patrick.net

Works I have been reading and/or re-reading and find fascinating lately. (I sure hope this does not come off as spam).

Gotta get this one in. 1984 by George Orwell. First read it in my teens. It's just so much, so concentrated to me. Many re-reads and I am still getting new things.


How to Be Invisible: Protect Your Home, Your Children, Your Assets, and Your Life by J. J. Luna.

https://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Invisible-Protect-Children/dp/1250010454

I find this work to be a fascinating explanation of what a person can do to maximize privacy and WHY A PERSON SHOULD. I sure do wish I had run into this collection of instruction and know-how when I was starting out in the world.

How to Protect Your Life Savings from Hyperinflation and Depression, 2nd edition by John T. Reed.

https://www.johntreed.com/collections/john-t-reed-s-book-on-hyperinflation-and-depression/products/how-to-protect-your-life-savings-from-hyperinflation-and-depression

First published in 2010, and updated in 2012, a THOROUGH analysis of our times now in the USA and the real risk of hyperinflation. Clear, straight forward advise about how to essentially create something akin to home owner's insurance (e.g., protecting yourself if your house burns down, unlikely but possible) except against hyperinflation. You, of course, do not want collapse of the economy to happen, and it very well may not, but it is nice to have resources in place if the catastrophe occurs.

Patrick says

when you split your people so that they can't unify against you, you make yourself much weaker if a war comes

If our country was the way it is today in 1941, we'd never have had a chance of winning World War II, and there were a number of people who were opposed to joining it, but easily the minority. No less an eminence than Charles "Lucky Lindy" Lindbergh opposed it.

MisdemeanorRebellionNoCoupForYou says

richwicks says

I'd agree. Never thought a book about basically marketing would be so interesting. Bernays wasn't always evil, but he sure died that way.

He wrote to Freud, who was an old school Victorian stoic sort, about using his theories in marketing. Freud was disgusted, as he thought using such things for "Commerce" was vulgar and barbaric.

Bernays was the nephew of Freud..

And I share you optimism about the country getting elevated skepticism. I'm very optimistic, and that's a nice change of 16 years of absolute pessimism. I was overjoyed that Trump got elected in 2016 - I wasn't expecting him to change much, but it was first I had hope that we wouldn't just have Neocon fuckbag after Neocon fuckbag as president for the rest of my life.

And I don't even mind this election was stolen - now people can see the depth of depravity these fuckers will sink to.

Get with "The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia"

I enjoy reading history. I don't really read fiction anymore.

When I was 15 I was given "Illusions, The adventures of a reluctant messiah". by Richard Bach. I do believe it changed my life.

Bach also wrote, "Jonathan Livingstone Seagull" as well as a bunch of obscure essays on flying.

Now starting on Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Gibbon, because it seems very relevant to modern America.

Read Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals.

You can get an audiobook of it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQoh-vTRPVQ

Recall, this was written in 1971. I've only gone through the 1st chapter, but I'm a bit surprised that he was ever considered intelligent or smart.

Also, although it's frequently claimed, Saul Alinsky never said "accuse your enemy of what you are doing, as you are doing to create confusion". If you prefer to read it, here's a PDF:

https://historyofsocialwork.org/1946_Alinsky/1971%20-%20Saul%20Alinsky%20-%20Rules%20for%20Radicals%20-%20OCR.pdf

I taught myself programing and gained the passion for the knowledge that has served me over my career, by reading Wrox Press, Sams Publishing and a few others. I could just drive down to a Barnes and Nobel, or to Borders Books, one place had a selection that the other didn't. I never got the same connection with electronic books. I knew we were Fucking the Pooch by going digital books, and trusting Jeff Bezos to not censor and curate our content going forward.
I couldn't understand the retards that read those cheesy Kindle and Nook readers just to read books. At least a Samsung tablet looked cool, and they had could read ebooks too.

