Whatcha reading?

Sweet action for kids 'n' cretins. Marjoram and capers.
tepista
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by tepista »

Flex wrote:
18 Feb 2019, 5:04pm
tepista wrote:
18 Feb 2019, 4:59pm
But don't you have to disregard it since the review thinks a 20 win season means something? :shifty:
Doc is reading it so he can translate the book into spreadsheets.
"The literary equivalent of a Top 3 finish in Feilding Independent Pitching" just rolls off the tongue
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We beach the beachheads other armies cannot beach
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Low Down Low »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
18 Feb 2019, 2:39pm
tepista wrote:
18 Feb 2019, 2:25pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
13 Feb 2019, 7:11pm
Silent Majority wrote:
13 Feb 2019, 6:35pm
7) Andrew Johnson - Annette Gordon-Reed. Kindle. Because there's so little in the way of primary sources, nobody can get close to the piece of shit white supremacist who filled Lincoln's giant shoes. It's likely that Johnson couldn't really write. The country first noticed him as an agitant for the common (white) man. Then he got pissed drunk at his inauguration where he had been chosen, as a Tennessean, to start bringing a wartorn country back together. On assuming office, he immediately set to work trying to make the South identical to how it was in 1859, minus actual chattel slavery. His choices continue to be massively awful for the country he led. The author is best known for the Hemingses of Monticello, and is witty and righteous. More an essay than an actual biography, but as much as anyone would want to read about Andy J.
Really hard to come up with a worse person to inherit the office and the immediate problems than someone like Johnson. But then Lincoln was the exception to the run of absolute knaves throughout most of the nineteenth century.
I had to look at a 20 in my wallet to make sure he wasn't on it
Different asshole on the 20. Until Trump, Jackson might be the most loud and proud racist president you guys have had.


Also, gave up on Nehring. Not a bad book, but way to involved for tub reading. Started this today instead:
Image

I'm sure I've read this before, but it's not seeming familiar, so it's basically new to me. All hail senility!
I love The Boys of Summer despite having no interest or affinity with baseball. I think part of it is the way it evokes a lost time when sportswriters could not just spend time with major stars but befriend and become part of their lives too. Also liked his Jack Dempsey biography which describes in one chapter how the former heavyweight champ would invite sportswriters to spar with him in the ring during training camps if they were brave enough. Different times.

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Low Down Low wrote:
19 Feb 2019, 10:10am
I love The Boys of Summer despite having no interest or affinity with baseball. I think part of it is the way it evokes a lost time when sportswriters could not just spend time with major stars but befriend and become part of their lives too. Also liked his Jack Dempsey biography which describes in one chapter how the former heavyweight champ would invite sportswriters to spar with him in the ring during training camps if they were brave enough. Different times.
That's the way The Era reads. It's unquestionably romantic, pining for the days of flawed gods but, dammit, they were gods and people were blessed to share the earth with them. It's silly stuff but there are worse myths to savour.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Low Down Low »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
19 Feb 2019, 10:17am
Low Down Low wrote:
19 Feb 2019, 10:10am
I love The Boys of Summer despite having no interest or affinity with baseball. I think part of it is the way it evokes a lost time when sportswriters could not just spend time with major stars but befriend and become part of their lives too. Also liked his Jack Dempsey biography which describes in one chapter how the former heavyweight champ would invite sportswriters to spar with him in the ring during training camps if they were brave enough. Different times.
That's the way The Era reads. It's unquestionably romantic, pining for the days of flawed gods but, dammit, they were gods and people were blessed to share the earth with them. It's silly stuff but there are worse myths to savour.
Yes, exactly, and those gods were accessible too and harked back to a time when they weren’t all millionaires by their 20th birthday and sporting clubs were considered something more than mere commodities to be bought and sold on the stock exchange at the whim of speculators. But, then, this is a generational thing. To our kids and grandkids the latter is the natural way of the world. The old ways must seem so terribly odd and quaint to them.

