I love books.  I learned to read at a very young age, thanks to my mom.  She always had a book near, as did my grandmother.
I have a nook, but to me, there is nothing like an actual book.

I will read anything, as long as it gets my attention in the first few pages.  If not, I try to struggle through it, or I just give up and set it aside, to either try again later, or pass it on to someone else.
Yeah, that includes trashy paranormal romance books.  But those I prefer the series ones, but I actually like the character buildup, and the action.  Shelley Laurenston (?) for example.  Also very funny.

I read a lot of metaphysical books, and alternative history books, I guess they might be called? (Conspiratorial?)  I love discussing them as well.
I am currently reading Anunnaki: Gods no more.  (Struggle a bit with all the "who bred with who, keeping the names straight)
I loved all the recommendations I found at ATS, and would love some more.
I have even been able to read a few of the books written by authors over there, and help edit one on a pre-read.
(for some reason, I see a mistake, spelling, space for a missing word, ect. and just can't let it go.  LOL)

So, I hope there are others that love books, and maybe want to discuss them as well, or recommend some, or heck, just complain about them.

Quote:Robbers entered a bank in a small town. One of them shouted: "Don't move! The money belongs to the bank. Your lives belong to you”.

Immediately all the people in the bank laid on the floor quietly and without panic.
This is an example of how the correct wording of a sentence can make everyone change their view of the world.


One woman laid on the floor in a provocative manner.
The robber approached her saying, “Ma’am, this is a robbery not a rape. Please behave accordingly."
This is an example of how to behave professionally, and focus on the goal.


While running from the bank the youngest robber, who had a college degree, said to the oldest robber, who had barely finished elementary school: "Hey, maybe we should count how much we stole.”? The older man replied: "Don’t be stupid. It's a lot of money so let's wait for the news on TV to find out how much money was taken from the bank."
This is an example of how life experience is more important than a degree.


After the robbery, the manager of the bank said to his accountant: "Let's call the cops and tell them how much has been stolen”. "Wait, said the Accountant, "before we do that, let's add the $800,000 we took for ourselves a few months ago and just say that it was stolen as part of today’s robbery."
This is an example of taking advantage of an opportunity.


The following day it was reported in the news that the bank was robbed of $3 million. The robbers then counted the money, but they found only $1 million so they started to grumble. "We risked our lives for $1 million, while the bank's management robbed two million dollars without blinking? Maybe it’s better to learn
how to work the system, instead of being a simple robber."
This is an example of how knowledge can be more useful than power.



Moral: Give a person a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a person a bank, and he can rob everyone.

“Now What”?

After the annoying noise and the Presidents face with the back drop of the nations flags in the Oval office was shown; I figured "Now What?" Potus was going to inform the nation of what America's response would be to all the happenings in Israel and the threat of Nuclear weapons by Russia plus the obvious threats by China/North Korea.

Besides the stern looks and the serious tone of the broadcast it really was much to do about nothing as far as our Nation's response. With all the talk about newly implied sanctions (that were in the works) I had to judge the whole speech was more about calming the population and informing the populace that even though Turkey was part of NATO they too were acting the aggressors in this instance and NATO had no intention or obligation to come to their defense if Israel fought back .

Thank goodness for that little tidbit ! Sanity in an insane world !

I did not have the time to sit and listen to the rehash of all the worldly events so I left for the club to have some breakfast, coffee, and be ready for my 9am tee off time.

As I drove the short distance to the club the radio was full of more talking heads telling everyone how mean and evil Russia, China, Iran, North Korea and Assad's Syrian Army and even Turkey was. How we should stand tall and take on this axis of evil and even destroy our enemies once and for all; letting the chips fall where they may.

What a waste of words and crock of stupid hawkish mutterings in my opinion. I personally would not sacrifice one small city in America or Europe for the religious factions of Sunni, or the Shia idiots in the Mideast, much less start an assured extinction event with an all out nuclear war..

I had just pulled into the parking lot of the club house when the radio announced that due to several protest and uncertainties of the world events the government is asking all citizens to remain inside their homes and only those in critical positions for the nation should report for work. All banks would be closed today.

My Tuesday Golf game is critical as far as I am concerned and judging by the parking lot it was also critical to just about half my usual golfing friends !

I ate and listened to my fellow golfers discussing the news events of the day; the general consensuses was, “Netanyahu for President”! hahaha

In our golf game we were playing for a pot of money we had all put $100 dollars into. If only one skin was won that would pay $3000 in a group of 30 guys.

All my Tuesday golfers with their individual handicaps were very competitive so with all 18 holes played there might only be 3 skins paid because of all the tying scores. One skin (lowest score on a hole out of 30 players) paying three thousand dollars usually got most people's attention.

