Howdy!

[Jeff Duke]

Good call Mr Klobuchar, I forgot about this group. I shouldn't have risen to the bait over there anyway.

Politics and religion, sheesh. Alot of death and destruction have followed disagreements on these throughout history. Ah well, I see plenty of despair and heartbreak in my neighborhood and try to concentrate on a small local level to make a difference. I also see great joy and goodness all around me and focus on tapping into that.

 

Has anyone read the new Neil Stephenson novel "Anathem" yet? , I just got it today and it reads f'ing wonderful so far. After Cryptonomicon and the Baroque Cycle I wondered what he would do next, he just keeps getting better.

Its funny to find his books in the library, book 1 and 3 of the Cycle were in the sci fi section and 2 was in fiction. They go by the Library of Congress code and the librarian said that the don't really look at the books. More info at

http://www.nealstephenson.com/anathem/

Check out the video for Bullshytt...

 

Anyone read anything good lately? I would love any feedback.

 

l8ter,

Jeff

[Rev Fever]

On Oct 5, 2008, at 8:26 PM, Jeff Duke wrote:

 

Anyone read anything good lately? I would love any feedback.

I just finished "Re-Make / Re-Model, Becoming Roxy Music" by Michael Bracewell. (2007)  GREAT book!  

And, MUCH MORE than simply some "biography of a band". FAR MORE.

Basically starts in the mid 1950's, (but, also relates to art history and influences way earlier than the 1950's) and touches on the early origins of Pop Art in the UK, 

and many other interesting things and people, other than just only the founding members of Roxy Music. 

Possibly pretty "heady" arty stuff at times for maybe some people, but still a worthy experience, nonetheless.  REVcommended reading.

Best,

-Rev. Fever

 

l8ter,

Jeff

[Warren Sirota]

Gotta say, tho it goes against popular opinion, that I am not part of
the Stephenson fan club. At 150 pages into Cryptonomicon, I laid it
aside. Nothing at all had happened, and every character was exactly
the same as every other, a red flag of bad writing in my book.

When I say every character the same, I mean that every freakin' one of
them was an ultra-smart, ultra-sophisticated ultratech explorer, and
not a single one of them had anything that approached a human emotion
in the the 150 pages I read. at that point, I was forcing myself to
slog through the techno dreck and i put it down.

Good books? I'm not sure whether I'll still like it by the time I'm
finished, but I'm reading the interesting "Music Lesson" by the
amazing bassist Victor Wooten. So far, it's confirmed a few beliefs I
have about musical expression that are rarely stated.

Good fiction? Only thing worth noting that i've read in the past 5
years remains the fabulous "The Time Traveler's Wife". James Lee Burke
is reliable for top-notch "filler" reading (good stories and I
remember his characters after I read the books, but they are stuck in
the law enforcement genre, even if the local color is better than most
other detective writers).

Aside from that, the current issue of MSDN magazine has the first
interesting new thoughts on multithreading and parallelism I've seen
in a long time....

Warren

[Nemo...@aol.com]

In a message dated 10/5/08 11:26:38 PM, jef...@embarqmail.com writes:

Has anyone read the new Neil Stephenson novel "Anathem" yet?

jeff.....just became aware of it last week as #1 in the n.y. times fiction, #8 this week.....i have library  day this week so i will put in my request.....also john le care has a new one out, i have been enjoying his books for the past year.....the baroque cycle by n.s. is fun but i have only read up to 1/2 of book 2.....i find it a bit of a struggle although i like it, it is something that i keep going back to in small doses.....i had mentioned before, mark helprin, i had read his "winter tale" awhile back and really like it alot i saw his "FREDDY AND FREDRIKA" at the library and blasted thru it in a few days, much fun and so i asked them to get me "refiners fire" a bit wordy but interesting
(a hard read) and i have his, i believe it's called "a soldier of the great war" on my table downstaris.....at present i'm reading "walking dead" by gerald seymour, a really up to date "thriller" about suicide bombers etc.....i think of these type books more as comic books, you just bang on thru them, an excellent fast read guy is james lee burke, good bad guys vs. bad good guys.....i enjoy his writing no where near as poetic as helprin (all most every sentence is stunning) but burke is FUN.....i used to read SCI-FI exculsivly but the genre seems to be going thru an unending dry spell so thankfully i have broadened my horizons due to my brothers tastes, he can afford to buy books!.....he gives me big bags of historical fiction (rome being one of his areas) and lots of detective type stuff.....i'm almost glad that i never read this in the past cause now i have a ton-o-books to chow down on.....when i worked, i only read at nite before going to sleep and now that i no longer work and have gotten over my guilt of reading during the day, when it's lite out, i have been burning thru many books.....next to looping it's my favorite thing to do.....sorry to bring  this back on topic.....:).....oh i forgot, we can be wild and crazy here.....yipeeee!.....did i mention that john mc pain makes me sick and palin OMG! WTF! holy shit!.....obama hasn't sold me yet and his voting for the PORK LADEN recovery bill, thank god they saved the world, was a big disapointment.....all of these cats are crooks, i remember back in the 50's sitting down with the family and hearing "they are all crooks, they can't be trusted!" and every election since has been "we are going to change".....well.....bullshit.....it has only gotten worse.....here's a vidio of you saying "xyz", "why i never said that, you are wrong".....if i could lie like that i'd go into sales.....they will all burn in hell along with all country music stars.....:).....must drink more coffee!.....my last thing, i restarted smoking at y2k7 and got home and began spending many $ on this most wonderful habit, there was never a ciggie that i didn't love.....BUT.....the cost was way too high and on a fixed income i could not afford it.....i had quit previously for close to 10 years but this time i could not do it because i really didn't want to (love it!).....so my doc recomemded "CHANTIX" (sp).....like many of these psycho type drugs you have WONDERFUL TOTALLY BIZZAR WEIRD WACKY REALISTC DREAMS, good stuff and they make a BIG deal out of REPORT ANY THOUGHTS OF SUICIDE to your doc.....that was not a prob, i'm still here and happy to say no longer smoking, it was almost too easy......they want you to take 3 months worth of these pills, i only did a month and a half and that was enuf.....my sweety and my #1 son both were crazy big time smokers and they both quit.....the stuff seems to work so for any smokers out there look into it.....it's a pretty PAINLESS way to get over a hard addiction.....two other side effects from it: i no longer lust after cheap vodka, i have virtually stopped drinking and you can imagine what over 30 years in the resturant industry does to one as weak willed as i and here is the interesting one.....before starting the chantix i went online to see if it would stop my enjoyment of POT.....nahhhh.....it only effects the nicotine receptors not the THC receptors but as i happily smoked my weed, sans ciggies, i began to run out of weed, GOOD LORD PANIC CTIY, well there was no panic and i have for all intensive purposes  quite smoking pot, something i have been doing for over, yikes, 42-43 years.....i was not your weekend smoker, nothing casual in my consumption, if you're going to do it, DO IT!.....so wowie zoowie without even trying i nipped two more habits in the "bud" without even trying.....KOOL!.....ymmv but it's worth cornsideration.....if you have any questions you may contact me on the OT-OT list.....:).....m



