The Library

[Frybabe]

Barb, this guy escaped from prison in Brazil after killing another young woman/girl. D.C. (who I am tempted to call The Artful Dodger at this point), has been here for some years. I don't know how he got into the US. His sister is here and being detained for deportation for expired paperwork (visa?). There is family in the area, but other than his sister, the only other mention is an aunt. Interesting side note: One of his former co-workers, also Brazilian, said that how he climbed the wall to get to the roof of the prison was something he and other kids did when climbing trees. The area they are hunting him not only includes Longwood Gardens, where they first set up a parameter, but lots of wooded sections, small farms, preserves and a state forest. I wonder if the authorities have access to a thermal imager to add to their chopper or drone arsenal.

Jane, I am only about 80-90 miles from Philly. The area he is in is closer, but I haven't checked the mileage. I've been to Longwood Gardens twice and have traveled both Route 100 and Route 23 a number of times when I lived in Allentown area.  But that was many years ago.

[jane]

The guy is now in police custody, thank heavens.  That's got to be a big relief to the residents who live there. 

jane

[Frybabe]

I'm sure it is Jane. The outcome for him was better than I expecThatted. I was sure he would end up dead. Anyway, no get out of jail free cards for him; they took him directly to the penitentiary. What did I say about the thermal imaging? They brought in a DEA fixed-wing plane that spotted him shortly before a storm came in and it had to vacate the area. That gave the tactical team a smaller area to search. They had him surrounded in a very small area and stayed out all night to make sure he didn't get past them this time. In the end, they let the dog loose on him.

Well, back to more or less normal. I downloaded Charles Stross's novel Halting State but haven't started it yet. Not sure I am going to like it, but I thought I would give it a try. I've read several of his short stories but none of his novels.

[PatH]

Frybabe, I read some of Stross' Laundry Series, until they got too weird for me.  Spies using powers for good or evil, but hampered by the government regulations of their unit.
He tells a tale well, so if you like whatever assumptions the series has you'll probably like it.

[Frybabe]

Well, PatH, I gave up on Stross's Halting State real quick. It was just too confusing right off the bat.

Now I have Andrew Moriarty's Trans Galactic Insurance, the first of his "Adventures of a Jump Space Accountant" series.  I am hoping for bit of humor without being super silly or stupid. Not yet started. The other read from my online library is The Spanish Daughter by Lorena Hughes. I am just into the first chapter now. It sounds good, but one of the gals on Seniors and Friends read  it or part of it and didn't care for it. We shall see.

Not listening to any audiobooks at the moment. Must get back to that soon. I am still only a few chapters into Persian Fire.

I am testing out a new browser. So far I like it, but I haven't been on it much yet. One really nice thing is that I don't have all those unwanted ads, etc. following me around. It seems that Bing's ad block settings don't apply to their ad customers and I kept getting a bunch anyway. Now, I started getting emails from something with a .onmicrosoft.com ending. It is apparently a legit service Microsoft has for its customers, but why all of a sudden I am getting ad spam from them, I don't know. I refuse to use Bing or the Edge browser anymore.
 

[BarbStAubrey]

After a week of family I'm exhausted - loved the visit but oh it takes a lot out of me and I slept now for two days with instead of small naps it was small wake ups'

One of the daily book something or others this week offered a kindle version of In the First Circle by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn that I had ordered earlier when it was on sale - but this time I read more about the author and did not know he was the author of One Day In the Life of Ivan Denisovich nor that he was such a prolific writer - here he was a normal Teacher sent to the Gulag was because he was outspoken with his views and wrote One Day... also learned where he emigrated to Vermont he went back to Russian in the 1980s and died there - one of the reviews was showing his writing style and choice of subjects similar to the other Russian great authors.

Been reading Aging Alone - most of the tips I've known about and one I forgot - having moved with a new phone number I needed to register again for no calls--- here is the info in case you also forgot - it takes the main number and two others - so three phone numbers in all - You can sign up at https://www.donotcall.gov/ or call 1-888-382-1222. Some states also have their own lists, so it is worth visiting your state attorney general’s website to check this.

[ginny]

Glad you had a great visit, Barbara!

We don't answer the phone at all any more. The caller ID says who is calling and if we want to call them back that's one thing, or if we happen to be next to the phone (we have a landline too, so that's the issue, you can block them on an iphone), we can pick it up.  We have long been on the "Do Not Call List" which apparently does not extend to political candidates bot robo calls from PACS.

I like the one best where the "candidates" email me. ONE of the Political Parties takes a very strong line with me. XXX wrote you a letter and you did not answer. Now I AM writing you! Do this! Do that!

I did not ask for XXX or any of his blighted family to write me anything and you have a lot of fat nerve speaking for your fiance and ordering me around. Please tend to your own house first, and try to have redone your last plastic surgical procedure which has left you unfortunately  looking like a gargoyle. 

