So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[tonyb]

When we moved from the Midwest to the PNW three years ago I trimmed my library considerably. Almost 2/3 of it ended up at Goodwill, likely before ending up in a landfill. Most of what got ditched were old textbooks, casebooks, hornbooks and law reporter sets. Either outdated or case opinions which are all available online now. Funny, at one time that stuff seemed so indispensable but now it's superfluous: LEXIS is faster and more thorough.

I do have a decent size railroad library. I'd leave it to my model railroad club, except that I'm afraid most of it would end up on eBay. I found out a while back that such clubs are always cash starved and gifted items that you'll hope will provide enjoyment for fellow hobbyists usually get sold off.

My model train collection- it isn't huge but it's a considerable amount of locomotives and rolling stock- would likely end up on eBay as well if any model railroad club got hold of it. I'd much rather see a fellow modeler get hold of it, but maybe that's too optimistic. If anyone is going to cash in rather than play with my "toys" I'd prefer it be my widow or son, of course.

Yeah, old textbooks typically get updated every year or three, which cuts the legs out from under the used book market, which of course results in increased sales for the latest edition. The new and improved version is often just a rearrangement of the last one, with maybe a bit of updating here and there to reflect the changes in the field. But the heavy lifting produced the edition that is now worth no more than its pulp value.

I have more than a few such volumes myself. Maybe the author’s grandchildren would want my copy, but probably not.

Some are still worth thumbing through, though. Not many, but some.

 

[LizzieMaine]

One of the interesting sub-groupings on my shelves are elementary and high school textbooks of the 1910s-30s, which can be startling to read in both good and bad ways. The history books are usually out-and-out propaganda of the baldest sort, but the elementary school readers and civics texts will often surprise you with the perspectives shown.

 

[ChiTownScion]

One of the interesting sub-groupings on my shelves are elementary and high school textbooks of the 1910s-30s, which can be startling to read in both good and bad ways. The history books are usually out-and-out propaganda of the baldest sort, but the elementary school readers and civics texts will often surprise you with the perspectives shown.

Catholic parochial schools exposed me to the Ginn & Co. "Faith and Freedom" series. The unabashed attempts at indoctrination were obvious: one I remember in particular were in a story about a French colonial girl that was always referencing the "savage Iroquois." Later realized that this had more to do with the Anglo- Protestant affiliations of the Iroquois than any documented attacks on European settlers.

The books of the series are always interesting to read as an adult. Doubt if they'd cut it today in contemporary Catholic parochial schools. Our world was a lot less nuanced for us back then.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I have a Macmillan-published World History book published in 1911 that goes in quite heavily for the halfwitted "racial science" of the day, in which it is stated that "it is to the white race that all the progress of human history is due," or some such phrasing that would come as quite a surprise to the many ancient non-white peoples who were accomplishing great things while the ancestors of the Angles and Saxons were still hunching over gnawed animal bones in caves.

This might seem, itself, like the product of an ancient world. But it's the world my grandparents were born into, and this is the sort of material they were taught in school. That that generation was able to grow as far as it did, given what was stuffed into their heads in childhood, is quite an accomplishment.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

Catholic parochial schools exposed me to the Ginn & Co. "Faith and Freedom" series. The unabashed attempts at indoctrination were obvious: one I remember in particular were in a story about a French colonial girl that was always referencing the "savage Iroquois." Later realized that this had more to do with the Anglo- Protestant affiliations of the Iroquois than any documented attacks on European settlers.

Sir, the Iroquois were also affiliated with Roman Catholicism. The five tribes were mostly aligned
with the English in the French and Indian War but were fairly ecumenical and disposed to accommodation
if not outright assimilation. These peoples were fierce fighters-cadet lectures-so an adversarial bias
however pronounced in itself doesn't necessarily qualify Catholic indoctrination.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

I have a Macmillan-published World History book published in 1911 that goes in quite heavily for the halfwitted "racial science" of the day, in which it is stated that "it is to the white race that all the progress of human history is due," or some such phrasing that would come as quite a surprise to the many ancient non-white peoples who were accomplishing great things while the ancestors of the Angles and Saxons were still hunching over gnawed animal bones in caves.

Actually this text is predominately true given cumulative allowance with objective factual analysis.
Nod given to ancient Aztec, Mayan, and Egyptian/North Africa culture. Europe advanced mankind with open deductive analytical reason far more than other global regions throughout historical record.

 

[tonyb]

Does anyone besides me get the sense that a fellow who used to regularly post here but went away entirely a few months ago has returned under another name?

 

[Trenchfriend]

Nutri Score system doesn't really make sense, right?

I got a fine glas of applemash, marked Nutri Score A. It's classic applemash with a portion sugar in, so how can it be score A??

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

The NHS appointment schedule process. Then the prescription renewal dependent NHS appointment.
A diabetic, lifelong diagnosis insulin renewal takes forever and a day.

