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Home Front: Culture Wars
This Week in Books, December 3, 2017
2017-12-03
'Tis the season of gift giving, so I am going to mix this up a little bit, and cover a series of coffee table books.

But first, wife is getting into the season and asked me the other day, "What is your favorite Christmas story?"

Being me, and as quick as a cat knocks over your favorite coffee mug, I replied (George) Washington crossing the Delaware (River). The good news is that extra piece of coal goes towards the next BBQ.

If you read anything written by David Hackett Fischer:

Washington's Crossing
Oxford Press, 2004

Paul Revere's Ride is fantastic, and I am about two-thirds of the way through Albion's Seed and pleasantly surprised by its easy reading about what some would consider a very dry subject. Mr. Fischer is just a fantastic writer and a dedicated researcher, a rare combination.

But for the coffee table:

The Book of Five Rings
Miyamoto Musashi
translated by William Scott Wilson
Shambhala, 2012

This book was recommended to me by a friend I respect; he took an old file, forged it into a blade, and hilted it with a deer antler. Scabbard is hand made from tanned deer hide. Gift to my wife, which I adore both of them for. Let me categorize this as a philosophy book where the topic is martial arts. Miyamoto was a very successful samurai who lived in the 1600s and after retiring, chronicled his thoughts. A person should be into both subjects to really get the most out of Miyamoto's work.

Page 34: (concerning use of the sword)

Use of the Feet: In the carriage of the feet, you should float your toenails a little and step strongly with your heels. In the use of the feet, you should walk as usual, whether the case calls for large, small, quick, or slow strides. Feet that seem to fly, float, or be immobile are, all three, undesirable.
There is something important in this Way called the Yin-Yang Foot, and it is considered essential. The Yin-Yang Foot means never moving just one foot. With Yin-Yang, you step right and left, right and left, whether striking, pulling back, or parrying a blow. I repeat: you should never step with just one foot. You should investigate this thoroughly.

Before you go, "Hey Kansas, swords are Florida Man stories." Consider an improvised sword in self defense, such as a billiard cue. At any rate, it is interesting to be privy to the thoughts of a master.

Next:

Samuel Johnson's Insults
Edited by Jack Lynch
Walker Books, 2004

For the most part, a collection of insults during the age of Samuel Johnson, born in 1709, a professional commentator in England. Some words are recognizable, some I wish still were. Mr. Lynch does discreet yet effective work on the etymology of selected words.

Page 58

Nidget [corrupted from nithing or niding. The opprobrious term with which the man was anciently branded who refused to come to the royal standard in times of exigency.] A coward, a dastard.

There was one true English word of greater force than them all, now out of all use; it signifieth no more than abject, baseminded, false-hearted, coward, or nidget. Camden.

The word actually comes from an idiot. In the sixteenth century, speakers detached the n from an and moved it to the beginning of the next word, so an idiot became a nidiot and then a nidget

Rounding out, this Thoughts of Masters in their Trade:

The Lawdog Files
'D. Lawdog'
Castalia House, 2017

This is a collection of yarns by a LEO in the Texas Panhandle. Being in the region, I get the sense of humor and had an absolutely great time reading this book, even the tough recollections. Some stories had me chuckling so loud the kids stopped over to ask me what was so funny. Other stories, well they are real. Lawdog has a very soft and fluid way of writing and the pages seemed to turn themselves; in fact I had to pace myself to not finish the book in one setting.

Page 83

Mesquites have very long thorns, and they grow very low to the ground and very close together. In addition, mesquite thickets are the favored lairs of ticks, no-see-ums, wheel bugs, tarantulas, fire ants, red ants, spiders, and pasty-faced men with chainsaws. Not to mention cactus, jumping-getcha, devil's claw, and other antisocial plants also like thickets.

The wind doesn't ever seem to get into the mesquite thickets, but the humidity does. And the heat. And here's our critter, in his black no-dye tissue-thin batik cotton drawstring drawers and his politically correct black hemp guayabera shirt and his black cordura sandals.