"AMERICANS ARN'T STUPID".....BARACK OBAMA

new groovy tunes at:
http://www.myspace.com/klobuchar10
www.ct-collective.com





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[Jeff Larson]

> did i mention that john mc pain makes me sick and palin OMG! WTF! holy shit!.....obama hasn't sold me yet and his voting for the PORK LADEN recovery bill, thank god they saved the world, was a big disapointment.....all of these cats are crooks, i remember back in the 50's sitting down with the family and hearing "they are all crooks, they can't be trusted!" and every election since has been "we are going to change".....well.....bullshit.....it has only gotten worse

Are you CRAZY!? The Democrats throughout history have ALWAYS given us
the most qualified, honest, responsible and downright nurturing
candidates! They do everything right! It's like they're alien
beings, sent to us from an intelligence we cannot possibly understand
to help us create the utopian society we all so richly deserve! They
should be ruling the WORLD not just the USA! Hooray for Democrats!
Without them there would be no hope. Only despair, anguish and
Sean Hanity.

Anyone who isn't a Democrat has no value to society. They are
responsible for EVERYTHING BAD that has EVER happened. This is
OBVIOUS if you study history! We should round them all up and put
them into internment camps, force them to listen to John Tesch and sew
quilts for the poor! Or we could sell them all to China as sex slaves,
that should make us a cool trillion we could spend on milk and honey!

> i was not your weekend smoker, nothing casual in my consumption, if you're going to do it, DO IT!.....so wowie zoowie without even trying i nipped two more habits in the "bud" without even trying.....

Yes it does make you wonder why so much attention is given
to such a relatively harmless and non-addictive substance.

Not to worry though, Obama will fix it. Every time the Democrats have
brought up legalization, those filthy Republicans kill it in
committee. This will all change. I know this because I see signs
with that word on it everywhere I go!

Whew, hyperbole is intoxicating. I can see why the bloggers like
it so much.

Jeff

[Jeff Duke]

I can almost hear that tougne in cheek Jeff. If I was a voter I would say
some of my own hyperbole.
In the late 60s I marched against the war, got teargassed and all that. I
joined the SDS later before realizing that I could not accept the
collectivist bulshyt they were handing me. After a run in with Joan Baez at
a CSU student Union meeting (she said that communists were our friends and
I loudly disagreed) I fell out of the radical left and did what I liked
best, get stoned and play the drums, When I started voting I voted for
Carter and I think he is an honest guy but proved the point that without
congress the presedent is a figurehead. With the bad economy I voted for
Ronnie Reyguns twice. Say what you will but I was able to buy a home under
his stint. I ended up far "right" but after the way the gulf debacle was
handled by The Bushs I started voting for Ron Paul. I slowly have realized
that the Presidential race is a beauty contest and only distracts people
from the real issues such as working within your community and grass roots
local issues. I think that more state and local control and far less federal
involvement is a start. Its all too much for me anymore so I try to help my
friends family and neighbors. I just keep repeating...Keep it simple stupid
to myself.

peace,

Jeff

Out here in the Great Beyond, everything is strange.
The sooner you get used to that, the better off you'll be.
Allen Steele
Galaxy Blues

Jeff

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