• OT Non SF Recommendations..

    From Titus G@21:1/5 to William Hyde on Wed Sep 4 18:04:58 2024
    On 4/09/24 10:31, William Hyde wrote:
    snip
    My first day in the US I wanted to eat at a restaurant across the street
    from my hotel in Maryland.  As I got to the end of the hotel driveway I
    was confronted with nine traffic lights.  I ate at the hotel.  In fact,
    I never left the hotel except by cab.

    My first day in the US late last century was spent in Disneyland. We
    decided on a Mexican restaurant close to the hotel in the Disneyland
    area. Although the traffic wasn't heavy, the footpaths and surrounds
    were filthy, poorly maintained and empty of pedestrians. Despite the
    short distance we took a cab back to the hotel and did not attempt to
    walk anywhere local again.

    My favourite reads in recent decades include your recommendation of
    Robertson Davies' trilogies and Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet.
    Do you have two or three more to recommend? Thank you.

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  • From D@21:1/5 to Titus G on Wed Sep 4 09:51:36 2024
    This message is in MIME format. The first part should be readable text,
    while the remaining parts are likely unreadable without MIME-aware tools.

    On Wed, 4 Sep 2024, Titus G wrote:

    On 4/09/24 10:31, William Hyde wrote:
    snip
    My first day in the US I wanted to eat at a restaurant across the street
    from my hotel in Maryland.  As I got to the end of the hotel driveway I
    was confronted with nine traffic lights.  I ate at the hotel.  In fact,
    I never left the hotel except by cab.

    My first day in the US late last century was spent in Disneyland. We
    decided on a Mexican restaurant close to the hotel in the Disneyland
    area. Although the traffic wasn't heavy, the footpaths and surrounds
    were filthy, poorly maintained and empty of pedestrians. Despite the
    short distance we took a cab back to the hotel and did not attempt to
    walk anywhere local again.

    My favourite reads in recent decades include your recommendation of
    Robertson Davies' trilogies and Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet.
    Do you have two or three more to recommend? Thank you.


    I recommend Chicago or Boston. Both, in my opinion, are excellent walking cities!

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Ted Nolan @21:1/5 to [email protected] on Wed Sep 4 13:44:19 2024
    In article <vb9nr2$3rn95$[email protected]>,
    Cryptoengineer <[email protected]> wrote:
    On 9/4/2024 3:51 AM, D wrote:


    On Wed, 4 Sep 2024, Titus G wrote:

    On 4/09/24 10:31, William Hyde wrote:
    snip
    My first day in the US I wanted to eat at a restaurant across the street >>>> from my hotel in Maryland.  As I got to the end of the hotel driveway I >>>> was confronted with nine traffic lights.  I ate at the hotel.  In fact, >>>> I never left the hotel except by cab.

    My first day in the US late last century was spent in Disneyland. We
    decided on a Mexican restaurant close to the hotel in the Disneyland
    area. Although the traffic wasn't heavy, the footpaths and surrounds
    were filthy, poorly maintained and empty of pedestrians. Despite the
    short distance we took a cab back to the hotel and did not attempt to
    walk anywhere local again.

    My favourite reads in recent decades include your recommendation of
    Robertson Davies' trilogies and Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet.
    Do you have two or three more to recommend? Thank you.


    I recommend Chicago or Boston. Both, in my opinion, are excellent
    walking cities!

    So is Manhattan. So much stuff to see, and decent public transport
    when you've decide you've walked enough.

    Once, for no particular reason, I spent an afternoon walking the
    entire length of Broadway, about 12 miles.


    They say the neon lights are bright, on Broadway!
    --
    columbiaclosings.com
    What's not in Columbia anymore..

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From D@21:1/5 to All on Wed Sep 4 23:20:24 2024
    On Wed, 4 Sep 2024, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:

    In article <vb9nr2$3rn95$[email protected]>,
    Cryptoengineer <[email protected]> wrote:
    On 9/4/2024 3:51 AM, D wrote:


    On Wed, 4 Sep 2024, Titus G wrote:

    On 4/09/24 10:31, William Hyde wrote:
    snip
    My first day in the US I wanted to eat at a restaurant across the street >>>>> from my hotel in Maryland.?? As I got to the end of the hotel driveway I >>>>> was confronted with nine traffic lights.?? I ate at the hotel.?? In fact, >>>>> I never left the hotel except by cab.

