My Midwestern heart loves that this is something that would grow out of this region. I mean, I lived on the other side of the world in an exotic locale for years and still ended up coming back here. I can use my parents' house as a staging area for anywhere within a couple of hours of there, and Detroit is practically the next town. I'll figure out how to make attending this new not-a-cult a birthday present to myself, although I'm not sure what I could possibly contribute to the group. If there's anything I've excelled at in my life, it's underachieving.
this brought a genuine laugh as I read it: "anyone who tries to introduce racial topics into the discussion will be severely discouraged using any means at hand, possibly by Guest Speaker And Relationship Counselor Rodney."
I find the tales of 'Rodney's' exploits as amusing as the next man but some of the fan service in the comments approaches the level of one of his most oft written proclivities.
People do the same for Doug DeMuro, whose sole claim to fame is using insurance payoff money to discover quirks and features. He's never ever thrown a woman down a set of stairs!
This is what good taverns used to provide. I had more mind-opening discussions at a VFW with a bartender named Muff and a crew of grizzled men of all ages than I ever did in college.
I've never seen the inside of an Elk/Rotary/Moose/Lions Lodge thing, but I can't imagine they have as many weirdos and malcontents hanging inside them as ACF does. I'm not really one to spend time in bars, but every time I'm ~forced inside~ invited to join a pal in one, the music is so loud you can't discuss _anything,_ not even the weather. Maybe my vocal cords just aren't toughened up from enough screaming to be heard over the speakers? Sounds like my friends and acquaintances don't frequent these so-called taverns.
The only bars worth a shit are places that cater to people who actually make things, who claim a stool on the way home from work, who aren't looking to get laid or impress anyone, and that greet anyone new through the door with skepticism if not suspicion.
Basically I've realized that Lawrence from Office Space is my spirit guide.
I'd say the same is true of college bars. I went to Texas A&M a good many years ago. my friends and I spent an ungodly sum of money drinking an ocean of Shiner Bock at a dive bar called Duddley's Draw. the best conversations invariably occurred in the middle of the afternoon after the day's classes, when the place was relatively quiet and you could talk at normal volume. I had many fascinating and occasionally random conversations with interesting people. I think it's got something to do with people who are willing and happy to drink during the day. it was an entirely different dynamic after dark, when the goal of 90 percent of the patrons was getting laid, getting in a fight, or both.
I cannot stand being in loud places any more. I put that down to age, although I'm a lot less annoyed by the open-pipe 347 Ford warming up in the garage next to me at MidO than I am by the incoherent yelling in an Applebees.
I stopped by a local dive bar on the way home from work last week to grab a quick beer only to learn that it has "re-branded" to cater to middle aged career women who like to make noise. I walked in, assessed the situation, and walked out.
I worked in an open floor plan office that had more women than men working there. I had also once visited an aviary. Aviary was considerably more quiet.
My wife and I enjoy bars, taverns, breweries and distilleries too much, probably, there being a good selection of all here in Colorado. The ones that have TVs will be loud if the Broncos or Avalanche are playing, whoops and cheers for the Avs of late, groans and swearing if it is the former. Anyway, she and I got into a rut of looking at our phones when it was too loud to talk much. Last week Santa brought us a backgammon board, knowing neither of us knew how to play, with a note to put away cell phones in any establishment that serves adult beverages. So far, so good!
Enthused about this 1st Principles idea. Any meeting in the Denver area (home to me) or around the Space Coast in FL (home to some family - I'm there 4 - 5 times/year), please count me in!
I vote FoCo because I don't want to drive through homeless encampments in Denver but I also recognize that's a real stretch for anyone in the Colorado Springs area or the western slope.
A sports bar is one thing, if you are going to see a game or something and that is your intent, at least you know what to expect. It's the TVs in non sports bars and restaurants that drive me nuts. That is some Harrison Bergeron shit.