Tenpoundbass says

I taught myself programing and gained the passion for the knowledge that has served me over my career, by reading Wrox Press, Sams Publishing and a few others. I could just drive down to a Barnes and Nobel, or to Borders Books, one place had a selection that the other didn't. I never got the same connection with electronic books. I knew we were Fucking the Pooch by going digital books, and trusting Jeff Bezos to not censor and curate our content going forward.
I couldn't understand the retards that read those cheesy Kindle and Nook readers just to read books. At least a Samsung tablet looked cool, and they had could read ebooks too.

I've always preferred electronic format for reading, period.https://www.npr.org/2021/07/28/1021798222/google-mandates-vaccines-for-workers-pushes-back-return-to-office-date

I collect digital copies of books, and government documents, JUST TO SEE if they are modified.

We helped make the Internet, and not just so people could watch porn more easily. It was to disseminate information and to expose our ruling class. Remember in the 1990's the "news" at the time did the hand wringing about whether you could trust the Internet or not? Well, you can damned well trust it more than the "news". And now the Big Tech is gotten into the propaganda push. That's fine.

Still slogging through Tesla's autobiography. Did you know he had a patent for remote controlled vehicles, at the turn of the 20th Century!! Some things are over-hyped, but not Tesla, holy fuck...

I'm getting near the end of Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

It's been very good, like a funny friend entertaining me each night. I mean Gibbons, the author. Apparently English snark was a thing even back in 1776.

Not looking too good for the Roman Empire though. They let hordes of desperate Goths come in over the border. The illegals of their age. The official excuse was that they would make good Roman citizens in time...

richwicks says

I've always preferred electronic format for reading, period

I find digital reading is different for consuming information. I read a lot on line, and end up consume a lot of trivial crap I wouldn't waste a minute of time reading in a paper book.
I like books for reference and learning. Trying to build something or make a recipe with your notebook, tablet, or smart phone near by is cumbersome. Having a hard copy is always makes the job go much smother and faster. It's easier for me to wrap my head around parts and the blowout map. I don't have to zoom in and out, it's all there for me to see.

At this point I do well with digital reference to stay current or learn a new language. As I have good basic foundation on how to program, and what all of the technical jargon means.
But if I were to want to study for a General Contractor's license, or RE certification, or what ever career change. I would definitely want hard copy books and research references.
It's easier to dig into and wrap my head around it. And it's easier on my eyeballs than a LED screen.

Patrick says

I'm getting near the end of Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

It's been very good, like a funny friend entertaining me each night. I mean Gibbons, the author. Apparently English snark was a thing even back in 1776.

Not looking too good for the Roman Empire though. They let hordes of desperate Goths come in over the border. The illegals of their age. The official excuse was that they would make good Roman citizens in time...

I remember this being taught in schools. The fall of Roman Empire was taught as failure of morality on massive scale. Feels like America is there now, no way to turn this around. Average CA liberal (aka communist faggot), is all into equality and diversity and gay shit. It’s similar in other big cities across America. Even in fucking Texas. I think we gonna fail soon, and that is a very scary thought.

I think US government corruption is getting to be very much like late Roman Empire corruption.

Fortwaynemobile says

I think we gonna fail soon, and that is a very scary thought.

I will still argue that the fall of this country began when George W. Bush lied us into a war in Iraq and we didn't hang the mother fucker for doing it.

Obama was no different, and Clinton would have been no different, Biden is no different. This nation allowed obvious Fascists to run the country. This nation deserves to fall as a result of the negligence of the population. Chickens are coming home to roost.

Americans have allowed, deeply immoral, scum to run this nation for years. Today, we have a president that wasn't elected, openly accepting bribes through his coke head son whose never been arrested for his crack use much less prosecuted, selling "paintings" as a bribery scheme. You think this government deserves to continue? I don't. I'm looking forward to the collapse. It deserves to collapse.

richwicks says

Americans have allowed, deeply immoral, scum run this nation for years. Today, we have a president that wasn't elected, openly accepting bribes through his coke head son whose never been arrested for his crack use much less prosecuted, selling "paintings" as a bribery scheme. You think this government deserves to continue?

