What are you reading right now?
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Re: What are you reading right now?
Although the Girdle of Melian made me raise an eyebrow, how fat was this elf chick that her girdle could encompass a whole country?
So I stare wistfully at the Lightning for a couple of minutes. Two missiles, sharply raked razor-thin wings, a huge, pregnant belly full of fuel, and the two screamingly powerful engines that once rammed it from a cold start to a thousand miles per hour in under a minute. Life would be so much easier if our adverseries could be dealt with by supersonic death on wings - but alas, Human resources aren't so easily defeated.
Imperial Battleship, halt the flow of time!
My weird shit NSFW
Imperial Battleship, halt the flow of time!
My weird shit NSFW
Re: What are you reading right now?
Reading the God Delusion, by Dawkins. Not that I need convincing, rather for school. That said, his descriptions of the 'short cuts' of the mind to process faster 'misfiring' on stimuli that they weren't necessarily designed for being a basis of religions, or accumulating the memes in the same manner, is fascinating. Most people envision themselves as... well themselves inside their bodies, to view it as basically a computer with an app for that, if cool as hell.
I especially like his descriptions of natural selection. I understood it before, but his crane metephors, along with Mount Irreducible was awesome. I also have never heard of the Cargo Cults before and find that fascinating as well, if a bit sad.
I especially like his descriptions of natural selection. I understood it before, but his crane metephors, along with Mount Irreducible was awesome. I also have never heard of the Cargo Cults before and find that fascinating as well, if a bit sad.
They say, "the tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of tyrants and patriots." I suppose it never occurred to them that they are the tyrants, not the patriots. Those weapons are not being used to fight some kind of tyranny; they are bringing them to an event where people are getting together to talk. -Mike Wong
But as far as board culture in general, I do think that young male overaggression is a contributing factor to the general atmosphere of hostility. It's not SOS and the Mess throwing hand grenades all over the forum- Red
But as far as board culture in general, I do think that young male overaggression is a contributing factor to the general atmosphere of hostility. It's not SOS and the Mess throwing hand grenades all over the forum- Red
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Re: What are you reading right now?
yeha I really liked Children of Hurin, but yes Silmirillion is a headache....
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Re: What are you reading right now?
Right now, I'm reading Jewell Parker Rhodes' Voodoo Season, which appears to be set in a New Orleans that only exists in badly cliched movies about the city. Can't wait to see just how she's mangled the New Orleans vodou tradition in the bargain.
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—Abraham Lincoln
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Oil an emergency?! It's about time, Brigadier, that the leaders of this planet of yours realised that to remain dependent upon a mineral slime simply doesn't make sense.
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Re: What are you reading right now?
lol, I keep having to explain to the local fundy hicks that it's a catholic sect combining animism/ancestor worship into a whole slew of new saints and angels. Which seems fine to me given how much christians have taken in european paganism into the official christian lists (Hint: Valentines used to be Lupracal, Christmas used to be a pagan holiday, and the Roman census was NOT in the winter time.)
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Re: What are you reading right now?
Well, actually, vodou is an animism/ancestor worship religion which disguised itself as a Catholic sect and, slightly later, as a slew of "Christian Spiritualist" churches which still thrive in New Orleans. Today, the vodou practise is much more open and the current high priestesses (one of whom is a white Jewish woman) are quite public about their roles and the rituals they stage. But I've already seen hints —though I may be mistaken (as I haven't read quite so far yet)— that Rhodes has depicted zombification or something like it, which has actually no part in the local tradition and never has. There is the belief in spirit-possession, but that's an entirely different concept altogether.
When ballots have fairly and constitutionally decided, there can be no successful appeal back to bullets.
—Abraham Lincoln
People pray so that God won't crush them like bugs.
—Dr. Gregory House
Oil an emergency?! It's about time, Brigadier, that the leaders of this planet of yours realised that to remain dependent upon a mineral slime simply doesn't make sense.
—The Doctor "Terror Of The Zygons" (1975)
—Abraham Lincoln
People pray so that God won't crush them like bugs.
—Dr. Gregory House
Oil an emergency?! It's about time, Brigadier, that the leaders of this planet of yours realised that to remain dependent upon a mineral slime simply doesn't make sense.
—The Doctor "Terror Of The Zygons" (1975)
Re: What are you reading right now?
