Fun times in Caracas. Interested to see what future Mafia film will use this a backdrop.

> I am amazed that people take Hal Puthoff at his word that he has worked on all these secret projects for decades even though he cannot describe in definitive terms what the actual outcomes of those programs were.

This is one hundred perfect my view on this, and things are more than suspicious when suddenly being asked to get into the weeds on some technical aspect these guys start citing national security to keep things vague.

A lot more of Max Hastings than I would care to admit. But boy, can than man write a ripping yarn.

That's terrible. If the NTSB had flagged this flaw before then someone failed with an inspection regime or maintenance.

The NTSB doesn't ever accept the "sometimes bad things happen, shrug" excuse and kudos to the professionals there.

I bought this latest Heaney book while I was in Ireland recently and it lives in my nightstand, along with the other Heaney books in the series (his letters, and his translations). They are an endless marvel and constantly make me ponder. Part of the attraction for me is that Heaney is simultaneously a peerless transcendent writer, but also is very everyday. He came from a working class, or maybe lower middle class, background and stuck to Belfast and Dublin and lived a relatively humble life. When I think of Yeats I can only see him in Tweed suits, visiting country estates with servants, and making posturing speeches in the Irish Senate. Yeats was an expert commentator, but removed from many of the experiences and lives he documented. Heaney really lived them. It's so much more relatable.

> Yeats was an expert commentator, but removed from many of the experiences and lives he documented

Yes! I actually studied Yeats as my Leaving Cert History Special Topic and had a gra for him for many years. But as I get older and see him more in historical context his success does seem to be partially a political artefact and his involvement in the founding of the Irish state bestowed upon him a beatificence that perhaps outshone even his brilliance and made him seem more timeless than perhaps he was. But then again, 1913, Byzantium, No Second Troy … it’s hard to find more strident and articulate polemicals

> WB Yeats or John Berryman

With O’Leary in the grave

Do you mean John Betjeman?

I would send business that guys way if I could, he seems like good people, unlike the more famous Zuckerberg.

you don't have to take it personally. vegan food is entirely a subset of food that nonvegans can eat.

That'll save them a few million dollars when things are tight.

CORBA, it got hopelessly complex but it's full potential was never reached as the greed heads took it over.