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The Morning Report 11/6/24 Daily Tech News 6 November 2024 The 47th President Addresses a Grateful Nation FOX NEWS NOW CALLS WISCONSIN FOR TRUMP FOX DECLARES TRUMP THE 47th PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES! CNN, CBS Finally Call PA FOX CALLS PENNSYLVANIA TRUMP IS THE 47th PRESIDENT ELECTED TO LEAD THE UNITED STATES CNN Calls Georgia for Trump Harris Sends Out Campaign Co-Chair to Tell Staff to Go Home, Kamala Will Not Be Talking Tonight Republicans Winning Senate Races in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin -- Three FLIPS from D to R MORENO DEFEATS THREE-TERM INCUMBENT SHERROD BROWN IN OHIO TIPP Head Pollster: It's a Clean Sweep. Trump Will Win All Seven Battlegrounds. Kamala Sends Staff Home NYT: Trump Is Running a Pick Six Absent Friends
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November 20, 2022
Sunday Morning Book Thread - 11-20-2022 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]Welcome to the prestigious, internationally acclaimed, stately, and illustrious Sunday Morning Book Thread! The place where all readers are welcome, regardless of whatever guilty pleasure we feel like reading (100% EVIL FREE!). Here is where we can discuss, argue, bicker, quibble, consider, debate, confabulate, converse, and jaw about our latest fancy in reading material, even if it's nothing more than the latest issue of TV Guide. As always, pants are required, especially if you are wearing these pants...(served with a side of cranberry sauce and Stove Top stuffing...) So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, continue fasting to prepare yourself for that Thanksgiving feast in four days, and crack open a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning? PIC NOTE Today's pic (see larger version HERE) is from a display at the Beineke Rare Book & Manuscript Library from back in 2019. It features a pop-up display that includes a copy of the full text of George Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation. The other major piece in the display is a book from Joseph Bruhac, a Native American storyteller, written in 1996 that explores a view of thanksgiving that goes back even further in time. ARCHITECTS v. GARDENERS There seem to be a couple of different types of authors out there. Two of the more prominent types are "Architects" and "Gardeners." Architects are known for the meticulous way in which they plot out their stories and characters. They may have elaborate outlines that they follow when sketching out their stories, so they know *exactly* how they will reach the ending. By contrast, Gardeners--also known as "pantsers"--write much more organically. They write by the seat of their pants, never knowing exactly how their stories will end, but keen on exploring interesting situations through the eyes of their characters. Of course these terms are extreme generalizations and most authors probably fall somewhere between on the spectrum between Architect and Gardener. An Architect may have a cool idea for a charaacter or storyline and just throw it in to see where it might go. And a Gardener might have a general idea of a storyline and how to resolve it, but take a meandering path to get there while the main character has exciting adventures. Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson both fall into the Architect camp for the most part. Stephen King and George R.R. Martin are famously Gardeners. King in particular likes to throw characters into weird situations just to see how they will handle themselves. The series I'm currently reading--The Chronicles of the Kencyrath by P.C. Hodgell--seems to fall into the Gardener camp. Hodgell's main character, Jame, is thrust into increasingly bizarre scenarios as the series progresses. This allows Hodgell to expand her worldbuilding through Jame's eyes. Although there are hints that there is a final resolution, after almost 40 years of writing and ten books in the series, it's hard to predict when or if the series will ever be finished. But that's OK because the series does fine as an open-ended collection of adventures of Jame of the Kencyrath. Some genres probably work better when written by one style versus the other. For instance, romance and drama fiction can thrive in the hands of a skilled Gardener because those genres are dependent on relationships between characters more than the plots or events in the story. Epic fantasy, on the other hand, almost *requires* some level of Architect to keep track of all the different plot threads that span multiple books. Moron Authors, in which camp would you classify yourself? How many of you lean towards Architect and how many towards Gardener? What are some of your favorite stories from each camp? (ht: Hadrian the Seventh) BLACK