Wealthy people send their children and sometimes with their nanny to Europe for an academic year, they enroll them in Catholic or private schools that practice discipline and high expectations, the children are enrolled in multiple sports of their choice, they have summer jobs at the club or the law firm or the hospital where they are exposed to and surrounded by successful roll models. Now this is not always true but in a lot of cases it is. They may have the latest electronic device but it is not their window into the world or a method of escape, it is just something they have, like hockey sticks, rowing oars, chess sets….
Nate, it is not about being king it is about setting goals and expectations for your children. IMHO over the last 30-40 years generations of young people have been bombarded with the idea that if they can have the latest $400 Niki's they can be an NBA Star or if they can have the latest i-Phone 64 they will be one of the cool kids... It is when they reach there teen years they find out it is for not and then you have homoside rates like they do in Chicago or DC or Philly... Look at the successful kids at Alabama or Georgia or any other power athletic schoool. The kids playing football or basket ball did not grow up in Hoover Alabama, or McLean Va or Buckhead, GA but what they did have was a two parent household that set expectations and boundries in a lot of cases. Just like the children of the upper middle class that I described above. It does not take a Harvard graduate to figure it out but the problem is that the powers at be do not want those children of the lower lower middle class to compete with their children so therefore they continue to sell a bill go goods to the lower classes that you have to have this or that to be a success. Children of the upper middle class have those things but they are just things . Nate, I come from one of the poorest counties in one of the poorest states in the country at the time. Many of my piers became doctors, lawyers, investment bankers as well as car mechanics, hotel maids, and gas jockies. However I can not think of one that ended up dead in a drive by shooting or living on the street with a needle in his or her arm. But the one thing I can think of after all these years that was a given was that even if our parents did not have much they had expectations for us and set boundries.
Now to figure out where to buy one le$$ expenSive, most of my $ is earmarked for vehicle parts but I'd sure love to play hob with all those !%$!!#@! public TVs .
I'll be happy to help organize the Eastern Canadian chapter meeting. Prince Edward Island could be fun. It also has the advantage of being about the most remote, civilized place from most people in North America. Plus, it also offers the best Lobster and best fries.
I’ve been nearby, but not yet had the pleasure of visiting PEI. I had a boss that made an annual pilgrimage and golfed for two weeks solid. He raved about the island.
It’s a truly lovely place, full of wonderful people. They all seem to have figured out that they live in one of the greatest spots in the world, and take pleasure in that knowledge. They just seem to enjoy their lives, in a very middle class kind of way. Or at least what middle class used to mean a generation or two back. The only oddity is how many restaurants use frozen French fries, when they are all surrounded by potato fields.
Oh, and the soil, and the beautiful sandy beaches, are red!
I am tentatively quite interested! Right up my alley... Over-educated mid-30s jack-of-all-trades that works in a blue-collar trade-adjacent profession (hardware store manager) and know just enough about most trades to be dangerous. And a lot of other topics. Not so sure I could make the first, or every pow-wow but I am quite intrigued by the idea.
I also have a habit of overusing hyphens and commas.
Being far on the introverted side of the social spectrum this type of event will take me right out of my comfort zone but in the best way possible. Detroit is only a few hours away so count me in, assuming my schedule allows. And despite being a Trackday Club member I’d gladly pay the $100 attendance fee. I feel like I’ve already received my money’s worth from my initial subscription.
This is exciting. This is community. This is how businesses have been built, how people have gotten a hand up, and how a cohesive and unified middle class built a country that worked.
I'm looking forward to attending as and when possible. I sincerely hope it is a really big deal.
Sounds fantastically interesting, even though I would be totally clueless in most of the topics and awfully out of my depth in the rest! Still, the only real reason I'm not really considering showing up it the petty problem named "Atlantic Ocean" and time and financial problems associated with crossing it.
However, if you ever want to do one of these in Prague (and if you want it in Europe, you WANT it in Prague) I could help. I'm even a member of a club that would be almost perfect for such thing.
I'm more of a Frederick Forsyth man, so I would suggest a mix between George Smiley (whom I sadly only know from the films and not books – something I shall remedy) and Peter Miller, the RHD-Jag-driving freelance European journalist from the ODESSA file.