Ugly huh? But they take your time and I don't have it.

[BarbStAubrey]

Oh lordy - they have become so brazen - I did learn because I put the info on the neighborhood page that the 'do not call' does not extend to the vast number who are now calling from other nations - now what is so annoying is it appears anything you look up on the internet is full of all these banner ads - some across the top and then those across the top have another either on the side or on the bottom - you can't read the information for all these banner ads. - I've given up on a few of those I used to read on Facebook - maybe this is what it took for me to stop turning to the computer for every little thing - it has become like another person in my home and then I get caught in having to find out more so that my time can easily be stretched into over an hour of really just wasted time - I sure have nothing to show for the time I spent reading between banner ads.

[Frybabe]

Striking a real cord here, gals. This intrusive ad stuff just keeps getting worse.

I am trying out a new browser with another search engine now because I cannot stand all the intrusive ads that come with Microsoft's browser and Bing. I did set Microsoft's browser (Edge is it?) to stricter ad controls and have an ad blocker on, but to no avail. When I went to stricter controls I started to get email ads from something with .onmircosoft.com at the end, as much as a dozen a day. They go to my spam folder but for the life of me I cannot figure out how to block them altogether. There is a way, but I have been unable to get it to work as yet. Microsoft, of course, has info on it, but so far it hasn't helped me. I get the impression that OnMicrosoft.com is something Microsoft has set up for it's 365 product users. So it is a legit domain as best as I can tell. I do not use 365. In fact, I uninstalled it some time ago. It appears lots of people have been getting this crap, so there is info about it on the net and how to block it. If you have Norton, they have info on how to block it. I don't use Norton so didn't look at their info.

BTW, Microsoft is changing it's email program. It is more plain and looks more like other email clients I have used. Not even as fancy as Google.

[Frybabe]

The Booker Prize short list has been announced. Here they are. https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/prize-years/2023 There seems to be something of a theme with these picks this year.

[BarbStAubrey]

I've had The Bee Sting on my plan to buy for a few months but the other Irish writer, Paul Lynch's book the review made me too uncomfortable and too close to some of what is going on - in just the year since these books were published and considered for the Prize life has become or rather I've become estranged from a comfortable life where I was not afraid of hearing the daily news - I really don't want to read about when the chaos happened at another time or place and so where I typically try to read more than one of the Booker finalists not this year plus, I'm still emptying boxes and shelving books trying to decide which room certain books will be shelved.

I was really shaken for a couple of days this week - had a call that the caller ID said anonymous - why I picked it up I don't know but I did - it sounded like my grandson that it took me a minute because where it sounded like him his voice was a bit deeper - said as much and he explains he was crying and had I heard that one of his friends was killed in an auto accident last week and he just came back from the funeral - then he said rather upset that he had taken an Uber home and the guy ran a stop sign and the police stopped them and they found drugs in the back that the driver blamed on him and the police did not know who to believe so he ticketed them both - before he shared he asked me not to tell his parents and when he got to that point in his story Paul, his father, my son, came in after having just come back from having my car inspected and when I said your father came in so you can talk to him - and in a rush he says please he didn't want him to know and he would call me back in about 20 minutes.

I was in a dilemma - not wanting to do anything behind Paul's back and yet wanting to do what Cody asked - Cody is in Lubbock and since he will not take a loan he is still at Tech because he works to pay cash for everything - he also had difficulty with drugs some years back when he first graduated from High School and so I felt anxious that somehow that would be brought up to his detriment - Said to Paul, it was Cody and he lost his friend to an auto accident and he was trying not to cry and I was telling him it was part of the grief process - which was true but not the whole story - Paul left and I was very uncomfortable - We just don't do secrets and I called Paul who was on his way back to his office, telling him everything and that I did not want to let Cody down but I just was not comfortable keeping secrets and started to say I would just have to explain to Cody I can't do secrets with family and that I was sure he would understand - well before I got that out Paul said it is a Scam - he only talked to Cody the day before and there was no talk of any friend dying - just don't answer the phone I will take care of this

Well I did not answer and Paul contacted Cody who did not call and when he heard and Paul saying it was a scam to get money, Cody said I would never ask Grandma for money - plus when I had questioned if it was Cody when I first heard his voice and the voice/Cody said yes, it took you long enough - I let it slide but he, nor any of the Grandboys would talk to me like that

Well the research went on and when Cody shared in his next class at tech he learned from the professor and some of the students the voice was created with AI and yes, the scam was only featured a week before on some TV program

Knowing how easily I fell for it and I can usually detect these scams I was shaken - they called back 5 times over the course of the afternoon and then a strange number with a NCCI caller ID that I thought maybe they realized I was not answering their number and they tried a new way -