FRIDAY BASED BOOK SALE! The Black Friday Based Book Sale starts Wednesday, November 23. If you are a based author who'd like to participate by offering your books for free or for $0.99, DM @aetherczar on Twitter or email aetherczar at gmail dot com. MORON RECOMMENDATIONS Poker and Pop Culture has a chapter about the game's presence in the Civil War. Grant played often -- even during his years at West Point, where card games were forbidden. Lee, however, tried to suppress the game among his men. For him, that was another lost cause. Comment: Playing cards and card games--as a representation of gambling--have long been portrayed as a sinful vice...Poker does show up quite a lot in popular culture (e.g., James Bond in Casino Royale). Skill at poker seems to be a narrative device to show a character's intelligence, nerve, and craftiness, especially if the character is able to outwit an opponent at the card table. I'm reading Ian Keable's The Century of Deception: The Birth of the Hoax in Eighteenth-Century England. I'm familiar with most of his examples - the man who claimed he would jump into a bottle on stage, George Pszalmanazar, the pretended "Formosan," the Cock Lane Ghost, William-Henry Ireland, the Shakespeare forger - but Keable has a light touch that belies the deep research he has done. If this sounds like the sort of thing you'd like, I recommend it. Comment: Hoaxes have been around a long time--about as long as people have been willing to be taken in by conmen and mountebanks. The magician Harry Houdini, known around the world for his amazing escape attempts, was also quite keen on debunking spiritualism and mysticism, rejecting the idea of supernatural powers. About to finish How Not to Diet. Basically a book about going vegan. What I think you all will appreciate is that the author (who is an actual MD) fills this book with evidence based research. He makes a point of telling the reader that all his proceeds go to charities (not sure which) and that the majority of studies out there are funded or co-opted by big pharma or big food industry. His approach is this--you want less cancer, less heart disease and to feel better, you gotta eat more plants and whole grain fibers. For him, meat, dairy and sugars are no-nos. And I get it--this lifestyle does not fit the Moron Way of Life. But I digress. I read the prayer list yesterday and we have a lot of morons suffering with health issues. I recommend reading the book simply for the information presented and maybe incorporating some of the aspects into your diet. He also wrote "How Not to Die" which is about all the stuff in our food industry that is killing us. Comment: This book seemed to spark a rather epic debate in the comments last week about the merits of what we *should* be eating. Of course, as was pointed out, everyone's diet is different and what may work for one person may not work for everyone. I, myself, can't digest or process green leafy vegetables anymore, so I stay away from devil weeds like lettuce and cabbage. Most vegetables also taste horribly bitter to me, which is another reason I stay away from them. Though they can add a lot of flavor when cooked with other things (e.g., meat in a savory stew). I dug out my old Nicktoons! book (the one with the clear plastic cover filled with green goo). So many great cartoons came out in the early 90's. SpongeBob, Ren and Stimpy, Invader Zim... Nickelodeon's Vanessa Coffey started up an animation department and let cartoonists pitch their wildest stuff. She was tired of cartoons being based on existing properties or toys. The creators wanted the kind of anarchic goofiness of the old Warner Bros cartoons they grew up with, not the sitcom drivel so prevalent. Luckily, the cable channels needed content to fill the void and so there was an "anything goes" atmosphere. Comment: There were some awesome cartoons released in the 1990s. Just recently, it was announced that Kevin Conroy, who voiced Batman in Batman: The Animated Series and the Arkham Asylum video games, lost a bout to cancer. Other notable cartoons include The Simpsons (yes, I know it technically came out in the late 1980s, but that show reached its peak in the 1990s), The Tick, and Animaniacs. Only The Simpsons is still around today, though it's just a shadow of its former self. Animaniacs could never be made today as it's not woke enough (though that doesn't seem to have stopped them from trying to reboot it). More Moron-recommended reading material can be found HERE! (493 Moron-recommended books so far!) WHAT I'VE ACQUIRED THIS PAST WEEK: So the local public library had *another* book sale this week. Naturally, I stopped by to see if they had anything new/interesting. Mostly the same stuff as the last book sale a few months ago, but there were some new things that caught my eye.