    My first day in the US late last century was spent in Disneyland. We
    decided on a Mexican restaurant close to the hotel in the Disneyland
    area. Although the traffic wasn't heavy, the footpaths and surrounds
    were filthy, poorly maintained and empty of pedestrians. Despite the
    short distance we took a cab back to the hotel and did not attempt to
    walk anywhere local again.

    My favourite reads in recent decades include your recommendation of
    Robertson Davies' trilogies and Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet. >>>> Do you have two or three more to recommend? Thank you.


    I recommend Chicago or Boston. Both, in my opinion, are excellent
    walking cities!

    So is Manhattan. So much stuff to see, and decent public transport
    when you've decide you've walked enough.

    Once, for no particular reason, I spent an afternoon walking the
    entire length of Broadway, about 12 miles.


    They say the neon lights are bright, on Broadway!


    And... if you make it there, you'll make it anywhere!

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Scott Dorsey@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Thu Sep 5 20:43:26 2024
    William Hyde <[email protected]> wrote:
    Titus G wrote:

    My favourite reads in recent decades include your recommendation of
    Robertson Davies' trilogies and Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet.
    Do you have two or three more to recommend? Thank you.

    How I wish I did!

    Well, let me say that if you like the Alexandria Quartet you might like
    the Antrobus stories by Durrell. They have the humor of the Alexandria
    Quartet without any of the seriousness and they are extremely silly in
    a good way.
    --scott

    --
    "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Titus G@21:1/5 to William Hyde on Fri Sep 6 15:25:41 2024
    On 5/09/24 10:35, William Hyde wrote:
    Titus G wrote:
    On 4/09/24 10:31, William Hyde wrote:
    snip

    My favourite reads in recent decades include your recommendation of
    Robertson Davies' trilogies and Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet.
    Do you have two or three more to recommend? Thank you.

    How I wish I did!

    There must be many.

    snip
    Thank you for that longer than expected reply which I have saved.
    I think I will start with George Passant by C P Snow who has written a biography of Anthony Trollope whose novels I enjoy.
    Perhaps Powell is too literary for me and too long. I stubbornly read
    Proust to the end 25 years ago without understanding much and have just finished Mislaid by Nell Zink where I was frequently bamboozled by
    apparent literary references as well as US slang or brand names.
    I also recently finished My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante which is
    the NY Times number one book of the 21st Century. My ignorance awarded
    it three stars.
    Second on the same NY Times list was The Warmth from Other Suns by
    Isobel Wilkerson. Not literary but too factual and depressing being an
    eight hundred page fictional account of the mass migration of black
    Americans from South to North beginning during seggregation after
    abolition. I managed less than two hundred pages. Two stars.
    And other disappointments whose memories George might dispel.
    Thank you.

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  • From Titus G@21:1/5 to Scott Dorsey on Fri Sep 6 15:40:38 2024
    On 6/09/24 08:43, Scott Dorsey wrote:
    William Hyde <[email protected]> wrote:
    Titus G wrote:

    My favourite reads in recent decades include your recommendation of
    Robertson Davies' trilogies and Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet.
    Do you have two or three more to recommend? Thank you.

    How I wish I did!

    Well, let me say that if you like the Alexandria Quartet you might like
    the Antrobus stories by Durrell. They have the humor of the Alexandria Quartet without any of the seriousness and they are extremely silly in
    a good way.
    --scott

    Thank you. Having thought about it, I now want to reread the Alexandria
    Quartet even though there were occasions when it dragged though the
    seriousness assisted with impact.

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  • From Bobbie Sellers@21:1/5 to Titus G on Thu Sep 5 21:28:53 2024
    On 9/3/24 23:04, Titus G wrote:
    On 4/09/24 10:31, William Hyde wrote:
    snip
    My first day in the US I wanted to eat at a restaurant across the street
    from my hotel in Maryland.  As I got to the end of the hotel driveway I
    was confronted with nine traffic lights.  I ate at the hotel.  In fact,
    I never left the hotel except by cab.

    My first day in the US late last century was spent in Disneyland. We
    decided on a Mexican restaurant close to the hotel in the Disneyland
    area. Although the traffic wasn't heavy, the footpaths and surrounds
    were filthy, poorly maintained and empty of pedestrians. Despite the
    short distance we took a cab back to the hotel and did not attempt to
    walk anywhere local again.

    My favourite reads in recent decades include your recommendation of
    Robertson Davies' trilogies and Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet.
    Do you have two or three more to recommend? Thank you.