But yes, it could work! :)
Just my pet peeve as a Czech – we are not Eastern Europe, we are Central Europe. When I go to Vienna, I go a bit south and quite a bit east. Berlin is almost straight north. And if you go from Berlin to Vienna by train, you'll be going almost under my house :)
Which is also the reason why Prague is a good location for such a thing not only because I live here and because we have the Eccentric Club (a members-only bar that allows smoking and similar stuff, but also runs lectures on everything from psychology to arts to AI as well as little concerts, usually by some of the best people here), but also because it's quite easily reachable.
I went by the place at least once (I live less than two miles away), but to be honest, i didn't notice the clock. Will have look the next time I'm headed that way.
There's too much to see in Prague and even if you lived here for years, as I do, or even decades as the "natives" (I was born about 60 miles away), you could still spend the rest of your lifetime discovering things, from jewels of Middle Ages to myths and legends, to functionalism of the 1930s and brutalism of the 1970s. There isn't many cities in the world with such rich history and so many layers of architecture. Rome and Paris, maybe.
Though I’m an infrequent commenter here, I’m intrigued by the idea and am interested in attending, presuming the dates work. I suspect you’re not going to have a problem getting 20 people.
I've been wondering if a branch like this might grow off of the ACF tree. A way to interact with this group without buying a racecar??? Hell yes, I'm interested!
But I'll have to wait a bit...at least until you get west of the Rockies. Portland or Seattle would be ideal.
I'm humbled. Maybe I could do a session on maker stuff, 3D printing and lasers. I'm continually astounded that I can make dimensionally accurate things in my kitchen. Maybe combine it with someone that actually knows how to do CAD better than my kludgy method.
I'm very interested. For me the biggest issue is the travel, not the money. I've come to hate flying.
But I am curious as to what folks are thinking and what they think is worthwhile and real and achievable. All that stuff. Part of it is the engineer in me and part of it is the writer.
I do have a pretty strong understanding of the power grid btw, worked for PGT for a while and also for CalISO.
You can wait until we come around your way -- it's mean to be a traveling circus so people have a chance to do it without getting on a plane.
One topic I'd considered, if we had an author like you involved in a meeting: how comprehensive and logical of a fantastical world could a group build in a short meeting, the way Tom Clancy figured out parts of Red October with a naval board game?
Larry Bond, the co-author, created Harpoon as a board game. It was later developed into the video game series. It would not surprise me if there was an intermediate stage as they wrote together.
12 year old Harry thought Red Storm rising was the greatest novel ever written. I have re read it twice since then and it stands up. Tom Clancy gets a bad rap because he tries to write "humans" and have "character development" in his later novels.
The most recent Clancy I've read is Rainbow Six and the most recent one I remember seeing was The Bear and the Dragon? Which apparently I saw in a bookstore in the 2000s yet remember the title of for reasons unknown to me.
Yeah, not a master of prose. His plots were excellent and I loved how he brought multiple stories together to epic conclusion. I think Clear and Present Danger is my favourite of his.
I was a teenager when I last read RSR, but I’m inspired to pick it up again.
After I read and re-read Jack invitation, I was think back over the last 50 years and though of those time in a group or at work when things just clicked. like at a high school job at Long John Silvers when Friday evening rush came around and the 5 of us part timers would tell the Asst. Mgr to go to the back and have a smoke and beer and get our of our way, or when at a major government organization when our team would tackle a complex problem and the Division Director would occasionlly stick his head in the door, and want to take charge and we would tell him to not to mess things up and we would get back to him with the finished product in time for him to take credit. I think Jack's idea is great, count me in.... but DETROIT..... was the Southside of Chicago not available? :-)
Have you considered renting a private home? You and Bark could save on hotels, and a limited number of attendees could pay to stay on site, subidizing the rental fee.
For the adventurous you could even have it inside the city limits. $1,850 night. They'll host events up to 40 people but they charge extra for events. https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/9190394
It's called the Sanders Mansion, not sure if it has anything to do with the Sanders candy, cake and fudge company. Palmer Woods is probably as safe as any of the suburbs, there's limited access to the subdivision, private security and the DPD's 12th Precinct is right across Seven Mile Rd.
