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I think all NBA teams have had some WTF moments, including some crazy stuff the Bulls did in the aftermath of the Jordan years, but many of them have some long-term vision and a bit of a clue. (Still, there is a lot of luck involved in putting a team together and having some cohesiveness and no major injuries.) But the Knicks owners really do take the cake in terms of crappy decision on top of crappy decision. It would be a shame if Dwight Howard went there, since it would be clear to most fans that he was only interested in the money and not winning a ring. The Nets are more likely to get it together than the Knicks these days (not that I expect either to win a championship anytime soon.)

I disagree. It is not important to me or transparent at all to know that entries were written by IP address numbers and user names like nedsexy, petuniablossom, etc. compared to knowing that EP was written with the brand name of a publisher with a pedigree. The same goes for a host of other traditional reference book publishers. It seems to me that we are throwing that out for the sake of crowd sourcing, showing little regard or appreciation for the publishing and vetting process. I say that as someone who has contributed to Wikipedia entries myself. Witnessing the process first hand makes me largely distrust it. Actually, I didn't mean that I care who wrote/edited the Wiki page, but that you can follow through to the sources and decide for yourself if the entry is well-sourced or too biased. You certainly cannot do that with a print volume. And I have been on the other side (anonymous reviewer to transportation and engineering journals) and it strikes me that traditional publishing is being put on a pedestal that it doesn't really deserve. Errors creep in from all sides, and Wiki is going to be able to catch and correct them more than a print version. On a slightly related tangent, there is an interesting book on the "politics of expertise" by Frank Fischer -- Technocracy and the politics of expertise. (He cautions against listening too exclusively to technocrats.) Given how relentlessly and aggressively uninformed today's decision makers are, I suppose one might even wish for the bad old days when experts were given a bit too much (and certainly not always earned) respect.

The study in Nature had only to do with Science entries in Brittanica and Wikipedia. There are many non-obscure topics that are not in the area of science. It could be that the scientific community is contributing to Wikipedia articles, but that is not the same as saying Wikipedia is as accurate overall as EB or as well written and documented. I would agree it is not as well-written, but actually I think it is better documented and certainly more transparently documented than EB. For the purposes of most people, Wikipedia is as good as and often better than EB. Of all the major changes facing us in the new digital future, I am not that chagrined by the loss of EB or even World Book.

Worth reading once, I'd say. I think my favorite Amis remains London Fields, though I probably ought to give Money another spin.

I think it is the most purely entertaining Himes I have read, but it wouldn't really be a good introduction to him (for a novice), since it is so different from everything else he wrote (even The End of a Primative, which also foregrounds inter-racial relationships). That said, I also like The Harlem Cycle, but in a different way. I'll try to return to it in a few more years.

Price drops above. Been doing another culling and starting to get to things that hurt just a bit to let go, but I need more shelf space. I'll definitely list more tonight when I have a chance to check conditions and so forth. 15 Muhal R. Abrams/Barry Harris Interpretations of Monk (Koch) 2-CD set 16 Anthony Davis/Mal Waldron Interpretations of Monk vol 2 (Koch) 2-CD set Steve Lacy and Charlie Rouse backed by various pianists CDs in near-mint condition. One of the CD cases has a cracked cover. $27 for both sets. 5 Cannonball Adderley w/ Bill Evans Know What I Mean? Riverside, 2001 edition with 20-bit mastering 5 Harold Land The Fox 5 Harold Land West Coast Blues 15 Various We're Gonna Rock We're Gonna Roll Proper Box -- 4 CDs of early rock n' roll music and some doo-wop as well. 30 Boddie Recording Company Number Group 3 CDs + bonus CD (Boddie Oddities) This is a cool collection, with very rare soul and gospel-inspired tracks recorded outside Cleveland. While this price doesn't appear to reflect a substantial discount, I was one of the pre-order customers, so I am including the much rarer Boddie Oddities bonus CD. The discs and booklet are in near-mint condition. I'll have to check postage costs, since this thing is pretty heavy. For an additional $6, I can include Burned at Boddie, which was Numero Group's Record Store Day CD of additional material from the Boddie Recording Company. In this case, the CD has quite a few surface marks, but it still plays fine. Thanks for looking.