No, but there's a saying that "People get the government they deserve."

Apparently we all let the corruption get so incredibly deep and pervasive by our inaction over many decades that this is all the inevitable result.

Patrick says

Apparently we all let the corruption get so incredibly deep and pervasive by our inaction over many decades that this is all the inevitable result.

We have bombed 7 nations over the last 20 years. We have allowed Nancy Pelosi to do insider trading. We have allowed the Clinton foundation to be a conduit for bribes. We allowed Halliburton go from an "oil company" to mercenaries under George W. Bush. I fully believe we allowed our government, and the intelligence agencies, to either cause 9/11 or permissively allow it as a false flag.

We have allowed them to take over the public education system, we're allowing them to enact censorship, we allow them to NOT enforce the law when it comes to the banking sector, we allow the Fed to continue to exist.

What our criminal syndicate has been doing to those 7 nations, was just practice for what they will eventually do here.

I've openly discussed this for years only to have people scream and yell at me about what a traitor I supposedly am, how I "hate America". I hope people enjoy the bed they've allowed to be made, and they can sleep well in it. I'm sorry, but I've got ZERO sympathy for the population and the eventual fallout. My cousin left this nation in disgust, he's an expatriot in Argentina.

richwicks says

our criminal syndicate

I bet they have been diligently collecting compromising information on pretty much everyone high in government to control them.

Maybe Epstein really was employed by them.

Patrick says

Maybe Epstein really was employed by them.

What do you mean "maybe"? Alex Acosta said, bluntly, that he was told NOT to prosecute Epstein because he was "intelligence". Epstein purchased his mansion in NY from Les Wexner for $1.00. Wexner is intelligence too. Ghislaine Maxwell was the daughter of Robert Maxwell, a known double agent for Mossad and Mi6. He died under mysterious circumstances, supposedly falling from his yacht while he was urinating into the ocean. He got a state funeral in Israel. It's suspected that Robert was a triple agent, also working for the KGB.

We are told that Epstein is dead. His will was reportedly changed less than 2 weeks before his death. We have no idea if he's dead, he might be in the Cayman Islands sipping martinis with Ken Lay.. Nobody knows how Epstein, supposedly, made his money - he was never a billionaire, he just was presented as one. His apparent wealth was an illusion from whomever he actually worked for.

There is no doubt in my mind, whatsoever, that Epstein was intelligence.

We also have no idea if Ghislaine Maxwell is actually in prison.

It appears, Mossad, or the CIA, or Mi6, or all of them together were running a child RAPE ring to control politicians. Our intelligence agencies were prostituting children in order to provide for politicians, that were under their control. Bill Clinton is without doubt one of them. It's rumored that George H. Bush was a pedophile, for young boys. Remember the Franklin Scandal?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_child_prostitution_ring_allegations

A documentary in the early 1990's was made about that. Before it could be broadcast, the networks were threatened they'd be sued for libel if they aired it, and all the copies of the film were purchased by an unknown entity - but ONE copy survived:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQHrbJPhus4

If this nation has to collapse to end this shit, I say, bring it on. I'm tired of the apathy around me. People should be outraged, but they aren't. Fine, then they can goddamned suffer if they aren't outraged.

And remember - Dennis Hastert is a pedophile, he was House Majority Whip. He's never paid for his crimes. One of his victims committed suicide.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Hastert#Sex_abuse_scandal_and_federal_prosecution

If this shit happened in 1920, the people then would have overthrown their government, and hung these mother fuckers on lamp posts, and let their bodies rot there. Military does nothing, they are complicit, our intelligence agencies are entirely corrupt they're not only complicit but active participants, our DOJ is complicit, and our "free press" is silent so they are complicit as well.

I wonder if anything would change if everybody understood what I understand? I don't know what people don't know. The world certainly does seem to be controlled by something that could be called "evil". Perhaps its a real force?