What really shook me is if Paul had not walked in while I was on the phone God knows how the story would have continued - although I probably would have said something about contacting a friend's daughter who is a lawyer or even his Aunt who is a lawyer and however that would have been handled I'm thinking I would have detected something was not on the up and up but still, it really threw me and then to learn they can take ordinary people like a family member and create whole conversations that they do not know how it will go to sound just like the family member really rattled me - I feel almost scared - there is no protection from that - I was going to change my phone number but Paul is right - he said just don't answer the phone, the work to alert all the services to the house would take me lots of time and they would each want me to fill out online some change document and so best is not to answer at all unless the number or name comes up that I know who it is because anyone who really wants to talk with me will leave a message. Which I was mostly doing before this but for some reason I no longer feel so cavalier that I have it all under control 

[Frybabe]

With all the phone number spoofing, you still have to be careful. My sister has a friend who swore the phone number she answered was her daughters, answered the call only to discover it was a scam call. The world seems to be going to hell in a handbasket right now. Nothing seems secure these days. What happened to ethics, morals and civility?

Still very slowly working my way through Tom Holland's Persian Fire. It is a bit dry, usual for Holland. I wish the chapters were a little shorter. I fell asleep on the last half of chapter four night before last and didn't get through the entire chapter five before putting it down. Slow, very slow. I've also been reading another sci-fi short story anthology that Jonathan Straham edited. I usually get through them fairly fast. Right now I am around three-quarters of the way through. And, I finally started Jack Campbell's newest Lost Fleet iteration.

[PatH]

That kind of grandson scam has been around for some years. I used to get it a lot, but they didn't do their homework.  my grandson was too young to sound like the voice, and the scammer talked in a way my grandson never would.

[BarbStAubrey]

thanks - it may be crazy but at least now I know people I know have been attacked - yes, Pat I think that is a key if they talk in a way our family members would never talk then that is time to hang up and yep Frybabe in so many ways the world is going crazy - all these stores closing because of mass shop lifting with no shame and no going before a judge much less police presence mattering - it goes on and on... I saw one person on TV the other night that blames most of this on drugs - never thought but I bet he is onto something - the Cartels have owned property in this state for decades and now they are taking over huge chunks of land so that to rustle them out will now take a war - and so the drugs flow easily as do those who are tied to and therefore arms of the cartels instigating all sorts of mayhem all over this nation.

[Tomereader1]

Just a quick note, Barb.  You know the list of SF reading materials you sent me?  Well, I have read "Andromeda Evolution", Rossum's Universal Robots and Robopocalypse.  Interesting, the Andromeda was far too technical, but the story was exciting.  Think that'll do me for SF for awhile.  I'll stick to my Mystery/Thriller/Police Procedural, and Historical Fiction and plain old Literary Fiction!

Sorry you got so frightened about the Grandson Robo-call.  I've had several over the years.  Didn't fall for any of them.  Had one last week, the boy/man said "Mom?"  to which I replied, "I'm nobody's Mom" and hung up on him!

[BarbStAubrey]

Wow Joanne, you also with the calls - still having difficulty settling down and took a long nap but it sure puts a new spin on where we post and what we say - I feel safe here but not safe for awhile now on Facebook - going back to how we lived before computers allowed us to talk with others - sad now since I'm in a new area and I'm not as nibble so less social exchange - need to be satisfied with books and handwork - gardening is a challenge and cooking, there is no one but me to eat what I cook and my goodness the news -

There is little on TV and baseball is coming to the end of the season - don't enjoy football except I do like to watch the high school kids and even collage football that was filling TV during the pandemic - well where the pandemic may have brought folks back to learning how to enjoy their home it also gave many the time to cause mischief and that is what I think is going on with all this computer hacking - idle hands and all that...

Yes, we can be grateful we are not seeing our grandsons fighting and dying in mass like in Ukraine but for some of us just going to the store has become risky and for sure my experience showed me you can be robbed or people can attempt to rob you without leaving your home. And even the more recent books no longer feel make believe or full of wonder - the Booker Prize final selections was full of stories based in angst.

I notice the decorators the have information on the net are all shying away from the whites and clean cut lines to a warmer and homier style and you don't hear as much about minimalists - I am hearing of more and more families choosing to home school which means a one income family with side jobs to help but homes are now more than for sleeping and celebrating holidays -

I notice several sites offering recipes from the depression - my concern is that people are not as active just to maintain life as in the 30s or even the 40s when there was a scarcity of foods and so little harm to the body eating those meals heavy with bread and potatoes as are the recipes being shared - without that level of physical exertion I'm thinking folks will put on unwanted weight and so when there is an economic balance again I bet the focus will be on getting in shape and loosing pounds with all the marketing of some new fad that will be dreamed up. 

