Michael Ledwith

From ten years ago. My list of the top LPs of all time: 1. Marvin Gaye, What's Going On 2. Van Morrison, Astral Weeks 3. The Rolling Stones, Let it Bleed 4. Little Feat, Dixie Kitchen 5. The Clash, London Calling 6. Big Audio Dynamite, This is Big Audio Dynamite 7. Derek and the Dominoes, Layla and other Love Stories 8. Roxy Music, Flesh and Blood 9. Waylon Jennings, Ole Waylon 10. The Allman Brothers, Live at Fillmore East 11. The Beatles, Revolver 12. Neil Young, After the Gold Rush 13. Lou Reed, Transformer 14. Elvis Costello, My Aim is True

@TracyWorcester Listening to '1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created', by Charles C. Mann. Very Guns, Germs and Steel-ish. Thought of you and your interest in the natural world. Highly recommended. Hope all is well. Michael Jones

Listening to 1493: Uncovering the new World Columbus Created by Charles C. Mann. Fascinating. Did you know that earthworms did not exist in the Americas prior to 1492?

@mirandadevine @X Your 864,000 followers read your observations, comments, retweets, and humorous asides with interest. They are keys to making sense of a SNAFU world. In retaining a modicum of confidence that FUBAR is not complete. Miranda remains Devine. And, we're winning.

Agree. @X is becoming more trouble than it's worth.

@Shawn_Farash Ask Mossad to track the leaker (s) down. Publish the names on X. The American DOJ will follow up.

This leaker needs to be found and jailed

@mirandadevine In the top five of the Legion of Loathed Politicians.

Swalwell flip flops on transparency as he fights release of Chinese intel files that include him | Just The News justthenews.com/accountability…

Mark Twain financially backed a competitor mechanical typesetting company, The Paige Compositor. Linotype immediately dominated the market, Twain lost his fortune and had to declare bankruptcy. Many think the experience was the genesis for 'A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court'.

Here's a fascinating photo. These are linotype operators at the Dallas Morning News in 1943. They were typesetters, getting the paper ready to be printed in the wee hours every morning. The Linotype was a machine that became one of the mainstays for typesetting, especially small-size body text for newspapers, magazines, and advertisements from the late 19th century to the 1970s and 1980s, when it was largely replaced by phototypesetting and then digital typesetting. The Linotype's big advantage was speed, allowing for three to five times faster composition of text when compared with hand composition. It revolutionized typesetting and with it newspaper publishing; making it possible for a relatively small number of operators to set enough type for a multi-page, daily newspaper, even in the smallest towns. Ottmar Mergenthaler invented the Linotype in 1886 alongside James Ogilvie Clephane, who helped organize and provide the financial backing for commercialization. You may notice that they appear to be working in the darkness. That's because a very typical shift for Linotype operators in that era would have been something close to: Late afternoon / evening start: around 4:00 or 5:00 p.m. Peak production: roughly 7:00 p.m. to midnight Final editions and cleanup: midnight to 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. Larger papers often staggered crews, with a second shift carrying things through the small hours as late news came in and final editions were locked. As for the basement setting and the after-dark feel, that’s no accident. Linotype machines were loud, hot, and temperamental beasts that cast molten lead into lines of type. They were usually kept below ground or on lower floors to support the weight and isolate vibration. They also needed controlled environments because temperature and humidity affected the metal and machinery. And these guys had to be from newsroom bustle, since the clatter was constant and thunderous These operators are likely in the thick of the night run, when the newsroom above had thinned out and the real work of turning words into something subscribers could hold in their hands with their morning coffee was underway. In order to prepare this article I read an account by a linotpye operator in Cincinnati and he said the work was actually very demanding and would have been unbearable but for the great comradery among the operators, who viewed themselves as a special group, who took care of one another, and who had a great "esprit de corps," particularly during WW II. They were hard-drinking, heavy-smoking, hard-living night creatures. He said that although the work sucked it was the best job he ever had. Isn't life funny like that sometimes? I was fortunate enough to have a linotype machine shown and explained to me by the great Woody Ormsby in Comanche, Texas. I'll have more about Woody in a subsequent post. This photo taken by John Vachon.

@Steve_Sailer @NathanpmYoung But, now even John Goodman is painfully (Ozempic?) thin.

@NathanpmYoung Generally, funny-looking stars are vastly more talented than good-looking stars. For instance, handsome Jeff Bridges is really good in "The Big Lebowski," but hefty John Goodman is all-time great. You don't want to know about it. youtube.com/watch?v=TeuY8Z…

It's notable that even actors whose supposed bit was being a fat guy (Zach Galifanakis, Jonah Hill) are getting thin now. Was it not optimal for them to be fat? I always assumed that it was a niche. But seemingly not?

@simonmontefiore This post reminding me of a great, great 'police procedural' cop movie End of Watch (2012). Thinking about the plot, it seems that violent Latin gangs have not been in the news for years. Did the members age out, form families and leave the life?

By the way, The Wire is the greatest. But its a different beast - a multifacetted multilayered drama that covers not just police but unions journalism OG politics. Southland is a police procedural - like greats like NYPDBlue Homicide HillSt - and i think its the best of its genre.

Watch #Southland. Probably the greatest US police drama ever made. Back on @netflix. I just finished the 5 seasons. A masterpiece of writing suspense character acting (Regina King, Michael Cudliz) and unforgetable scenes. If u havent seen it, a great pleasure awaits you

@AlexBerenson Berenson, admired for his courage reporting during COVID, has become pitied for Jumping the Shark in service to his Trump Derangement Syndrome. Too bad, but there it is.

Eisenhower fired Patton

@Steve_Sailer @paul_jkrause Here richly, with ridiculous display, The Politician’s corpse was laid away. While all of his acquaintance sneered and slanged, I wept: for I had longed to see him hanged. Hillaire Belloc

@paul_jkrause What's the most recent poem (not set to music) to attain huge fame?

What is the most famous opening line in poetry?

A FB memory this morning. The music world was a more colorful place while Raul Malo was in it. Turn it up loud: youtube.com/watch?v=EiIzCh…

@ChristinaPushaw @actionxander @xploristsociety V funny.

@actionxander @xploristsociety Holy cow

This is one hungry manatee.

Volume V of my stories arrived today. Movie reviews, politics, memories, trips, favorite meals at great restaurants, surfing, the Army, and my favorite: Hunting Rabbits in Ocilla. Forty-six stories in all. Some of them really happened.

@latinedisce Dentistry.

Name ONE thing that’s better today than in Ancient Rome. I dare you.

How did this New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest entry not win!??!?!!!

@mirandadevine My reasonable solution for the ongoing DOJ mess is to fire everyone and start over.

Says it all. Despicable people. They didn't deserve Pam Bondi

An Easter movie for younger adults.

Samurai sword fights. Toshiro Mifune. Kill Bill stole shamelessly from these movies. Hidden Fortress. Yojimbo.

@HarryWorcester @RealEmirHan Well, there was Harvey Weinstein...

@RealEmirHan I suspect there were no intimacy coordinators in those days….

Sharon Stone says Robert De Niro was the “best kisser” in Hollywood. “In Casino, he kissed me out of my shoes.” Scorsese sensed she loved kissing De Niro so much that he offered another take. Stone said: “Yeah, I think we need one more.”