I had Eagled the last par 5 with a lucky 8 iron shot that had hit the green and bounced once before trickling into the cup which gave me a score of 3; pretty much assuring me of at least one skin.

Needless to say I was feeling fairly satisfied as I approached the 18th tee box. As I stood there lining my tee shot up I had a momentary thought of all the young soldiers who this very day had lost their lives and left children and wives with nothing but collapsed societies and burned out cities. The people in the destroyed cities had never thought this would be their last day alive; what a waste, no?

As I started my back swing for some reason I thought of how I too had marched off to my own patriotic war once upon a time when I was younger. I am just glad I am old now, for I am never doing that again unless I feel like it.

All Dead

BIBLICAL STORY ?

 A very pretty woman runs a red traffic light while applying make-up and crashes into a man's car. Both of their cars are demolished, but amazingly, neither of them is hurt.

After they crawl out of their cars, the woman says; "Wow, just look at our cars! There's nothing left, but fortunately we are unhurt. This must be a sign from God that we should meet and be friends and live together in peace for the rest of our days."

The man replies, "I agree with you completely. This must be a sign from God!"

The woman continues, "And look at this, here's another miracle. My car is completely demolished, but my bottle of wine didn't break. Surely God wants us to drink this wine and celebrate our good fortune." She then hands the bottle to the man.

The man nods his head in agreement, opens it, drinks half the bottle and then hands it back to the woman. The woman takes the bottle, immediately puts the cap back on, and hands it back to the man.
 
The man asks, "Aren't you having any?"

 The woman replies, "Nah. I think I'll just wait for the police."

Adam ate the apple, too.
 
Men will never learn...

This is a cool sight not only because you can hear and maybe see a music video from the year you were born but after the song (in typical youtube fashion) the artist that had the #1 song will be in a play list.



My wife was 'just another brick in the wall'




http://redirect.viglink.com/?key=71fe213...thday-song

An air traffic control tower suddenly lost communication with a small twin engine aircraft. A
moment later the tower land line rang and was answered by one of the employees.

The passenger riding with the pilot who lost communications was on a cellular phone and
yelled,"Mayday, mayday!! The pilot had an instant and fatal heart attack.

I grabbed his cell phone out of his pocket and he had told me before we took off he had the
tower on his speed dial memory. I am flying upside down at 18,000 feet and traveling at 180
mph. Mayday, mayday!!"

The employee in the tower had put him on speaker phone immediately. "Calm down, we
acknowledge you and we’ll guide you down after a few questions. The first thing is not to
panic, remain calm!!".

He began his series of questions: Tower: "How do you know you are traveling at 18,000
feet??"Aircraft: "I can see that it reads 18,000 feet on the Altimeter dial in front of me.

"Tower: "Okay, that’s good, remain calm. How do you know you’re traveling at 180 mph?

"Aircraft: "I can see that it reads 180 mph on the Airspeed dial in front of me."Tower:
"Okay, this is great so far, but it’s heavily overcast, so how do you know you're flying
upside down?"

Aircraft: “I pooped in my pants and it is running out of my shirt collar.”

After a moments pause you could hear the controller say, "euuuueee" !

Very few in Thailand use their real name (usually to long) so they all have nick names. Nok means bird and Noi means little that sort of thing... I always smile at someone who uses Pancake ! In the old days when I was out and about I adopted the same custom.... all the girls called me ATM ! Even today at my home golf course all the caddies and the girls who work the snack bar know me only by ATM... They all want my pin number hahah

About 80 plus percent of the Thai ladies do absolutely nothing for me as far as looks... but there is about 15% I would put along side with any nationality. My wife could have been a model or actress IMO for she never met a camera that did not fall in love with her..

Anyway here are some of the girls we see in all the sitcoms and a few movies.

Amazing what has been lost and yet rediscovered. I was once pretty darn good with a Bow but after watching this guy I realize I sucked !

The war had never been fought to win; some would call it a holding action more than a war. 

Because Striker was one of the few pilots not married he was chosen to fly into Saigon and pick up the Ambassador's wife and two kids before the NVA finally entered the city proper. There was already shelling at Tan Son Nhat airbase and it would not be long before the runways would be unusable.

The aircraft Striker was flying was a twin engine turboprop which in the right hands could use a taxiway or even the grass between the runways for landing and takeoff.

The flight over Cambodia enroute to Ton Son Nhat was uneventful except for a few thunderstorms and a lower cloud deck that prevented Striker from seeing the ground, but also stopped guys on the ground from seeing him and trying a lucky high altitude shot at his aircraft.

The landing was actually uneventful except for the occasional smoke and a few fires that had been caused by the previous hours shelling. 

When he had arrived at Tan Son Nhat the tower operators warned him there had been small arms fire from the north side of the airport boundary, so Striker basically rolled the aircraft from 3000 feet into a split "S" maneuver and landed midway down the runway on speed on target.

