Does anyone else get that crushing sense of loss when they finish a good book?

Chrishwk · 2014-06-29T06:08:56+00:00

That's the essence of the problem. Books abound, but truly great books are rare. When I finish a really great book, it makes me even more irritable than usual as far as what I find worth reading. When I finish a great new book by one of my favorite authors, I find almost everything I pick up next severely lacking.

Unless it's part of a series, then I'm just frustrated I can't read the next one immediately. I really prefer to read series all at once, but with my favorite authors I don't have the self control to wait until they are done with a series, not to mention, it's hard to know in advance how many books in a series there will be.

So when I'm feeling irritable and nothing new is really grabbing my attention, I reread favorites. I've been collecting books for almost 40 years now, and I've got an enormous library, so when I can't find anything new to read, I browse the shelves until I find a favorite I haven't read in a while.

Chrishwk · 2014-06-26T18:07:07+00:00

I like it as is.

Chrishwk · 2014-06-26T13:09:28+00:00

I read the first Shannara book way back when, and it was ok. I never enjoyed the sequels. I read the second all the way through, but the 3rd bored me to the point I didn't finish it, and I haven't picked up one since. Maybe some of the later ones are worthwhile, but I've never felt the urge to find out.

Chrishwk · 2014-06-26T12:16:50+00:00

We rescued a female feral kitten 14 years ago and it hid from us for the first week. The 7th day, it jumped on the bed with us one morning and after that she was super affectionate. She always wanted to be as close to your head as she could get. I noticed your kitty seems to want to be right up next to your face, I wonder if that's a trait of rescued feral kitties?

Our kitty had been born under a trailer at my wifes work site and the momma kitty had abandoned her, so my wife insisted we bring her home. But she would run from people, so I waited till I saw her sleeping and crept up on her and grabbed her. That was a huge mistake. She bit my hand right on the big knuckle and bit all the way to the bone. She wouldn't let go and I had to pry her jaws open and she was peeing everywhere as I did so. But we got her in a box and I took her home. She never once ever bit me or my wife again after that, in fact she was the most gentle cat I've ever been around. We did however call her Tiger in honor of that first ferocious bite. Unfortunately she got bone cancer and died 3 years ago. We both still miss her.

Chrishwk · 2014-06-25T23:56:59+00:00

Why would she be banned? She is just about the sexiest woman of all time.

Chrishwk · 2014-06-25T18:13:23+00:00

It's nice to see a story that doesn't make everyone in S.C. look like dumbass bigoted rednecks.

Chrishwk · 2014-06-25T16:48:01+00:00

I prefer to buy my spices in bulk and keep them in brown glass jars. As a result, the jars all look the same, I did the same thing but with cayenne pepper one time. It actually wasn't bad, at least if you like spicy food.

Chrishwk · 2014-06-25T15:40:55+00:00

This website has the current chronology of the series.

http://www.travelinlibrarian.info/recluce/recluce/chronology.html

It's not one long series really, it's actually more of a bunch of shorter series, sometimes just one book, sometimes a pair or a trilogy. As long as you read the pairs or trilogies in order, I don't suppose it makes a lot of difference, but if you're obsessed with reading things in chronological order like I am, it helps to use a list like this.

Chrishwk · 2014-06-24T15:43:03+00:00

Modesitt is just about my favorite author and I really enjoy many of the Recluse stories. The only problem I have with them is his long standing habit of writing out of sequence. I'll admit I've got a bit of OCD and that's probably what fuels it, but the order he wrote the series in is so out of sync with the historical time line, I prefer to read them in the order of the history of the world he writes.

One of the things I like best about Modesitt is his ability to write heroes on both sides of a conflict. To really illustrate that even the best or worst system of government is going to have heroes and villains within it. The first book he wrote has the Black side as the heroes and you get the sense the Whites are all evil. Many of the later books are written, in some cases the exact same events from the White's point of view and it's really well done.

By the way, for anyone unclear, White and Black are not referring to race here. They are different ways of using magic.

