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Missive #213 Published 2 February 2024

20. BITING YOUR OWN EAR…

Edward Hamilton has reconstructed this amazing story of wilderness, forts and weapons. He takes the reader through each successive war with a surgeon's precision, utilizing some of the best maps ever constructed to detail the magnitude of the European engagement being fought on North American soil. Vital, thrilling and fascinating, the French and Indian Wars culminated an age old rivalry and set the stage for years to come. In the long view, this excellent account shows us exactly why we speak English today instead of French.

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Missive #212 Published 31 January 2024

I thought I would continue my thoughts on the rhymes in history that we might be seeing in the not too distant future. The Strauss–Howe generational theory states that a crisis recurs in American history after every saeculum ( a period of 80-100 years). The crisis are not always the same but they do rhyme.

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Missive #211 Published 30 January 2024

The novel that Aldous Huxley himself thought was his most successful at "fusing idea with story," Time Must Have a Stop is part of Huxley's lifelong attempt to explore the dilemmas of twentieth-century man and to create characters who, though ill-equipped to solve the dilemmas, all go stumbling on in their painfully serious comedies (in this novel we have the dead atheist who returns in a seance to reveal what he has learned after death but is stuck with a second-rate medium who garbles his messages).

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Missive #210 Published 29 January 2024

All I have for a posting today are some news items that interested me. I am feeling better after the psoriasis flare but still not 100%. I have reduced the distance on my walks somewhat but got back to the usual yesterday. The extremely heavy sweats have mostly gone away and the resting heart rate is almost back to what I consider normal. I have apparently survived another one but really would like to fine a way to avoid them.

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Missive #209 Published 28 January 2024

Continuing The Federalist Papers.

Federalist No. 13
Advantage of the Union in Respect to Economy in Government
Author: Alexander Hamilton
To the People of the State of New York:

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Missive #208 Published 27 January 2024

This book may be widely read by high level Chinese political figures and bureaucrats but it is American political figures that need to be reading it. Tocqueville wrote about America after his visit in the 1830 and is frequently quoted but Wang Huning has not been. It is sad that he has not. He had more to say about America in the 1980s and what its future might be than what Tocqueville said. I recommend this book!

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Missive #207 Published 26 January 2024

19. THE BEGGAR AND THE FOOD VENDOR…

A beggar eating a crust of stale bread stood next to a shish-kebab vendor, inhaling deeply. The smell made even his stale bread taste good.
“You must pay for the smell!” shouted the vendor.
When the poor man couldn’t pay, the vendor took him to court.
Nasruddin was the judge.
He listened to them both, and then he took some coins from his pocket, cupped his hands, and shook the coins.

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Missive #206 Published 24 January 2024

George MacDonald Fraser—beloved for his series of Flashman historical novels—offers an action-packed memoir of his experiences in Burma during World War II. Fraser was only 19 when he arrived there in the war's final year, and he offers a first-hand glimpse at the camaraderie, danger, and satisfactions of service.

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Missive #204 Published 19 January 2024

18. NASRUDDIN VISITS THE PRISONERS

I liked this book because it discusses desert plants in that part of Arizona where I grew up. A lot of area covered is also in Sonora, MX which I have some familiarity. The information about the desert foods is also very interesting. The author has written a lot more books that I want to try to read.

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