The Funny Side of Religion

Pushtrak

Jernal wrote: »

So is Dune good or not? Do you folks recommend it, I have it on my to read list and now I'm having second thoughts.

Read the ones by Frank Herbert. Disregard the others.

robindch

Jernal wrote: »

So is Dune good or not? Do you folks recommend it, [...]

Unreservedly.

Turtwig

robindch wrote: »

Unreservedly.

If Rob and blue recommends it then I have to read it. (For those who don't know apparently Rob is my biggest love match on boards, so we must have some stuff in common )

Bannasidhe

I feel a schism coming on.

kiki

Jernal wrote: »

So is Dune good or not? Do you folks recommend it, I have it on my to read list and now I'm having second thoughts.

Just reading second book in series now, first book was enjoyable, the second book so far just wanders all over the place again and again when describing Paul's visions - this book 2nd is boring

Woody

Galvasean

Bannasidhe wrote: »

I feel a schism coming on.

been there, Dune that.

robindch

kiki wrote: »

Just reading second book in series now, first book was enjoyable, the second book so far just wanders all over the place again and again when describing Paul's visions - this book 2nd is boring

I remember finding the second book a bit dull first time around too, but once I'd got to the end of the six-book series and went around again some while later, the book, and indeed the whole series, made more sense and was far more enjoyable.

Basically, the Dune books are an extended, fascinating exploration of the interaction and uses of politics, religion, military, ecological and technical resources, societies and just about everything else too. But done plausibly and with near-infinite panache.

Haven't read the son's books, but I can't imagine they're anything as good as the originals.

mikhail

magicbastarder wrote: »

i just finished 'dune'. it was good for the first half and **** for the second half.

Give the first sequel, Dune Messiah, a look. It's much shorter, but expands on the first book very well. You split the first book into two quite naturally, and Dune Messiah feels like the missing third act.

Paul is God-Emperor now, and desperately searches his vision of the future for a way to end the bloody jihad that rages across the known universe in his name. Meanwhile, powerful enemies are conspiring to destroy him.

magicbastarder

Jernal wrote: »

So is Dune good or not? Do you folks recommend it, I have it on my to read list and now I'm having second thoughts.

it's good for the first half. then the second half degenerates into barely-warmed mysticism and 'just so' plot machinations.

Sarky

It's decent. But it takes forever. At times it's like Wheel of Time with f*ck all actually happening.

magicbastarder

mikhail wrote: »

Spoiler

gee, what a big surprise!

legspin

robindch wrote: »

I remember finding the second book a bit dull first time around too, but once I'd got to the end of the six-book series and went around again some while later, the book, and indeed the whole series, made more sense and was far more enjoyable.

Basically, the Dune books are an extended, fascinating exploration of the interaction and uses of politics, religion, military, ecological and technical resources, societies and just about everything else too. But done plausibly and with near-infinite panache.

Haven't read the son's books, but I can't imagine they're anything as good as the originals.

Whatever about the Dune books you should read Sidney's Comet. An enjoyable afternoon's read imo.

Genghiz Cohen

Sarky wrote: »

It's decent. But it takes forever. At times it's like Wheel of Time with f*ck all actually happening.

"Rand placed his left foot down, the charred grass crackling like twigs in a flame. Casting his gaze around him, he took in the devastation laid out before his party. Shifting his weight onto his left foot, he lifted his right foot, muscles protesting from a long days ride. Placing the heel of his tooled leather boots and shifting his weight onto it, a small puff of ash was thrust up into a passing breeze. Caught in the breeze, the ash darted away almost as though it were hurried by the carnage it had witnessed.

Dismounting, Min kept her eyes on the ground, one of the only patches with only a small hint of blood mixed into the dirt. Folding her arm beneath her BREASTS she gave the impression that she would rather be 3 leagues inside The Blight than where she was now. Also, BREASTS!"

Only one more book to go

Sarky

Damage done. Couldn't be arsed picking up where I left off after hurling Crown of Swords at the wall in furious despair before I even finished the prologue.

Robert Howard's Conan is where it's at, baby.

Bannasidhe

*Wanders in to have a laugh at expense of religions and ended up in a book club*

Sooo - can anyone recommend a good free to download sci-fi/fantasy book for kindle?

magicbastarder

"It's self-declaration - whether such a thing exists or not is immaterial," he added.

interesting choice of words.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/dail-committee-ponders-existence-of-jedi-knights-550110.html

Undergod

I read Dune and Dune Messiah. I thought Dune was a great book with a kinda crap ending, whereas Dune Messiah was kinda crap but had a great ending. I got no further and I started to reread Dune but was unmotivated to finish.

Sarky wrote: »

Robert Howard's Conan is where it's at, baby.

Robert Howard's Boxing Stories are the funnest, pulpiest thing I have ever read. I read a load of Conan on Wikisource but they're not all available anymore unfortunately.

magicbastarder wrote: »

interesting choice of words.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/dail-committee-ponders-existence-of-jedi-knights-550110.html

Yeah, well that's the only logical attitude towards religion in my opinion. State shouldn't give a damn whether it's true.

mikhail

Bannasidhe wrote: »

*Wanders in to have a laugh at expense of religions and ended up in a book club*

Sooo - can anyone recommend a good free to download sci-fi/fantasy book for kindle?

Check out Baen's free stuff. http://www.baen.com/library/
They use it as a loss leader so you'll come back and buy other books.

Galvasean

Bannasidhe wrote: »

*Wanders in to have a laugh at expense of religions and ended up in a book club*

Sooo - can anyone recommend a good free to download sci-fi/fantasy book for kindle?

I believe the copyright for the John Carter of Mars series has elapsed and is now in the public domain so should be freely available.

