Long Reads

Okay . . . let's try this again.

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DaveInSeattle
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Re: Long Reads

Post by DaveInSeattle »

Cool story about Randy Johnson's daughter, who is a star volleyball player.

Opponents Beware: Willow Johnson Inherited Her Father’s Left Arm
As the daughter of a Hall of Fame baseball player, Willow Johnson learned at a young age about the sacrifice and commitment needed to compete at the highest level of sports.

Her father, the left-handed pitcher Randy Johnson, demonstrated that over a brilliant 22-year career, rarely taking time off from perfecting his craft. But his career rarely asked him to travel farther than Canada.

Willow Johnson, an elite volleyball player, didn’t have that luxury. Until recently, there was no pro league for women in the United States, forcing her overseas to find opportunities to play professionally. Last summer, she went to western Turkey to be the right-side hitter for Nilufer Belediyespor in one of the top women’s leagues in the world, where the expectations for players are every bit as demanding as those in professional baseball.
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Re: Long Reads

Post by sancarlos »

Kind of a non-sequitur, but I remember an old story about Randy "The Big Unit" Johnson. A writer commented on the fact that he was very well-dressed for an evening out with teammates after a game. He replied, "Well, of course. You never know when you are going to meet the future Mrs. Unit."
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Re: Long Reads

Post by Pruitt »

Nikki Haley’s Time for Choosing

Waaay too long, but a subtle evisceration of Nikki Haley
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Re: Long Reads

Post by Nonlinear FC »

Yeah, the Pod Save guys referenced that in running down the CPAC event... The fact that she wasn't even there and was barely a blip in the straw poll says a lot.

You really can't have it both ways with Trump, which is a good thing.
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travzilla
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Re: Long Reads

Post by travzilla »

I'm not generally a big Vox reader, but this series they've begun is right up my alley:

The Purity Chronicles - A series that looks back at the sexual and gendered mores and values of the late ’90s and the 2000s, one pop culture phenomenon at a time.

Now if that sounds like something that everyone is doing, your right - and the author talks about that in this introductory piece.

But while the modern re-examining of Brittany Spears and Monica Lewinsky and other women of the time has been presented as true tragedies, what I liked was that for the first piece, it revisits the Paris Hilton phenomenon, and specifically the sex tape. I mean has there ever been a person so universally mocked and loathed in a pop-culture context? I think this piece works because it's angle isn't that Paris Hilton is actually a misunderstood good person (she probably isn't), but why it was so acceptable for her to be treated how she was treated, regardless. Because her reputation is so unanimously agreed on, there's lots of points the author brings up that are introspective moments for pretty much all readers.

Paris Hilton’s sex tape was revenge porn. The world gleefully watched.
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Re: Long Reads

Post by rass »

Pruitt wrote: Mon Sep 28, 2020 10:24 pm Inside eBay’s Cockroach Cult: The Ghastly Story of a Stalking Scandal

One "WTF?!" after another.
‘It has to be known what was done to us’: Natick couple harassed by eBay tell their story for the first time

And of course...
The investigation also found that former CEO Wenig had made “inappropriate communications” but did not have advance knowledge of the harassment and stalking. Wenig, who was not charged, was allowed to resign in September 2019 with a compensation package worth $57 million; the Steiner scandal was a “consideration” in his departure, the company has said.

Wenig’s lawyers, Martin G. Weinberg and Abbe D. Lowell, said in a statement to the Globe: “An independent investigation confirmed that Devin Wenig had nothing to do with and no knowledge of any of the activities alleged in Mr & Mrs Steiner’s Complaint. Although he is an inviting target as the former CEO, he did not know of, approve, or authorize the conduct and regrets what the Steiners experienced.”
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Re: Long Reads

Post by Pruitt »

"beautiful, with an exotic-yet-familiar facial structure and an arresting gaze."
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Reaper
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Re: Long Reads

Post by Reaper »

So I just found that article and came here to post it, only to see that's why this thread was bumped recently. I'm sick to my stomach after reading it, especially with where everything stands now.
How do you all get your death notices since I left?
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Re: Long Reads

