What are you currently reading?

[Papy Oli]

Currently enjoying and learning about England's history:

[asin]0349117314[/asin]

[Ken B]

Haven't returned my copy to the library yet, so wish granted! The anal section is two pages long, and, like all the other "Can We Do This in Bed" FAQs, broken into three parts:
- Is it lawful? This is where he says married couples can bang butts because Sodomy is all about being gay, not behinds. For some reason he also parenthetically adds that "burning asphalt" is what killed everyone in Sodom.
- Is it helpful? "Some couples choose to use this method to prevent pregnancy." But generally you must both have "a clear conscience" before trying it.
- Is it enslaving? (That's a real question they ask.) "For men who have had gay sex, if it conjures up for them past fantasies and memories, then, while the act may not be sinful in general, it may be sinful in particular for them."

In answer to a question Al asked, and two questions you guys might ask:
- I take a train to work and have an hour of reading time daily. Last year I read 80ish books; this year I've read 55.
- Yes, I did check out another, more urbane library book because of the judgment I thought I'd incur from the lady at the desk.
- The other "Can We Do This in Bed" things are masturbation, oral & menstrual sex, "Role-Playing", toys, and birth control. Plus bonus sections on abortion and cosmetic surgery. "In purchasing [sex] toys, you may be best served to purchase them from one of the more discreet Web sites, including those overtly run by Christians, where there are not photos of nude people..."

Hooo dogggy. His is a loving god.

Can he wear cotton-polyester blends though? 

(Lev 19:19)

[Mookalafalas]

Haven't returned my copy to the library yet, so wish granted! The anal section is two pages long, and, like all the other "Can We Do This in Bed" FAQs, broken into three parts:
- Is it lawful? This is where he says married couples can bang butts because Sodomy is all about being gay, not behinds. For some reason he also parenthetically adds that "burning asphalt" is what killed everyone in Sodom.
- Is it helpful? "Some couples choose to use this method to prevent pregnancy." But generally you must both have "a clear conscience" before trying it.
- Is it enslaving? (That's a real question they ask.) "For men who have had gay sex, if it conjures up for them past fantasies and memories, then, while the act may not be sinful in general, it may be sinful in particular for them."

In answer to a question Al asked, and two questions you guys might ask:
- I take a train to work and have an hour of reading time daily. Last year I read 80ish books; this year I've read 55.
- Yes, I did check out another, more urbane library book because of the judgment I thought I'd incur from the lady at the desk.
- The other "Can We Do This in Bed" things are masturbation, oral & menstrual sex, "Role-Playing", toys, and birth control. Plus bonus sections on abortion and cosmetic surgery. "In purchasing [sex] toys, you may be best served to purchase them from one of the more discreet Web sites, including those overtly run by Christians, where there are not photos of nude people..."

Of course I only buy sex toys from overt Christians! I highly recommend the Jesus and Mary Oversized Dildo Store.  Every purchase comes with a free rosary.

[Ken B]

Of course I only buy sex toys from overt Christians! I highly recommend the Jesus and Mary Oversized Dildo Store.  Every purchase comes with a free rosary.

That was one of things I really liked about Cincinnati. I met a couple who ran bachelorette parties  where they sold sex toys. In other words, door to door dildo salesmen. They were rock-ribbed Republicans.
What a great town.

[ZauberdrachenNr.7]

Would you do it with a Magic Dragon?
http://reason.com/blog/2014/10/08/i-think-i-accidentally-started-an-urban

You could, but prob. ill-advised, those magic dragons are just way too hot.   

Interesting article.  This kind of thing, btw, happens all the time with children's books.  Even the Little Engine that Could comes under fire, for sexism:

"In a 1976 letter to the New York Times, Judith Weinstein asserts that the Little Engine story was sexist, because the "`big strong' males do the important work and can't be bothered with children's concerns and that only the `little, kind' female can be relied upon to help out children and become a part of their world.". On the other hand, an article in Publishers Weekly has called it a "good example of pioneer feminist lore." More recently, Stefan Kanter, writing in Men's Health in 2000, complains that the "thrusting locomotive, one or the most obvious phallic symbols in the lexicon, was now female." According to Diane Ravitch in The Language Police (2003), a version of  the story contained in a reader was criticized by California school textbook adopters because the engine was portrayed as male.  I have done a quick analysis of the available versions of the story, focusing on the genders of the unhelpful "big, strong" engines of the helpful "little engine." All possible variants are found. For example, in Thinking One Can (1906) and The Pony Engine (1910, 1916,1957) all locomotives were neuter.  In the Little Switch Engine (1912) the little engine is identified as "he."   The Little Steam Engine (1911) and both the My Book House and Watty Piper versions of Little Engine that Could (1920, 1930) have the big engines as male and the small engine as female.  Interpret this how you want!"  from:  http://tigger.uic.edu/~plotnick/littleng.htm

[Mookalafalas]

I'm reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, in Mandarin Chinese. I've been working on it for several years, actually, but just got back to it in a serious way this week and polished off a couple of chapters.  Pretty hard going, as my Chinese isn't very good, and the translation is quite poor.

