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Missive #323 Published 2 August 2024

46. NASRUDDIN’S SENSE OF ECONOMY

Nasruddin was acting even more strangely than usual. He had put a patch over one eye and stuffed cotton in one nostril and in one ear. He had also tied one arm behind his back and was hopping on just one leg.

“Nasruddin!” shouted his wife. “Are you alright? What’s happened to you?”

“I’m fine!” replied Nasruddin. “I was just thinking that since I have two eyes and two ears and two nostrils, plus two arms and two legs, I should save one of each for future use. That way, I won’t use them both up at the same time.”

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Missive #322 Published 31 July 2024

I am reading a book, Absolutely Postive Essays, by Dmitry Orlov that is a compilation of his essays that were previously published at ClubOrlov, his blog. The reading of these essays is being done as a break from the other books that I'm reading so it may be some while before I finish it. However, if I happen upon something I think is good I'll bring it to your attention when discovered. That is the case for this posting where I'm quoting the entire essay that is Mark Twainish satire and sarcasm that I love. I hope you like it.

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Missive #321 Published 30 July 2024

"No one has been so well equipped as C. S. Forester to dramatize the sea battles of the War of 1812, to characterize the heroes more skillfully, or to comprehend more shrewdly the world unrest that made it possible for an infant republic to embarrass a great nation rich in one hundred years of sea triumphs." — Book promo @ Amazon

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Missive #320 Published 29 July 2024

This is part of the American Folkways Series which I have found to be very interesting although all the books are dated they provide some great history. Highly recommended!




AND

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Continuing The Federalist Papers.

Federalist No. 26
The Idea of Restraining the Legislative Authority in Regard to the Common Defense Considered
Author: Alexander Hamilton
To the People of the State of New York:

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Missive #318 Published 26 July 2024

45. NASRUDDIN IN THE DARK

Night had come on quickly, and Nasruddin and his wife had forgotten to light a candle. Thus, they found themselves sitting in their house in the dark.

“It’s dark, husband,” Nasruddin’s wife said to him. “We need to light a candle.”

“I agree!” said Nasruddin. “It’s completely dark. I can’t see a thing!”

“Well, I’m sure there’s a candle over there on the table to your left. Hand me the candle and I’ll light it.”

“I don’t think that will work,” said Nasruddin. “How do you expect me to tell my left from my right in the dark like this?”

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Missive #317 Published 24 July 2024

WAS IT LUCIFER Saul Goodman was after? He was beginning to almost believe it was. But Goodman was a New York cop; only juries believed in fairy tales. And this crazy case that had fallen in his lap—the Iluminatus; did it really exist, a great and dreaded secret cult, counting kings as members over the centuries, a colossus of crime and occult conspiracy? Witchcraft or world blackmail, it was Saul Goodman's baby now, and even the President saw it his way, holding back the National Guard to give Goodman time to track down the evil behind Illuminatus—before it unleashed the anthrax plague that threatened to destroy all creatures great and small.... As weirdly wonderful as the best of Vonnegut, as suspensefully off-beat as Casteneda, here comes Part II of ILLUMINATUS, a vulture's eye view of the dark side of human comedy.

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Missive #316 Published 23 July 2024

At a crucial point in the twentieth century, as Nazi Germany prepared for war, negotiations between Britain, France, and the Soviet Union became the last chance to halt Hitler's aggression. Incredibly, the French and British governments dallied, talks failed, and in August 1939 the Soviet Union signed a nonaggression pact with Germany. Michael Carley's gripping account of these negotiations is not a pretty story. It is about the failures of appeasement and collective security in Europe. It is about moral depravity and blindness, about villains and cowards, and about heroes who stood against the intellectual and popular tides of their time. Some died for their beliefs, others labored in obscurity and have been nearly forgotten.

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Missive #315 Published 21 July 2024

Continuing The Anti-Federalist Papers

Brutus VI
by Robert Yates
To the Citizens of the State of New-York

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Missive #314 Published 19 July 2024

44. NASRUDDIN THE PROUD FATHER

A friend noticed him and said, “Nasruddin! Wait a moment and talk! I haven’t seen you in such a long time.”

“I really don’t have time to stop and talk,” Nasruddin explained. “I went out to do the shopping, and now I need to hurry home.”

“Why the rush?”

“My wife just had a baby!” Nasruddin said proudly.

“What wonderful news!” replied his friend. “I’m very glad for you. And is it a boy or a girl?”

Nasruddin stared at him in amazement. “Yes, it is!” he answered. “But how did you know?”

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