Post by HaulCitgo »

Juvenile court is impossible. Like mental health. No answers. Just terribly depressing and it wears on anyone involved for any period of time.
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Re: Long Reads

Post by Reaper »

HaulCitgo wrote: Fri Oct 08, 2021 9:27 pm Juvenile court is impossible. Like mental health. No answers. Just terribly depressing and it wears on anyone involved for any period of time.
Some things are possible. Like, not arresting 8-year-olds for things that aren't crimes. That seems like an answer. Did you even read the damn thing?
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mister d
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Re: Long Reads

Post by mister d »

I have girls on both sides of 8 and I can’t imagine the _______ I’d feel if one of them were taken into custody for literally anything.
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Re: Long Reads

Post by rass »

That’s a pretty horrifying read. Not sure if it’s worse if that judge is a sadist in power or really thinks she’s doing good.
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DaveInSeattle
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Re: Long Reads

Post by DaveInSeattle »

This is one hell of a story, by James Dolan (not that James Dolan):

My Father, the Hitman
His name was James Dolan, same as mine, but everyone called him Doc. He’d been in and out of my life since I was a boy, but when I was in my early 30s, Doc and I reconnected. His life as a gangster, I’d learn later, brought him into the orbit of criminal organizations around the country, including Jack Ruby’s circle in Dallas. But long before I realized my father’s connection to the JFK assassination, I was just happy to have him back in my life.
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L-Jam3
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Re: Long Reads

Post by L-Jam3 »

That James Dolan is too busy assassinating the dreams of Knicks fans for the past 20 years.

HEY-YO!
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Re: Long Reads

Post by DSafetyGuy »

L-Jam3 wrote: Mon Oct 18, 2021 11:26 am That James Dolan is too busy assassinating the dreams of Knicks fans for the past 20 years.

HEY-YO!
But the other one was probably smart enough not to fuck with Oakley.
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DaveInSeattle
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Re: Long Reads

Post by DaveInSeattle »

Very interesting story about Stephen Glass, the guy who was busted for fabricating stories for the New Republic.

Loving Lies:
Stephen Glass, the most notorious fraud in journalism, decided he would live by one simple rule: Always tell the truth. Then he broke that rule

That day he told me about his wife, Julie Hilden, who had early onset Alzheimer’s disease. He didn’t mention that he was engaged in a new lie, one that he would later describe as “the biggest lie of all.”
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Re: Long Reads

Post by pruitt2 »

From the north coast of Lake Ontario
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L-Jam3
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Re: Long Reads

Post by L-Jam3 »

I just read that headline to “Yellow Submarine”.
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Re: Long Reads

Post by The Sybian »

L-Jam3 wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 10:35 am I just read that headline to “Yellow Submarine”.
I didn't even realize it until I read your post, but I did too!
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govmentchedda
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Re: Long Reads

Post by govmentchedda »

The Sybian wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 11:08 am
L-Jam3 wrote: Mon Dec 06, 2021 10:35 am I just read that headline to “Yellow Submarine”.
I didn't even realize it until I read your post, but I did too!
x3
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Re: Long Reads

Post by Nonlinear FC »

DaveInSeattle wrote: Sat Dec 04, 2021 11:45 am Very interesting story about Stephen Glass, the guy who was busted for fabricating stories for the New Republic.

Loving Lies:
Stephen Glass, the most notorious fraud in journalism, decided he would live by one simple rule: Always tell the truth. Then he broke that rule

That day he told me about his wife, Julie Hilden, who had early onset Alzheimer’s disease. He didn’t mention that he was engaged in a new lie, one that he would later describe as “the biggest lie of all.”
Jeebus. That's an incredible "update" to that guy's life.
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Re: Long Reads

Post by DaveInSeattle »

‘Shrooms! Shamans! Kosher LSD! Why Los Angeles Is Suddenly Tripping Out
PICTURE YOURSELF NOT in a boat on a river but instead on a sectional sofa in a sunken living room in a majestic $9-million-dollar Point Dume mansion overlooking the Pacific. Here, the tangerine trees are actually whispering eucalypti, and the marmalade skies are a deep and comforting blue. Still, it’s pretty trippy.