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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Low Down Low wrote:
19 Feb 2019, 1:15pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
19 Feb 2019, 10:17am
Low Down Low wrote:
19 Feb 2019, 10:10am
I love The Boys of Summer despite having no interest or affinity with baseball. I think part of it is the way it evokes a lost time when sportswriters could not just spend time with major stars but befriend and become part of their lives too. Also liked his Jack Dempsey biography which describes in one chapter how the former heavyweight champ would invite sportswriters to spar with him in the ring during training camps if they were brave enough. Different times.
That's the way The Era reads. It's unquestionably romantic, pining for the days of flawed gods but, dammit, they were gods and people were blessed to share the earth with them. It's silly stuff but there are worse myths to savour.
Yes, exactly, and those gods were accessible too and harked back to a time when they weren’t all millionaires by their 20th birthday and sporting clubs were considered something more than mere commodities to be bought and sold on the stock exchange at the whim of speculators. But, then, this is a generational thing. To our kids and grandkids the latter is the natural way of the world. The old ways must seem so terribly odd and quaint to them.
And there is certainly truth there, that the income gap between athletes and fans has worsened the connection between the two, in the same way the gap between rich and poor has altered for the worse the sense of shared obligation and interests. Which isn't to say that pro athletes should surrender more of their income to owners, but the social nature of th game was better when athletes weren't so materially segregated from the fans.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Low Down Low
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Low Down Low »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
19 Feb 2019, 1:51pm
Low Down Low wrote:
19 Feb 2019, 1:15pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
19 Feb 2019, 10:17am
Low Down Low wrote:
19 Feb 2019, 10:10am
I love The Boys of Summer despite having no interest or affinity with baseball. I think part of it is the way it evokes a lost time when sportswriters could not just spend time with major stars but befriend and become part of their lives too. Also liked his Jack Dempsey biography which describes in one chapter how the former heavyweight champ would invite sportswriters to spar with him in the ring during training camps if they were brave enough. Different times.
That's the way The Era reads. It's unquestionably romantic, pining for the days of flawed gods but, dammit, they were gods and people were blessed to share the earth with them. It's silly stuff but there are worse myths to savour.
Yes, exactly, and those gods were accessible too and harked back to a time when they weren’t all millionaires by their 20th birthday and sporting clubs were considered something more than mere commodities to be bought and sold on the stock exchange at the whim of speculators. But, then, this is a generational thing. To our kids and grandkids the latter is the natural way of the world. The old ways must seem so terribly odd and quaint to them.
And there is certainly truth there, that the income gap between athletes and fans has worsened the connection between the two, in the same way the gap between rich and poor has altered for the worse the sense of shared obligation and interests. Which isn't to say that pro athletes should surrender more of their income to owners, but the social nature of th game was better when athletes weren't so materially segregated from the fans.
I can only really speak for UK based sport - though suspect it might not differ widely from US - but we went from a situation in (association) football where the clubs pretty much owned the players and treated them little better than indentured slaves to the present time where the pendulum has swung almost fully 180 degrees and players now hold their bosses to ransom, demanding ever more outrageous sums of cash in return for (ever more short term) loyalty. Just seems like no sensible middle ground was ever reached and the whole thing spirals eternally towards new and unprecedented levels of insanity.

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Low Down Low wrote:
19 Feb 2019, 2:16pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
19 Feb 2019, 1:51pm
Low Down Low wrote:
19 Feb 2019, 1:15pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
19 Feb 2019, 10:17am
Low Down Low wrote:
19 Feb 2019, 10:10am
I love The Boys of Summer despite having no interest or affinity with baseball. I think part of it is the way it evokes a lost time when sportswriters could not just spend time with major stars but befriend and become part of their lives too. Also liked his Jack Dempsey biography which describes in one chapter how the former heavyweight champ would invite sportswriters to spar with him in the ring during training camps if they were brave enough. Different times.
That's the way The Era reads. It's unquestionably romantic, pining for the days of flawed gods but, dammit, they were gods and people were blessed to share the earth with them. It's silly stuff but there are worse myths to savour.
Yes, exactly, and those gods were accessible too and harked back to a time when they weren’t all millionaires by their 20th birthday and sporting clubs were considered something more than mere commodities to be bought and sold on the stock exchange at the whim of speculators. But, then, this is a generational thing. To our kids and grandkids the latter is the natural way of the world. The old ways must seem so terribly odd and quaint to them.
And there is certainly truth there, that the income gap between athletes and fans has worsened the connection between the two, in the same way the gap between rich and poor has altered for the worse the sense of shared obligation and interests. Which isn't to say that pro athletes should surrender more of their income to owners, but the social nature of th game was better when athletes weren't so materially segregated from the fans.
I can only really speak for UK based sport - though suspect it might not differ widely from US - but we went from a situation in (association) football where the clubs pretty much owned the players and treated them little better than indentured slaves to the present time where the pendulum has swung almost fully 180 degrees and players now hold their bosses to ransom, demanding ever more outrageous sums of cash in return for (ever more short term) loyalty. Just seems like no sensible middle ground was ever reached and the whole thing spirals eternally towards new and unprecedented levels of insanity.
I'll always stick up for players, like any other worker, controlling their fate as much as possible and securing as great a compensation for the value of their work. But athletes are now quite well compensated compared to the fans, so I don't have that much gut sympathy when a guy grumbles that he had to "settle" for $20M per year. Yeah, sure, you produce $40M of value, so in principle I get it, but a few years of playing sets up your kids and grandkids for life. I wish we all had to settle like that.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Low Down Low
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Low Down Low »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
19 Feb 2019, 2:40pm
Low Down Low wrote:
19 Feb 2019, 2:16pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
19 Feb 2019, 1:51pm
Low Down Low wrote:
19 Feb 2019, 1:15pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
19 Feb 2019, 10:17am