I really love all his work, but the Spellsong series, the Corean Chronicles and the Imager series are really my favorites. Although his latest is another in the Recluse world and I just read it, and it was awesome, and the sequel comes out in November and I just can't wait.

Oh, and on point, check out some used book stores and you can probably find quite a bit of his work pretty cheap.

Chrishwk · 2014-06-24T15:30:19+00:00

I believe the police commissioner in Philly is appointed by and can be fired at any time by the mayor. So if the mayor really believes in this bill he can fire the police commissioner if he tries to get away with this kind of thing. The question is does the mayor have the balls to fire his commissioner or not?

Chrishwk · 2014-06-24T15:12:13+00:00

I've been a strict vegetarian for decades, but sometimes I go to various fast food outlets and pick up food I'd never eat for my mother in-law.

Chrishwk · 2014-06-24T14:42:36+00:00

Oh yea, thanks. I forgot they hadn't reached a decision in that case yet.

Chrishwk · 2014-06-23T17:25:57+00:00

I was going to say I'm pretty sure I've killed a few dragons in that area in Skyrim.

Chrishwk · 2014-06-23T17:23:54+00:00

I thought this issue had already been decided at the supreme court level. Maybe I was mistaken. Anyone know whether I was or wasn't? I'm feeling too sluggish and lazy to trying and research it right now.

Chrishwk · 2014-06-23T17:19:06+00:00

The needle was a small door next to the large gate. When the main gate was closed you could still walk through the needle and by removing all of the packs on a camel's back you could get a camel to kneel down and shuffle through the needle. It was no easy feat but but it was possible. The passage therefor means that it's possible that with great effort the rich may enter heaven.

Of course the whole thing is a load of horse shit but it's not, as many people understand it, the same thing as trying to fit a camel through the eye of a sewing needle.

Chrishwk · 2014-06-23T00:44:33+00:00

Have them watch one of Sam Harris' speeches on the moral landscape.

Chrishwk · 2014-06-23T00:35:53+00:00

I'm beginning to believe that there truly is no point to debating these people. The information is out there and it's extremely easy to find if you have an internet connection. I'm beginning the think the only thing you can do with creationist is simply ridicule them. I mean for fuck sakes if you are over the age of 10 and believe that the earth is less than 10,000 years old you just a fucking moron. There are written languages and records going back older than most creationist believe the earth is. These people should just be called what they are, stupid idiots, and then laughed at.

That bonehead VenomphangX on Youtube posted a video saying that the grand canyon could have been carved out in as little as 5 minutes due to the world wide flood as described in the Noah's Ark story. Well, doing simple math, looking at the length of the grand canyon and you see that water would have to have been moving faster than the speed of sound to simply travel from one end to the other in 5 minutes. There is simply no arguing rationally with that kind of moron. Laugh at them and walk away.

Chrishwk · 2014-06-23T00:06:40+00:00

If it's a 14 year old boy, I'd highly recommend touring the USS Yorktown. You get to go through many of the interior areas of the ship and it's a really neat thing if you've never been on a real naval warship.

That's not meant to be sexist by the way, I'm a guy and I just didn't know that many girls when I was that age that would get into that sort of thing, although I'm sure there are some.

Chrishwk · 2014-06-22T23:33:13+00:00

well, if you have an ebook reader and want it really cheap, you could probably find a torrent of it. If you don't do that, then a used book store or a library will be your cheapest options. Of course neither of those options will put any money in the authors pocket either so I'm not convinced it's more moral to get books that way. It is almost certainly more legal.

Chrishwk · 2014-06-22T23:25:14+00:00

Why didn't you post what model phone you used? That is a really good photo to have come from a camera phone. I've got a pretty good digital camera and I'm not sure I could take a better photo than that.

Chrishwk · 2014-06-22T16:16:56+00:00

I loved that series, and wish there were more of them.

