Just in case you might need some info about my country, a trifle not to be found elsewhere in the Web... Ask a native!

Задолбал Задорнов, блин! То он лекции про англицкий читает, хотя сам в этом деле кумекает разве что с пятого по десятое, то для него весь бел-свет дурной, за исключением русских (ну или слявян, в крайнем случае)... То начнет людей делить по признаку "образованный-недообразованный", причем под штемпель "недообразованный" подпадает любой, кто сомневается в исключительности россиян, самого древнего, самого мирного и самого трудолюбивого народа в мире.
Вы бы, Михаил Николаевич, вместе с коллегою своим Владимиром Вольфовичем, определились в конце-то концов, что суть "исконно русские земли" - остров Рюген или все-таки острова Курильские... а то нескладно как-то получается... Или литовский там проштудировали бы, тады задались бы, может, вопросом, происходит ли название острова Rügen от славянского Руян или все-таки от имени литовского божества ржи Ruginis... Причем я отнюдь не утверждаю (в отличие от Вас), что оно так и есть...
Well I`m really pissed off! I like Russians, because they are cordial folks, friendly and jolly, mostly; and I used to like Zadornov very much, because of his sharp eye for things stupid and funny... Yet him declaring anybody who might doubt his statement about Russians being the origin of the world is undereducated does really make me puke. There used to be some Peculiar Peoples, or World Elite... I need no more, thank you very much!
Somehow, I suspect the Prophet Zadornov might well be undereducated himself, concerning, for one, his knowledge of, say, English... Oh well... That might or might not be so.
Yet I would dearly like to ask the Overeducated One a question...
А скажите на милость, многоуважаемый... Раз уж вы такие трудолюбивые земледельцы, то куды запропастились ваши народные песни во славу земледелия, такие, например, как вот эта литовская нехитрая?
Благодарю!

I crave for a place like that because I feel sorely tempted to ask some questions...

As a reader, I would ask (some) translators:
Why do you translate books if you cannot / will not translate them properly?

As a reader, I would ask (some) publishers:
Why do you publish crap translations?

As a reader and a translator, I would ask my beloved writers:
Why don`t you care whether books written by you are translated decently or not? Do you like your works maimed?
I must admit I do not care much if books poorly written by poor writers are translated poorly or not...

As a translator, I would ask readers:
Why don`t you demand your money back when you find out what you have bought is crap? Surely, you would do that if, say, a new pair of shoes fall apart within an hour after putting them on?

Oh well... I suspect I know the answers to the questions. Only I`m really curious whether any of the asked would answer the questions frankly...

The one question I do not know the answer to is Is This Done On Purpose? Maiming books, I mean.

The other day, I stumbled upon a site I suppose I may recommend. It`s Goodreads; not perfect, still good enough. You can discuss books there, as long as you want to discuss a particular book and not books in general; you can browse and scroll and rate and certainly find books you have not read as yet and might want to read; some interesting quotes to be found there, as well. And more (I haven`t explored everything, as yet; still not done with scrolling and rating "the best books ever", in fact). The list of Best Books does make one wonder, yet tastes differ, as they should, so that`s OK.

But, but... But the site, like many others of the kind, seems to be not really Reader Friendly, from my point of view. What I would dearly like is a Site where All Of Them, meaning readers and writers and translators and publishers and even illustrators perhaps, could meet and seriously discuss things and issues concerning books. I`ve been searching high and low, still I have not found a place like that. Of course, there are lots and lots of sites for readers, and for writers, and for translators... yet those are scattered and would rather compete with each other than cooperate. Which is bad for all in general, and for readers in particular.

Any Place For Them All To Meet, somewhere out there?

I wonder...

The Quote of the day is

Two types of people laugh at the law: those that break it and those that make it.

                                                                  Terry Pratchett

This is important, therefore a separate blogpost rather than just a Just Crumbs entry. And of course no book by Terry Pratchett needs advertising. Therefore no Books to Read entry, either. Still, Night Watch is a Book to read! Among other things, it is an exceptionally reliable reference book on politics and revolutions. Much more reliable than any History textbook, I can assure you. Because this one does not lie...

And now the Word of the day (well, decade, rather) is the Lithuanian one

                                                                                               tablynė

Which means a total mishmash. First of all, the word is not really Lithuanian. Second of all, the word does not exist, except on the Web. Last not least, the robots hunting for unchaste words all around the Web are certainly dumb, but not as dumb as their Creators, I`ll warrant.

