Airplane III: The Israelis

Middle Daughter got back late last night from her Harry Styles concert and we had to pick her up at a friend's house at 12:45 AM or so. 

Happy Thursday everyone. 

What Will's Watching: While we waited for Middle Daughter to get back to her friend's house we watched Eastern Promises, the 2007 Viggo Mortensen Russian gangster film. Eastern Promises has mood, heart, and soul. There's a lot going on there. Mortensen brilliantly plays a driver and foot soldier in the Russian mob. Lots of Russian culture everywhere. A clever, but not too clever, film. Plot twists and turns abound. Highly recommended 4/4.

So the Israeli passengers overpowered the hijacker and took control of the plane. And let us tip our cap to the Hindu pilot who, strength failing him, unlocked the cockpit door so the Israelis could rush inside and pummel the hijacker.  

There remained the problem of who was going to fly the plane. 

'Is there anyone on board who knows how to fly a plane?'

IYKYK and you better know.

Fortunately two replacement pilots were aboard and took control of the aircraft. They didn't have the fish for dinner, that's for sure. 

We had fun with that all day yesterday and are chortling about it as we write. 

The FlyDubai episode was like the Battle of Macho Grande all over again. 

Netanyahu met the plane when it landed at Ben Gurion and congratulated the heroes, because of course he did. Netanyahu is a political Jedi master and we are mere padawan apprentices fumbling with our lightsaber with those stupid helmets on our head. 

Political note, national: we've now seen two polls in which Maine Senator Susan Collins is leading by 3 points. We're going to stop worrying. 

DOGE report.

We read the Battle for Dublin Airport and then we read it again. 

We read the Battle for Howth. And then we read it again. 

Both scenes are better than they were before. But are they good enough? This is not an easy question. Not for us. Not for any man.

It's October. Is World War 1990: Thatcher's War done? No. But the rough draft is nearly complete. 

The reader will kindly excuse us, as we're off to the doctor to see if we have prostate cancer.

Blue and Orange are Blue While Blue and White are not

For reasons that need not concern the readership (such as it is) our morning was all discombobulated. 

Good afternoon, Stroock's Books midweekers, and happy Wednesday. 

Israeli passengers on a Fly Dubai jetliner prevented a hijacking, they say. We await facts.

From The Times of Israel, a good analyses on the Israeli election. Nut graph, as the J-school losers would say, nobody knows nuthin' and the most likely outcome is a hung parliament. Bibi loves political maneuvering and at his best when under pressure. In the negotiations following a hung parliament, Bibi would have the advantage.  

Beat the Mets, cheat the Mets...letting Pete Alonso go is the worst Mets personnel decision of this century. But we recall some other doozies. 

In 1989 the Mets traded tough guy Len Dykstra and prankster Roger McDowell to the Phillies for the-past-his-prime Juan Samuel. Going back a decade, in1972 the Mets traded future Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan for journeyman outfielder Jim Fregosi. 

In some ways the Mets are just unlucky. 

The Mets lost Daryl Strawberry in 1991 (a good thing) and replaced him with base stealer Vince Coleman (a bad thing). Coleman never equaled the success he had in St. Louis and against the Mets. They didn't catch him stealing till 1990.

In 2002 the Mets brought in half a dozen stars, and everyone of them slumped. Slugging first basemen Mo Vaughn ate his way to a .250 batting average. Jeromy Burnitz stopped hitting homeruns. Speedster Roger Cedeno stopped stealing bases. hall-of-famer Roberto Alomar entered the hall-of-average when he joined the Mets. 

See also outfielder Jason Bay, a consistent 30/100 hitter till the Mets signed him in 2009. 

What Will's Watching, The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlyn ep-2. Better than episode-1 by a grade level. We had a visceral, emotional reaction to this episode's final few minutes. Which means producer/director Jeremy Boreing knew what he was doing. Episode-2 has some GoT level plot twists. Episode-2 also had a little too much talking. But overall, nicely done, 3/4,

DOGE report.

We realized this morning we still have to read the Howth landing, son-of-a-mother!@#$@!#. Wait, no! The airport and minehunter scenes come first. Thank the Lords of Kobol. 

But things are going pretty well. 

The Post Office is the Mets of Federal Agencies

Arrrgh, the pain in the ankle persists. It's not gout. Probably tendonitis. Great, another thing. We're a bit miffed. 

By order of Mrs. Stroock (whose word is law) on this morning the game of football shall not mentioned in the Stroock House. 

Good morning, Stroock's Books associates and happy Tuesday. 

We had our routine heart appointment this morning. The doctor says everything is fine. We asked what he thought about a GLP-1. That is, would going on one of them drugs make our heart explode or anything like that? Our weight fluctuates between 235 and 250 - American. While we could always do more to lose weight, we didn't need that piece of challah bread last night, we've come to believe we've hit our weight lose ceiling [And what do you think you do when you lift, knobhead, you put on weight, only in this case it's muscle-Ed]. The doctor said a GLP-1 wouldn't be a bad thing, but be careful, his exact words. So we're thinking no. Is this drug really worth losing 25-30 pounds? 

