Following up some posts from earlier this week...

[wombat_socho]

John Scalzi doesn't like the privilege meme either, and has some interesting things to say about it - as do his commenters. (Instapundit)

Meanwhile, Max Boot comes to bury and praise the late George MacDonald Fraser - and incidentally kills whatever faint interest I might have had in reading Patrick O'Brien's Aubrey/Maturin novels. Also, Extreme Mortman supplies a connection between Fraser's antihero Harry Flashman, Charlie Wilson, and the exploits of our Green Berets in Afghanistan against the Taliban. What I want to know, though, is who's the hot chick with the sword on that cover? ;)

Comments

[dejana.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, so he's the guy who did the "Being Poor" list. I've always liked that one, and have mentioned it to a lot of people, but I forgot who wrote it.

[wombat-socho.livejournal.com]

His SF ain't half bad either - I really liked Old Man's War and The Ghost Brigades. YMMV.

Yeah, the "Being Poor" post helped me realize that no matter how tight things were for me and mine in Minnesota, we had friends and family who could and did help. Pretty wrenching to realize that there are people out there who have neither.

[dejana.livejournal.com]

A lot of it is sadly familiar to me, although we didn't have it as bad as some. Reading the lengthy comments on the post is depressing, enlightening, and nostalgic all at the same time, haha. I'm well out of it now, of course, but I'm helping to support my parents a lot earlier than most. :\

And I do have the common problem of the formerly poor - I don't know how to save. (Did I read that on Scalzi's post as well?) It sure is nice to say "I don't know" when someone asks me how much something cost, though. ;)

[wombat-socho.livejournal.com]

I don't know that it's a matter of not knowing how to save, more like the fact that you can afford to indulge yourself means you do - and don't think much about the long term.

[dejana.livejournal.com]

Well, exactly. It's spending the money when you've got it because you don't know when you'll have it again.

[wombat-socho.livejournal.com]

*nods*