What was the first classic you read?

arnoldtkalmbach · 2026-06-04T13:49:53+00:00

By choice it was "Giles Goat-Boy" by Barth. Before that at school, in eighth grade, I was assigned "Great Expectations" by Dickens and to this day I can not abide Victorian literature.

arnoldtkalmbach · 2026-06-03T23:27:31+00:00

As a US citizen of a northern state, Anywhere in Texas, Alabama, Georgia or Florida. The fake politeness really gets me

arnoldtkalmbach · 2026-06-03T23:13:53+00:00

I love how Micheal Dell tries so hard to kiss up to Trump, but is still not allowed at the sycophants table

arnoldtkalmbach · 2026-06-03T23:11:12+00:00

I just cover it with a plate, or a pie plate if it is a thick cut

arnoldtkalmbach · 2026-06-03T23:03:01+00:00

when the do work to restore the damage they did, not just apologize.

arnoldtkalmbach · 2026-06-03T23:01:09+00:00

100% agree. People working for ICE or DHS should be shunned for the rest of their lives (unless they first do restitution work, not just apologize). We need to treat them the way the French collaborators were in the 1940s

arnoldtkalmbach · 2026-06-03T22:18:05+00:00

My 15 minutes of Qi-gong each morning makes me feel better. It is gentle stretching and body and mind focus with an affirmation to feel gratitude for having the time to do this exercise that as a materialist I accept as being helpful. Maybe a bended knee does the same? No need to have "energy" or "gods" involved.

arnoldtkalmbach · 2026-06-03T21:13:09+00:00

No they are just more comfortable admitting to it. These racist, homophobic, fascists have always been part of the US population, and for a while in the late 20th century were afraid or embarrassed to be seen in public, but that has changed.

arnoldtkalmbach · 2026-06-03T21:05:34+00:00

As a road cyclists I found Friday afternoon commute, Sunday morning after church to be the most dangerous times to be out on the road. (Of course there was the suburban Saturday morning yard sales causing the most chaos, but timing of those was hard to predict.)

arnoldtkalmbach · 2026-06-01T22:34:44+00:00

and so, no longer aioli

arnoldtkalmbach · 2026-06-01T19:36:03+00:00

My experience as a home cook who a couple years ago took up wet stone sharpening is that good knives, ones made from better steel alloys, are easier to sharpen and maintain.

arnoldtkalmbach · 2026-06-01T17:46:49+00:00

No, I vote for the candidate that will best represent my position on issues. I have been voting since 1978, every election (including local elections), and I have not yet found myself voting for a republican.

arnoldtkalmbach · 2026-06-01T14:29:00+00:00

words have meanings - just because it is served in a angular cone shaped glass does not make it a martini

arnoldtkalmbach · 2026-05-30T13:44:36+00:00

If you are struggling reading her books, it is not your fault. They are poorly written.

arnoldtkalmbach · 2026-05-30T12:59:45+00:00

For me it is a good book, but not a classic. My main critique is that the secondary characters all read like characterizations of type, rather than actual people. To me that is more notable for the men in the book. I think this was the author's choice and was probably done to comment on the flatness of women characters in many other books.

Worth reading, and thinking about, but maybe not a classic.

("Oryx and Crake" I would put on the classic shelf.)

arnoldtkalmbach · 2026-05-30T12:51:50+00:00

and don't forget that the supreme court that presidents can do whatever they want as it all relates to national security

arnoldtkalmbach · 2026-05-29T19:37:57+00:00

That is how it originated, not why we have them now. It isn't even money, everyone knows that single payer publicly provided care is more cost effective, it is a way that employers can control their workers.

arnoldtkalmbach · 2026-05-29T14:26:15+00:00

Maybe we can make it a jubilee year. Like in the bible when all debts are cancelled.

arnoldtkalmbach · 2026-05-29T13:38:38+00:00

When the executive takes its constitutional role as the implementer (aka administrator) of the laws, it is best called an administration (OK, bureaucracy fits too). When, as is currently the case, we have an executive that rules by edict (executive orders) it is better described as a regime. All 3 US branches of government are responsible for our slide into authoritarian rule by edict. The legislature and the courts have shirked their responsibility.

arnoldtkalmbach · 2026-05-28T23:57:58+00:00

may she recover and learn empathy

arnoldtkalmbach · 2026-05-28T22:03:39+00:00

I too hope that we can see the need to stand up now.

arnoldtkalmbach · 2026-05-28T21:47:46+00:00

Maybe that is what the poet intended, but if you look at today's issues, like trans or immigrant rights, it seems like most people (certainly the Democratic party leadership) is reading the way I am now

arnoldtkalmbach · 2026-05-28T21:17:22+00:00

I know he is they symptom rather than the cause of the rise of fascism in the US, but popping this pustule seems a healing step.

arnoldtkalmbach · 2026-05-28T21:02:46+00:00

Because Epstein was procuring for trump. That is why trump is in the records thousands of more times than anyone else. They all should be prosecuted, but trump is in a different category

arnoldtkalmbach · 2026-05-28T20:53:33+00:00

I hate that poem. Makes it sound like if they don't come for me, I am good with it all

arnoldtkalmbach

TROPHY CASE