Anyhoo, Bubba and I sat there juggling a can of Deep Woods Off for about twenty minutes before hearing this blood-curdling yodel, and we saw Todd the Revolutionary, black bandanna pulled up bandit-style over his lower face, burst forth from the mesquite in a buzzing gray cloud and sprint for the open driver's door of the Mustang, ululating every step of the way.

We watched him cover the hundred or so feet at a dead sprint, and then Bubba casually reached over and pushed the door closed, causing Young Toddy to ricochet off the closed door and into the dust, much to the delight of the mosquitos.

I waved the car keys at him. I supposed I needed to read the Anarchist Handbook because this was apparently a gross violation of the rules of the game. All five foot, six inches, 130 pounds of halitosis and macrobiotic methane jumped to his feet, struck a bee-yoo-ti-ful tai chi stance, and proclaimed, "It took six LAPD pigs to take me to jail. I'm not afraid of you!"

*snort*

He went to jail.

The book is a great read, like watching a fantastic knuckleball pitcher having the game of his life.

Part I: The Second World Wars With Victor Davis Hanson
The Hoover Institute

My next purchase.


This Week in Emergency Preparedness

Take a commercial break today, or right now, and go make sure your water pipe valves close, are closed, and open back up. Add it to the Daylight Savings Day house-check of smoke detectors and battery check of electronic safes and such, especially if you have water that is tough on the plumbing. I shit you not, water out here from a drippy faucet will make a stalactite. Those working valves have saved my ass many a time.

For those of you who get cold, vehicles should be winterized at this point. Wiper fluid filled, emergency kit has a blanket, battery inspected and terminals cleaned, de-icer and scraper, all that good stuff. Anyone know of something to drink that has a very low freezing point which I can throw in the car? Other than schnapps. Which I absolutely do not have in the car next to the jumper cables.

Links to books are in the book title and go to Amazon. Title link also goes to Amazon, but to re-usable heat pads. After use, throw them in a pot of boiling water to re-charge them, very handy.
Posted by:swksvolFF

#15  VDH is on c-span 2 talking about his new book.
Posted by: swksvolFF   2017-12-03 20:14  

#14  Afrika stories...?

Harold Bindloss, The Young Traders

Very old, but an excellent read.
Posted by: Besoeker   2017-12-03 19:44  

#13  Glad you like the book Skid.

I have The Lion's Gate by Steven Pressfield on my short list. The Desert Column sounds interesting.

Thank you for all the help TW.

I really want the Africa Stories; last I checked it is electronic only.

Something fun for the kids:

Mustang, OK Fire Prevention
Posted by: swksvolFF   2017-12-03 19:18  

#12  Seconding the Lawdogs book. I also picked up his book of Africa stories (which weren't all from Africa). There seem to have been points of difference between facilities available for an engineer's son and those available to a missionaries' son.
Posted by: james   2017-12-03 18:19  

#11  For those interested in reviewing swksvolFF’s past emergency preparedness columns, the Rantburg Search function at the top of the page will get that for you. Type “emergency preparedness” in the box, and then again in the box in the ‘Burg Search screen that pops up, changing the start date to January 2016. That will give you the comments as well.
Posted by: trailing wife   2017-12-03 14:06  

#10  I just finished The Desert Column about the Australian light horse in WWI.
Posted by: Deacon Blues   2017-12-03 13:55  

#9  Favorite Christmas book, below review from Amazon

Using glowing, hypnotic images and a funny, provocative text, the narrator relives his father's most amazing childhood Christmas. A moody young boy living with his aunt on an island, "Red" Breathed sees himself as the "Red Ranger from Mars", his hero from the movie serials, and cannot picture life without the gift of a Red Ranger bicycle. Red is far too "swanky a human being" to believe in Santa Claus, but nevertheless he pays a visit to the aged island hermit, Lord Sander Clos, rumored to be the legendary man himself, now living in lonely, joyless retirement. This meeting triggers an emotional response within the self-absorbed Red and leads to the most remarkable bicycle ever delivered on Christmas morning. This book represents Berkeley Breathed at the top of his form.
Posted by: Shipman   2017-12-03 13:50  