"Located in Historical Palmer Woods. 7 bedrooms, 11 beds. 6 full baths and 4 half baths, Swimming Pool, Whirlpool, Sauna, Rainfall Shower, Home Gym,3 Treadmills, English Pub, Billiard Parlor, Ballroom/Conference Room, Movie/Screening Room with 200 + inch screen. 10,000 sq feet Mansion, Private Security Patrol"
I agree with Brother Bark; this idea has serious potential.
Pretty intrigued in attending once this heads west, but also worried about missing out on the inaugural session. I will be pondering reasons both work and personal to be in that neck of the woods in the spring….
My Midwestern heart loves that this is something that would grow out of this region. I mean, I lived on the other side of the world in an exotic locale for years and still ended up coming back here. I can use my parents' house as a staging area for anywhere within a couple of hours of there, and Detroit is practically the next town. I'll figure out how to make attending this new not-a-cult a birthday present to myself, although I'm not sure what I could possibly contribute to the group. If there's anything I've excelled at in my life, it's underachieving.
That's the best part of it -- you won't know what you're going to contribute until you get there, and it could change someone's life for the better.
The best part of this is having Rodney as the outward face of the group. I'm tempted to sign up just to see that in action.
this brought a genuine laugh as I read it: "anyone who tries to introduce racial topics into the discussion will be severely discouraged using any means at hand, possibly by Guest Speaker And Relationship Counselor Rodney."
I'd pay twice the admission fee just to see that.
I find the tales of 'Rodney's' exploits as amusing as the next man but some of the fan service in the comments approaches the level of one of his most oft written proclivities.
People do the same for Doug DeMuro, whose sole claim to fame is using insurance payoff money to discover quirks and features. He's never ever thrown a woman down a set of stairs!
This is what good taverns used to provide. I had more mind-opening discussions at a VFW with a bartender named Muff and a crew of grizzled men of all ages than I ever did in college.
I've never seen the inside of an Elk/Rotary/Moose/Lions Lodge thing, but I can't imagine they have as many weirdos and malcontents hanging inside them as ACF does. I'm not really one to spend time in bars, but every time I'm ~forced inside~ invited to join a pal in one, the music is so loud you can't discuss _anything,_ not even the weather. Maybe my vocal cords just aren't toughened up from enough screaming to be heard over the speakers? Sounds like my friends and acquaintances don't frequent these so-called taverns.
The only bars worth a shit are places that cater to people who actually make things, who claim a stool on the way home from work, who aren't looking to get laid or impress anyone, and that greet anyone new through the door with skepticism if not suspicion.
Basically I've realized that Lawrence from Office Space is my spirit guide.
I'd say the same is true of college bars. I went to Texas A&M a good many years ago. my friends and I spent an ungodly sum of money drinking an ocean of Shiner Bock at a dive bar called Duddley's Draw. the best conversations invariably occurred in the middle of the afternoon after the day's classes, when the place was relatively quiet and you could talk at normal volume. I had many fascinating and occasionally random conversations with interesting people. I think it's got something to do with people who are willing and happy to drink during the day. it was an entirely different dynamic after dark, when the goal of 90 percent of the patrons was getting laid, getting in a fight, or both.
I cannot stand being in loud places any more. I put that down to age, although I'm a lot less annoyed by the open-pipe 347 Ford warming up in the garage next to me at MidO than I am by the incoherent yelling in an Applebees.
Downsides of having kids later in life:
Me: Why do they make so much noise?
Wife: They're children.
top ten relatable comments of 2022
I stopped by a local dive bar on the way home from work last week to grab a quick beer only to learn that it has "re-branded" to cater to middle aged career women who like to make noise. I walked in, assessed the situation, and walked out.
I worked in an open floor plan office that had more women than men working there. I had also once visited an aviary. Aviary was considerably more quiet.