Will goes postal: yesterday at the post office the woman behind the counter (also behind one of those gay and retarded covid era screens) insisted we hand her the envelope and money around the right side of the screen. She did so by holding out her hand. We inquired as to the necessity of transacting business this way, 'What's wrong with this side? Over here but not over there?', but were so offput and frankly, flabbergasted by the encounter, we don't remember what she said. But her reasoning was lame, we guarantee that. Anywho, we got out of there without further escalation. But we'll be back. 

Beat the Mets, cheat the Mets...a lot of Mets fans are calling this season the worst in Mets history. It was bad, given the player moves and expectations. And Pete Alonso leading the AL in homeruns and RBIs is like a kick in the nuts. But the worst? C'mon.  

We'll set the Mets' legendarily and comic early 60s seasons aside. They're a thing all their own. The Mets were next terrible in the late 1970s and early 1980s. During the late 2000s and first half of the teens the Mets were tediously bad but not bad enough to be fun in their ineptitude. 

The first truly terrible Mets team we saw were the 1993 Mets who lost 103 games. See also the plight of Mets pitcher Anthony Young. In 2002 the Mets brought a bunch of expensive all-stars (Jeromy Burnitz, Mo Vaughn, Robby Alomar...). They played .500 ball till the All Star break and collapsed in August, finishing 73-86 and finishing manage Bobby Valentine's stint with the team. In 2007 the Mets were 7 games up with 17 left to play and still managed to lose the division to the Phillies. During the last game of the season the hapless Marlins, whom the Mets antagonized, blew them out. Starting pitcher Tom Glavine didn't even get out of the 1st inning. 

So no, 2026 wasn't the worst season in Mets history. But it was pretty bad. 

DOGE report. 

We went through a chapter of World War 1990: Thatcher's War yesterday and made it much better. This included the assault on Dublin airport. For some reason we're having a devil of a time describing battle areas; Dublin Airport, Howth, etc etc....

Monday Blue and White Blew up, Blue and Orange is blue, Big Blue Blowed

A rare miss from Stroock's Books yesterday. We didn't have much to say. It happens. 

Good morning, people of the Book Stroock [The heck?-Ed].

Bah! Our right ankle is kinda sore. Feels like more gout. We are dehydrated this morning. Son of a.....

The Nor Easter gave us plenty of rain over the weekend, from a drizzle to a steady pitter-patter. The wind has knocked several small dead branches from the tree out front. The rain should subside in a few hours. 

Political note, local: New Jersey's governor, who's name we didn't know (Caldwell?), has resigned over sexual harassment allegations. We don't care.  Governor Mikie Sherrill has yet to do anything to piss us off.

Israel wrap...Various media entities are reporting that both Egypt and the UAE warned Israel that Hamas was planning to attack on 10/7. This information just happens to come out during election season...  JNS reports: 'IDF kills terrorist filmed abducting Noa Argamani, Avinatan Or'...Cue John Deacon: and another one bites the dust. Wretchard calls participating in 10/7 'A mortal curse', ROFL... Irish football players refused to shake hands with the Jews. Which brings us to...

Sports!

Mrs. Stroock's Nittany Lions blew a 17-0 lead 24-20. This is what happens when your coach decides you don't need to score anymore points. Coaches can be very dumb. 

The Giants are a bad football team which beat an even worse football team. A win's a win, though and the Giants are 2-1. Just maybe they won't have a lost season. The Giants should draft a QB. Mister we could use a man like Eli Manning again...What's Arch doing?

Despite the refs breaking out all the stops in Brazil yesterday, the Baltimore Ravens beat the Dallas Cowboys on a last second field goal. Reminder, when you play the Cowboys, you also play the refs. Ravens 34, Cowboys/Refs 31. And the Cowboys' defense is trash. 

And there it is. The Mets refused to bring back Pete Alonso, who went to the AL and lead the league in homers and RBIs. Letting Alonso go is one of the two or three worst personnel decisions the Mets have ever made.* It's the Mets Suck Week all week here at Stroock's Books. [Don't you like the Yankees?-Ed] Meh, haven't given a damn in at least a decade. 

The Grognard read Thatcher's War. We will look at his notes today. We read through a couple more chapters. And on Sunday we read through the Battle of Ardee which looked...decent. We're entering the 'Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good' phase of the process. 

You know, on Friday we couldn't remember at least half the stories in the 5th nuke novel. 'I wrote this?' we thought to ourselves as we read a short story about an Egyptian army officer on the Suez Canal. Anywho, we got two short stories to finish and one to write. 

*People will point to trading Tom Seaver to the Reds in 1977 as the worst Mets move ever. But Seaver was great and the Mets were terrible. The trade made sense. 

Saturday Updates

Happy Saturday, brave reader(s) of Stroock's Books. 

