Matthew

Any in-game suggestion will be followed. Bruce Bochy was pretty much untouchable during his final year last season, but you could tell he wasn't too impressed with the direction of the front office, especially with the constant stream of players who Bochy was ordered to play (two of the opening day outfielders were in the line up by order of Farhan Zaidi to "showcase" them to other teams). Kapler knows he's not there for innovation, but to keep the clubhouse happy and let others do the heavy thinking. Giants fans don't seem to be too impressed, Kapler has issues Edit: Money quote from another article: Although Kapler’s leadership style resonated with his roster in Philadelphia, he had a much stronger connection to Phillies’ management than he did with his own dugout. “I always thought in Philadelphia, he bonded a lot better with the front office than he did with the clubhouse,” Salisbury said. “I didn’t think they always played for him, but I think he always responded to what the front office wanted.”

A front office that wants to run every aspect of the team, on and off field, love a manager like Kapler. Does whatever they want, no questions asked...

The Old School method of stoping that would have been: keep the same signs, have the catcher call for a change up, and the pitcher aim very, very, high-and-tight, basically throw at the batters head. Those days are lone gone though. If even Bud Selig couldn't vacate Barry Bonds as home run king, nothing' going to happen here, maybe a hefty fine. Interesting that the Hacking Scandal was by an ex-Astro employee. Guess we know where he learned that from.

Figures for an Apocalypse by Thomas Merton

Jesse Malin: Sunset Kids. Very good!

Always liked Gioia, an interesting interpreter of what's going on with music Ted Gioia on Music as Cultural Cloud Storage

Thanks for the tip, I enjoyed the album very much.

Herbie Hancock: Sextant

Paul Westerberg: 14 Songs

Humble Pie: Town and Country On the edit: This is a fantastic album!

Buffalo Tom: Quiet and Peace

A Search for Solitude: Pursuing the Monk's True Life, The Journals of Thomas Merton, Volume 3: 1952 - 1960. The pivotal volume of the Journals of Merton, as it records his increasing dissatisfaction with what is going on at the Abbey of Our Lady of Gesthsemani. What he sees is a shallowness in thought and religious life, and he decides he wants out -- badly. In 1959 he tries to get official permission to leave, and finally, on December 17, 1959, he gets his answer: NO! It's a devastating answer, and one that, to my mind, he never recovers from. In the last eight years of his life, he seems to remove himself more and more from that original vision of religious life that he had when he entered in 1941, which leads to a lack of focus, a sense of something not right, to his life. It's interesting however, that the Merton most people are interested in is from these eight years, where his attention is turned to Eastern religion, civil right and non-violence. Strange how things work out, Merton spent so much time and energy thinking about about getting away from Gethsemani, then files to Asia in 1968 to give conferences, dies there (almost nine years to the day of the rejection of his request to Rome, December 10, 1968), and is now buried at Gethsemani, the one place he so badly wanted to escape.

Real conversation I had recently. Speaking with someone, age 31, asking: What books do you read? Who are his favorite authors? He laughs and responds: "My generation doesn't read books, we have computers!" I wonder if for them articles and books by algorithms will be normal, no big deal...

And "crowd sourced journalism" is nothing but paying on the cheap for news content, and keeping the profits for yourself. This is one of the negative effects of the internet, it's so demanding of content and it needs so many "independent," off the payroll contributors to keep the content rolling in, that it doesn't matter whether it's good, bad, indifferent, just get new stuff for people to read. The New Provincialism in news and sports, at times, is nothing more than writers without talent to write anything original, or not having the resources to research and delve deeper into a topic. There are other issues this topic brings up, but they belong to the off-limits part of the board (which policy I completely understand).

Agree with Brad on this. SI was important in those pre-cable, every game on tv days. Imagine, the 1967 AL pennant race, and there was no way you could watch the games, or follow on radio even, you had nothing but box scores, and articles in SI to dive deeper. For situations like that, SI was heaven sent. Once cable and 24/7 access game into play, it was all over. I love that whole "Golden Age of SI" aspect, it was a special magazine with great writers, but that passed long ago, and the husk is all that's left. Great tradition, but it's gone.

One of my favorite Dylan albums!

Bellini: I Puritani

I think in the current market, there's no way a closer can get 15 million whose on the wrong side of thirty. Chapman is lucky with that contract, he should stay put.

Brown Acid: The First Trip

Due to our blackout (Saturday to today!) I had plenty of time to finish this book on my iPad and it was a great read. I came away with a new appreciation of Thoreau and especially of his life, much more involved in Concord and people than other biographies led me to believe. But a strangely isolated man also, one who, I think, looked at the world from a very different angle than others, but did have deep friendships. I had forgotten how involved he and the Thoreau family were in the Underground Railroad, and a very interesting section on Thoreau and John Brown, and his reaction to Harper's Ferry -- Walls claims his voice in support of Brown was the first in the country. Saddened when I finished the last page, an unique and moving life all together. Which has inspired to read Thoreau's Journal. It's massive, will take at least a year to read, but probably worth it.

Sad news indeed. RIP

Warm and breezy, which means PG&E has shut our power off again!

I happened to stumble upon a nine volume 1923 edition of The Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, and it's become my favorite used book item that I own. It's an old, well used collection that looks beautiful in its agedness. I looked up the name of the previous owner (the name is in another volume I left at my mother's home, so I don't have it right now) and it turns out he was a minister, who lost his faith, but remained socially active in charity work in New York. I often think of him and his life, when I pick up a volume from this collection. That is one of the wonderful things about buying used books, I feel like I'm in the line of a reading history of people that stretches back almost a century. I found a picture of the edition on the 'net.

Far Niete 2013 Oakville Cabernet. Think I like Far Niete Cabernets the best. This is for an early birthday celebration tonight.