We Are Not Saved

In which I engage in an extended, and somewhat clunky Star Wars metaphor. And eventually conclude that clunkiness is sort of the point.

Hamlet by: William Shakespeare Gods and Generals (The Civil War Trilogy, #1) by: Jeff Shaara We Solve Murders by: Richard Osman Stop All the Clocks: A Novel by: Noah Kumin Pyrebound by Brayton Cole Grunge (Monster Hunter Memoirs, #1) by: John Ringo and Larry Correia Sinners (Monster Hunter Memoirs, #2) by: John Ringo and Larry Correia Saints (Monster Hunter Memoirs, #3) by: John Ringo and Larry Correia Fever (Monster Hunter Memoirs, #4) by: Larry Correia and Jason Córdova Target Rich Environment (Volume 1) by: Larry Correia Target Rich Environment (Volume 2) by: Larry Correia Monster Hunter: Siege by: Larry Correia Monster Hunter: Guardian by: Larry Correia Monster Hunter: Bloodlines by: Larry Correia The Monster Hunter Files by: Various

A review of Douglas Murray's "On Democracies and Death Cults" with broad discursions into Sam Kriss' article "Douglas Murray, gruesome toady" and the entire Israel-Hamas-Gaza Mess.

Hannah's Children: The Women Quietly Defying the Birth Dearth by: Catherine Pakaluk The Rise and Decline of Nations: Economic Growth, Stagflation, and Social Rigidities by: Mancur Olson This Kind of War: A Study in Unpreparedness by: T. R. Fehrenbach Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House by: Jonathan Allen Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again by: Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson Meditations by: Marcus Aurelius The Gap and The Gain: The High Achievers' Guide to Happiness, Confidence, and Success by: Dan Sullivan and Benjamin P. Hardy

People are worried about a lot of things at the moment, but one thing near the top of everyone’s list is a war between the US and China over the fate of Taiwan. What most people have forgotten is that the US already fought a war with China. It’s easy to overlook this previous conflict because we called it the Korean War (and initially it wasn’t even called a war). This is understandable given that it took place in Korea. As such, it’s forgivable to overlook the huge Chinese involvement. But for most of the war the Chinese were our primary opponents. (At its peak 80% of enemy troops were Chinese.) Can we draw any lessons from our last war with China when considering the possible outcomes of a future war with the same adversary? There are certainly worse places to look for information. The first thing we might look at is the outcome. How did we do? How did the war end? This part, at least, most people remember. It ended in a draw. After costing the lives of at least four million people (soldiers and civilians) the final truce line was very close to the original dividing line of the 38th parallel.

A Rumor of Angels: Modern Society and the Rediscovery of the Supernatural by: Peter L. Berger The Four Cardinal Virtues by: Josef Pieper Analects by: Confucius Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious by: Ross Douthat

Someone needs to point out the potential problems with superforecasting. For some reason it as fallen to me.

The movement is called anti-aging, not anti-injury. How do people who believe they have a real shot at immortality interact with the phenomena of safetyism?

The Moral Sense by: James Q. Wilson The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 2]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation (1918-1956) by: Alekandr Solzhenitsyn Stalin's War: A New History of World War II by: Sean McMeekin Doctored: Fraud, Arrogance, and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimer's by: Charles Piller How the World Ran Out of Everything: Inside the Global Supply Chain by: Peter S. Goodman Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism by: Sarah Wynn-Williams Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork by: Dan Sullivan

Getting people to have more children may be as difficult as getting people to abandon their four-door sedan for a horse and buggy.