Kivaro

Er, the book club is that way

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Meanwhile, in a galaxy, far, far, away:

Turtwig

Kivaro wrote: »

Er, the book club is that way

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Meanwhile, in a galaxy, far, far, away:

On my boards theme it's
<

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that way. :pac:


Happy Star Wars day to you too.:)

Delirium

.

.

Delirium

joseph brand

Sarky

I would happily kill for a bacon mug.

Bannasidhe

Was chatting to student about possible reasons to explain why more women then men emigrated from Ireland in the years after WWII. With tongue in cheek I mentioned it may have had to do with McQuaid's attempts to get women to wear burquas if they imsisted in taking part in mixed sporting events - or events where men may form part of the audience (the hussies!) plus his anti- Internal Tamponage campaign.

When we had stopped laughing I had to prove I wasn't actually making this **** up - because you couldn't make this **** up!

So here ye are

On Irish women in sport 1934- :

‘Un-Irish and un-Catholic’

In Ireland, leading the fray against mixed athletics in 1934 was Revd John Charles McQuaid, then president of Blackrock College, a Catholic boys’ school run by the Holy Ghost Fathers. In a letter to the Irish Press on 24 February 1934, which was also published in The Irish Times the same day, he made it clear that ‘the issue is not: in what forms of athletic sport may women or girls indulge, with safety to their well-being. That question should be duly determined by medical science, rightly so called’. Neither, he argued, was it a question of female activity within their own colleges and associations; that ‘question should be duly solved by the principles both of Christian modesty and of true medical science’. He asserted that ‘mixed athletics and all cognate immodesties are abuses that right-minded people reprobate, wherever and whenever they exist’. To clinch his argument, McQuaid declared: ‘God is not modern; nor is his Law’. Women competing in the same sporting arenas with men were ‘un-Irish and un-Catholic' and mixed athletics were a ‘social abuse’ and a ‘moral abuse’ ...the Christian modesty of girls must be, in a special way, safeguarded, for it is supremely unbecoming that they flaunt themselves and display themselves before the eyes of all’.

In private correspondence, Father John Roe of St Mary’s Christian Brothers school in Dundalk congratulated Dr McQuaid on his ‘splendid protest in the recent athletic proposition. Please God your timely action will prevent the carrying out of the monstrous suggestion.’ To introduce mixed athletics was an ‘unchristian imposition on a Catholic people’, according to Revd Dr Conway, the chaplain at St Mary’s teacher training college for Catholic females in Belfast.
Writing in the Irish Press, J. P. Noonan of St Mary’s, Marino, the Christian Brothers teacher training college, congratulated McQuaid and expressed the hope that the protests would ‘kill the pagan proposal of the athletic association’...

Internal Tamponage 1944 (:eek:)

In April 1944 he [McQuaid] wrote to Dr Conn Ward, parliamentary secretary to the Minister for Local Government and Public Health, and informed him that at the ‘Low Week meetings of the Bishops, I explained very fully the evidence concerning the use of internal sanitary tampons, in particular, that called Tampax. On the medical evidence made available, the bishops very strongly disapproved of the use of these appliances, more particularly in the case of unmarried persons.’ ‘Unmarried persons’ was a euphemism for women. Did men actually use Tampax? Were they seen as a contraceptive device? It requires a remarkable gynaecological imagination to see Tampax as a contraceptive. The more pertinent fear, however, was that women might derive sexual stimulation from Tampax...
McQuaid’s medical advisor was Dr Stafford Johnson, who had studied in Clongowes Wood College and graduated in medicine from UCD in 1914. He took a particular interest in medico-moral issues and was an enthusiastic advocate for Catholic ethics in medicine. Early in 1944, Stafford Johnson wrote to McQuaid requesting the return of the Catholic Medical Guardian, which he had earlier lent to McQuaid, ‘in which there was given the pronouncement of the English hierarchy on internal tamponage’. With an ill-disguised sinister tone, Stafford Johnson explained that an ‘interesting development has occurred. Tampax has been off the market here for over a year and a half. One of our Knight Chemists [Stafford Johnson was a Supreme Knight of Columbanus] has just rung me up to say it is about to be in stock once more but has not been delivered from the agent.’ The ‘moral dangers’ of Tampax were pointed out to the chemist and the crisis was averted. It was 1944 after all! The obsession with female fertility so concerned the archbishop that certain middle-class Catholic girls’ schools were discouraged from playing hockey since the twisting movements were alleged to cause ‘hockey parturition’, that is, infertility. Hence lacrosse was favoured.

http://www.historyireland.com//volumes/volume15/issue6/features/?id=114154

It's funny now.....

Delirium

NSFW

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VABSoHYQr6k

Turtwig

Seems amazing to think that was less than 100 years ago. I'm sure that'd be in our hazards thread if it were present day. Mine if I ask your source?

Bannasidhe

Jernal wrote: »

Seems amazing to think that was less than 100 years ago. I'm sure that'd be in our hazards thread if it were present day. Mine if I ask your source?

Realised I forgot the put the link in my post - so here it is again http://www.historyireland.com//volumes/volume15/issue6/features/?id=114154.

It's an article in History Ireland by Margaret Ó hÓgartaigh , Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, published in (I think!) 2007.

Turtwig

Bannasidhe wrote: »

Realised I forgot the put the link in my post - so here it is again http://www.historyireland.com//volumes/volume15/issue6/features/?id=114154.

It's an article in History Ireland by Margaret Ó hÓgartaigh , Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, published in (I think!) 2007.

Thanks a mill. Saving that one to my harddrive. It's going to be excellent for those encounters with people claiming we need to go back to our traditions.:D