dr.chimps
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« Reply #525 on: November 15, 2012, 06:18:14 AM » |
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Just finished David Finkel's 'The Good Soldiers,' which is an account of 15 months with the 2-16 battalion in Baghdad, part of George Bush's 2007 Iraq 'surge.' Oh boy, is this book sobering. Soldiers are killed, morale and mission belief take beatings and no one comes out of this mess a better person than when they went in, including the upbeat battalion commander. The chapter dealing with those soldiers hospitalized in San Antonio for burns and missing limbs really belies Bush's, or anyone's, military optimism like nothing else. Finkel's writing is excellent - ie. he stays out of the story almost completely and lets the events and soldiers tell their own story. This book tells the other side of the 'Mission Accomplished' narrative, the one not reported on the front pages. Harrowing, but superb.
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garebear
Time Out
Getbig V

Gender: 
Posts: 6513
Never question my instincts.
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« Reply #526 on: November 15, 2012, 06:28:27 AM » |
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Just finished David Finkel's 'The Good Soldiers,' which is an account of 15 months with the 2-16 battalion in Baghdad, part of George Bush's 2007 Iraq 'surge.' Oh boy, is this book sobering. Soldiers are killed, morale and mission belief take beatings and no one comes out of this mess a better person than when they went in, including the upbeat battalion commander. The chapter dealing with those soldiers hospitalized in San Antonio for burns and missing limbs really belies Bush's, or anyone's, military optimism like nothing else. Finkel's writing is excellent - ie. he stays out of the story almost completely and lets the events and soldiers tell their own story. This book tells the other side of the 'Mission Accomplished' narrative, the one not reported on the front pages. Harrowing, but superb.
Great book! Incredible combat accounts in that one.
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CalvinH
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« Reply #527 on: November 15, 2012, 06:28:57 AM » |
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Dalton Fury-Wild Tier One
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magikusar
Time Out
Getbig IV

Posts: 2830
Team Ayn Rand
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« Reply #528 on: November 15, 2012, 06:57:45 AM » |
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Roger Bacon
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« Reply #529 on: November 15, 2012, 09:02:22 AM » |
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Hey thanks!! For some reason I missed this post!
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Kahn.N.Singh
Getbig III
  
Posts: 887
Die Weltgeschichte ist das Weltgericht.
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« Reply #530 on: November 15, 2012, 09:52:32 PM » |
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What to Read on Greased and Ready for a Chick-BangingHighQ TbombzAn annotated Foreign Affairs syllabus by the author of the doctrine of double-dildo effect.* *Which was developed by the author in the insightful, but underappreciated, Strap-Ons and Its Discontents: The Political Benefits of Deep Tissue Massage (OUP). Noted for its sheer brilliance, the seminal work opens: "One end goes in her; one end goes in me." 
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Roger Bacon
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« Reply #531 on: November 18, 2012, 10:38:38 AM » |
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In the Garden of Beasts - Erik Larson
Heinrich Himmler - Peter Longerich
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garebear
Time Out
Getbig V

Gender: 
Posts: 6513
Never question my instincts.
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« Reply #532 on: November 20, 2012, 08:34:05 AM » |
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This is short but good.
Any HST fans up in this bitch?
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CalvinH
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« Reply #533 on: November 20, 2012, 08:38:46 AM » |
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The Last Man Standing-Vince Flynn
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funk51
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« Reply #534 on: November 20, 2012, 08:57:40 AM » |
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sam huff nfler bio.
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garebear
Time Out
Getbig V

Gender: 
Posts: 6513
Never question my instincts.
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« Reply #535 on: November 20, 2012, 09:39:04 AM » |
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You've probably seen this, but if you like Thompson, you'll like this job-seeking cover letter:
Vancouver Sun
TO JACK SCOTT, VANCOUVER SUN
October 1, 1958 57 Perry Street New York City
Sir,
I got a hell of a kick reading the piece Time magazine did this week on The Sun. In addition to wishing you the best of luck, I'd also like to offer my services. Since I haven't seen a copy of the "new" Sun yet, I'll have to make this a tentative offer. I stepped into a dung-hole the last time I took a job with a paper I didn't know anything about (see enclosed clippings) and I'm not quite ready to go charging up another blind alley. By the time you get this letter, I'll have gotten hold of some of the recent issues of The Sun. Unless it looks totally worthless, I'll let my offer stand. And don't think that my arrogance is unintentional: it's just that I'd rather offend you now than after I started working for you. [Haha!] I didn't make myself clear to the last man I worked for until after I took the job. It was as if the Marquis de Sade had suddenly found himself working for Billy Graham. The man despised me, of course, and I had nothing but contempt for him and everything he stood for. If you asked him, he'd tell you that I'm "not very likable, (that I) hate people, (that I) just want to be left alone, and (that I) feel too superior to mingle with the average person." (That's a direct quote from a memo he sent to the publisher.) Nothing beats having good references.
Of course if you asked some of the other people I've worked for, you'd get a different set of answers.
If you're interested enough to answer this letter, I'll be glad to furnish you with a list of references -- including the lad I work for now. The enclosed clippings should give you a rough idea of who I am. It's a year old, however, and I've changed a bit since it was written. I've taken some writing courses from Columbia in my spare time, learned a hell of a lot about the newspaper business, and developed a healthy contempt for journalism as a profession. As far as I'm concerned, it's a damned shame that a field as potentially dynamic and vital as journalism should be overrun with dullards, bums, and hacks, hag-ridden with myopia, apathy, and complacence, and generally stuck in a bog of stagnant mediocrity. If this is what you're trying to get The Sun away from, then I think I'd like to work for you. Most of my experience has been in sports writing, but I can write everything from warmongering propaganda to learned book reviews. I can work 25 hours a day if necessary, live on any reasonable salary, and don't give a black damn for job security, office politics, or adverse public relations. I would rather be on the dole than work for a paper I was ashamed of.
It's a long way from here to British Columbia, but I think I'd enjoy the trip.
If you think you can use me, drop me a line.
If not, good luck anyway.
Sincerely, Hunter S. Thompson
No, I hadn't seen it. Thanks for posting. Good stuff.
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The True Adonis
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« Reply #536 on: November 20, 2012, 10:16:12 AM » |
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Finished Ender's Game which was very good, and jumped right into the The First Law trilogy by John Abercrombie.
It's not my genre, but the characters were so througoughly enjoyable to me, that I've already on the third book. Pretty good stuff.
I used to run into Orson Card all the time and he knew me very well by name. Nice fellow but I will never understand his aversion to gay people. Its very strange actually.
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Grape Ape
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« Reply #537 on: November 20, 2012, 12:11:43 PM » |
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I used to run into Orson Card all the time and he knew me very well by name. Nice fellow but I will never understand his aversion to gay people. Its very strange actually.
Never knew about this. Is it well known, or something you picked up on?
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dr.chimps
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« Reply #538 on: November 20, 2012, 02:16:19 PM » |
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Never knew about this. Is it well known, or something you picked up on?
I've read some of his op-ed pieces over the years. As well as the gay thing, his views on women are a little nasty. He's a Mormon and I think that informs a lot of his views. I once e-mailed his website and asked if he would ever be anywhere near me, thinking I could get my Ender's Game signed - 'no' was the polite reply.
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Tapeworm
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« Reply #539 on: November 20, 2012, 02:56:00 PM » |
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Sincerely, Hunter S. Thompson

