Posts from Stumpy in thread „Random Observations“

Quote from Jay J. Foraker

I have two additional authors to suggest: Michael Connelly and his character Harry Bosch, a LAPD police detective who has to track down crimes and deal with administrative politics at the same time; and Lee Child with his invention Jack Reacher, a man who lives on the street and by his wits, a former Army MP who manages to get imbroiled in various escapades and uses his unconformed approach and manner to solve those problems.

Jay,
Just wanted you to know that to date, I've read about 10 or 12 of Connelly's books and really like them. In fact, since you recommended him, I've bought almost all of his books on Amazon and am slowly working my way through them.

However, so far I haven't been all that impressed with Child's books. I've read about 7 of his and so far, only liked one pretty well.

Every time I discover (or hear of) a new author, I like to start with their first title and work my way forward chronologically. Sometimes they get better as time progresses and sometimes they get worse. Almost without exception, Connelly's have been good from the get-go but I can't say the same for Childs.

Got a question for you Britishers - who are all of these small kids in the picture I posted? Are they members of the royal family and if so, who do they belong to? I wasn't aware that there were British royals this young.

Nice picture - one of my favorite aspects of the photo is the littlest girl in front with her hands over her ears. At least she's being honest in front of the whole world.

Bill and Kate make a nice-looking couple.

I STILL wish Her Majesty would designate Harry as her successor though. Outside of the Queen herself, he's my personal favorite of the whole royal family.

Quote from Jay J. Foraker

Jim - You are most welcome. BTW - "The Poet" I haven't run across yet! I have just finished two of Connelly's books from the library; "Lost Light" and "9 Dragons". In the latter, things get very personal for Bosch.

Damn, damn, damn - just when I was thinking "The Poet" was one of the very best mysteries I've ever read in my 73 years, Connelly goes off on a tangent in the last 34 of 435 pages that renders the whole shebang implausible as hell. Talk about disappointed.

Quote from Jay J. Foraker

I have two additional authors to suggest: Michael Connelly and his character Harry Bosch, a LAPD police detective who has to track down crimes and deal with administrative politics at the same time; and Lee Child with his invention Jack Reacher, a man who lives on the street and by his wits, a former Army MP who manages to get imbroiled in various escapades and uses his unconformed approach and manner to solve those problems.

Jay, just wanted to thank you again for recommending these two authors. Our library has probably 18-20 titles from both and I've begun reading them. Right now, I'm reading one of Connelly's called "The Poet" that's about a serial murderer of police detectives and IMO, this book is probably the best mystery story I've ever read. Highly recommended for those readers who like the genre.

I've also ordered from Amazon all the titles that our local library doesn't have.

Quote from Jay J. Foraker

I have two additional authors to suggest: Michael Connelly and his character Harry Bosch, a LAPD police detective who has to track down crimes and deal with administrative politics at the same time; and Lee Child with his invention Jack Reacher, a man who lives on the street and by his wits, a former Army MP who manages to get imbroiled in various escapades and uses his unconformed approach and manner to solve those problems.

I just checked our library's online catalogue and they have a lot of both author's books so guess I'll visit the library this afternoon.

Quote from Jay J. Foraker

I have two additional authors to suggest: Michael Connelly and his character Harry Bosch, a LAPD police detective who has to track down crimes and deal with administrative politics at the same time; and Lee Child with his invention Jack Reacher, a man who lives on the street and by his wits, a former Army MP who manages to get imbroiled in various escapades and uses his unconformed approach and manner to solve those problems.

Thanks for the suggestions, Jay; I'll check 'em out.

Quote from smokey

thanks stumpy needed a good laugh

You may or may not know this, smokey, but in the states the phrase "March Madness" is used to describe the clamor and excitement over the college basketball playoffs, whereas in this cartoon it's characterizing the month's news coverage by worldwide media.

This cartoon pretty well nails it.

Quote from Gorch

I'm reading more so I can't really complain.

I'm a long-time reader too and have a fairly extensive personal library. Just wondering, Gorch, what kind of books you like? I like history (especially military and Western history), biographies and action stories told by the likes of Tom Clancy, Frederick Forsyth, Vince Flynn and a guy my son suggested not long ago. His name is Stephen Hunter and his books about the Swagger father and son (both Marine snipers but in different wars) and their adventures in civilian life after the wars are page-turning books. If you like action, those stories are hard to beat.

I also like the John Kellerman stories about the L.A. psychologist and his gay detective friend. (The psychologist is NOT gay).

Is anyone else as nauseated by contemporary Hollyweird productions as I am? It seems like everything those people make nowadays is aimed at the teenage crowd.

If Ann's claims are true, it just goes to show that once again, the "mainstream" news media pukes don't know what the hell they're talking about. And that, as FDR said, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself".

Slow down, journalistic fear mongers!!!

(BTW, Josh could use a good proofreader)

You know, I have nothing but compassion and a vast sympathy for the plight of the Japanese people but when you stop and think about it, it's really not too bright building nuclear power plants in geographical locations that are so susceptible to earthquakes.

I can certainly understand the rationale behind wanting to lessen dependence on foreign oil and/or other carbon-based materials for generating electrical power but the Japanese disaster has made plain the risks involved in depending on uranium for that alternative.

You'd think that after Hiroshima and Nagasaki the folks in Japan would never have wanted anything to do with nukes ever again.

Pictures and videos of the quake/tsunami-wrought destruction in Japan cause extreme distress and sympathy for those poor people who were subjected to such disaster. I hope and pray they're able to eventually recover from the blow.

Each day seems to bring even worse news which is why this particular story brings heartfelt thankfulness and joy for what has to be a true miracle. I give thanks to the Man upstairs, who in His infinite goodness and wisdom saw fit to spare this innocent little darling and her father from further tragedy. I hope she lives forever.

Quote from Hondo Duke Lane

You know the message from the media right now in Japan is not the earthquake, but the nuclear plants and the danger they pose. They are more into the fact that the Japanese needs to get rid of them because they (the liberals) don't want anyone to have them. They are actually calling all nations to close them down and do without electricity. These people are relentless. The libs live in the middle of nuclear plants around them and don't talk about closing theirs down. The northeast of the US is mainly nuclear and the pacific west is 75% nuclear. They are power hungry as far as I can see. You Libs stop politicizing tragedy. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

Cheers Hondo

Mike,
IMO, the freakin' environuts and their enablers will never be happy until we're all living in caves again.

These pictures show the scale of devastation in northeastern Japan. Move your cursor from right to left over the photos to see the before and after images. It appears that most of the small cities lining the northeastern coast were wiped from the map. It will probably take years for Japan to recover from this disaster.

Hate to sound pessimistic but IMO, it's only a matter of time before the same thing happens on the eastern edge of the Pacific's "Ring of Fire". And I doubt very seriously if the folks in California, Oregon and Washington will be as prepared as the Japanese reportedly were.

Hey Brick,
Sure hope you escaped any damage from the fires in Harrah.

That was a tremendous tragedy that struck Japan. I pray for the Japanese people to recover. At least our friend and fellow board member Taka and his family are safe.

I salute you both. RIP