OK I'm thinking we have to make our own good news - that will be my focus - how to shut all this off and create pleasant moments and joy filled days - one good thing even though it is still hot here there is a change in how the sun slants and in just a couple of weeks I won't need the AC on 24/7 - soups are interesting to cook and last for several days or even the left overs can be frozen - think I will gather some soup recipes - I'm still shelving books and still have boxes to unpack but I think a new push is in order and now that baseball is coming to an end instead of bemoaning no TV it is time to start reading again - I think I will get some easy to make tea - never did teaballs but now is the time and start having an afternoon cup of tea reding a delightful book, maybe back to poetry instead of most of the current book retelling the disappointment with today's happenings and then I need to find a good spot for evening reading. Lighting not good in this living room and do not like reading in bed - need to find a comfortable spot where I can have a lamp and maybe the magnifying lamp I used when I was doing fine embroidery.

It was a downer that I was still unpacking so that I really slowed down - I'm seeing an end to the tunnel and so renewed effort plus I really do not want to celebrate the holidays surrounded by boxes - OK renewed effort to create pleasant and joy... 

[BarbStAubrey]

tra la - found this and it is perfect...

[Tomereader1]

Barb, I love reading poetry, old and some newer styles too.  Have you ever read any Mary Oliver's poetry collections?  She is delightful!  Glories in nature, and trees and animals and birds, oh so soothing.  Check her out at the library.

There has been computer hacking almost as long as there have been computers, so nothing new there.  It has just gotten more widespread and more sophisticated!  Now that all our appliances and accessories are "Smart" it is super easy to do bad stuff.  As I said earlier, I have read most of the books you recommended; have saved  the  "Robopocalypse" for last as the liner notes speak about all these things we've just bemoaned. (phones, TV's, cars) all being "smart" and gradually phase us out.  Do keep up with advances in technology, so you'll know the next time your "grandson" calls...LOL!  I know the news is awful to watch nowadays, but forewarned is forearmed in some cases.  Several years ago, I quit carrying a handbag/purse. I used to love the bigger ones, but it got so that folk would just snatch those big purses right out of your grocery cart, or since they usually had wide openings that some people left unzipped, they could quickly lift your wallet out and be gone before you missed it.  I have a little, I call it a purse, but it is really a zippered book cover/carrier, like you would keep your Bible in.  It has room for my minimalist wallet, which carriers only my drivers license, insurance cards, and one or two credit cards.  I am very watchful about where I park the car, and if anyone walks toward or behind me.  Around here the Walmart parking lot is open season on older ladies who keep their purse in the grocery cart while they're unloading their grocery items, or just walking in or out of the store.  Creeps will grab hold of the purse straps and yank you down, usually injuring you, as well as stealing your property.  Do be watchful, careful and safe, Barb!

[Frybabe]

I found a very nice short story (novella?) of about 100 pages in volume 13 of Jonathan Strahan's The Best of Science Fiction and Fantasy (vol. 13)  anthology series. It is simply called Windam by Vandana Singh. It seems a hopeful kind of climate change story. It follows several people in different parts of the world dealing with the lack of water and desertification and AI's going rogue. The first section didn't impress me much until I came across the "Wendigo" code. Anyone who knows Native American beliefs and mythology, and those who have read William Kent Krueger's books will be familiar with the Wendigo tales. In this case it looks like AI's are starting to rebel against their overseers who use them to do further damage to the earth. Ms. Singh's bio: https://www.framingham.edu/about-fsu/spotlights/vandana-singh

[BarbStAubrey]

Wow interesting Frybabe - I guess we should have hope that there are two sides if not more to everything that is new and I'm thinking technology is still new so this century may see enormous change - I'm wondering if all the change we have already seen is so unsettling to the average person especially those who have not grown up where they could escape into nature to just be and unfortunately every leadership type moral guide from churches to politics and even the courts have been severely wounded by people with no concern for others except their own needs that there is no leadership left to learn or hold in esteem outside the home the moral ethics that held the average person in a community from crashing - this vacuum has left so many  vulnerable, anxious, angry, unsettled so that chaos is all that is left from this mess...

Like Joanne's suggestions how to be careful - ideas that have always been part of good thinking but now being super careful is imperative because chaos means there is no predictability and every area of a community as every age range person is vulnerable - at least we who post here have the safety of our own home to create a joy filled day as well as have a measure of control assuring us a safe day - reminds me of a quote that was depicted rather dramatically showing a large sailing ship in a storm with sails furled to stay afloat and a huge lightening flash across the dark sky - and the quote - The entire water of the sea can't sink a ship unless it gets inside. Similarly, the Negativity of the World can't put you down Unless you allow it to get inside of you. 

Frybabe after reading again that quote, for sure I need to read the book you've suggested - just the hopeful nature of realizing that AI is not the end to all of control that will take us over which thinking on it, I think that has been the fear. 

[Frybabe]

Looks like I forgot to post this morning.

Correction first: the story name is Widdam, not Windam. While looking about this morning, I discovered that the story is also published in a book called A Year Without a Winter, also an anthology of short stories, but this all these are environmental themes. The volume is edited by Dehlia Hannah, who has Ph.D. in Philosophy. Here is her bio: https://www.dehliahannah.com/ Click on the side tabs for more. One impressive lady.