At the moment the Nor'easter has brought some wind and light rain here. But certain areas on the shore are without power. 

The gout persists. 

LOL Mets. Pete Alonso clubbed two homers yesterday. At 43/113 Alonso leads the American League in homeruns and RBIs. We once again remind the readership that the Mets could have had Alonso back for 5/155. Beat the Mets, cheat the Mets. 

Political note, nation: there's a 50/50 chance polls are right. 

DOGE report. 

The American Expeditionary Force began the Meuse-Argonne campaign 108 years ago today. Here's an article we wrote on the offensive for Military Heritage Magazine.  Here's our history of Pershing and the AEF.  Ten chapters; from a frontier constabulary to a modern army. Plenty of personalities, Pershing the bully, a young Douglas MacArthur, Colonel George Marshall toiling away at HQ, Patton forming the Tank Corps.

We are halfway done with the last read through of World War 1990: Thatcher's War. It's getting repetitive. 

So we looked into doing a short story imagining the Japanese landed at Midway. We found their plan. Even for the Japanese, this is something. Suicidal. It's like they wanted all their troops to die in a lagoon or something. The plan shows the Japanese learned nothing from the attack on Wake. Pro-tip, never assault an island full of pissed off Marines armed with Springfield Model 1903's. Those guys can shoot. Such a story would have zero drama whatsoever. So yeah, no. Hard pass on that story idea. 

We shall cast about for other ideas. 

F for Friday

Good morning, Stroock's Books Kibbutzim and shabbat shalom. 

Our foot remains sore with localized pain in the toe joint. This must be gout. Bastards.  

We hit the gym yesterday for some cardio. What can we say, we like the gym. And the good thing about cardio is you can always do more cardio. 

The weight lifting feels good but is leaving us sore. We are 53 after all. 

We await the Nor Easter. Looks like we'll get steady but not heavy rain. New Jersey's water and rain stats are looking good. Here's the state's 90 day rain fall total, well above average for the whole state. Reservoir levels are all shiny.  

So we watched Netanyahu's speech at the UN. It was fine. Bibi hit all the points and said all the things. But we've seen this from Bibi before and agree with Ynet's headline: 'Netanyahu fought Israel’s case at the UN, but spoke to a world no longer listening...' Did the world ever really listen though? 

What Will's Watching: we're making our way through HBO's The Pitt. This is a medical drama with each episode covering one hour in a Pittsburgh ER. We see the usual cavalcade of medical cases, typical, horrible, tragic, farcical, funny. 

Noah Wyle plays Doctor Robby Robinovitch, attending doctor in charge of the ER, a stone-cold expert with ice in his veins, saving lives every hour. He's also fatigued and spiritually exhausted. Dr. Robby is works with a host of doctors and nurses each with their own skills and quirks, each memorable. We also see a quartet of young, ambitious doctors on their first day, learning as they go. The Pitt is a masterclass on good characterization. 

Do note, The Pitt's world view is certainly left tilted, though not obnoxiously so. Seven episodes in we've yet to be sucker punched or even sucker-slapped. Maybe we've been sucker arm-flicked. 

Nevertheless, we are entertained, 4/4.

DOGE report.

Writing is hard. 

'Fuck it,' we said and sent the Thatcher's War MS to the grognard. So far so Mustaine. IYKYK. He said he liked all the sectarian violence. [He's just telling the author what the author want's to hear-Ed]. Cynic. 

We remain ghosted by REDACTED Magazine. Maybe they just don't like us [Now how can that be possible?-Ed].

Various on the 24th

Our foot hurts. We don't know why. Could be gout, but it's not in the right place for gout. We proceed cautiously. 

Good morning, reader(s) and happy Thursday. 

We await our glasses. 

A nor' easter is all the talk here, but it looks like the storm will mostly be coastal and concentrate east of New York. Long Island is in for it, it seems. 

Every morning now we check in to see what ex-Mets' slugger Pete Alonso is doing for the Orioles. LOL, 41/110 and leading the league in both. Remember, the Mets could have resigned Alonso for 5/$155. Beat the Mets. Cheat the Mets. Step right up and defeat the Mets. Bring your kiddies. Bring your dog. Come on out and eat like a hog. 

Netanyahu will address the UN today. So speaks the leader of the Jewish state. 

Related...the last Israeli poll we saw showed....a hung Knesset. We're a month out and nothing has changed. Eisenkot is leading FWIW. We'd be fine with Prime Minister Eisenkot. Exit question, if Netanyahu and the right bloc are so unpopular, why can't the left bloc take him out?*

DOGE report.

We are 1/3rd of the way through World War 1990: Thatcher's War. So far we see only tweaks and corrections. The reading is awkward, like a bad date. This is bog standard. 

The sub story continues improving. Do note that writing is hard. 

We have a gig to write two short stories for next year now. One will be For Want of an Arrow, in which Harold wins the Battle of Hastings. 

*Ch14, the Fox News of Israel, consistently shows the right bloc winning, like 64 seats.