Whatcha reading redux.

[Jered]

Grant Takes Command
The Theory of Money and Credit
Arms and Influence

[Lokidude]

Max Brooks's Zombie Survival Guide.

[SeekHer]

I just received an E-mail from Casemate Publishing of their new releases and specials and one came to the forefront immediately as I knew absolutely nothing about them, then!

Sacrifice on the Steppe:
The Italian Alpine Corps in the Stalingrad Campaign, 1942-1943
By: Hope Hamilton

6 x 9, 384 pages, illustrations,
9781612000022,
$32.95, hardback,
Published by: Casemate, June 8, 2011

“Raw courage and endurance blend with human suffering, desperation and altruism in the epic saga of this withdrawal from the Don lines, including the demise of thousands and survival of the few.”
RECOLLECTIONS OF WWII, July 2011

While I had read some on the Stalingrad campaign, primarily on sniping and CQB tactics, I had never come across the Italian Eighth Army (227,000 men) serving there...Romanians, Hungarians, and Ukrainians sure but not them.
This looks like a really good read.

Of those in the "Featured Section" these three titles seemed the most interesting:
Finland's War of Choice: The Troubled German-Finnish Coalition in World War IIHenrik O. Lunde

Eastern Inferno: The Journals of a German Panzerjäger on the Eastern Front, 1941–43
Christine Alexander (ed.) and Mason Kunze (ed.)

Red Army's Do it Yourself, Nazi Bashing Guerrilla Warfare Manual: The
The Partizan's Handbook
Updated and Revised Edition 1943
Lester Grau and Michael Gress
Army manual reprint.

[HTRN]

It didn't do anything to dissuade me from my belief that Aaron Burr got a bum rap.

Yeah, it's not like he conspired to start a war with Spain, in order to seize most of the Louisiana purchase to carve himself an empire.

[Netpackrat]

It didn't do anything to dissuade me from my belief that Aaron Burr got a bum rap.

Yeah, it's not like he conspired to start a war with Spain, in order to seize most of the Louisiana purchase to carve himself an empire.

They never proved anything...

[308Mike]

RE: MHI Alpha - Here's the mine I'm sure he was writing about; the Quincy Mine:

When the mine ceased production in 1945, the Quincy Number 2 shaft was the world's deepest shaft, at 9,260 feet (2.82 km or 1.75 miles) along the dip of the deposit. To raise and lower ore and workers into this shaft, the world's largest steam-driven mine hoist was built in 1918 and housed in the Quincy Number 2 Hoist House. The Nordberg Steam Hoist and its reinforced concrete building, built in the Georgian architectural style with brick veneer and Italian-tiled walls, cost over $370,000 in 1918 but was used for only eleven years until it ceased usage in 1929. Weighing more than 880 tons, it lifted 10 tons of ore at 36.4 miles per hour, thus saving $16,080 in fuel bills in its first year of operation. The hoist sat on the largest concrete slab ever poured, containing 3200 cu. yards of cement and over 8 tons of reinforcement material. The Number 2 Hoist House was built as a reinforced concrete structure on a scale rare for 1918, making it one of the first of its kind. The very decorative Hoist House was used as a showpiece for visiting investors.

[JustinR]

Working on Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations at the current time.

After reading Aesop's wiki pages, I researched and purchased a decent first aid kit from Cabela's and added a few items I thought were important. It came with a wilderness first aid book, which I had just finished on my way to an overnight hotel stay for work, when I decided to leave the hotel on foot to find some dinner. As I rounded the corner, I came upon a motorcycle/auto accident that had just occurred. Several motorists were already gathered around the injured motorcycle rider, who was lying on his stomach, still conscious and breathing but clearly had internal injuries from the sound of fluid in his lungs/windpipe and coughing up blood. Thank God he had a helmet on. One individual was on their cell already talking with a 911 operator. One person was talking to him to get his information and keep him awake, there were no other visible external injuries, and traffic was pretty much stopped so he wasn't in further danger. Based on the location of the bike, rider, and damage to the vehicle, he had hit it pretty hard, so we didn't want to move him based off the likelihood of internal injuries, and the fact he was able to easily spit out the blood on his own in the position he was in. It was at that point that I realized I had no fucking clue what to do NEXT except wait for help to arrive. It was one of those "Oh crap, now I know exactly what I don't know" moments. When I got home from my trip, the first thing I did was go buy a used EMT-B textbook from Half Price Books, and it got bumped to next in line in my book queue. I'm also going to look around at locally available training courses and see what I can find.

[308Mike]

Working on Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations at the current time.

After reading Aesop's wiki pages, I researched and purchased a decent first aid kit from Cabela's and added a few items I thought were important. It came with a wilderness first aid book, which I had just finished on my way to an overnight hotel stay for work, when I decided to leave the hotel on foot to find some dinner. As I rounded the corner, I came upon a motorcycle/auto accident that had just occurred. Several motorists were already gathered around the injured motorcycle rider, who was lying on his stomach, still conscious and breathing but clearly had internal injuries from the sound of fluid in his lungs/windpipe and coughing up blood. Thank God he had a helmet on. One individual was on their cell already talking with a 911 operator. One person was talking to him to get his information and keep him awake, there were no other visible external injuries, and traffic was pretty much stopped so he wasn't in further danger. Based on the location of the bike, rider, and damage to the vehicle, he had hit it pretty hard, so we didn't want to move him based off the likelihood of internal injuries, and the fact he was able to easily spit out the blood on his own in the position he was in. It was at that point that I realized I had no fucking clue what to do NEXT except wait for help to arrive. It was one of those "Oh crap, now I know exactly what I don't know" moments. When I got home from my trip, the first thing I did was go buy a used EMT-B textbook from Half Price Books, and it got bumped to next in line in my book queue. I'm also going to look around at locally available training courses and see what I can find.

Sounds like you & the other bystanders did a good job regardless of your lack of formal training. It's a REAL eye-opener isn't it?? When you suddenly realize just how LITTLE you really know when it comes to these kinds of situations, especially when you don't have the tools you really need to put into place and you hadn't thought of making expedient tools/supports/splints/backboards, etc., etc.

Unless you plan on driving around with a high-quality response kit along with backboard, KED Sled, HARE Traction Splint, full trauma kit, etc., etc., you're gonna' have to learn to improvise and use what you have on hand. It's part of having a flexible mind.

[JustinR]

Yep, exactly. I have the kit I put together in my vehicle, but I was across the country in Augusta, GA (KAGS) on an overnight and the medical kit/first aid kit in the aircraft was a bit far away to do me any good. I think I'm going to put together a bare minimum survival/first aid kit I can put in a fanny pack/waist pack that won't take up too much room in my suitcase. If the police/paramedics hadn't shown up almost right away, making an improvised neck/backboard to immobilize the spine should have been the next thing I thought about in hindsight as you said Mike.

BTW, I forgot to mention that I followed up and found an article in the paper the next day, the motorcyclist did survive, turns out he ran the red light and hit the young girl in the Volvo. She was very distraught at the time due to the force of the impact and the driver's side curtain airbags deploying, and trying to figure out if she was at fault.

[Darrell]

One of my sisters sent me the Game of Thrones set by George R. R. Martin. Oh boy! Heard of it, but haven't read or seen any of it.