    Currently, I recommend written and drawn mangam "Showa History of Japan" in 4 thick volumes. Showa in case you missed that knowledge is
    the name of the period during which the Emperor Hirohito
    reigned and is also his Buddhist death name. Written by a mangaka
    Shigero Mizuki who has the qulifications to be called the `Walt Disney
    of Japan'. He is also was a man of Showa born about the time Hirohito
    ascended to the Imperial Throne. If you have ever wondered why the
    Japanese were so stupid as to annoy the USA at Pearl Harbor this
    book gives you the reasons. As a comic artist Mizuki used Japanese
    folklore and he uses them in the History to explicate matters.

    I find it quite re-readable and have done so about 5
    times by now and may read it again when I have trouble getting
    to the San Francisco Public Library Main Branch to find something
    new. SFPL has a graphic novel section that includes manga, but
    if your PL has a Japanese history section you may find it there
    as well. If you do not find it in your library you may make
    a request to have it either borrowed or bought.

    bliss

    --
    b l i s s - S F 4 e v e r at D S L E x t r e m e dot com

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  • From Paul S Person@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Fri Sep 6 09:47:09 2024
    On Thu, 5 Sep 2024 21:28:53 -0700, Bobbie Sellers <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 9/3/24 23:04, Titus G wrote:
    On 4/09/24 10:31, William Hyde wrote:
    snip
    My first day in the US I wanted to eat at a restaurant across the street >>> from my hotel in Maryland.� As I got to the end of the hotel driveway I
    was confronted with nine traffic lights.� I ate at the hotel.� In fact,
    I never left the hotel except by cab.

    My first day in the US late last century was spent in Disneyland. We
    decided on a Mexican restaurant close to the hotel in the Disneyland
    area. Although the traffic wasn't heavy, the footpaths and surrounds
    were filthy, poorly maintained and empty of pedestrians. Despite the
    short distance we took a cab back to the hotel and did not attempt to
    walk anywhere local again.

    My favourite reads in recent decades include your recommendation of
    Robertson Davies' trilogies and Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet.
    Do you have two or three more to recommend? Thank you.


    Currently, I recommend written and drawn mangam "Showa History of
    Japan" in 4 thick volumes. Showa in case you missed that knowledge is
    the name of the period during which the Emperor Hirohito
    reigned and is also his Buddhist death name. Written by a mangaka
    Shigero Mizuki who has the qulifications to be called the `Walt Disney
    of Japan'. He is also was a man of Showa born about the time Hirohito >ascended to the Imperial Throne. If you have ever wondered why the
    Japanese were so stupid as to annoy the USA at Pearl Harbor this
    book gives you the reasons. As a comic artist Mizuki used Japanese
    folklore and he uses them in the History to explicate matters.

    The story of why go to Pearl I have run into in the military history
    magazines is that they decided on the Southern Strategy, and that
    required neutralizing the American fleet at Pearl. AKAIK, however,
    these were all written by Westerners, so something may have been lost
    in translation.

    When I played the SPI game /U.S.N./, which starts with the attacks
    that included Pearl Harbor, I chose to destroy the /port/ rather than
    the ships. In the game, this required me to shift the fleet to
    American Samoa to preserve the link to Australia. This was a major
    pain. Whether that would have happened in real life I have no idea.

    I find it quite re-readable and have done so about 5
    times by now and may read it again when I have trouble getting
    to the San Francisco Public Library Main Branch to find something
    new. SFPL has a graphic novel section that includes manga, but
    if your PL has a Japanese history section you may find it there
    as well. If you do not find it in your library you may make
    a request to have it either borrowed or bought.
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Titus G@21:1/5 to Titus G on Tue Sep 10 15:42:52 2024
    On 6/09/24 15:25, Titus G wrote:

    I think I will start with George Passant by C P Snow who has written a biography of Anthony Trollope whose novels I enjoy.

    Thank you, William Hyde. George Passant was an interesting read as I
    find those detailed analyses of 19th and early 20th Century social
    conventions, politics, ethics and morality fascinating so will continue
    the series. I was not so immersed in the characters as I am with
    Trollope's, and as you initially implied, they are not of Robertson
    Davies standard.
    I am sorry but I have inadvertently deleted your longish post on this
    topic. I hope you keep a copy and if so would you please resend it.
    Thank you.

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  • From The Horny Goat@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Sun Sep 15 13:01:30 2024
    On Fri, 06 Sep 2024 09:47:09 -0700, Paul S Person
    <[email protected]d> wrote:

    When I played the SPI game /U.S.N./, which starts with the attacks
    that included Pearl Harbor, I chose to destroy the /port/ rather than
    the ships. In the game, this required me to shift the fleet to
    American Samoa to preserve the link to Australia. This was a major
    pain. Whether that would have happened in real life I have no idea.