[North Star]

I'm reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, in Mandarin Chinese. I've been working on it for several years, actually, but just got back to it in a serious way this week and polished off a couple of chapters.  Pretty hard going, as my Chinese isn't very good, and the translation is quite poor.

Why on earth don't you read it in English?

[Mookalafalas]

Why on earth don't you read it in English?

Gotta learn Chinese somehow   Reading a fairly easy novel is one of the best ways to build vocabulary.  I've read it in Japanese, and used the English version to teach several students (I teach English as a second language), so I know the content very well.

[North Star]

Gotta learn Chinese somehow   Reading a fairly easy novel is one of the best ways to build vocabulary.  I've read it in Japanese, and used the English version to teach several students (I teach English as a second language), so I know the content very well.

Ah yes, if your purpose is learning Chinese, it makes sense.


E:   Thread duty

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[listener]

...  in the mean time Mark Driscoll (author of Real Marriage... discussed above) has been kicked out as leader of the Mars Hill congregation in Seattle.

Octavia, Daughter of God
a history of the Panacea Movement in Britain led by two very eccentric women.
I was exposed to some religious extremism in my youth and have been tracking the wacky Brother Stair lately.   The parallels between the groups are incredibly similar.
To me, fascinating because I'm interested, not likely to register with a general reader.
[asin]B005OQ6OGO[/asin]

[Karl Henning]

That does look like a fascinating read.  But I may not read it, simply because I should find the arc of the story terribly, terribly sad.

[North Star]

That does look like a fascinating read.  But I may not read it, simply because I should find the arc of the story terribly, terribly sad.

At first I thought you were commenting on modern poetry, Karl, but I suppose you replied to listener's post. 

[Karl Henning]

Yes!  Sorry to have perpetrated yet another ambiguity!

[North Star]

Yes!  Sorry to have perpetrated yet another ambiguity!

A delicious one, too. 

[lisa needs braces]

Btw, I have hard time understanding why one of Dickens's contemporaries dismissed Hard times as "sullen socialism". Stephen Blackpool refuses to join the Union, for God's sake!

I liked the trajectory of "Hard Times," but it's a novel of its time meant to address social ills peculiar to Dickens' period. I read it about nine years ago, I recall being satisfied that I read it (it was quite short for Dickens.) The father was monstrous to his children, someone dies at the end, etc etc.

In other Dickens news, I've officially been reading Little Dorrit longer than Dickens took to write it. Not Dickens' fault -- I just don't read as much these days and I've been stuck at the half way point for two years or so, reading a chapter every four months. It doesn't help that TV writer Armando Iuannuci spoiled the ending for me in a interview he gave to the BBC for the Dickens bicentennial. 

[Mirror Image]

Currently, re-reading Eric Fenby's book Delius As I Knew Him. Great read.

[ZauberdrachenNr.7]

Currently, re-reading Eric Fenby's book Delius As I Knew Him. Great read.

Yes! 'Tis! I should re-read, too. You might like Bax's autobiography, Farewell, My Youth, if you haven't read it yet. Easily the best book by a composer I've ever read (outside of music theory).  Edit : ok, even inside music theory! 

[Ken B]

...  in the mean time Mark Driscoll (author of Real Marriage... discussed above) has been kicked out as leader of the Mars Hill congregation in Seattle.

The butt thing? Or the general wing-nut thing?

[Daverz]

If I'd known how big a thing "Big Data" would become,  I wouldn't have skipped the second half of the "Probability and Statistics" courses as an undergrad.

[asin]0486637603[/asin]

This book is a pretty easy read.

[Ken B]

If I'd known how big a thing "Big Data" would become,  I wouldn't have skipped the second half of the "Probability and Statistics" courses as an undergrad.

[asin]0486637603[/asin]

This book is a pretty easy read.

Strong ditto, on all parts of this post.