If it doesn’t have Bear Grylls in it, then you’re lucky.

Wicked fahkin’ ahsome!

Joe B. went to Bowdoin College, whose President was once Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (himself an alum and former professor). Who was involved in that assault on Marye’s heights in Fredericksburg. Just thought I’d bring some Caps symmetry into this.

But I see what you’re saying, he certainly has to take liberties to further his story/audience. Still good reading, though.

Eh….I’ve never been much into historical fiction. I end up just getting annoyed with it.

Hooker may have had better supplies, but made even worse tactical decisions (see: Chancellorsville and his flank) Outside of Grant, the Union Army really had some imbalanced leaders. McClellan-great motivator, Hooker-great organizer, Meade-good tactician, but too slow, etc., and that really hurt them in the early going. Lee and Jackson just had their way with them. Hindsight is 20/20, but the war could’ve ended much sooner had they had their act together early on.

I’m not so sure its an issue of “imbalanced leaders” but really the fact that Lee was so good. I’m definitely not in the “Lee is infallible” camp by a long stretch, but the man was so good at finding a piece of ground and using it to his advantage because of his engineering background. Look at Antietam as an example…that is absolutely PERFECT piece of ground to defend in all aspects. The Army of the Potomac was also hurt by the fact that they had to bear the offensive aspects of the war, namely, their task was to bring the battle to the enemy, while the Army of Northern Virginia could just sit back and defend its turf as much as it wanted to. Combine that with the fact that the Confederates had a massive initial advantage in Cavalry for the first 2-3 years of the war, and its not so difficult to ascertain why so many Federal operations ended up failing.

And Grant is not infallible, not by a long shot. The Overland Campaign is a mess of a poor command structure, simultaneous unsupported attacks on too many fronts, and questionable tactical decisions (sending Sheridan after the Confederate cavalry, IX Corps as a separate command not attached to the Army of the Potomac).

Another thing on FB, though, that hurt Burnside was letting the troops loot the hell out of the town. I realize there wasn’t a lot you can do about that, but surely, he could’ve made some effort. That really pissed off the Confederates.

I think in warfare, especially city fighting, is that there’s kind of an “unwritten rule” that if you have to fight inside a city, you’re pretty much “entitled” to waylay the place. That doesn’t make it right, but if you’re in the position of those troops, you’ve been blasted trying to clear troops out of the place all day (the 20th Massachusetts lost something like close to 200 men between Faquier and Hawke streets), there’s probably going to be some sort of emotional response from the attacking troops, because there’s something physically there they can take their aggression out on. There’s not justification for it at all, but there’s a reason it tends to happen.

I polished off Chernow’s biography Hamilton. It was good, if perhaps it was a little over-stated that Hamilton = good and Jefferson/Adams/anyone who disagreed with Hamilton = bad. I’d still recommend it though.

LINK

Speaking of the American Revolution, I read a book on the Southern campaign not too long ago, The Road to Guilford Court House, that I found enjoyable.

Thanks for the tip, I’m gonna check this one out.

And the soup of the day is whiskey.

Oh, ok, I was wondering if that might be the case. That’s probably why American Shakespeare Center sounded so familiar.

Wasn’t the production of Shrew great? They do comedies especially well, IMO. The level of audience interaction is great, too.

I think it’s interesting to review commentaries on the show from the 1970s versus today, as well. The single-play copy I have was published in about 1974 or so, and the commentator does heavily emphasize the anti-Semitic aspects of the show. With that in mind as I read it, those aspects did come through loud and clear. But I can see ways to stage it to downplay those aspects as well.

Glad to be here and glad to know that there are a few fellow Cubs fans as well. It’s been a while since I’ve gotten to Chicago, but I always catch the Cubs when they come to ATL to play the Braves.

I prefer to think of it as building up karma. Sooner or later, the Cubs are going to win 5 in a row

Everybody is a “terrorist” these days. When everyone is a “terrorist” have the terrorists won or lost?

The interesting thing about those buildings (Echelon 1 thru whatever number) is a number of them are used as 3rd party training facilities, so there are probably people from all over town if not the country who happen to be right in that immediate area who just had their training interrupted.

Just heard my director’s son-in-law (and office-mates husband) Shane Hill has been injured to at least some unknown degree…

I’ll take the stick for the reach advantage. You could also stomp on the end of the stick and hope to get a near full-sized spear out of it. Think composite stick with blade broken off.

It helps to have great skills and an appropriately sized staff, for sure.

Right, but to hold the brick, you’ve gotta use your hand. Bricks are pretty big and normally have sharp edges. You’re using your hand to propel the brick and there’s gonna be substantial resistance on contact. Whoever you’re hitting is going to be way worse for the wear than your grip/hand, but it’s not something to overlook.

Stick all the way, then. Huge reach advantage and you can do some serious damage if you’re determined enough to stab with it. If you swing it like a baseball bat, you’re going to lose — opponent steps inside your swing, takes a light sting and then brains you with a brick.

I guess my stipulation requires enough space to maneuver, brick in close quarters.

I was assuming your only real option is to chuck the brick. But it has to incapacitate/stun your opponent immediately so you can close in and knock his stick away. (This all assumes the two are even in hand-to-hand confrontation.)

And boy is THIS ever a topic for the off-topic thread!!!

Ohh geez. I think I’m taking the stick then. Brick is too high risk/high reward. Stick is steady

Just gotta trip him, pin the brick arm down and throttle the donk with the stick.

I’ve had this argument a couple of times…

I know exactly what you mean. I had a debate about Do the Right Thing with one of my friends while he was wasted and I was not. I was blatantly making things up and bullshitting him the whole time. He knew I was, but he couldn’t help but to get worked up about it.

And I highly doubt this conversation would have been brought up here today without my comment.

Yeah, it’s interesting as hell and I enjoy watching it. But it needs to stop right before hockey starts.

Such a good point about curling having boring opening parts.

Yeah, but those rocks weigh 42 pounds!