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magikusar
Time Out
Getbig IV

Posts: 2830
Team Ayn Rand
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« Reply #540 on: November 22, 2012, 05:46:12 PM » |
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reading 'Learn you a haskell for great good' functional programming web site building tool www.happstack.com is the endgame to make awesome websites without a relational database.
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magikusar
Time Out
Getbig IV

Posts: 2830
Team Ayn Rand
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« Reply #541 on: November 23, 2012, 09:41:28 PM » |
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fuck hunter s thompson
boring book fear n loathing
commy art zz boring so trying hard to be cool and avoid fun with girls
sexless
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garebear
Time Out
Getbig V

Gender: 
Posts: 6513
Never question my instincts.
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« Reply #542 on: November 24, 2012, 02:29:21 AM » |
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fuck hunter s thompson
boring book fear n loathing
commy art zz boring so trying hard to be cool and avoid fun with girls
sexless
You hate HST? And just when I thought I couldn't hate you anymore....
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dr.chimps
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« Reply #543 on: November 24, 2012, 04:40:41 AM » |
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You hate HST?
And just when I thought I couldn't hate you anymore....

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garebear
Time Out
Getbig V

Gender: 
Posts: 6513
Never question my instincts.
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« Reply #544 on: November 24, 2012, 09:59:56 AM » |
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All of his books are great. A level honesty rarely equaled when writing a memoir.
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magikusar
Time Out
Getbig IV

Posts: 2830
Team Ayn Rand
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« Reply #545 on: November 24, 2012, 01:02:53 PM » |
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You hate HST?
And just when I thought I couldn't hate you anymore....
hate I think is too strong What is the feeling when something is overrated? What is the word for that? it escapes me now.... Gare I notice you react strongly to pro capitalism stances. Are you a european socialist or something? or just a hardcore democrat from usa ? or what? I am a east coaster living on beach in socal and made it on the free market. Super tall german frnech irish russian guy with blue eyes. I think ayn rand is right except about israel. Where do you get your views? Any particular source?
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CalvinH
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« Reply #546 on: November 26, 2012, 09:02:08 AM » |
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Mathew Dunn-Sentenial
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oenguinseatsocks
Getbig II
 
Posts: 49
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« Reply #547 on: November 27, 2012, 05:32:10 PM » |
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So just how many books do you read at once?
that many just finished the gods themselves. had a pretty cool premise but for some reason asimov chose to focus on the least interesting possible aspects. needs more splosions too
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garebear
Time Out
Getbig V

Gender: 
Posts: 6513
Never question my instincts.
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« Reply #548 on: November 27, 2012, 08:03:35 PM » |
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hate I think is too strong
What is the feeling when something is overrated? What is the word for that? it escapes me now....
Gare I notice you react strongly to pro capitalism stances. Are you a european socialist or something? or just a hardcore democrat from usa ? or what?
I am a east coaster living on beach in socal and made it on the free market. Super tall german frnech irish russian guy with blue eyes. I think ayn rand is right except about israel.
Where do you get your views? Any particular source?
No, I don't get my views from a particular source, but rather through reading history. Any extreme isn't viable. Sure, capitalism does ensure innovation, because most people do things to enrich themselves rather than to better those around them. However, pure capitalism has a tendency to put great wealth in the hands of very few. It also produced sweat shops, child labor and slavery. Communism doesn't work, as history has shown over and over, because people won't have any motivation to work harder. As is nearly always the case, the truth lies in the middle and the devil is in the details of finding the right balance. HST isn't a great author because of some philosophical force, he is just amazing with the English language and is one of a kind - a rare type of truth teller.
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Mr Nobody
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« Reply #549 on: November 27, 2012, 08:51:04 PM » |
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Not a damn thing.
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