 

[Trenchfriend]

What is it with this "Andrew Tate"? Should I know about this guy or is it just another useless prom?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Just another future internet has-been.

 

[Tiki Tom]

What is it with this "Andrew Tate"? Should I know about this guy or is it just another useless prom?

You know the saying “two steps forward, one step backward”? He is the “one step backward”. It’s embarrassing that such a contemptible idiot had an audience, if only for a short time.

 

[tonyb]

Sounds like I should consider myself fortunate not to know who y’all are talking about.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Sounds like I should consider myself fortunate not to know who y’all are talking about.

See, that's why I'm enjoying beeing 38!
Far out the age, where I have to know anything more behind the names of proms, haha!!

Enjoying adults autistic bubble...

 

[Trenchfriend]

I WISHED, THIS DAY WOULD NEVER COME, . . .

. . . when I'm finally seeing "W-LAN Water Kettle/W-LAN Coffee Machine/W-LAN Air Fryer for your Smart-Home in a german (discounter) grocery store!

 

[Trenchfriend]

And what is it with this Ed Sheeran? Should I know anything from him?

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

Have I mentioned "free gift" before?
Advertisements, whether in my mail box, on television, or via email seem to want to offer me a "free gift". I always say to myself (I'm a good listener), "If it isn't a free, can it be a gift? And if it's free, can it be anything other than a gift?"

 

[Edward]

The new pop up ads on the lounge are ticking me off.

That and “nepo babies”.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/22/entertainment/nepo-baby-vulture-new-york-magazine-cec/index.html

And kids walking on my lawn! (Shakes fist.)

The 'nepo baby' thing is interesting. It sort of amuses me when there's outrage at the child of a successful musician / actor / photographer wanting to go into music / film / photography in a way that there never has been when someone follows in pretty much any other family business, from bricklaying to plumbing to the law. Those who seem to make a living at being famous because they have famous parents, on the other hand, well - that's another story, especially if they consider themselves to be somehow entitled or of greater worth because of their lineage. That absolutely grates. It doesn't surprise me so many of them, comparatively, go into the creative arts. I mean, if you're the son of a Rolling Stone, for example, you're in the most privilege position of being able to take the financial risk of going into the creative arts professionally because you can afford to fail, which most of us can't do. I know I ultimately chose not to go into trying to act professionally for the simple reason that I was all too aware of the need to be able to earn a living (partly practical reality, partly cultural context). The ones I feel sorry for, though, are those who, while well aware of their privilege, also don't want to trade on it as their brand- and sometimes end up feeling hemmed in by it. Jakob Dylan has been able to make a successful living with him band, but he gave up doing interviews because all the journos ever wanted to talk about was his old man. I imagine that gets *very* old, very fast.

Yeah, old textbooks typically get updated every year or three, which cuts the legs out from under the used book market, which of course results in increased sales for the latest edition. The new and improved version is often just a rearrangement of the last one, with maybe a bit of updating here and there to reflect the changes in the field. But the heavy lifting produced the edition that is now worth no more than its pulp value.

I have more than a few such volumes myself. Maybe the author’s grandchildren would want my copy, but probably not.

Some are still worth thumbing through, though. Not many, but some.

In my field (law and media regulation), most books date so quickly now that you can write the best thing ever, then two years later the students to whom you assign it are complaining bitterly about how outdated it is. Sadly, one particular volume I edited is now so far gone that the pandemic has, at least for now, basically killed its second edition owing to the way the sector has evolved. Very definitely makes one fear writing anything else...

What is it with this "Andrew Tate"? Should I know about this guy or is it just another useless prom?

Former British reality television contestant and man-baby who has reinvented himself as one of these online, self-professing alpha-male role models for the incel crowd. He has come to the attention of the wider world beyond his target market recently initially because his twitter post attempting to humiliate a young woman of the sort he clearly sees as a threat to his wordlview rather backfired, and he has subsequently been arrested in Romania (where he moved - in part, per his own claims, because he believes it is easier to "beat" a rape charge - to reside permanently some years ago) on some very serious criminal charges. Should these lead to a conviction, I suspect we will not hear much more of him, although his online disciples may be another matter.

And what is it with this Ed Sheeran? Should I know anything from him?

English pop star. Very successful purveyor of utterly inoffensive, aural wallpaper. It's not for me, but he seems to be a nice enough fella. He was happy to play - more importantly, to parody - himself onscreen in the film Yesterday, which is a positive.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Have I mentioned "free gift" before?

Yep. 31.08.22.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Other question, linked to the youtube world.

Do young folks really do this "Mike Oxbig/Anita Blackman/Ben Dover"-pranks with staff in North American diners?? Is this a real classic?
I mean, I know, that the majority of youtube stuff is professional fake. But otherwise you got this diner system, that the customers are called when food ready, which is not common in Germany.