    Hmmm that's one of the games I purchased but never played (the
    counters are still unpunched). On the other hand I spent VAST amounts
    of my time playing War in the East / War in Europe though focussed on
    totally a-historical battles that would never actually have been
    considered since WiE doesn't ever cause the destruction of units even
    after they stay out of supply for months on end...

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  • From Paul S Person@21:1/5 to All on Mon Sep 16 09:05:08 2024
    On Sun, 15 Sep 2024 13:01:30 -0700, The Horny Goat <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    On Fri, 06 Sep 2024 09:47:09 -0700, Paul S Person ><[email protected]d> wrote:

    When I played the SPI game /U.S.N./, which starts with the attacks
    that included Pearl Harbor, I chose to destroy the /port/ rather than
    the ships. In the game, this required me to shift the fleet to
    American Samoa to preserve the link to Australia. This was a major
    pain. Whether that would have happened in real life I have no idea.

    Hmmm that's one of the games I purchased but never played (the
    counters are still unpunched). On the other hand I spent VAST amounts
    of my time playing War in the East / War in Europe though focussed on
    totally a-historical battles that would never actually have been
    considered since WiE doesn't ever cause the destruction of units even
    after they stay out of supply for months on end...

    I played a lot of solitaire Computer War in Europe.

    In the DOS version, I discovered that the programmer had never
    contemplated the Soviet Union declaring limited war and going through
    Bulgaria into Greece: the Soviet units couldn't see, never mind
    attack, the Greek units. Presumably, they were involved in cultural
    exchanges involving bouzoukee/balalaika music and ouso/vodka and so
    fighting was out of the question. This got fixed in the final version.

    I also used a DOS version design flaw (each turn started with the last
    random number from the prior turn, which meant that the order of die
    roll results was /fixed/ and so manipulatable) to find a pattern of
    actions that allowed my Axis forces to take Moscow by replaying the
    same turn over and over and over. It took some time, but I eventually
    cleared the entire Middle East and North Africa through Libya. Then
    the Axis and the Allies ended up in a continent-wide (Casablanca to
    Tunis) front. I ended the game at that point. Oh, and that was with a
    60 6-5 garrison left in Russia, per an erratum.

    With the Windows version (which, BTW, restarts the random number
    sequence each time a turn is run so it is not repeatable), I found
    that Minor Allied units (Belgium) could embark on Royal Navy vessels
    -- but could only disembark in their own country and were subject to
    Axis Air-Sea interdiction, which /eliminated the Royal Navy units/,
    reducing it from a "permanent" 15 (IIRC) to 13. I also found that the
    CW could put as many units as they wanted anywhere in France (that is,
    ignore the BEF rules) provided that those units came from North Africa
    to southern France. The BEF rules, IOW, were only applied to CW units
    coming from Britain across the Channel. Whether either of /these/ got
    fixed I have no idea.

    Note that the SPI version of /U.S.N./ was a magazine game; it ends in
    1943 because otherwise it would have required another counter sheet.
    It stopped, IOW, just as US Naval Production was /really/ taking off.
    DG redid it as a boxed game and, IIRC, extended it to the end of the
    war (boxed games allowing more counters than magazine games), but I
    have no idea if what I said above applies to the DG version.
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From The Horny Goat@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Wed Sep 18 09:04:08 2024
    On Mon, 16 Sep 2024 09:05:08 -0700, Paul S Person
    <[email protected]d> wrote:

    I played a lot of solitaire Computer War in Europe.=20

    In the DOS version, I discovered that the programmer had never
    contemplated the Soviet Union declaring limited war and going through >Bulgaria into Greece: the Soviet units couldn't see, never mind
    attack, the Greek units. Presumably, they were involved in cultural
    exchanges involving bouzoukee/balalaika music and ouso/vodka and so
    fighting was out of the question. This got fixed in the final version.

    One knock I have against the game is that unless the German player is
    asleep at the switch, a Soviet-initiated "limited war" is suicidal
    since the German play can EASILY win a war of attrition - the last
    time I played that scenario as the German player I reached Smolensk in
    the first 2-3 turns and advanced as quickly as my railroad repair
    units advanced and never ever went "out of supply". I don't remember
    the details but took Moscow well before the end of the summer season.
    But mostly it was about unit killing and it was very easy to win a war
    of attrition against "limited war production".

    Interesting discussion of the MSDOS vs Windows version of the game...