I'm about 1/3 into Chester Himes Pinktoes, which is a comedy about Blacks and whites trying to get into each others' drawers up in Harlem. It is far more comic in tone than If He Hollers Let Him Go, which had some black humor, but overall was an intense, angry book. Interestingly, towards the end of his life, Himes had returned to a fairly dark, sardonic humor in the Harlem Cycle. This is perhaps the most relaxed Himes's novel I have read. I just wrapped up Martin Amis's The Rachel Papers (his first novel), which was basically about a callow, over-privileged lad trying to screw an older woman (about 2 months older ). SPOILER It shouldn't be that much of a surprise that he is taken at Oxford despite bungling his exams. It's a little hard to know just what Amis is getting at here -- that the so-called radicalism is just a front, at least among the upper class. That the smug Oxbridge class always looks after their own. That Charles (the narrator) is a pompous twit, but really no worse than anyone else. Somewhat recently Amis reread The Rachel Papers and found it pretty crude and poorly constructed, even for a first novel. I can't really argue with that. At least he had the decency to wrap it up in about 200 pages, unlike some of these 400+ page "masterpieces" that just don't know when to stop.

I suspect the percentages of parents who care and are strivers for their kids are pretty much the same as they always were. Kids still end up enrolled in all kinds of after-school programs, tutoring, etc. Just these parents pretty much keep their heads down and don't post about what they are up to on message boards, particularly political message boards. I would agree that in many cities the challenges have grown enormously and in many (not all) urban public schools the quality on offer is much less than in was in the past (and much, much, much less compared to the near mythic quality of urban public education of the 1950s say).

I love the smell of bargains in the morning. Charlie don't surf! Price has dropped a bit in the meantime. I notice an awful lot of reviewers who have the product in hand (rather than making some generic points about the original vs. redux) say there are a huge number of pressing problems with the Blu-Ray, including freezing up and audio drop-outs. Sounds like something to hold off on until they get the kinks worked out.

And by the time the whole thing has been listened to once, it'll be time to retire. I prefer shorter, more manageable packages like the Complete Commodore Mosaic Vols 1 to 3. You must be a lot closer to retirement than I am... 50 CDs is a lot, but if you really put your mind to it, you could definitely get through it in a couple of weeks. I went through the entire Jazz in Paris set (well, still only 75 CDs at that time and many of them under 45 minutes) while making final revisions to my dissertation -- that was about 3 weeks of intense work (and listening).

I really can't imagine spending that kind of dough on this project, esp. given how completely unknown most of it is. I do have a few of these 50+ CD sets, but they were things that had track records, like Jazz in Paris, or the Glenn Gould OJC set, or the Living Stereo set. Things that I knew I would listen to over and over. If I was going to take a leap at something so expensive and nearly completely random, I would be a lot more likely to go for the 120 albums of mostly classical music on the Cedille USB stick for $500: Cedille For another $250, you can buy the collection pre-loaded onto your very own iPod.

To be honest, I was never that interested in owning a hardbound Encyclopedia set, and I do think the digital revolution was an improvement there. I've owned a couple of Encyclopedias on DVD, but I doubt I've consulted them more than once or twice. For simple, immediate look-up questions I do go to Wikipedia, but in general I am more likely to go to non-fiction books on the subjects of interest to me. Printed encyclopedias are too "in-between" for my needs. One thing that I do wish I had bought (when it was still available through History Book of the Month club) was the Durants' The Story of Civilization (in 11 volumes). Sure it's plenty dated, but what a massive undertaking and certainly the most successful popularization of history (prior to Ken Burns). I don't really have the shelf space at the moment, but if I do succeed in clearing out some space, I will look into picking up a copy. Alternatively, I can ask my father if he still has his set, and put my dibs on it now...