[BarbStAubrey]

Wow you are right frybabe - quiet a resume - seems to me I've heard of A Year Without Winter - another issue that there are as many notable scientists that do not agree with one another - it seems to have become a political issue and very unusual weather happening is blamed on climate change without any reference to the Farmer's Almanac to see if there was a similar happening in the past. And then for every solution the creation of the solution or manufacturing of the solution takes as much and in some cases more energy than the current product or service. At this point I'm seeing stopping climate change as a marketing tool - but then that may be a political viewpoint for all I know - all I see is the coastline where my sister lives on the Outer Banks of NC and City Island where my other sister has a home the beach front gets whacked with storms as they always have but no loss of coastline - most of the changes I see is because there are more people than even 30 years ago with new subdivisions carved out of what was wild land or farms that the farmers aged with no one to take over so they sell - all that concrete and roads where rain used to soak in has to make change so that now rain water would flow over and past all the concrete and roads or pile up in nearby nooks and crannies causing flooding. 

[Frybabe]

The world is getting to be such a nasty place. My current reading escapes are:

Just finished last night: The Lamplighters by  Emma Stonex. Story was okay. Nicely written. Seemed to really drag out, ending predictable.

Continued:
-Another chapter of Persian Fire. I wish the chapters were a little shorter. Good but dense. Keep falling asleep on it.
-Another chapter of the neglected Great Courses audio, The Other 1492: Ferdinand, Isabella, and The Making of an Empire. Chapter six was of particular interest because it included books, authors and printing in the 15th century. Interesting that the chapter was mostly about the role of books in culture.
-Return to Glory by Jack McDevitt. Always a good read, these are some of his short stories, plus and excerpt from his book Hercules Text which I read years ago.

Just started: The Great Courses, Creation Stories of the Ancient World By: Joseph Lam. Very good.

I see that I have two other books in my TBR that include lighthouses, Swan Light, by Phoebe Rowe and The Light on Farallon Island by Jen Wheeler. The Farallon Islands, I just read, are a group of small islands off the West Coast around San Francisco. They are closed to the public, being designated a wildlife sanctuary. I might just continue the theme next. Both these books appear to be debut novels from the authors.

[BarbStAubrey]

Nice group of books to better understand the Israeli Palestinian conflict - some I had not heard of before I read this list - a couple intrigue me -  half at least are about the Palestinians experience - still a couple of the books sound like something I would want to read - a couple of authors talk about feeling displaced after returning years later and not finding what they left - my own experience with that a few years ago makes me want to read - I'm thinking they are seeing the war as the culprit where as I'm wondering if it is the condition of many of us who left one area of the country for another and therefore instead of the changes creeping up so they are not noticed going back years later the change is sudden, shocking our system and war or not, it is the story of this century. As we age or at least I can say as I age I'm reminded often of childhood experiences and bringing up memories that took place in what was home we thought would be  comforting but with these seismic changes there is no home and so like these stories of others who lived in other corners of the world suggest there is no going home - we feel misplaced not wholly in place while we hold memories of a different time and place. 

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/the-read-down/books-to-understand-the-israel-palestine-conflict/

[BarbStAubrey]

Wow - watching part of the PBS special on Elon Musk that seems to be about his acquiring and running of Twitter - all interesting UNTIL - the bit where his employees were in a congressional hearing and after the formal meeting a reporter that is featured on the special asks a question - forgot the question but out it comes that the First Amendment is about what the Government can or cannot say and does not control private companies that can say what they want - that facebook, twitter, etc were not controlled or controllable regardless what they allow or not allow even to talk negatively about a nation or its leaders or its policies or even its thoughts on Covid and its treatment -  shocked me to the core when my head went into over drive and I realize private companies that we have become dependent upon can say what they want regardless of truth - this would even include news since TV and Newspapers etc are all privet companies - to distinguish between fact and opinion is tricky these days but this information about what government is allowed and what private companies are allowed blew the top of my head off - what we read using technology - what we read on our computer or similar devise we could just as well be reading a novel or the script for a play - and the US Government is just as bad since they can slant information to favor or dis-favor their point of view.

It's all smoke and mirrors - legally !!??!!

here is a link to the 1st Amendment as it relates to government speech
https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/amdt1-7-8-2/ALDE_00013545/

I'm beginning to wonder if Elon Musk is playing around with the concept of free speech, control and what we will tolerate - I doubt many of us realized how many sick people there are in our society that will use a public forum to say the most outrageous or lie about anything and anybody or be so driven they say and do anything no matter how gross or damaging and the fine line technology has enabled for us to communicate publicly - some were so sure they were protecting the public's interest that having that kind of control went too far and yet, to have no control does not work either.