The touch down was like a cat pissing on a piece of velvet, (or so the saying goes) and to his knowledge no one had taken a pot shot at his U-21 aircraft. 

From someone's view point on the ground it would have looked like something had happened and the aircraft was going to crash. The tower controllers even asked if he was taking fire; once they got their voice back..  

The Ambassador's wife's aid was at the terminal and as soon as he saw Striker's aircraft come to a halt he ran up to the aircraft as it was being shut down.

As Striker exited the aircraft the aid said, " Man am I glad to see you. The Ambassador's wife just called and said due to some travel concerns she would be unable to get to the airport for at least another 2 hours. She sends her apologies". 

"No problem, do you think it will be a full two hours or maybe she will be here sooner"?

"If I had to bet it will be at least another hour and a half at the earliest," said the aid. 

Striker looked at his watch and said he would be ready to go when the Ambassador's wife arrived.

"Will you be going to Bangkok on the flight too"?

The Aid's answer was, "No, still to much to do here".

They shook hands as Striker said, "Good luck man, good luck".

Striker made sure his aircraft was refueled and he filed a flight plan back to Bangkok. All finished he then headed to the PX which was just outside the gate of the airport.

There was a beautiful Vietnamese girl by the name of Li who worked at the PX and Striker wanted to be sure she had a way out of country. Her brother worked for the CIA and if things held true their whole family would be exterminated when Saigon fell; Striker's thinking was tempered by the years of war and cruelty he had personally observed from the NVA  ..

Striker had been introduced to Li by her brother after a rather harrowing mission in 1969 where Striker had flown a UH-1H into a hot landing zone to extract some Air America pilots and their passengers.. As expected his bird had been shot to hell but no one was injured and they all made it out alive.

That day in 1969 caused some kind of bond to be formed by everyone involved. Little did they know at the time, this bond would last all their life times through cards and letters...... Merry Christmas, happy new year, kind of things; usually ending with, 'I am still alive and hope you are too'.    

Once out of the main gate Striker could not believe what he was seeing. Vietnamese troops walking and dragging the barrels of their American made M-16s in the dirt; walking as though they were already dead or somewhat like a later day zombie movie would show in 'The Walking Dead'. Demoralized is an understatement.

He finally made it to the PX and found Li who was working at a cash register. When she saw Striker she ran around the counter and rushed into Striker's arms smothering him in hugs and kisses as she made female sounds of joy from her heart.

To say this was out of character for an educated Vietnamese girl with a real 'non barmaid job' should have totally surprised most people who knew the Vietnamese culture. For a brief moment both of them threw their cultural inhibitions away and just enjoyed the feeling of being held by someone who truly cared. 

" Li, I have an aircraft, I can take you out of here if you need a ride"!

"My love do not worry, my brother has made arrangements and our family will be taken to a big American ship and then to the states. I will find you there I promise".

"If something happens and we are unable to leave; maybe I die.... I will find you in my next life, this I promise".

"Well, you better not die, for I want you now"!

They stood there for a moment looking into each others eyes oblivious to their surroundings.

Li broke eye contact and rushed back to the counter to rummage through her purse until she pulled out a paper. The paper was an official document with her family name and ID number; all written in English. She gave this to Striker and said," For good luck you look for me too"!

One last tender lingering hug and Striker headed back to the airport feeling the heavy dread that had descended upon this city and his personal feelings .

The Ambassador's wife, birdcage, two kids, and two cars full of luggage arrived right on time so 'this simple flight' was out of there without incident, winging its way back to Don Muang airport in Bangkok..

This all occurred on the Friday before the Monday Saigon fell.  The news and the videos that came out of Saigon during the fall were heart breaking and dire. Reports of all the Vietnamese at the Embassy gate trying to get through because they had been promised a ride out of that hell hole was not encouraging and left a strong mistrust of government promises by those who knew what was going on for the rest of their lives.
 

Striker tried to find Li and her family, which was an extremely frustrating process.  Finally, just about 6 months later, due to some Embassy contacts, he was able to discern they never made it out of Saigon. Her father and brother had been executed and she had not been seen by any of the remaining intel assets still in Saigon.

There was always the possibility she made it out on some Vietnamese boat but the Pirates and the trip itself was a low percentage shot at freedom. Horror stories of the few survivors who made the trip were enough to make one's blood run cold.

Rape, pillage, and plunder; The Pirates code has not changed and never will. The saying just left out the part where they do not leave witnesses or take slaves...  

For the next three years Striker continued to seek information and then one night in a dream she came to him.

All she said was, "Next life my love, I promise". He woke up and cried like a baby. 

The new year was being celebrated as Striker was surrounded by friends and merry makers. There was a toast offered and everyone raised their glasses. Striker's added to the toast in his mind's voice, "next life my love, next life I promise"...