#8  Cheap, third rate parts. Years ago my electric service panel caught on fire when I reset a tripped circuit breaker. Turned out corrosion accumulated over decades had built up on the aluminum buss bar to which the ends of the circuit breakers are attached. This was hardly visible. Somehow a spark created by resetting the circuit breaker ignited either/or the plastic of the circuit breaker or the aluminum tabs of the buss bar -- all hidden under the other parts. Fortunately I stopped the fire by quickly switching off the main breakers at the top of the panel. Discussed this later with an electrician. He said this only happens with aluminum buss bars & not with copper ones. Sometimes fires would start spontaneously in the panels. Copper costs $5 or $10 more for the average home service panel.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418   2017-12-03 12:44  

#7  --- My car emergency kit includes a polyester filled sleeping bag rather than a blanket, works better to keep you warm.
--- I always carry a small bottle of propane, one of those cheap screw-on camping propane burners, a metal camping pot with lid and several cheap butane lighters -- all this stuff is lightweight, cheap and not bulky and will not freeze above about -45 deg F. You can melt snow or ice this way, and even heat up the inside of your vehicle if you take great care to allow the fumes to exhaust & new O2 to get in - otherwise fumes and low O2 can kill in confined spaces.
I once used this equipment to brew a desperately needed cup of real coffee on the shoulder of a Texas highway in the middle of nowhere. Just dumped the ground coffee in the pot of boiling water & drank the "supernatant" as we used to say in chemistry class. Best coffee I ever had!
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418   2017-12-03 12:36  

#6  I once accidentally left a carton of Bud out in the car on a subzero night. Brought it in, beer appeared to be liquid somehow. I popped one open & was delighted to see the beer flash freeze on the sudden change in pressure in the bottle. The icy slush slowly oozed out of the bottle. While the bottle didn't break, I don't know. The rest of the beer I carefully set down on the kitchen floor to slowly warm it. No bottles broke.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418   2017-12-03 12:25  

#5  Still enjoying 'Horse Soldiers'. Thank you.

Anyone know of something to drink that has a very low freezing point which I can throw in the car?

In my early Chicago sub-arctic winter years I carried fortified wines and/or Orange Vodka. Either of which would work well in the windshield washer to breakup ice spray or make slushies with a cup full of snow.
Now it's more 'near beer' which may turn to a slushie but does not freeze and burst, yet.
Posted by: Skidmark   2017-12-03 11:20  

#4  I tested my main valve, it failed immediately. It wouldn't shut off the supply and started leaking a fair amount around the handle that nothing could stop.

The way they build houses in SoCal, everybody should check for this. The handle on my valve was so rusty it was about to fall off. Cheap, third rate parts. The builder cut corners in every legal way and some that probably weren't. The main water valve still worked though. I learned that when the valve on the pipe that leads into the toilet broke the first time I tried it. But I had them both fixed.
Posted by: Abu Uluque   2017-12-03 11:18  

#3  Just about happened to me recently. I'm not talking some random pipe on Dungeon Level III requiring a saving throw, it was easily inspected and look fine, other than the baby kraken nested inside. Working valve kept a souumbbitchk moment from becoming a Jaques Coustou special. 'ere, we ave ze plesiosaur in itz glory, in ze basement of swksvolFF.'
Posted by: swksvolFF   2017-12-03 10:33  

#2  25 years ago I read similar about checking home water shutoff valves. I tested my main valve, it failed immediately. It wouldn't shut off the supply and started leaking a fair amount around the handle that nothing could stop. I did this on a weekday at 0900, so I had the time to track down a plumber, contact the city water service & do all necessary to get the bad valve out and a good valve in. Additional advice: Everytime you leave your house overnight or longer, shut the main valve off. That way makes it less likely you will, say, return home and find your basement turned into a swimming pool while you were away. That actually happened to several families I knew.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418   2017-12-03 10:11  

#1  Based on your recommendation, swksvolFF, I bought The Lawdog Files for myself. :-)
Posted by: trailing wife   2017-12-03 09:38  

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