That's the way The Era reads. It's unquestionably romantic, pining for the days of flawed gods but, dammit, they were gods and people were blessed to share the earth with them. It's silly stuff but there are worse myths to savour.
Yes, exactly, and those gods were accessible too and harked back to a time when they weren’t all millionaires by their 20th birthday and sporting clubs were considered something more than mere commodities to be bought and sold on the stock exchange at the whim of speculators. But, then, this is a generational thing. To our kids and grandkids the latter is the natural way of the world. The old ways must seem so terribly odd and quaint to them.
And there is certainly truth there, that the income gap between athletes and fans has worsened the connection between the two, in the same way the gap between rich and poor has altered for the worse the sense of shared obligation and interests. Which isn't to say that pro athletes should surrender more of their income to owners, but the social nature of th game was better when athletes weren't so materially segregated from the fans.
I can only really speak for UK based sport - though suspect it might not differ widely from US - but we went from a situation in (association) football where the clubs pretty much owned the players and treated them little better than indentured slaves to the present time where the pendulum has swung almost fully 180 degrees and players now hold their bosses to ransom, demanding ever more outrageous sums of cash in return for (ever more short term) loyalty. Just seems like no sensible middle ground was ever reached and the whole thing spirals eternally towards new and unprecedented levels of insanity.
I'll always stick up for players, like any other worker, controlling their fate as much as possible and securing as great a compensation for the value of their work. But athletes are now quite well compensated compared to the fans, so I don't have that much gut sympathy when a guy grumbles that he had to "settle" for $20M per year. Yeah, sure, you produce $40M of value, so in principle I get it, but a few years of playing sets up your kids and grandkids for life. I wish we all had to settle like that.
Yes i would never be down on athletes because they are the raw material that makes it all possible in the first place. At the same time there is being rewarded in accordance with market forces and then there is pure naked greed. I can’t physically put myself in their shoes but I’d still like to think I’d be able to resist the lure of dodgy regimes and vile corporate sponsors just to add another zero to an already lurid bank balance. So its thanks but no thanks to dirty qatari money and a resounding no to playing a golf tournament in Saudi Arabia. Then again, not being a trump supporting asshole it’s unlikely I’d ever make a top golfer anyway.

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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

8) Marx 200: A Review of Marx's Economics 200 Years After His Birth - Michael Roberts. Paperback. An accessible defence of orthodox Marxism from a blogger. I'm not 100% on why certain topics were privileged over others but the arguments made sense when I was in a place to comprehend them. Short and sweet.
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

9) Unexpected President: The Life and Times of Chester A Arthur. By Scott S Greenberger. Audiobook. Chester A Arthritis. Catch it! A flawed classic of Presidential biography read by a stentorian male American. The issue is basically nothing happened in Arthur's time in the White House and the focus is narrow enough to avoid his morally abysmal international decisions like recognising the colonial genocides Belgium did in the Congo. He gets a lot of praise from historians and public alike for not being as madly corrupt as President as he was in the rest of his boss system machine politics life.
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Silent Majority wrote:
25 Feb 2019, 7:15am
9) Unexpected President: The Life and Times of Chester A Arthur. By Scott S Greenberger. Audiobook. Chester A Arthritis. Catch it! A flawed classic of Presidential biography read by a stentorian male American. The issue is basically nothing happened in Arthur's time in the White House and the focus is narrow enough to avoid his morally abysmal international decisions like recognising the colonial genocides Belgium did in the Congo. He gets a lot of praise from historians and public alike for not being as madly corrupt as President as he was in the rest of his boss system machine politics life.
All I know about Arthur is that Charles Guiteau killed Garfield expecting Arthur to restore civil servant patronage, but Arthur furthered reform and professionalization. Any survey text of US history, that's all that is mentioned.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
25 Feb 2019, 7:23am
Silent Majority wrote:
25 Feb 2019, 7:15am
9) Unexpected President: The Life and Times of Chester A Arthur. By Scott S Greenberger. Audiobook. Chester A Arthritis. Catch it! A flawed classic of Presidential biography read by a stentorian male American. The issue is basically nothing happened in Arthur's time in the White House and the focus is narrow enough to avoid his morally abysmal international decisions like recognising the colonial genocides Belgium did in the Congo. He gets a lot of praise from historians and public alike for not being as madly corrupt as President as he was in the rest of his boss system machine politics life.
All I know about Arthur is that Charles Guiteau killed Garfield expecting Arthur to restore civil servant patronage, but Arthur furthered reform and professionalization. Any survey text of US history, that's all that is mentioned.
That's all you need.
a lifetime serving one machine
Is ten times worse than prison


www.pexlives.libsyn.com/

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Dr. Medulla »

New bedtime book:
Image
It's a massive fucker and I expect that I'll jump around, picking pieces that appeal.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Spiff »

The Bosnia List, by Kenan Trebincevic:

51IQyZoRUOL._SR600,315_PIWhiteStrip,BottomLeft,0,35_PIStarRatingFIVE,BottomLeft,360,-6_SR600,315_ZA(149 Reviews),445,291,400,400,arial,12,4,0,0,5_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg
51IQyZoRUOL._SR600,315_PIWhiteStrip,BottomLeft,0,35_PIStarRatingFIVE,BottomLeft,360,-6_SR600,315_ZA(149 Reviews),445,291,400,400,arial,12,4,0,0,5_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg (15.87 KiB) Viewed 2655 times
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Flex »

Some nice new selections announces in the 33 1/3 series: https://333sound.com/open-call-2018-res ... -3-series/
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a bowl of soup
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a rolling hoop
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a ton of lead
Wiggle - you can raise the dead

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