Signs of the Times

smokeyjoe53

smokeyjoe53

Six-man pro
While with my DSW (dear, sweet, wife) for our annual Post-Christmas, Post-New Years Shopping and Movie Excursion, I noticed something that causes me great concern. The Killeen Mall once had 3 Bookstores, now the final remaining book seller is going out of business (Borders).
I understand that there are now Kindles, Nooks and other devices that enable you to "read" but to me that is not as comforting as actually turning the pages of an actual book.
Oh well, guess this just shows my age. I guess I am fast turning into a curmudgeon.
 
Joe, I don't like the e-readers. The way our repressive, .....I mean progressive, government is trying to find ways to "regulate" internet content, I'm afraid of what we won't be allowed to read.
 
Have to admit, as an avid 'book' reader, I did not want an e-reader. Last Christmas I was given one (was very shocked b/c I said specifically I didn't want one) and have been converted. I read more often and read more books last year than I have in years.

Lack of book stores is a product of the information age we are in and economics. I am about to finish "Great Expectations" (albeit about 32 years late). It cost me nothing. Many of the classics are free. I have been able to download Hemingway, Steinbeck, Maugham, Dostoevsky all for free.
 
I have a kindel with 984 books on it now, and I wasn't sure when I got it if I would use it. The fact you can change the font size is what sold me. The fact the battery life is like 30 days is another plus.
 
Granger - and others who may be interested -

If I may suggest a sports based historical fiction book...I REALLY loved "The Iowa Baseball Confederacy" by W P Kinsella. I prefer it over "Shoeless Joe" also by Kinsella (the movie Field of Dreams was based on "Shoeless Joe").

The one thing I have noticed about Kinsella is he tends to go off in some odd directions every so often that has no real baring on the story...but this doesn't happen a lot so over all his books aren't really effected by it.
 
By the way...in an attempt to peak your curiosity..."The Iowa Baseball Confederacy" involves (among other things) a baseball game that goes on for more than 2,000 innings.
 
CowboyP, I used to love an "off the beaten path old book and magazine store" somewhere there in Waco when I lived there. Don't remember the name but used to find some gems digging through the piles and looking through the stacks. Was an article in Polular Mechanics way back on a 9V fish shocker that used a 555 timer integrated circuit (boy that dates me...lol) to bring up the catfish...
 
SavannahSixManFan":52icponr said:
CowboyP, I used to love an "off the beaten path old book and magazine store" somewhere there in Waco when I lived there. Don't remember the name but used to find some gems digging through the piles and looking through the stacks. Was an article in Polular Mechanics way back on a 9V fish shocker that used a 555 timer integrated circuit (boy that dates me...lol) to bring up the catfish...
Click to expand...

Wow Savannah, a fish shocker? Really? That sounds like something Goob would use. You're sure you two ain't the same guy occupying the same space? :lol:
 
:mrgreen: OFB, heard of them, can't really say I ever saw anyone use one... :shock:

Source: Wikipedia

Electrofishing uses electricity to stun fish before they are caught. Electrofishing is a common scientific survey method used to sample fish populations to determine abundance, density, and species composition. When performed correctly, electrofishing results in no permanent harm to fish, which return to their natural state in as little as two minutes after being stunned.

Electrofishing relies on two electrodes which deliver current into the water to stun fish. The current runs from the anode to the cathode, creating a high-voltage potential. When a fish encounters a large enough potential gradient, it becomes affected by the electricity. Usually pulsed direct current (DC) is applied, which causes galvanotaxis in the fish. Galvanotaxis is uncontrolled muscular convulsion that results in the fish swimming toward the anode. At least two people are required for an effective electrofishing crew: one to operate the anode, and the other to catch the stunned fish with a dip net.
 
Oneday.... I thought you also said he stretches the truth too

Have you ever read, The Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J. Henry Waugh, Prop.
by Robert Coover

Someone gave me that years ago

Best books I read this year
The Republic of Pirates by Woodard
The whole "Girl who..." series by Stieg Larsson
Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham (although The Razor's Edge is my all-time Maugham favorite)
 
Well...ya Kinsella does stretch (understatement) the Historical part of his historical fiction...but after all it is kind of a mystical fiction using baseball as a type of catalyst to tell his stories. Check them out if you haven't read it!

PS: Just watched the 1999 Gordon v Panther Creek Quarter-Final game and VHS which was an instant classic...I was at the game...Gordon was the underdog and I remember posting on this site in response to someone saying something like "Gordon doesn't have a chance" in that game...I said "Gordon does has a chance...and his name is Chance Kite" and Kite came up BIG in that game!
 
SavannahSixManFan":1rshaynb said:
CowboyP, I used to love an "off the beaten path old book and magazine store" somewhere there in Waco when I lived there. Don't remember the name but used to find some gems digging through the piles and looking through the stacks. Was an article in Polular Mechanics way back on a 9V fish shocker that used a 555 timer integrated circuit (boy that dates me...lol) to bring up the catfish...
Click to expand...
It may be the same store. They've been there since the beginning of time. Lol!
 
oneday":27084u45 said:
By the way...in an attempt to peak your curiosity..."The Iowa Baseball Confederacy" involves (among other things) a baseball game that goes on for more than 2,000 innings.
Click to expand...


that's what pretty much EVERY baseball game feels like...over 2000 innings, haha
 
SavannahSixManFan":3k80yw69 said:
CowboyP, is the Melody Ranch (dance hall) still up there by the circle?
Click to expand...
The building is still there, but with a different name. The last time I went by there on a Saturday night there were only about 4 cars in the lot. My wife just told me it's basically a bingo hall now.
 
coach_jshelton":68qlb4xy said:
oneday":68qlb4xy said:
By the way...in an attempt to peak your curiosity..."The Iowa Baseball Confederacy" involves (among other things) a baseball game that goes on for more than 2,000 innings.
Click to expand...


that's what pretty much EVERY baseball game feels like...over 2000 innings, haha
Click to expand...

I have never been a fan of baseball but have a little story to tell.

In 1994 I was working in Virginia as an assistant in a store. I had the store add in baseball cards as I thought they would sell. I collected baseball cards myself even though I did not like the game. We sold a ton of them. The sales rep called me and told me as a result of the cards we sold that he won two tickets to the all-star game in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He wanted to take me to the game with him as I helped win the tickets.....I did not know there was a contest going on until he had won it.

He ended up going to work for another company before time for the game and could not go so gave me both tickets. These tickets were sponsored by Upper Deck and were behind home plate a little ways up. I called a buddy of my from South Carolina to go with me. We agreed that we would NOT sell the tickets and would go to the game as it would never happen again that we would have a chance like this.

We drove into Pittsburgh the night before. We tried to get a motel room and were laughed at. We ended up driving about 70 miles out of the city before we found a room. We went to the game the next day and was offered $5000 each for the tickets before we ever got in, we did not take it.

The game ended up going 10 innings and seemed to take forever. Were we sat Upper Deck had several retired players sitting with us. I bought an all-star hat for like $20 and got them to sign it for me. I do not have the hat now and do not remember who the players were. LOL

I am glad we went to the game so i have story to tell but am not interested in ever going to another one. The Super Bowl? Yeah, I would go to it. Knew a guy that won two tickets to it one time, flew out with his wife and sold the tickets. He hated football. LOL

Thats my story and I sticking to it.

Andy

PS I sold my baseball card collection back in 1996 and do not collect sports card anymore. I did it for an investment not for the "love of the game".
 

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