My wife and I enjoy bars, taverns, breweries and distilleries too much, probably, there being a good selection of all here in Colorado. The ones that have TVs will be loud if the Broncos or Avalanche are playing, whoops and cheers for the Avs of late, groans and swearing if it is the former. Anyway, she and I got into a rut of looking at our phones when it was too loud to talk much. Last week Santa brought us a backgammon board, knowing neither of us knew how to play, with a note to put away cell phones in any establishment that serves adult beverages. So far, so good!
Enthused about this 1st Principles idea. Any meeting in the Denver area (home to me) or around the Space Coast in FL (home to some family - I'm there 4 - 5 times/year), please count me in!
I vote FoCo because I don't want to drive through homeless encampments in Denver but I also recognize that's a real stretch for anyone in the Colorado Springs area or the western slope.
Isn't the myth that the American Revolution was fomented in public houses?
A sports bar is one thing, if you are going to see a game or something and that is your intent, at least you know what to expect. It's the TVs in non sports bars and restaurants that drive me nuts. That is some Harrison Bergeron shit.
Orwell's note that the Inner Party can turn the telescreen off is SO APT.
Poor people are SURROUNDED by cheap flatscreens and omnipresent noise.
Wealthy people do "digital detox" and don't let their kids have iPads.
Wealthy people send their children and sometimes with their nanny to Europe for an academic year, they enroll them in Catholic or private schools that practice discipline and high expectations, the children are enrolled in multiple sports of their choice, they have summer jobs at the club or the law firm or the hospital where they are exposed to and surrounded by successful roll models. Now this is not always true but in a lot of cases it is. They may have the latest electronic device but it is not their window into the world or a method of escape, it is just something they have, like hockey sticks, rowing oars, chess sets….
"it's _good_ to be King"........
-Nate
Nate, it is not about being king it is about setting goals and expectations for your children. IMHO over the last 30-40 years generations of young people have been bombarded with the idea that if they can have the latest $400 Niki's they can be an NBA Star or if they can have the latest i-Phone 64 they will be one of the cool kids... It is when they reach there teen years they find out it is for not and then you have homoside rates like they do in Chicago or DC or Philly... Look at the successful kids at Alabama or Georgia or any other power athletic schoool. The kids playing football or basket ball did not grow up in Hoover Alabama, or McLean Va or Buckhead, GA but what they did have was a two parent household that set expectations and boundries in a lot of cases. Just like the children of the upper middle class that I described above. It does not take a Harvard graduate to figure it out but the problem is that the powers at be do not want those children of the lower lower middle class to compete with their children so therefore they continue to sell a bill go goods to the lower classes that you have to have this or that to be a success. Children of the upper middle class have those things but they are just things . Nate, I come from one of the poorest counties in one of the poorest states in the country at the time. Many of my piers became doctors, lawyers, investment bankers as well as car mechanics, hotel maids, and gas jockies. However I can not think of one that ended up dead in a drive by shooting or living on the street with a needle in his or her arm. But the one thing I can think of after all these years that was a given was that even if our parents did not have much they had expectations for us and set boundries.
I wonder if the Flipper antenna can be used to shut off those annoying public TV sets ? .
It's expen$ive but worth the $ if so .
I've not turned on the TV set in my house for close to 10 years now, I like the quietude .
I can always go elsewhere if I need noise .
-Nate
Yes it can, Nate. Already tested that out.
Now to figure out where to buy one le$$ expenSive, most of my $ is earmarked for vehicle parts but I'd sure love to play hob with all those !%$!!#@! public TVs .
-Nate
Count me in. If we don’t hang together, we’re going to hang separately.
I referenced this same quote during our chat.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SZOeDY_iFCg
Honeypot? Heh.
Count me in.
I'll be happy to help organize the Eastern Canadian chapter meeting. Prince Edward Island could be fun. It also has the advantage of being about the most remote, civilized place from most people in North America. Plus, it also offers the best Lobster and best fries.
I’ve been nearby, but not yet had the pleasure of visiting PEI. I had a boss that made an annual pilgrimage and golfed for two weeks solid. He raved about the island.