You forgot to mention the corruption under Trump. Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud gave Ivanka's charity foundation for "Women Entrepreneurs" $100 million. Wanna bet he got his money's worth?

Do you know how many paintings Hunter has to auction to get that kind of coin?

This is just 1 example.

Read Vegas, they figured some shit out 5 to 10,000 years ago.

Also the republic by plato. Socretes was his mentor.

KgK one says

Read Vegas, they figured some shit out 5 to 10,000 years ago.

Give me a link please? What's "Vegas" other than the shithole in Nevada?

Misc says

You forgot to mention the corruption under Trump. Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud gave Ivanka's charity foundation for "Women Entrepreneurs" $100 million. Wanna bet he got his money's worth?

Can you please post a link? I don't know anything about it.

But if it was corrupt, they would have used it to go after him, instead of that silly bullshit over Russian Collusion, or The Steel Dossier. They would have nailed Trump on anything, even if Obama, Biden, or Clinton did IDENTICAL things. Remember, they busted Paul Manafort for working as a foreign agent - know who he was partnered with? Tony Podesta, who was given immunity provided he testify against Manafort. Manafort was in jail from June 2018 to May 2020, and then placed under house arrest. Trump pardoned him in December 2020.

I'm apolitical BTW. If Trump was engaged in corruption, I'll listen, but don't play these games with me "but the other side did it!" - because the sides are, US, versus a criminal syndicate that pretends to be our government. Those are the two sides and they are FAR more criminal than we are.

Oh, the $100 million fund?

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/05/21/529417148/saudis-and-the-uae-will-donate-100-million-to-a-fund-inspired-by-ivanka-trump

Although Kushner's purchase of thousands of apartments via a loan backed from Fannie, probably netted them more.

https://www.propublica.org/article/the-kushners-freddie-mac-loan-wasnt-just-massive-it-came-with-unusually-good-terms-too


I don't see why anyone is quibbling about $250000 art masterpieces.

KgK one says

Read Vegas, they figured some shit out 5 to 10,000 years ago.

Also the republic by plato. Socretes was his mentor.

The Republic by Plato is right here on my shelf, will read soon.

By Vegas you mean the Rig Veda, right? I have that too somewhere. Started it years ago but couldn't figure out what they were talking about. Maybe a bad translation, the Penguin version.

@"KgK one"

richwicks says

But if it was corrupt, they would have used it to go after him, instead of that silly bullshit over Russian Collusion, or The Steel Dossier. They would have nailed Trump on anything, even if Obama, Biden, or Clinton did IDENTICAL things.

No, not on anything. Look at his cabinet appointments. Look at his defense budget decisions. If you continue backing the bankers and the MIC, no one says a peep.

richwicks says

Read Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals.

You can get an audiobook of it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQoh-vTRPVQ

Recall, this was written in 1971. I've only gone through the 1st chapter, but I'm a bit surprised that he was ever considered intelligent or smart.

Also, although it's frequently claimed, Saul Alinsky never said "accuse your enemy of what you are doing, as you are doing to create confusion". If you prefer to read it, here's a PDF:

https://historyofsocialwork.org/1946_Alinsky/1971%20-%20Saul%20Alinsky%20-%20Rules%20for%20Radicals%20-%20OCR.pdf

When Obama won his first term, Alinsky's son lauded Obama and his team for utlizing his dad's strategy.

Patrick says

KgK one says

Read Vegas, they figured some shit out 5 to 10,000 years ago.

Also the republic by plato. Socretes was his mentor.

The Republic by Plato is right here on my shelf, will read soon.

By Vegas you mean the Rig Veda, right? I have that too somewhere. Started it years ago but couldn't figure out what they were talking about. Maybe a bad translation, the Penguin version.

