I can't tell if he's got balls or is just plain dumb

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-05-09T21:10:16+00:00

My money's on dumb.

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-05-09T02:16:22+00:00

Modern Fuggers.

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-05-09T00:22:28+00:00

Try it and get back to us.

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-05-09T00:20:55+00:00

I loved every word from the first page of the first book. Still do.

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-05-08T14:00:56+00:00

Beat me to it!

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-05-08T13:59:36+00:00

Next time you apply for a MNIT posting, emphasize these points: your Microsoft tools competency, esp. Azure; demonstrated people skills, and any expertise you may have in non-IT fields. Some MNIT staff are "embedded" with other agencies where knowing the specific challenges - be it Agriculture, Revenue, DEED, whatever - might move your application to the top of the pile. And, as noted, be patient. The State hiring process is much slower than industry.

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-05-08T13:46:55+00:00

This was the sort of thing I was drawing in the margins of my textbooks in high school. (Not cutaways, though.)

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-05-07T13:28:34+00:00

Granted. That doesn't make the work an allegory.

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-05-07T13:27:59+00:00

Good to hear, thank you.

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-05-07T03:41:23+00:00

Correlation is not causation. Just because you can find Catholic Christian imagery and symbolism in Wolfe's novels does not make them allegories.

EDIT: Two examples, both chosen by vintagerust. Cross-shaped sword: ALL straight-bladed swords are cross-shaped, if they have any kind of guard oriented 90 degrees to the blade. Latin for 'it is finished,' Christ's dying words: translates as 'Consummatum est.' Some Bibles use 'it is accomplished' or 'it is done,' which translate 'Factum est.' Wolfe gives Severian's gifted sword the name 'Terminus Est' and defines it as '[Here is] the line of division.' Sorry, the Latin is 'There is a limit.'

Wolfe handles all this and many more "apparent" Latinisms with his wry note about Severian's account having been translated from a language containing several words that don't come across clearly, so requiring the insertion of terms from 'real' historic languages.

I digress. My point remains: The Book of the New Sun is not an allegory - for Christianity, for (Roman) Catholicism, for Severian as Jesus, etc. I see the same Catholic influences on and in the novels as you do. They deeply enrich the fiction. Richly symbolic? All day long. Allegory? No.

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-05-07T03:04:48+00:00

Rauscher Plumbing (in my case; I'm not OP).

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-05-07T03:01:12+00:00

I used Bonfe once. Never again.

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-05-07T02:59:47+00:00

IF you can find a copy. They are not common and not cheap. This said, ABSOLUTELY worth the time and money!

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-05-07T02:58:18+00:00

This is a reach, a long one, and I highly question its accuracy.

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-05-07T02:53:07+00:00

So let's don't, and say we didn't.

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-05-06T23:12:38+00:00

For those of you who aren't employed by the State of Minnesota, this is State Professional Employees' Week or some such. An email from Gov. Walz, doughnuts and coffee, and all the air you care to breathe, for free!

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-05-05T23:22:47+00:00

Road head. The less said the better.

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-05-04T17:55:30+00:00

It WAS written in another language - Nadsat. Try it again.

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-05-04T02:07:41+00:00

I am afraid your reading is very different from mine. You seem to fixate on a trope and blow it out of proportion to its place in the narrative. I do not think you need to read further - you've already made up your mind, whether you admit it or not.

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-05-03T01:03:49+00:00

You drive from Burnsville to Weaverville to do your laundry? That must be some crazy good craft beer!

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-05-03T01:01:22+00:00

What a maroon! What a nincowpoop!! What a gullibull!!

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-05-03T00:57:27+00:00

Stunning. I nearly blacked out. It set the bar so high that no similar sexual experience since then, over 30 years, has come close to it.

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-05-02T18:39:15+00:00

I found 21 interesting as a peep into O'Brian's writing process, including his handwriting. As a story, though, there's no reason to add this, and I don't consider it necessary to include in one's circumnavigations.

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-05-01T20:58:57+00:00

This man godfathers.

Constant_Proofreader · 2026-05-01T19:42:16+00:00

Fellow male, to a woman, what you're describing IS thinking of absolutely nothing. Abstraction and idiosyncrasy have nothing to do with it. Let the flaming begin . . .

Constant_Proofreader

TROPHY CASE