It’s a truly lovely place, full of wonderful people. They all seem to have figured out that they live in one of the greatest spots in the world, and take pleasure in that knowledge. They just seem to enjoy their lives, in a very middle class kind of way. Or at least what middle class used to mean a generation or two back. The only oddity is how many restaurants use frozen French fries, when they are all surrounded by potato fields.
Oh, and the soil, and the beautiful sandy beaches, are red!
I am tentatively quite interested! Right up my alley... Over-educated mid-30s jack-of-all-trades that works in a blue-collar trade-adjacent profession (hardware store manager) and know just enough about most trades to be dangerous. And a lot of other topics. Not so sure I could make the first, or every pow-wow but I am quite intrigued by the idea.
I also have a habit of overusing hyphens and commas.
Guess I’m going to find out if Detroit is lovely that time of year.
Springtime can indeed be lovely in southeastern Michigan.
Being far on the introverted side of the social spectrum this type of event will take me right out of my comfort zone but in the best way possible. Detroit is only a few hours away so count me in, assuming my schedule allows. And despite being a Trackday Club member I’d gladly pay the $100 attendance fee. I feel like I’ve already received my money’s worth from my initial subscription.
I'm absolutely willing to take more of your money.
This is exciting. This is community. This is how businesses have been built, how people have gotten a hand up, and how a cohesive and unified middle class built a country that worked.
I'm looking forward to attending as and when possible. I sincerely hope it is a really big deal.
Sounds fantastically interesting, even though I would be totally clueless in most of the topics and awfully out of my depth in the rest! Still, the only real reason I'm not really considering showing up it the petty problem named "Atlantic Ocean" and time and financial problems associated with crossing it.
However, if you ever want to do one of these in Prague (and if you want it in Europe, you WANT it in Prague) I could help. I'm even a member of a club that would be almost perfect for such thing.
Maybe I'll fly you over here once and then you can handle the Eastern European operation like George Smiley in the LeCarre books.
I'm more of a Frederick Forsyth man, so I would suggest a mix between George Smiley (whom I sadly only know from the films and not books – something I shall remedy) and Peter Miller, the RHD-Jag-driving freelance European journalist from the ODESSA file.
But yes, it could work! :)
Just my pet peeve as a Czech – we are not Eastern Europe, we are Central Europe. When I go to Vienna, I go a bit south and quite a bit east. Berlin is almost straight north. And if you go from Berlin to Vienna by train, you'll be going almost under my house :)
Which is also the reason why Prague is a good location for such a thing not only because I live here and because we have the Eccentric Club (a members-only bar that allows smoking and similar stuff, but also runs lectures on everything from psychology to arts to AI as well as little concerts, usually by some of the best people here), but also because it's quite easily reachable.
Have you ever seen the Hebrew clock that runs counter-clockwise in the old Jewish town hall?
I went by the place at least once (I live less than two miles away), but to be honest, i didn't notice the clock. Will have look the next time I'm headed that way.
There's too much to see in Prague and even if you lived here for years, as I do, or even decades as the "natives" (I was born about 60 miles away), you could still spend the rest of your lifetime discovering things, from jewels of Middle Ages to myths and legends, to functionalism of the 1930s and brutalism of the 1970s. There isn't many cities in the world with such rich history and so many layers of architecture. Rome and Paris, maybe.
Though I’m an infrequent commenter here, I’m intrigued by the idea and am interested in attending, presuming the dates work. I suspect you’re not going to have a problem getting 20 people.
I've been wondering if a branch like this might grow off of the ACF tree. A way to interact with this group without buying a racecar??? Hell yes, I'm interested!
But I'll have to wait a bit...at least until you get west of the Rockies. Portland or Seattle would be ideal.
Not a problem. Assuming the first meeting doesn't result in some sort of cataclysm, Bark and I will head West for the second one.
Perhaps we can convince Ronnie to make the trip, too?