@"KgK one"

Yes rig Vedas. Germans have largest collection of sanskrit books they took from India. Except for electronics , lot was discovered while ago

Patrick says

In my early retirement, I've decided to read at least an hour a night in real paper books. So far, I've read:

- my dad's old college English book (always felt I needed to improve my grammar)

The classic grammar text from the '60's on was Warriner's English Grammar and Composition. You can usually find copies cheap used. These texts taught sentence diagramming, which is never taught anymore. If you can use this technique, your grammar will be impeccable (barring Google/MS "corrections"). There are 7 books, meant to be taught from 7th grade through 12th. I recommend the Third Course (Grade 9) to start; that was the single greatest education in grammar I have experienced.

@stereotomy My dad's book was Harbrace College Handbook, very well done.

I also have Warriner's English Grammar and Composition from my old high school years (I kept a worn copy they were throwing out). It's much longer.

I did learn sentence diagramming and it helped me a lot. I got 750 out of 800 on the English part of the SAT, which was in the 99th percentile. Had a fantastic English teacher, Mr Terpstra, whose father was a Calvinist minister. Real hardass, but you learned the shit. He kept the blinds closed so students couldn't look out the windows, had nothing on the walls. If you were daydreaming, he'd throw his keys at you. He probably couldn't get away with these things today, sadly.

Patrick says

This makes me think that the Chinese have read The Prince and are using BLM, gays, and militant feminism as allies in their fight against America.

Sun Tzu wrote 'Art of War', two millennia prior to Machiavelli's own book with the same namesake.

It's been said that Napoleon used to carry a copy of Tzu's book w/ him and ppl confused it for Machiavelli's.

So using the enemy's minority groups as a fifth column is an M.O.

With Tzu in mind, I believe that the PRC, using the Belt & Road initiative in Central Asia, was able to get post-Soviet Kazakhstan's govt to suppress their own ethnicities, in supporting Kazakhs on the Chinese side of the border who're suffering oppression.

Patrick says

@stereotomy My dad's book was Harbrace College Handbook, very well done.

I also have Warriner's English Grammar and Composition from my old high school years (I kept a worn copy they were throwing out). It's much longer.

I did learn sentence diagramming and it helped me a lot. I got 750 out of 800 on the English part of the SAT, which was in the 99th percentile. Had a fantastic English teacher, Mr Terpstra, whose father was a Calvinist minister. Real hardass, but you learned the shit. He kept the blinds closed so students couldn't look out the windows, had nothing on the walls. If you were daydreaming, he'd throw his keys at you. He probably couldn't get away with these things today, sadly.

The English teacher that introduced me to Warriner's was a 400 lb. goblin of a man. His almost claim to fame was that he was offered the part in the Alka-Seltzer commercial "I can't believe I ate the whole thing," but he declined. Like your English teacher, he was a character, although more in a Bronx Italian way.

I can say that Catholic school was excellent at teaching me to read and write, but it sucked when it came to math/science.

Patrick says

That sounds about right to me. I was in Catholic school only for 3rd grade and freshman and sophomore years of college (Notre Dame).

You lived in Indiana?

I used to work for RCA. It (was) at Meridian (31) and 465 about at the northern tip of Indianapolis.

Side off tract:

Warriner's English Grammar and Composition. Should I get it for My daughters, they will be taking SAT in few years. ? I guess it can help with grammer.


Big issue has been reading comprehension. That's hard to learn, kids been reading tons of books mostly fiction but it might help.
Math I got 800, so helping them with it . One can get 720in 7th grade so I am OK with it

KgK one says

Side off tract:

Warriner's English Grammar and Composition. Should I get it for My daughters, they will be taking SAT in few years. ? I guess it can help with grammer.


Big issue has been reading comprehension. That's hard to learn, kids been reading tons of books mostly fiction but it might help.
Math I got 800, so helping them with it . One can get 720in 7th grade so I am OK with it

Yes, I would recommend "Warriner's English Grammar and Composition" though the version I have is from 1962. Hopefully it's not changed too much.

richwicks says

I will still argue that the fall of this country began when George W. Bush lied us into a war in Iraq and we didn't hang the mother fucker for doing it.