So I finally had a chance to listen to two of the last African CDs I picked up at Dusty Groove Sorry Bamba, vol. 1 and The Sorry Bamba has a lot of flute playing on it. In general, I don't find this quite as compelling as a lot of other African music. However, I really like the 3rd track -- Gambari -- which I think is a stand out track. I find it really odd that it is coming out on Thrill Jockey. Anyway, I like his new CD Dogon Blues better overall. I have really mixed feelings about the Poly-Rythmo Orchestra CD. What Analog Africa has done is track down the original test pressing of their 1st LP which was scrapped due to excess background noise. The group then had to recut the entire album the same day, and that was issued. Analog Africa have cleaned up the first test pressing. On this CD you then get 2 tracks from the original issued LP and 2 tracks from the scrapped session. Personally, I feel ripped off given that the album is so short (34 minutes roughly) and the scrapped tracks still aren't in the greatest of sound. I would have wanted to get the entire original issued LP and then the 2 scrapped tracks as bonus tracks (that would have come in around 50 minutes). Basically, you end up with a product that is neither fish nor fowl. It reminds me a bit of the fiasco on Ellington's Indigos where you have to get the LP and the CD for all the takes of one of the songs (Autumn Leaves perhaps?), but with material that is far, far rarer. It's not like I am ever going to be able to find the original LP. I feel it is a huge missed opportunity, and I'm not super happy with the results anyway.

Thanks.

I know there is a separate thread for MP3 bargains, but this seemed a bit more appropriate, since it is classical. Anyway, I have been intrigued by Cedille's policy where there are three options -- MP3 version of their albums (usually in the $5-7 range) ripped at 256, flac for a few dollars more, or the CD at a discount from the Amazon price. They have the booklet as a PDF, and it appears anyone can download them. This isn't that different from CD Baby (though I don't recall flac being an option all the time) and the liner PDFs are a bit hit or miss on CD Baby. Anyway, to me this is the way to do it, though to be fair, I have not yet attempted to download any of their albums (to see what kinds of regional restrictions they might have). Over the weekend, I will try to buy the following: Cedille 1 and Cedille 2 If that goes well, I might get a few of the other downloads, including some others by the Pacifica Quartet. Ultimately, I decided I did want the physical product for their Shostakovich cycle. But if you are really looking for a bargain in the same league as the Miles trumpet case , you can get every Cedille record on USB for only $500: Cedille-USB

Ok, digging up this thread. I'm trying to understand what OK means in the somewhat cryptic liner notes to the 2001 edition. Both tracks of "Know What I mean" are noted as bonus tracks (well, only on the back liner tray). Not that I am all that bound to the past, but this would suggest there is no way to recreate the original LP if one chose to. Some version of "Know what I mean" ended the original LP, but then on this CD, there is a different version (less edited version of the original track?) and a different take? Or track 8 is basically the LP version? Maybe I am just thinking about this too hard. You know what I mean?

Yes, it looks like it will be a multi-volume "set"! However, unless I am mistaken, this is to be an MP3-only issue, so no plastic will be harmed in the name of Endless Love.

Somehow I missed these two RCA boxes of Heifetz - Beethoven (Concerto, Sonatas and Trios mostly) and Great Violin Concertos (a wide variety with seemingly only the one Beethoven concerto overlapping with the other box). I got a great deal pre-ordering the Beethoven on Amazon.ca, and I'll get the other one in a few weeks -- less of a rush. I went back and forth on this (Slatkin-Vaughan Williams), since I have a different Vaughan Williams cycle (plus one taped off of BBC Radio 3), but this seemed like a great deal and I have a really fond memory of Slatkin stepping in and directing the CSO when Muti got suddenly ill. Shostakovich Symphony 5 was on the bill and Slatkin happened to be in town for some young composer competition that Muti had arranged. Muti went down the previous night, and Slatkin agreed to fill in and conducted the piece from memory! (I was about 5 rows back and could see him clearly.) I know I'll never forget that night. The CSO really played their heart out, both to honor Muti and do right by Slatkin. Fortunately, Muti has recovered well, and I was able to see him conduct one more time before I departed Chicago.