This is the home of Brandee and Damien Sabella—the unofficial first couple of Southern California psychedelia—a sprawling compound that feels like a five-star commune. Two sentinel-like guard dogs patrol the property as a couple of the Sabella’s older children (they have five, ranging from 19 months to 14) load surfboards into a souped-up Sprinter van. There’s a small fleet of luxury SUVs in front and a professional-grade skate park in back with a massive half-pipe, several crescent-shaped ramps, and grind rails. Inside the house, nannies and assistants putter about.

Damien, 36, is the scion of a powerful Hong Kong real estate dynasty who now works in the music industry. His hair is pulled back in a man bun, and he has dark, piercing eyes and a coiled, muscular frame, possibly explained by his hobbies: hunting elk with a bow and arrow, surfing giant waves in Tahiti, and competing in ultra marathon races. Brandee, 41, is tall and lithe, with warm, inviting brown eyes. Patchouli-soaked hippies they are not. They’re articulate, attractive, and artfully tatted out. And they do lots and lots of drugs.
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Re: Long Reads

Post by DaveInSeattle »

Another long read: Bros., Lecce: We Eat at The Worst Michelin Starred Restaurant, Ever
There is something to be said about a truly disastrous meal, a meal forever indelible in your memory because it’s so uniquely bad, it can only be deemed an achievement. The sort of meal where everyone involved was definitely trying to do something; it’s just not entirely clear what.

I’m not talking about a meal that’s poorly cooked, or a server who might be planning your murder—that sort of thing happens in the fat lump of the bell curve of bad. Instead, I’m talking about the long tail stuff – the sort of meals that make you feel as though the fabric of reality is unraveling. The ones that cause you to reassess the fundamentals of capitalism, and whether or not you’re living in a simulation in which someone failed to properly program this particular restaurant. The ones where you just know somebody’s going to lift a metal dome off a tray and reveal a single blue or red pill.
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Re: Long Reads

Post by Sabo »

The Webb Space Telescope Will Rewrite Cosmic History. If It Works.

(And to be honest, this is one of the best pieces of science journalism I've ever read. The author's ability to take very complex questions and make them understandable to the lay person is pretty remarkable.)
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Re: Long Reads

Post by Baloney »

Sabo wrote: Wed Dec 08, 2021 7:26 pm The Webb Space Telescope Will Rewrite Cosmic History. If It Works.

(And to be honest, this is one of the best pieces of science journalism I've ever read. The author's ability to take very complex questions and make them understandable to the lay person is pretty remarkable.)
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Re: Long Reads

Post by DaveInSeattle »

Remember that horrific limo wreck in upstate New York back in 2018?

Pretty fucked up/crazy story about it, and the people behind the limo company.

13,000 Pounds at 118 Miles Per Hour It was the deadliest wreck in years. And the man behind it was one of the FBI’s most notorious informants.
The Schoharie tragedy was the deadliest transportation disaster in the U.S. in almost a decade, including plane crashes. It was one of the worst single-car wrecks in the history of the automobile, comparable only to accidents involving buses or trucks that caught fire, sank, or fell off cliffs. But the story would likely have faded from awareness, as car crashes invariably do, if not for one factor: Nauman Hussain’s father, Shahed, the owner of Prestige Limousine, was a longtime confidential informant for the FBI and one of the most notorious operatives in the agency’s history. In upstate New York, where a pair of federal terrorism investigations had left Muslim communities seething and in despair, many people gasped when they saw his name connected with the Schoharie crash.
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Re: Long Reads

Post by rass »

How an Ivy League School Turned Against a Student

A probably-make-you-angry-type story.
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Re: Long Reads

Post by mister d »

Fuck.
Johnnie wrote: Sat Sep 10, 2022 8:13 pmOh shit, you just reminded me about toilet paper.
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DaveInSeattle
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Re: Long Reads