    Note that the SPI version of /U.S.N./ was a magazine game; it ends in
    1943 because otherwise it would have required another counter sheet.
    It stopped, IOW, just as US Naval Production was /really/ taking off.
    DG redid it as a boxed game and, IIRC, extended it to the end of the
    war (boxed games allowing more counters than magazine games), but I
    have no idea if what I said above applies to the DG version.

    I'm pretty sure I've still got the magazine version of the game still
    unpunched in one of my storage bins (that I need to go through to get
    rid of junk in this room) Any idea whether this would be of interest
    to a collector?

    (Bearing in mind it's a 40 year old 'classic' allegedly)

    But no question there are several games from that era I tried to play
    according to some counter-factual SF story - and few of them made any
    sense at all since in most of them there was a killer strategy that
    the SF author completely failed to take into account.

    I once tried to figure out how to use War in Europe as the basis for a
    Draka scenario but gave it up as a bad job.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Paul S Person@21:1/5 to All on Thu Sep 19 08:49:36 2024
    On Wed, 18 Sep 2024 09:04:08 -0700, The Horny Goat <[email protected]>
    wrote:

    On Mon, 16 Sep 2024 09:05:08 -0700, Paul S Person ><[email protected]d> wrote:

    I played a lot of solitaire Computer War in Europe.=20

    In the DOS version, I discovered that the programmer had never
    contemplated the Soviet Union declaring limited war and going through >>Bulgaria into Greece: the Soviet units couldn't see, never mind
    attack, the Greek units. Presumably, they were involved in cultural >>exchanges involving bouzoukee/balalaika music and ouso/vodka and so >>fighting was out of the question. This got fixed in the final version.

    One knock I have against the game is that unless the German player is
    asleep at the switch, a Soviet-initiated "limited war" is suicidal
    since the German play can EASILY win a war of attrition - the last
    time I played that scenario as the German player I reached Smolensk in
    the first 2-3 turns and advanced as quickly as my railroad repair
    units advanced and never ever went "out of supply". I don't remember
    the details but took Moscow well before the end of the summer season.
    But mostly it was about unit killing and it was very easy to win a war
    of attrition against "limited war production".

    I don't doubt it.

    Another test game (these were all test games and all solitaire games,
    BTW) found my continuing my attack (as the Axis) beyond Poland in
    1939. This turned out to be a mistake for three reasons:

    1. I had selected "variable weather". Guess who rolled "Mud"
    each and every turn until "Snow" came?
    2. The Soviets started Full Production immediately.
    3. Since the Axis Allies had not yet activated (not enough
    Political Points) it was the full Soviet Army against the /Northern/
    part of the actual war (OK, including the northern part of AGC's area,
    IIRC). Some screening forces were deployed to the South, but the Red
    Army was very much concentrated on the German Army.
    4. The German Army in 1939 is /not/ the German Army of 1941.

    So I had fewer Germans fighting the pretty much the entire Red Army on
    a much narrower front than in reality. Even if I had rolled "Clear"
    every turn, the Axis would have been in deep doodoo.

    The only advantage is that the Soviet Rail Net started much further
    East and did not extend into the Baltic States. This made repairing
    the rail net go a lot faster.

    Interesting discussion of the MSDOS vs Windows version of the game...

    Note that the SPI version of /U.S.N./ was a magazine game; it ends in
    1943 because otherwise it would have required another counter sheet.
    It stopped, IOW, just as US Naval Production was /really/ taking off.
    DG redid it as a boxed game and, IIRC, extended it to the end of the
    war (boxed games allowing more counters than magazine games), but I
    have no idea if what I said above applies to the DG version.

    I'm pretty sure I've still got the magazine version of the game still >unpunched in one of my storage bins (that I need to go through to get
    rid of junk in this room) Any idea whether this would be of interest
    to a collector?

    (Bearing in mind it's a 40 year old 'classic' allegedly)

    That is something I have only thought about investigating.

    Originally, I punched out each game, organized the counters, read the
    rules, and played at least a few turns solitaire. But eventually I
    stopped punching the out, and now I have about 3 linear feet of
    unpunched magazine games (not all S&T, to be sure).

    One question might be whether you still have the issue of S&T it came
    with. And if by "unpunched" you mean the rules are still in the
    magazine.

    And, of course, what condition it is in.

    <https://grognard.com/> might have a marketplace or a discussion board (although I don't see one). There may be useable Usenet groups that
    could help. And eBay could be checked to see if there is a market.
    --
    "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
    Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
    Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)