I'm humbled. Maybe I could do a session on maker stuff, 3D printing and lasers. I'm continually astounded that I can make dimensionally accurate things in my kitchen. Maybe combine it with someone that actually knows how to do CAD better than my kludgy method.
I'm very interested. For me the biggest issue is the travel, not the money. I've come to hate flying.
But I am curious as to what folks are thinking and what they think is worthwhile and real and achievable. All that stuff. Part of it is the engineer in me and part of it is the writer.
I do have a pretty strong understanding of the power grid btw, worked for PGT for a while and also for CalISO.
You can wait until we come around your way -- it's mean to be a traveling circus so people have a chance to do it without getting on a plane.
One topic I'd considered, if we had an author like you involved in a meeting: how comprehensive and logical of a fantastical world could a group build in a short meeting, the way Tom Clancy figured out parts of Red October with a naval board game?
Depends on the group. Some folks get way too wrapped around the axle on world building
This is something that I'm actually well known for as an author. (the world building, not the wrapped around the axle part)
I knew Red Storm Rising was essentially wargame in novel form but hadn't realized Red October was.
I'll have to go find my Naval Press hardback (shouldn't admit to owning that) but Clancy refers to a computer program at some point.
Larry Bond, the co-author, created Harpoon as a board game. It was later developed into the video game series. It would not surprise me if there was an intermediate stage as they wrote together.
12 year old Harry thought Red Storm rising was the greatest novel ever written. I have re read it twice since then and it stands up. Tom Clancy gets a bad rap because he tries to write "humans" and have "character development" in his later novels.
Red Storm Rising is WICKED and it even told us about the stealth fighter!
I gave up on the "Ryanverse" when he became President. I was afraid in the next one the aliens would come. There was no other place to take it.
The most recent Clancy I've read is Rainbow Six and the most recent one I remember seeing was The Bear and the Dragon? Which apparently I saw in a bookstore in the 2000s yet remember the title of for reasons unknown to me.
Yeah, not a master of prose. His plots were excellent and I loved how he brought multiple stories together to epic conclusion. I think Clear and Present Danger is my favourite of his.
I was a teenager when I last read RSR, but I’m inspired to pick it up again.
Red Storm Rising was great, my favorite was Without Remorse. I was mightily disappointed at what they did with the movie.
After I read and re-read Jack invitation, I was think back over the last 50 years and though of those time in a group or at work when things just clicked. like at a high school job at Long John Silvers when Friday evening rush came around and the 5 of us part timers would tell the Asst. Mgr to go to the back and have a smoke and beer and get our of our way, or when at a major government organization when our team would tackle a complex problem and the Division Director would occasionlly stick his head in the door, and want to take charge and we would tell him to not to mess things up and we would get back to him with the finished product in time for him to take credit. I think Jack's idea is great, count me in.... but DETROIT..... was the Southside of Chicago not available? :-)
Think more suburban Detroit, which is NOT the baddest part of town!
Have you considered renting a private home? You and Bark could save on hotels, and a limited number of attendees could pay to stay on site, subidizing the rental fee.
For the adventurous you could even have it inside the city limits. $1,850 night. They'll host events up to 40 people but they charge extra for events. https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/9190394
It's called the Sanders Mansion, not sure if it has anything to do with the Sanders candy, cake and fudge company. Palmer Woods is probably as safe as any of the suburbs, there's limited access to the subdivision, private security and the DPD's 12th Precinct is right across Seven Mile Rd.
"Located in Historical Palmer Woods. 7 bedrooms, 11 beds. 6 full baths and 4 half baths, Swimming Pool, Whirlpool, Sauna, Rainfall Shower, Home Gym,3 Treadmills, English Pub, Billiard Parlor, Ballroom/Conference Room, Movie/Screening Room with 200 + inch screen. 10,000 sq feet Mansion, Private Security Patrol"
I agree with Brother Bark; this idea has serious potential.
Pretty intrigued in attending once this heads west, but also worried about missing out on the inaugural session. I will be pondering reasons both work and personal to be in that neck of the woods in the spring….
I don't know what I just read but I'm in! :)