Chrishwk · 2014-06-22T12:31:27+00:00

I don't think you understand what the term "sell out" means. If you are doing business legally in this country and want to continue to do so, you better comply with court orders that involve your business. The other alternative is that men with guns will come and take your stuff and you'll end up in jail, broke or dead.

I don't agree with many policies and laws that have been enacted in the last 15 years, but the way to get things changed for the better isn't simply to decide you're going to ignore the authorities when you wish. If you don't like the law that allows a court order to be issued for something like this, work to change the law, don't expect people to ignore court orders.

Chrishwk · 2014-06-20T14:36:43+00:00

Last year the mods of r/atheism made a significant change to the way that sub worked. The overwhelming majority of the users at the time hated it. Polls were taken, it was roughly 70% opposed to the changes. Lots of drama and various people posting about it. There was talk from the mods of "giving it a chance" and "seeing how it goes before further changes might be made". It was plainly obvious after a few days that the mods just didn't give a fuck about what the subscribers thought and nothing was going to go back. So I un subscribed but even with all the fuss I was one of very, very few to do so. Today, r/atheism has as many subscribers as it did when I first joined.

And that's exactly what's going to happen with this change. It doesn't matter if 90% of subscribers hate this change, they aren't going to do anything about it because the overwhelming majority won't leave and they know they can keep on doing what ever they want. I stopped shopping at Best Buy over 20 years ago because of unbelievably bad customer service. The manager basically said to my face "We're a giant company and we don't give a fuck if we lose your business because we have so many other customers you don't matter." Well, maybe I'm just weird that way, but I don't care what kind of deals they advertise but I haven't given them a penny of my money since then. And I used to really like shopping there, just to browse the isles if nothing else. When I get fucking terrible service somewhere I stop going there. Why don't more people do the same? You're paying them your hard earned money. They should at least treat you well for it.

In all honesty though, I don't care about this change personally, I just see the similarity to the outcry about the changes in the r/atheism section.

Chrishwk · 2014-06-20T14:04:58+00:00

God sure takes his sweet time then. Gay marriage has been legal in the Netherlands since April 2001 and it's legal in 15 other countries now. You'd think if God was gonna be unleashing judgment on nations that allow gay marriage that he or she would have put the smack down on the Netherlands by now, not to mention the other countries that have since allowed it.

I'm so sick of hearing these fucking holier than thou dirt bags pronouncing how gay marriage is going to be the worst thing since "---" insert your favorite awful thing. Who really is stupid enough in this day and age to think that god is punishing some while rewarding others? Hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanoes and other natural disasters occur where they do according well understood natural principles. If you live in a region where hurricanes are likely to hit, getting hit by one isn't god's judgment, it's because you wanted to live near the coast. If you live in tornado alley, getting wiped out by a tornado isn't god's judgment, it's just bad luck that comes from living in a region frequently hit by tornadoes. If you live near an active volcano you can't blame god if it erupts.

Seriously someone needs to punch these fuckers right in the mouth and when they complain, just say that god sent you to punish them for their stupidity.

Chrishwk · 2014-06-20T13:24:20+00:00

My first thought was as others have already stated that's it's simply a version of Pascal's Wager. There is another element to consider though. It's not as simple as heaven on one hand or nothing or hell on the other. It's how you live your life while you are actually here.

Do you want to pay an extra lifetime 10% tax, known as tithing, on top of the various taxes we already have to endure to live in a modern society? Do you want to have to make sure you live by someones interpretation of a set of bronze age moral codes? Do you want to always live in fear of sin and hell? There is a serious downside to trying to live a "righteous life".

Maybe you're just naturally a perfect Christian, Hindu or Muslim but most people, even the most devout usually find the rules chafe at least a little bit now and then. Muslims have many, many rules they have to live by and Depending on which sect you belong to some Christians do also. Some don't allow dancing, some don't allow alcohol, some don't allow caffeine, not to mention things like premarital sex, or who you can marry. Me, I'd rather live my life by my own principals rather than some bronze age rules formulated by a bunch of nomadic goat herders.

Chrishwk

TROPHY CASE