Post by DaveInSeattle »

Fascinating story about a 'polyglot'...and guy who can speak many different languages:

The remarkable brain of a carpet cleaner who speaks 24 languages.
He is still underselling his abilities. By his count, it is actually 37 more languages, with at least 24 he speaks well enough to carry on lengthy conversations. He can read and write in eight alphabets and scripts. He can tell stories in Italian and Finnish and American Sign Language. He’s teaching himself Indigenous languages, from Mexico’s Nahuatl to Montana’s Salish. The quality of his accents in Dutch and Catalan dazzle people from the Netherlands and Spain.
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Re: Long Reads

Post by pruitt2 »

DaveInSeattle wrote: Tue Apr 05, 2022 2:16 pm Fascinating story about a 'polyglot'...and guy who can speak many different languages:

The remarkable brain of a carpet cleaner who speaks 24 languages.
He is still underselling his abilities. By his count, it is actually 37 more languages, with at least 24 he speaks well enough to carry on lengthy conversations. He can read and write in eight alphabets and scripts. He can tell stories in Italian and Finnish and American Sign Language. He’s teaching himself Indigenous languages, from Mexico’s Nahuatl to Montana’s Salish. The quality of his accents in Dutch and Catalan dazzle people from the Netherlands and Spain.
Wow! Incredible.
From the north coast of Lake Ontario
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pruitt2
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Re: Long Reads

Post by pruitt2 »

From the north coast of Lake Ontario
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Shirley
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Re: Long Reads

Post by Shirley »

DaveInSeattle wrote: Tue Apr 05, 2022 2:16 pm Fascinating story about a 'polyglot'...and guy who can speak many different languages:

The remarkable brain of a carpet cleaner who speaks 24 languages.
He is still underselling his abilities. By his count, it is actually 37 more languages, with at least 24 he speaks well enough to carry on lengthy conversations. He can read and write in eight alphabets and scripts. He can tell stories in Italian and Finnish and American Sign Language. He’s teaching himself Indigenous languages, from Mexico’s Nahuatl to Montana’s Salish. The quality of his accents in Dutch and Catalan dazzle people from the Netherlands and Spain.
I missed this before. What an amazing story. I wanna meet this dude (and have him clean my nasty carpets).
Totally Kafkaesque
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Re: Long Reads

Post by brian »

Bandwagon fan of the 2023 STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS!
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Pruitt3
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Re: Long Reads

Post by Pruitt3 »

Yes it is.
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Re: Long Reads

Post by brian »

Pruitt3 wrote: Thu Oct 13, 2022 6:31 am
Yes it is.
I will bet any amount of money there are numerous people in Hollywood right now trying to option the rights for a movie. (Or should be.)
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DaveInSeattle
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Re: Long Reads

Post by DaveInSeattle »

Sally Jenkins has a long piece in the Post today about the long friendship/rivalry/friendship between Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova that is very good.

Bitter rivals. Beloved friends. Survivors.
They have known each other for 50 years now, outlasting most marriages. Aside from blood kin, Navratilova points out, “I’ve known Chris longer than anybody else in my life, and so it is for her.” Lately, they have never been closer — a fact they refuse to cheapen with sentimentality. “It’s been up and down, the friendship,” Evert says. At the ages of 68 and 66, respectively, Evert and Navratilova have found themselves more intertwined than ever, by an unwelcome factor. You want to meet an opponent who draws you nearer in mutual understanding? Try having cancer at the same time.
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Re: Long Reads

Post by Steve of phpBB »

Are they going to die on the same day like Adams and Jefferson?
And his one problem is he didn’t go to Russia that night because he had extracurricular activities, and they froze to death.
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Re: Long Reads

Post by DSafetyGuy »

I enjoyed this profile of record producer Steve Albini.
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mister d
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Re: Long Reads

Post by mister d »

I read that too!
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Re: Long Reads

Post by sancarlos »

That was a good read.
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