I relate it to Jesus' saying one must be "born again."

Seems t'me some people have (as the expression goes) a major "come to Jesus" moment where their life is re-directed. This is a very cementing event, as a rule, because it so profoundly differs from how they had been.

Some people, having been raised in faith by faithful people, never really have a need of being "born again," in that they were never mis-directed. They may experience a personal realization of dedication, but it's not so emphatic as the sinner coming to the light.

For others, it is not one sudden experience but many gradual changes, a series of steps of re-orientation in first one area, then another. This is a difficult path, too easy to slip back into doubting and less permanently cementing in attitude, especially in early stages.

I'm sort-of in all three categories. I was raised with Jesus, not deeply, but he has always been in my life. I did have a pivotal eye-opening, as I've mentioned before, when I read the Gospels through for myself as an adult (if 19 can be called adult), but I certainly wasn't utterly re-directed at that point. My "enlightenment" (education in the spirit) happened in stages over decades, due to many influences.

I suppose some might say that by this definition I've not yet been "re-born," but that's my thinking.

So, when I think of life-changing books, I think of many stages of change. And the overlap is heavy of my search for truth and influential books, because, after all, finding truth is not just a niche of one's life, but the whole of it, affecting one's morals, politics, lifestyle, and relationships.

I could name some Major Influences, but that wouldn't even tell the story, because some big steps happened only after a lot of little nudges. Some works stuck with me structurally; many were just scaffolding.

Any good book, or even a short story, changes my life, to some degree.

Sometimes, it's just a profound sentence.

My favorite bookstore is long gone, so, no vote: Lewis Meyer's on Peoria in Tulsa.

I wrote about it in a book thread comment back in September.
http://acecomments.mu.nu/?blog=86&post=358957#c24178411

Back from finishing First Men in the Moon.

Wells certainly had fun exercising his vivid imagination in creating his lunar universe!