Yes, that's One on One: http://www.amazon.com/One-Stephane-Grappelli/dp/B000000XTB/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1331312654&sr=1-1 I've never even heard of this album. Maybe I should pick it up. I have a few other late Grappelli CDs and LPs. I'll try to recommend one or two tonight...

This must have been pretty upsetting to the passengers, but I can't help but think of the Twilight Zone with Shatner: Full story here

I agree re: the downloads but am not so concerned on the liners (a pdf would work for me). I'm not on Facebook either but emailed stating my preference and received a "Thank You" from Sue within a couple of minutes! Yeah, same here. Pretty wild! I went ahead and replied to her email that I thought the best strategy was Mosaic first, then digital download in 3-5 years. I'm too lazy to do it, but someone could set up a similar poll here and email her the results in a month. It definitely would be more representative of potential buyers than Facebook.

I've gone back and forth on this issue of what is basically the right to unlimited, hurtful speech. The freedom of speech is not completely unlimited anywhere, but it is certainly more unfettered in the U.S. than in Canada or Europe where there are more explicit boundaries put in place. I definitely used to be in the "let 'er rip" camp, but the sheer toxicity and lack of consequences of internet speech leaves me depressed and numbed. Beyond the problem of echo chambers ramping up the feelings on both sides of the aisle, I am starting to think that there is a "broken window" effect, i.e. the more nasty comments that float about, the more people do feel it is acceptable to wallow around in the mud and the more hateful people become, i.e. people who were somewhat on the fence actually become less tolerant and more hateful of outsiders. I expect there is research on this, and I will perhaps dig into it a bit. Basically, I no longer subscribe to the dictum that the only answer to hateful free speech is more (illuminating) free speech, because I am starting to believe that the hateful free speech is actually adding to the level of hatred in the U.S. Now will we ever see a change in the U.S.? Doubtful, given how many free speech absolutists there are in the judiciary. And I don't think there is any easy remedy, other than far more effective monitoring of the internet and a push for anti-bullying in all spheres of social life. But I think it is a problem that will continue to worsen and coarsen public and private life in the U.S. Of course, I've given up on the U.S. anyway.

For those not willing to get the Mercury Living Presence box, there is a 4 CD set of Byron Janis playing piano concertos on Brilliant: Janis-Brilliant As far as I can tell, these are a repackaging of material from 4 or 5 of those Living Presence CDs. There was a bit of a heated exchange in the comments on the topic of royalties, but according to Brilliant, they did license the material and paid royalties. Anyway, for completists, you'd be better off with the Mercury box anyway, but in my case, I had too much of the material in other forms and was no longer in the market for that particular doorstop set (though I have gotten a few others recently).

Ok, I finally wrapped up Ellison's Juneteenth (March 1, not Feb 29 as planned). I just found it really disappointing. In many ways, it is Ellison grappling with and perhaps trying to one-up Faulkner. Ok, you want stream-of-consciousness, I'll give you an entire book alternating between two characters' streams-of-consciousness (one of whom lies dying in a hospital bed). Almost nothing happens after the first chapter, they just delve into their separate pasts. Maybe, just maybe, I could excuse that, but we never get a plausible explanation for how the former child minister could have gone on to become an early film maker -- and then become a Senator from New England! Certainly the impression one has of New England is that it is relatively insular, particularly in regards to its politicians, and that a complete unknown with a checkered past is going to become a Senator? And that his entirely political platform was to engage in race-baiting? When New England (particularly in the early part of the 20th C) pretty much defined itself by its abolitionist past? Sorry, Ralph, this is weak-ass stuff that makes no sense at all. And then when we finally see a little bit of the story of how Hickman "inherits" Bliss, who will become the boy preacher, it also has no internal logic. To me this book failed on basically every level, though there were occasional passages of interesting writing. I don't really think Ellison could have salvaged it had he lived, since the basic premise and set-ups just don't make sense.