Just finished The Samurai's Wife, the fifth book in the Sano Ichiro mystery series. Another good installment, with character development for Sano, Reiko, and even Chamberlain Yanagisawa. It also looks like the series has picked up a new recurring antagonist.
So 5 books down, 10 to go until I'm caught up.
So 5 books down, 10 to go until I'm caught up.
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Re: What are you reading right now?
"Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" at the moment. Twelve hundred pages of knee-slapping entertainment, and I'm about 40% of the way through. It follows on the heels of "All Quiet on the Western Front". I'm also reading "That Is All" in my "spare" reading time.
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I'm waiting as fast as I can.
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Re: What are you reading right now?
SCRawl wrote:"Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" at the moment. Twelve hundred pages of knee-slapping entertainment, and I'm about 40% of the way through. It follows on the heels of "All Quiet on the Western Front". I'm also reading "That Is All" in my "spare" reading time.
Isn't 'Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" supposed to be terrible?
Re: What are you reading right now?
I'm currently reading A.J.P. Taylor's Struggle for the Mastery of Europe (and avoiding Thanas' wrath in the process), but it's only a holdover until Amazon gets me my copy of the fifth Dresden novel Death Mask.
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"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia
American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.
DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
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Re: What are you reading right now?
I found it thick going, but as histories go I wouldn't call it 'terrible.' Really almost too subjective a matter, to meaningfully comment upon.spaceviking wrote:SCRawl wrote:"Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" at the moment. Twelve hundred pages of knee-slapping entertainment, and I'm about 40% of the way through. It follows on the heels of "All Quiet on the Western Front". I'm also reading "That Is All" in my "spare" reading time.
Isn't 'Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" supposed to be terrible?
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Re: What are you reading right now?
Probably, I just remediable a prof specifically describing it as such.Kanastrous wrote:I found it thick going, but as histories go I wouldn't call it 'terrible.' Really almost too subjective a matter, to meaningfully comment upon.spaceviking wrote:SCRawl wrote:"Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" at the moment. Twelve hundred pages of knee-slapping entertainment, and I'm about 40% of the way through. It follows on the heels of "All Quiet on the Western Front". I'm also reading "That Is All" in my "spare" reading time.
Isn't 'Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" supposed to be terrible?
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Re: What are you reading right now?
I've read a heap of Doctorow lately - most recently Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom.
Currently on Mass Casualties by Michael Anthony. It's a pretty dark picture he's painting.
Currently on Mass Casualties by Michael Anthony. It's a pretty dark picture he's painting.
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Re: What are you reading right now?
My god does my lecturer love that man.Steve wrote:I'm currently reading A.J.P. Taylor's Struggle for the Mastery of Europe (and avoiding Thanas' wrath in the process)
I'm currently trekking through the dross that is Duncan Falconer's 'The protector'. It is quintessentially awful, but I can't not finish a book.
It did however give me the pleasure of having a fellow student come over to me in class and tell me how much he loves it. It really gives me an insight into the literary interests of my... contemporaries.
I did just finish 'Surface Detail' by Ian M. Banks, which was magnificent if a little sardonic at times, as well as 'Arc light' by Eric Harry which was a very well written romp into WW3.
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Re: What are you reading right now?
Just finished Know No Fear, which I'm sure Conner will like. Currently reading through the Jag In Space series. Wish I had encountered Jack Campbell earlier on.
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Re: What are you reading right now?
I've been reading Knocking on Heaven's Door by Lisa Randall. It's been a mostly good read, although she needs to ease off on the descriptions of the Large Hadron Collider (Randall is a particle physicist, so it's not surprising that she's enthusiastic about the LHC).
I'm also on an Interplanetary Space Opera kick, and I've been reading Charles Sheffield's Cold as Ice. Great stuff so far - I just wish I could find the sequel, The Ganymede Club, at the library.
I'm also on an Interplanetary Space Opera kick, and I've been reading Charles Sheffield's Cold as Ice. Great stuff so far - I just wish I could find the sequel, The Ganymede Club, at the library.
“It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life.”
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"Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them."
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"Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them."
-Margaret Atwood
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Re: What are you reading right now?
I'm reading Catch-22 for the first time and loving it. It really relates to my military service, I like Yossarian, was privy to massive amounts of incompetency.
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"To myself I am only a child playing on the beach, while vast oceans of truth lie undiscovered before me." - Sir Isaac Newton
Re: What are you reading right now?
currently attacking the enormus linkage site that is http://bestsciencefictionstories.com/
They haven't steered me to a dud one yet.