What`s usually written is tabletė, meaning tablet or pill. Not a Lithuanian word, again, still a loanword accepted. Yet the dumb machine (programmed by humans, to be sure) smells out a swearword and acts upon it. The four letters within the word tabletė just might constitute a swearword, and therefore should be replaced by something more appropriate. Which results in tablynė. It does not matter the supposed stinky word is Russian, in fact (блядь); what matters is the bit might mean whore, and therefore must be replaced by a nice one blynas (Russian блин), minus the LT ending... meaning pancake...

Well, Russians do use блин instead of блядь, to mitigate, but what does that have to do with Lithuanian, pray?

Politically Correct, or what? Anyway, chaste ad absurdum still is absurd.

Some good news, though. They seem to have ceased replacing words like, say, rašiklis (meaning pen, biro and such) by ra***lis. Not able to find a nice syllable for the syllable they think means šik (shit)?

And I`m glad to note that for googling for, say, Dick Francis no longer produces "**** Francis".

The Word of the day is the noun

                                                    Project

I`m against banning words. Even bad words. But this one should be banned. Provisionally at least. So that people are forced to remember and use other words for things. When they do, the noun Project may be unbanned, just within its proper limits.

It seems nobody makes plans any longer; they "manage projects" instead. Nobody applies for a job; they "join a project". And what makes me really pissed off is books are no longer books, they are "projects"! An so on, and so forth...

Please! A translation is a translation, not a "project". Editing is editing, publishing is publishing, building is building and things in general are things in general, not "projects".

Well, OK. If naming everything and anything "projects" makes the English happy, it`s not up to me to tell them they might want to use other good words, and words of English origins, to boot, at least from time to time. But the loanword "projektas" has polluted my language, Lithuanian. I do not like that, that I don`t! Things seem to be similar with the Polish "projekt", and (to a somewhat lesser extent perhaps) with the Russian "проект", and with many other languages, I`m afraid. Happy, Projectors?

A book is not a project, but it might be a scam.

Thanks to "projects", among other things.

I think I have figured out, finally, what makes folks want to ban guns!
It seems to be just that nosey persons want to poke their noses into others` affairs and rummage about someone else's belongings with impunity. They fear lest some nervous person might shoot them at catching them red-handed, poking about their neighbour`s bedroom or something... Not that gun owners would be as nervous as that, but a nosey person simply cannot believe it.
And of course any government is even more nosey than the nosiest subject, therefore governments cannot but support and encourage the nosey ones.
As simple as that.

Happy New Year all!!!

As mentioned in the review, there are some arguable points in the Death by “Gun Control”. The authors seem to hold “restrictions on who can own or possess a gun” a self-evident evil. I cannot quite agree to that. Some restrictions are well-grounded. Psychos should not be allowed to own guns. Children shouldn`t, likewise. You wouldn`t let your very young children play with matches, would you? Well firearms can be more dangerous than matches. You most probably wouldn`t lend your car to a psycho, or a drunk, for that matter. On the other hand, cars are much more dangerous than guns, so this seems to be an issue different and separate…

There`s one other thing I think the authors should have stressed.  I do believe they go too easy on the “zero tolerance” policies. Or omit an important aspect, at least. I quote:

A teacher in Manassas, Virginia, obtained a state-issued permit to carry a concealed weapon, and did carry her sidearm for protection at night. On March 6, 2000, she accidentally and unknowingly brought the loaded sidearm onto school property in her closed purse. Another teacher came upon the purse left unattended, opened it, and discovered the gun. /… … … / Virginia`s “sensible” gun law snared this teacher for a mistake that hurt nobody. /… … / The anti-self-defence (“gun control”) lobby did not protest this senselessly severe application of that “sensible” law.

Well I ask you! What kind of a community is that? Do they find it acceptable and legal to rummage about someone else's belongings with neither leave nor search warrant? Do they think breaking and entering perfectly OK too? Why wasn`t the nosey teacher punished or put to shame, at the very least? What kind of citizens might be fostered by such “educators”? Peepers and stalkers and thieves and conceited ones with no respect for the privacy of others? Or what?

It is things of this kind, if anything, that call for “zero tolerance”, not guns!

The Crackatook Trilogy is no longer a trilogy! There`s the fourth book now, Crackatooks In Space.

I do not think I should either edit or rewrite the review; I`d rather add what needs be added here and make a blog post outa that.

The dramatic personae are all the same, and the atmosphere is still as absurd as in the previous books. Only this time the Red Clay Hut decides to explore the outer space...

I must note the fourth volume seems to be not quite as catching as the rest of the Crackatook books, especially if compared with the first one, but I might well be wrong. Anyway, the book is worth reading and perhaps translating as well.

The important thing is both the author and the illustrator have been true to themselves. The rare case of perfect harmony between the text and the pictures, this book is! That`s why I`m breaking one of my own rules and giving you folks the front cover of Crackatooks In Space. 

And a quote from the book:

Raguoliai negandų nebijo.