Did not watch the entire program but at this point I'm wondering if Elon Musk, who appears to only question everything without being wedded to any principle or thought unless proved, purchased this communication technology to explore this question of free speech where as those who were and many who still are working in tech communication believe their understanding of what is appropriate is 'right' and therefore do not see his questioning approach, allowing the freedom to see what happens and then try to reign in when it goes off the rails. With this questioning freedom there are no firm rules that they can follow that is the standard used in the company. It is this questioning with no preconceived or acceptance of anything that preceds his questioning that is the basis for his creativity - Everything is an experiment with the result new connections are made. With speech being the corner stone of social media that he does not want to see the companies control with only the leaders in a company's point of view allowed which squashes innovation and creativity however, allowing complete freedom is too free wheeling bad actors take over.

For now realizing how little protection for truth really exists I'm wondering what we can believe especially, when there are opposite views on the same issue - and each trying to cancel the other - at least when I read a novel I know it is a novel and not a textbook or biography - I am still blown away by the 1st amendment explanation - in today's world it is hardly a useful amendment except in principle... It did protect for the fist couple of hundred years but I'm thinking only because it was a simpler time when speech was seldom used as a weapon.

[Frybabe]

Some related reading:

https://daily.jstor.org/to-fix-fake-news-look-to-yellow-journalism/
https://www.cits.ucsb.edu/fake-news/brief-history
https://www.historians.org/about-aha-and-membership/aha-history-and-archives/gi-roundtable-series/pamphlets/em-2-what-is-propaganda-(1944)/the-story-of-propaganda
https://history.howstuffworks.com/history-vs-myth/10-biggest-lies-in-history.htm

A thought: there are those who through innocently using imprecise or inarticulate wording open themselves up to getting their comments misconstrued or twisted by others. Words can be double-edged swords. There are those who deliberately use fuzzy words. A definition: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/obfuscate

[BarbStAubrey]

hmm I guess it has always been with us but now more prevalent then ever... I think two possible reasons - the lies are so outrageous and repeated over and over it takes a year or several to get to any semblance of truth and even then the first statements are adjusted so they do not appear as outrageous as when first pass as truth and the other social media has more voices sharing their thoughts - and that is where I think there is another slant to fuzzy - people have colloquial ways of expressing themselves - you have to be a very skilled writer to for instance get irony across especially in different areas of the country -

I see it living here in NextDoor the neighborhood so called newspaper - Austin was equal white to Hispanic where as here, not so but, the difference in less Hispanic is made up with a huge % of Cajun and larger then Austin is the German heritage - Many from Louisianan escaped Katrina and stayed but Houston always had a strong French influence - back in the 60s and 70s once a year in the fall a bunch of us would pile in a vehicle immediately after dropping our children off at school and drive over trying to get back in time to make supper - We did not have department stores in Austin like Dallas or Houston and Houston was an hour closer.

All to say the girls behind the counter all spoke French as their first language and with a heavy accent spoke English - there are expressions used here we never used in Austin and any monitor for instance on Facebook they would not get it and I notice often unnecessarily banning a post without understanding - well if it happens just between two cities in one state it must hold true between two nations. We are so intent on learning initials for words that no longer is the use of words taught to young students. It has been more about learning to use technology to find any answer or learn anything new as a classroom exercise - I remember some years ago Ginny was death on using Wikipedia finding so many errors in their content - I think they have cleaned up considerably from those early years but then any history is an agreed upon history that was most often written by the victors of not only wars but any thought. So again what is truth? And then what is propaganda or even a plain misunderstanding that is passed along. With so many nefarious players who are skilled in controlling the news or twisting the thinking for many, especially since today's active generation were taught in school to turn to some devise for information rather than a thought out of a reviewed book makes it easy for the nefarious players to alter outcomes.

One thing I have noticed - those who appear glued to the devise, using it for everything turn to it before they think through and decide for themselves - I notice this about the simple task of fixing a meal using what is on hand - I was amazed to see my daughter who does not go a minute without her devise in her hand immediately turn to it in order to decide what to cook with what I had before we went shopping - its like there was not creativity or using your head to see what to fix - I think back in the Audrey Hepburn movie where she was the chauffeur's daughter who studied in Paris secretly in love with one of the wealthy sons and somehow she is in the office of the elder son, Bogart and turns to the sparse larder to make them a meal - If I remember there were saltines and I don't remember but she had no cookbook or hand held devise to guide her nor did my mother when during WWII certain foods were limited and yet, here my daughter as quick as a wink turns to some outside technical guide to tell her what to fix as she plunked in what was in the frig - I'm beginning to think no one is using their head any longer - no wonder it appears to be all about feelings - being happy and being outraged and being insulted and and and... no one thinks and uses their heads to figure things out... No wonder words can be miss construed - the impression of the combined words is all that matters not the content. 

[BarbStAubrey]

Wow now we have AI dosing out and 'creating' propaganda...