EDIT: actually be careful of ones where the autohr has requested to be put up and the gatekeeper has openly said she's not read. that one was not so hot.
They haven't steered me to a dud one yet.
EDIT: actually be careful of ones where the autohr has requested to be put up and the gatekeeper has openly said she's not read. that one was not so hot.
Last edited by madd0ct0r on 2012-03-07 02:57am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: What are you reading right now?
Finished the latest Ciaphas Cain book, the Last Ditch.
Going to polish off Firestorm (generic title I know) latest book in the destroyermen series before reading an alt history trilogy recommended to me by Thanas.
Going to polish off Firestorm (generic title I know) latest book in the destroyermen series before reading an alt history trilogy recommended to me by Thanas.
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Re: What are you reading right now?
I just downloaded A Princess of Mars for free. Let's see how good it is.
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Re: What are you reading right now?
I am currently reading several books and awaiting my hardback collections of Charles Addams family, and St. Tirian's School for Young Ladies the whole appaling affair.
The scariest folk song lyrics are "My Boy Grew up to be just like me" from cats in the cradle by Harry Chapin
Re: What are you reading right now?
I'm in the middle of The Code: The Unwritten Rules of Fighting and Retaliation in the NHL. It appears everyone thinks fighting is an integral part of the game, and everything that is bad happens because The Code isn't being followed thanks to the instigator rule and the third man in rule.
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The slight variations in spelling and grammar enhance its individual character and beauty and in no way are to be considered flaws or defects
I'm not sure why people choose 'To Love is to Bury' as their wedding song...It's about a murder-suicide
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When it becomes serious, you have to lie
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Re: What are you reading right now?
I am reading my Kindle
Yes, I have been drawn into dark side e-book universe. Just finished To Kiss or To Kill from a series I'd be very surprised if anyone else here has heard of, and have started on something called Wool which I can apparently borrow for free. Also recently read Peter Watt's Maelstrom, also in e-format.
Yes, I have been drawn into dark side e-book universe. Just finished To Kiss or To Kill from a series I'd be very surprised if anyone else here has heard of, and have started on something called Wool which I can apparently borrow for free. Also recently read Peter Watt's Maelstrom, also in e-format.
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Now I did a job. I got nothing but trouble since I did it, not to mention more than a few unkind words as regard to my character so let me make this abundantly clear. I do the job. And then I get paid.- Malcolm Reynolds, Captain of Serenity, which sums up my feelings regarding the lawsuit discussed here.
If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. - John F. Kennedy
Sam Vimes Theory of Economic Injustice
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Re: What are you reading right now?
You have a Fire, Broomstick?
I just picked up the LOTR Nook book for ten bucks. That's a damn good price.
Also from what I hear Google's new store thingy is running daily 25¢ sales...which Amazon is quietly matching.
I just picked up the LOTR Nook book for ten bucks. That's a damn good price.
Also from what I hear Google's new store thingy is running daily 25¢ sales...which Amazon is quietly matching.
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Re: What are you reading right now?
How's A Princess of Mars? I got that for free for Kindle, too, and read a couple of pages into it before going to another book. It wasn't bad, so I'll probably go back to it later.
I've just finished Dark as Day, part of a loose trilogy of SF novels by Charles Sheffield set in the Outer Solar System. Both it and Cold as Ice were great, although the former was the better of the two. The library doesn't have The Ganymede Club, so I'm going to get it off amazon for cheap.
My only quibble is that Sheffield may have had a "dirty old man" thing going on, like Harry Turtledove. Almost every POV character in the books has a sex scene, except for the 550 lb obese guy (thank cthulu).
I've just finished Dark as Day, part of a loose trilogy of SF novels by Charles Sheffield set in the Outer Solar System. Both it and Cold as Ice were great, although the former was the better of the two. The library doesn't have The Ganymede Club, so I'm going to get it off amazon for cheap.
My only quibble is that Sheffield may have had a "dirty old man" thing going on, like Harry Turtledove. Almost every POV character in the books has a sex scene, except for the 550 lb obese guy (thank cthulu).
“It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life.”
-Jean-Luc Picard
"Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them."
-Margaret Atwood
-Jean-Luc Picard
"Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them."
-Margaret Atwood