My bigger issue isn't where the start was, it's where it's going. Watching my state and my country completely fall apart, and create a cycle that leads to more and more shit just feels hopeless. Like what future are my kids gonna have?

Misc says

Oh, the $100 million fund?

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/05/21/529417148/saudis-and-the-uae-will-donate-100-million-to-a-fund-inspired-by-ivanka-trump

Although Kushner's purchase of thousands of apartments via a loan backed from Fannie, probably netted them more.

https://www.propublica.org/article/the-kushners-freddie-mac-loan-wasnt-just-massive-it-came-with-unusually-good-terms-too


I don't see why anyone is quibbling about $250000 art masterpieces.

Neither are credible sources. I need to see their supposed sources.

NPR and PBS are, at this point, no better than CNN or Fox. I can't trust them.

There's this circle jerkoff about other "news" sources that are complete bullshit. Find an ultimate source that I can check myself, or it didn't happen. This goes for Democrats as well.

I'm tired of fucking claims, pointing out what I know are propaganda sources as credible. PBS ended as a news source when Robert MacNeil left in 1995. Jim Lehrer sold out, I noticed when he was reporting on the "weapons of mass destruction program in Iraq".

All we fucking get is propaganda.

If those two "news" articles are accurate, why weren't they used against Trump? Either Trump is more controlled opposition (possible), or it was bullshit (find that Russian Collusion yet?). I don't know and I recognize either is possible. But I need to see original sources at this point and an explanation of why our "intelligence" agencies didn't pick it up.

You may not understand, the election of Trump wasn't that people expected him to change things, it's was a one fingered solute to the assholes that have been running this country, EVEN IF he was controlled opposition. Hopefully he was the real deal, but EVEN IF HE WASN'T and we've seen a play for 4 years, FUCK YOU criminal syndicate that runs this nation. He was a protest vote and I continue to protest.

FortWayneAsNancyPelosiHaircut says

richwicks says

I will still argue that the fall of this country began when George W. Bush lied us into a war in Iraq and we didn't hang the mother fucker for doing it.

My bigger issue isn't where the start was, it's where it's going. Watching my state and my country completely fall apart, and create a cycle that leads to more and more shit just feels hopeless. Like what future are my kids gonna have?

Any future you allow to be made.

I was continually pissed off with the Boomer generation. As I age, I'm getting pissed off with Generation X - MY generation.

These fuckers in power seem to want to knock over every goddamned table before they take their dirt nap. Well, if we let them, we deserve what we get, and what our progeny gets. The only solution in my awareness it to allow people to know what is going on. The fact there is state sponsored censorship, shows we're making progress - perhaps not quickly enough, but we're making progress.

FortWayneAsNancyPelosiHaircut says

richwicks says

I will still argue that the fall of this country began when George W. Bush lied us into a war in Iraq and we didn't hang the mother fucker for doing it.

My bigger issue isn't where the start was, it's where it's going. Watching my state and my country completely fall apart, and create a cycle that leads to more and more shit just feels hopeless. Like what future are my kids gonna have?

@FortWayneAsNancyPelosiHaircut

I think there is hope as long as we all do whatever we can to apply and keep the pressure on the corrupt oligarchy.

"Every country has the government it deserves" -- Joseph de Maistre

I was pretty discouraged last night, but reading https://twitter.com/RWMaloneMD really encouraged me today. The evidence is getting to be overwhelming that the jab is the worst thing ever done to humanity, but the mandates that all government employees, Facebook employees, Google employees, and Morgan Stanley employees submit to it may well lead to a revolt against it, even among the elite.

They are evil, but they also do not want to die of stupidity just to make Big Pharma richer.

Patrick says

but the mandates that all government employees, Facebook employees, Google employees, and Morgan Stanley employees submit to it may well lead to a revolt against it, even among the elite.

Oh, please let this be suicide in a needle...

Couldn't be a more deserving group of people.