Vice News reports that the field of generative AI and popular tools like ChatGPT and DALL-E are being scrutinized as instances of misuse and ethical dilemmas become more apparent. In short, tech companies are creating AI chaos often aimed at kids, and none of them seem particularly concerned about the fallout.

Vice News reports that generative AI has emerged as a powerful tool, enabling users to create a myriad of content, ranging from the whimsical to the downright offensive. Tech giants, including ChatGPT developer OpenAI, Microsoft and Facebook (now known as Meta), have been ardently pushing forward with AI-generated content, unveiling chatbots and image-generating tools that have been hailed as the future of content creation.

[Fran]

Hi Everyone, my granddaughter just left after trying many ways to
help me out with my iPad, I’m so happy that Ican still get into seniorlearn!
Enjoy reading everyone’s comments, keep me company when I feel
so lonely. You guys are so great and so interesting about so many
different subjects. Fran

[Frybabe]

Welcome back, Fran.

[BarbStAubrey]

Fran... how great to see your post again - hope all is well - fill us in - what have you been up to of late? And so now you have an IPad and can sit anywhere that is comfortable - I have not yet purchased anything portable and really need to - still sitting next to the computer on my desk... after I finally finish shelving the books and getting the last of the boxes emptied I can get back to a life that includes the kind of reading and cooking and stitching and even gardening that I love...

[BarbStAubrey]

Came across this Penelope Fitzgerald The Gate of Angles - wasn't sure if I read it or not and started to read - well I was so hooked I could not believe - it has been eons since I was that taken with a novel - and, I had not read it so I quick downloaded from Amazon and in one sitting read a third of the book -

What adds immeasurably is the vocabulary and phrasing is very much pre WWI which is when the story takes place in a fictional small college part of the system of colleges in Cambridge and the conversation is mostly about science and scientific thinking versus God which they are of the mind set it is based in Faith since there is not visible proof - but every one of the disciplines are represented by a professor who brings out their struggle or lack of accepting science but more it is the beginnings of deciding if atoms are real or also a faith based phenomenon since there is no visible proof yet. All sorts of cultural traditions are included from this all male college that does not allow cleaning ladies much less marriage - its all there what women had finally rebelled against but included in such a polite gentleman way it does not raise blood pressure reading it.

Penelope Fitzgerald is a wonder woman author - how I missed this book I have no clue but it is a delight and a quick read about a time in history not currently in vogue - currently lots of TV and books set in the time frame before the turn of the century and after WWI and many coming out of Britain taking place during and after WWII - after WWI the storylines seems to be more about action and before the turn of the century the story lines seem to be more about manners and who has what money. And so if you love words and phrasing this is a perfect actually quick read.   

[PatH]

Barb, The Gate of Angles sounds like my kind of thing, something I see less and less of these days.

[PatH]

For anyone who is interested, so far Bubble, in Israel, is in a spot which so far seems to be out of shelling range, and is still posting on our sister site.

[BarbStAubrey]

I did not stay with, I think it is called Senior and Friends - when SeniorNet was taken over they rallied and created the Senior and Friends and at first I did participate but after a bit of time it was more as our library has become - a place to make a connection and less about together reading a book - the music group was very definite in what was considered 'good' music - soon after they started Ginny started this site which was discussing as we had been, one book in depth at a time and so I lost contact with many who preferred Senior and Friends - and so vaguely I remember Bubbie - did not know she lived in Israel - not an easy place to live - astonishing to see such old animosities continue with new faces and new issues carrying on these old warring beliefs - still cannot fathom if it is all about the land or religion but my heart goes out to those who would just like to get on with daily life that does not include all this hate. At this point in life I have to acknowledge that is a dream or fantasy that somehow war and atrocities committed on others is as much the fabric of life as enduring and endearing love along with kindness, being gentle with each other. I sure hope and pray Bubbie and her sister continue to be safe - we do not know the future nor the minds of those carrying out this conflict but my hope is it does not escalate to affect those who live with some safety.   

[PatH]

I'm not much of a presence there, but I do still check in, keep track of people, and occasionally post. 

[Frybabe]

Me again, still swatting yellowjackets in the house. The exterminators can't come fast enough to seal up holes for me, and I am holding out no hope for a hard freeze anytime soon. In fact, it will be in the 70's again this coming week. Still don't know exactly where they are getting in. Swatted two in the kitchen. I didn't check the back bedroom yesterday so I expect to see more in there.

I started listening to Stanislaw Lem's The Invincible. While not particularly exciting so far, it is interesting. It involves the crew of an exploration ship, but further than that I can't say yet. The short blurbs I found don't give much of a hint other that. This is my first Lem.

Also started is Tony Hillerman's first of series, The Blessing Way. I really like how he introduces his cast of main characters individually and gives a sense of each character and their surroundings before jumping into the story.