And lest I forget, this week marks the release of Brandon Sanderson's The Lost Metal, the most recent book in his Mistborn universe, which also arrived this week. *sigh* Now if I could just find the time to READ all these great books! WHAT I'VE BEEN READING THIS PAST WEEK:
That's about all I have for this week. Thank you for all of your kind words regarding my Sunday Morning Book Thread. This is a very special place. You are very special people (in all the best ways!). The kindness, generosity, and wisdom of the Moron Horde knows no bounds. Let's keep reading! If you have any suggestions for improvement, reading recommendations, or writing projects that you'd like to see on the Sunday Morning Book Thread, you can send them to perfessor dot squirrel at-sign gmail dot com. Your feedback is always appreciated! You can also take a virtual tour of OUR library at libib.com/u/perfessorsquirrel. Since I added sections for AoSHQ, I now consider it OUR library, rather than my own personal fiefdom... PREVIOUS SUNDAY MORNING BOOK THREAD - 11-13-22 (NOTE: Do NOT comment on old threads!) | Recent Comments
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Mid-Morning Art Thread
The Morning Report 11/6/24 Daily Tech News 6 November 2024 The 47th President Addresses a Grateful Nation FOX NEWS NOW CALLS WISCONSIN FOR TRUMP FOX DECLARES TRUMP THE 47th PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES! CNN, CBS Finally Call PA FOX CALLS PENNSYLVANIA TRUMP IS THE 47th PRESIDENT ELECTED TO LEAD THE UNITED STATES CNN Calls Georgia for Trump Harris Sends Out Campaign Co-Chair to Tell Staff to Go Home, Kamala Will Not Be Talking Tonight Republicans Winning Senate Races in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin -- Three FLIPS from D to R MORENO DEFEATS THREE-TERM INCUMBENT SHERROD BROWN IN OHIO TIPP Head Pollster: It's a Clean Sweep. Trump Will Win All Seven Battlegrounds. Kamala Sends Staff Home NYT: Trump Is Running a Pick Six Search
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The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
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Paul Anka Haiku Contest Announcement Integrity SAT's: Entrance Exam for Paul Anka's Band AllahPundit's Paul Anka 45's Collection AnkaPundit: Paul Anka Takes Over the Site for a Weekend (Continues through to Monday's postings) George Bush Slices Don Rumsfeld Like an F*ckin' Hammer Top Top Tens
Democratic Forays into Erotica New Shows On Gore's DNC/MTV Network Nicknames for Potatoes, By People Who Really Hate Potatoes Star Wars Euphemisms for Self-Abuse Signs You're at an Iraqi "Wedding Party" Signs Your Clown Has Gone Bad Signs That You, Geroge Michael, Should Probably Just Give It Up Signs of Hip-Hop Influence on John Kerry NYT Headlines Spinning Bush's Jobs Boom Things People Are More Likely to Say Than "Did You Hear What Al Franken Said Yesterday?" Signs that Paul Krugman Has Lost His Frickin' Mind All-Time Best NBA Players, According to Senator Robert Byrd Other Bad Things About the Jews, According to the Koran Signs That David Letterman Just Doesn't Care Anymore Examples of Bob Kerrey's Insufferable Racial Jackassery Signs Andy Rooney Is Going Senile Other Judgments Dick Clarke Made About Condi Rice Based on Her Appearance Collective Names for Groups of People John Kerry's Other Vietnam Super-Pets Cool Things About the XM8 Assault Rifle Media-Approved Facts About the Democrat Spy Changes to Make Christianity More "Inclusive" Secret John Kerry Senatorial Accomplishments John Edwards Campaign Excuses John Kerry Pick-Up Lines Changes Liberal Senator George Michell Will Make at Disney Torments in Dog-Hell Greatest Hitjobs
The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny More Margaret Cho Abuse Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed" Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means Wonkette's Stand-Up Act Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report! Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet The House of Love: Paul Krugman A Michael Moore Mystery (TM) The Dowd-O-Matic! Liberal Consistency and Other Myths Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate "Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long) The Donkey ("The Raven" parody) |