Month: August 2019

04AUG2019 – OCF Update

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Well, the madness continues without abatement.  Two mass shootings in two days.  I have a theory that when the political news is bad for the Left, as it’s been the last few weeks, it triggers the most unstable of the left-wing crazies to mass murder.  Of course it could just as easily be a random maniac but let’s see.  It’s hard to get reliable information on these mass murders but perhaps some unbiased journalist will see it as a worthwhile project.

Recently I put out a review of Starman Jones.  Rereading the old Heinlein juveniles is quite enjoyable and I’ve decided to reread and review the rest of them.  They are very well written and where they show their age it actually seems to be to their advantage.  Those were much happier and healthier times than the world we live in today.

 

04AUG2019 – Quote of the Day

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When people talk as if the Crusades were nothing more than an aggressive raid against Islam, they seem to forget in the strangest way that Islam itself was only an aggressive raid against the old and ordered civilization in these parts. I do not say it in mere hostility to the religion of Mahomet; I am fully conscious of many values and virtues in it; but certainly it was Islam that was the invasion and Christendom that was the thing invaded.

Gilbert K. Chesterton

 

Tyler Childers – Country Squire – A Country Music Review

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I’m a fan of Tyler Childers’ music.  He’s a singer songwriter with an interesting voice and talent for producing lively melodies.  And he tells stories about modern Appalachia.  Stories about country people and stories about himself.  One of my favorites of his songs is a murder ballad on his Purgatory album called Banded Clovis.  His lyrics paint an engaging picture of the murderer at the moment when greed and desperation over comes camaraderie and decency.

Childers’ new album Country Squire is in the same cast as Purgatory.  It has songs that describe the life of every day folks in Appalachia and also has more autobiographical songs about his life on the road as a musician.  For me these personal songs are not as compelling because that lifestyle doesn’t resonate with how I live.  But the other songs are more interesting to me.  So, unsurprisingly the three songs I like best on the album are of this type; Creeker, Peace of Mind and Matthew.  They’re just stories of everyday people living everyday lives.  But Childers is able to generate good country songs with it.  The other six songs have a number of what I called above autobiographical songs and here it’s more hit or miss.  “Country Squire” and “Bus Route” are pretty good.  But “Ever Lovin’ Hand” I’ll take a pass on.  The musicality is fine but the story is too odd for me.

So if you’re a Tyler Childers fan you’ll like Country Squire.  If you’re a country music fan give it a try but I would start with his Purgatory album first.  I think it’s a better introduction to his range of songs.

 

02AUG2019 – OCF Update

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It was a busy week for me and for the world.  Work’s a bear but nothing new there.  The Democrats have been incredibly busy shooting themselves in the foot and everywhere else.  And that gives me plenty to write about.  And we had a ton of visits from folks linking from WhatFinger News.  That’s a great thing.  Welcome to all you new folks.

And I survived to the weekend so I’ll be able to put some fun stuff up.  I just listened to Tyler Childers’ new country music album, Country Squire.  It’s got several songs I like a lot.  I’ll review it this weekend.  I’ve got some classic SF books I’ve been rereading that I think merit review.

And I’ve got some ideas for a post looking at how the various groups on the right wing agree and disagree and how I think they can mutually benefit from the present situation and going forward.

And as entertaining as the Democrat Debates were, I’ll have to say seeing the insanity on display was a little off-putting and depressing.  Even Bill Clinton could pass for normal.  These people are putting on display beliefs that really should qualify them for straitjackets.  We’re going to have to reclaim the psychiatric field from the lunatics at some point.  These people need to be off the streets.  Oh well.

Stay tuned.

 

The Twilight Zone – Complete Series Review – Season 5 Episode 7 – The Old Man in the Cave

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In this episode there was a devastating nuclear war in 1964.  Ten years later we are in a small community somewhere in the Northeast.  At this point a small community is hanging on by a thread with farms barely producing starvation rations and no electricity or machines to help with the work.  The town leader is a man named Goldsmith who talks to the “Old Man in the Cave” to know where it’s safe to plant crops or which cans of food are contaminated.  The rest of the townspeople grumble about eliminating any potential food but they obey because the Old Man has always been right.

Suddenly a working automobile, a jeep, with four soldiers appears on the street and their leader Major French (played by James Coburn) informs them that he is the local face of a military unit that is organizing the remaining survivors into a new society.

Goldsmith tells French that they’ve met other wandering soldiers before claiming to represent a larger organization but actually just looking to steal food.  French resorts to force to force Goldsmith and the townspeople to obey his orders.  He demands that the town provide him with food but when Goldsmith warns him that the canned supplies are radioactive, he asks for proof.  Goldsmith tells him about the Old Man.  French goes up to the cave with his men and tries to open the steel door of the cave with a grenade but is unsuccessful.

Returning to town French convinces everyone but Goldsmith that the canned food is safe and they all eat it.  Then in a drunken state the crowd led by French force Goldsmith to open the cave door.  Inside they discover that the Old Man is actually a computer.  In a drunken rage the townspeople, led by French destroy the computer.  French declares them now free.

In the next scene everyone except Goldsmith is lying on the street dead from eating thee radioactive food.  Goldsmith walks among the dead and speculates on what drove them to this, greed or faithlessness?

This is a pretty bleak story.  Coburn adds a certain amount of flair to his mercenary major.  But it seems odd that after surviving for ten years French wouldn’t be more cautious about eating food that a reliable source has declared poison.  And why would Goldsmith hide the nature of his information source with the improbable Man in the Cave story?  Wouldn’t having a computer that is programmed to help the town survive be an even better story?  Anyway, a it of a downer.  B-.

 

03AUG2019 – Quote of the Day

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The position we have now reached is this: starting from the State, we try to remedy the failures of all the families, all the nurseries, all the schools, all the workshops, all the secondary institutions that once had some authority of their own. Everything is ultimately brought into the Law Courts. We are trying to stop the leak at the other end.

Gilbert K. Chesterton