[BarbStAubrey]

Your fighting yellow jackets and I'm fighting one mound after the other of fire ants - a couple ended up biting me and I've an infection now on my middle finger, the back of my hand, my ankle and the back of my arm - they not only bite like a fire poker was jammed on the place of the bite but it appears these are leaving infections that I never experienced that before - and yellow jacket stings are painful to the point of tears - golly is there no peace anywhere??!!??

I like Tony Hillerman's books and the few movies were well done - still enjoying Penelope however not much reading yesterday nor will there be any this evening - the Astros have all my attention 

[ginny]

  Yellow Jackets, the scourge of the earth. I would have evacuated the premises, I am so  terrified of them. Good luck, Frybabe!

Barbara, just a slight correction, SeniorLearn was the first to reorganize after SeniorNet went down as we had people paying tuition for nothing but an empty website and it had to go up very fast. And it did.


I was reading a very interesting article by the  classicist Natalie Haynes about what books she enjoyed and how she could not put down one of Stephen King's books  even at the top of the Eiffel Tower but it was her remarks on Agatha Christie which interested me:

 " My comfort read
Agatha Christie or Dorothy L Sayers, please. I want a nice, neat world, thrown into chaos by a murder, and then made neat again by a genius detective."

That's pretty much it. Me too. Except for Sayers. I'm having an awful time getting past the woman's name. I can take Lord Whoever but I can't get past that  dated woman's name, I guess somewhere in my background was somebody named that and I really can't turn the pages. Strange.

Reading a lot of Latin at the moment, being astounded as always about how much so many other people know that I never heard of.  For instance Gellius has a cute story dating about 180 A.D. from another now lost author  about taking your son to work with you which reminds me of Aunt Bea on the old Andy Griffith Series, but hark!

It seems that an artist called Domenico Beccafumi 1484 - 1551, knows the story and his work on Praetextatus in the National Gallery has done sort of a cycle or line of telling the story in art in one painting. I love the way the National Gallery presents it online, so you can follow along as it were with the story, it's like a movie. . It so reminds me of the St. Ursula Cycle at the Accademia  in Venice...and it...the longer one lives, the more one realizes one knows almost nothing at all,  and  that apparently EVERYBODY else in the world does but one.






https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/oct/20/natalie-haynes-i-couldnt-stop-reading-stephen-king-even-at-the-top-of-the-eiffel-tower?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

[BarbStAubrey]

To each his own on murder mysteries - cannot stomach Steven King however enjoy Agatha Christie - her stories have at least a modicum of grace and civility rather than being raw and tough, which is why I like the cozies - the normal that is being sought is comfortable and yes, cozy - King's normal is probably closer to the truth of things but not a normal that allows me to feel safe and comfortable - but yes, I read that someplace else that during the isolation for the pandemic, more mysteries and detective stories were sold than any other genre.

Been since just before this after-season baseball with the Astros and the Rangers that I finished watching the 9 seasons of Seaside Hotel - interesting watching the way making of money lined people up who worked with the Nazis and those who did not. That part of the war in some of these European nations I did not know - the saga stopped at a good point and it was very well done - the acting was superb - now I'm wondering if this had been a book - just looked it up and not a book - the author is age 75 this year and the last episode was on TV in 2021 so for the latter half of the series she wrote it when she was in her 60s which puts her born just after WWII and so as a young child Denmark would have been recovering as was all of Europe but some of the stories of what was going on would be starting to surface - probably should transfer this however, now that I know it was not a book made into a film my thoughts on the film are here in the library 

Hanna Lundblad, the writer also did another series about a young women that takes in 25 years of history since WWII that I would like to find and watch - Karlstad- so far it is not showing up on Amazon it is on something ITZ or something like that which tried to connect me to Amazon Prime but I am not as computer literate to make it work. 

Feel so much better - finally I can see the end to unloading boxes - only 5 in the garage - 3 in the hall and about 8 in the room I'm calling the study that is really a 2nd bedroom with one of these gigantic closets that the seller used as her sewing room, full of built in cubbies that are now full of books and then in what was his computer room there were narrow bookshelves on either side of a sofa that I kept and are on either side of a sofa that is a hide-a-bed where Katha sleeps when she visits. I really have more books then I realized and need to cull - not sure how -

Trying to sell those in great condition on Amazon is really a pain - you fill out paper work and then the books do not go to one location and you have to bring them to a delivery service in several piles for the various Amazon locations then wait for them to sell - never got that far to know how the money is handled but I'm betting in your gift account - too much work for little return -

There is a half price books that originated in Austin here in Houston but it appears to be in Houston which is not an easy trip the city has become so large. I'll end up probably giving them away but even that is difficult with no Goodwill close by - I'll figure something out - for now it is more important to finish getting everything in its new place and finish making this a home and then I can start culling not only books but other things I'm finding I'm no longer using.

while y'all are fighting yellow jackets I'm fighting fire ants and just found a documentary about them that I need to watch - first the game and see what will be...