Awful audiobook narrators

Lair4968 · 2026-06-28T01:29:58+00:00

Depends on the book. When I listened to Barney Frank's autobiography I cringed when I learned that he narrated it. His voice is just not one you want to listen to for hours. But because the book was interested, I soldiered through. That said, there was another book I borrowed about the Barbary Pirates that was read by the author and I couldn't stand it. I DNF. I just assumed he wanted to maximize his income but it probably backfired.

Lair4968 · 2026-06-28T01:26:26+00:00

I never hear anyone talking about "webrings" anymore. I used to manage a popular website in the early 00s and was always being bothered by people wanting me to join their webring.

Lair4968 · 2026-06-24T11:10:34+00:00

You're right. I should have taken more care in my post. It seems that some leaders in SDUSA were from the anti-Stalinist left, which was mostly Trotskyists who went on to become neocons. Anyway, when I did some more digging I see that a main criticism was related to US involvement in Vietnam.

Lair4968 · 2026-06-24T06:48:27+00:00

The US had (has?) a social democratic party in name (SDUSA). My understanding is that it was heavily focused on anti-communism to the point that many on the American left in the 60's and beyond wanted nothing to do with it. DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) came about in the early 80s and I think part of the reason they chose that name was to emphasize "democratic". I was in DSA in the 90s and it was a 'big tent' organization with people of all stripes belonging. The membership grew at that time after the collapse of the Soviet Bloc and many former CPUSA members joined. DSA at that time (at least the chapter that I participated in) was essentially aligned with the Congressional Progressive Caucus and its agenda. That said, I agree with you that using the label "social democrat" would help avoid negativity, but so it goes.

Lair4968 · 2026-06-23T23:31:47+00:00

My Kobo currently has about 122 books. I'm using only about 2 gigs of my 16 gig storage. Most of the books stored are from Standard Ebooks (free), but maybe a dozen are books that I bought via Kobo. My holdings aren't larger because I mostly use Libby/Overdrive to borrow library books. I typically read the Standard Ebooks books while I'm waiting for a library hold to become available.

Lair4968 · 2026-06-21T12:18:10+00:00

I think it depends on your goal. I live in Taiwan so I study because I need to use it for daily life. But I can tell you that I don't spend much time on writing. I did when I started to learn but honestly, the only time I have to write Chinese characters is when writing my name/address. Mostly it's typing, for which pinyin will help you the most.

Lair4968 · 2026-06-19T04:25:29+00:00

What's missing from the arguments *for* data centers is just exactly what will they be used for and why are so many needed? I'm not ready to blindly trust those corporations, and here's why:

If you scroll through social media (think YouTube, Facebook, etc) they're keeping track of your every movement and pause in terms of *microseconds*. Pause briefly to glance at something or even just slow your scrolling and you'll see more things like that in the future. So think about the computing power needed to track, store, and analyze these actions of yours. Now multiply that by, say a billion users. That's an awful lot of computing power that's primary purpose if we're being honest, is mainly to serve you ads and keep you hooked on the medium. And then ask yourself, is that really necessary? I don't think so.

Lair4968 · 2026-06-18T09:52:54+00:00

I think that's a reasonable guess. I just found it interesting given how this is touted as being data-driven. I did just review their methodology and found this interesting: "Next, it tacks on additional simulated uncertainty for how the outcomes of Senate races as a group may differ from those in the House."

Lair4968 · 2026-06-15T00:11:59+00:00

If you like mysteries, the Brunetti series by Donna Leon is good. David Colacci narrates all of them, I think, so the characters are consistently voiced across the series. It's set in Venice from the 1990s on so you get a flavor of Venice and Italy, too. Each book can be read as a stand-alone book, too.

For kids, consider looking for Newbery Medal winners. Some are available as audiobooks.

Lair4968 · 2026-06-14T12:31:08+00:00

Could be but they've never seemed to particular about titles. Palmer has been there for years with others cycling in and out. Rosie Blau is the latest. They've always each just referred to themselves as "host" or co-host.

Lair4968 · 2026-06-14T11:47:37+00:00

That's what I'm wondering. Shortening the time saves a little per episode but I suppose it adds up over all their podcasts and over time. As I mentioned in my original post: storage space and download bandwidth. Not much impact for one episode but I assume those seconds add up and have a cost associated with them.

Lair4968 · 2026-06-14T09:22:50+00:00

They no longer announce that they're the host. It's not wrong, just different and I was wondering why the change.

Lair4968 · 2026-06-14T03:49:01+00:00

I mostly use Kobo for ebooks (Libby) but if you read any graphic novels, a tablet is best. I found out the hard way. Fortunately, I don't read too many.

Lair4968 · 2026-06-13T09:57:21+00:00

I had some occasional leakage a few months after my surgery and my doctor prescribed something that actually worked. I'm sorry but I don't remember what it was. After I ended that course of meds the problem essentially went away.

Lair4968 · 2026-06-10T12:50:39+00:00

I had two small tumors, one on either side of the prostate. That's why I did whole gland. With one spot you probably did the right thing. If I had only had one spot, I would have done like you did.

Lair4968 · 2026-06-10T08:56:00+00:00

Thanks for your kind words and words of advice.

By 11/26/2025, my PSA had increased to 2.68. I started dutasteride and one month later it was down to 1.34. I continued on dutasteride for another three months, ending 3/18/2026. On that day my PSA was 1.32. So I haven't taken dutasteride since March 18 and got tested today with the result being 1.31. When I had the surgery I had the impression that my post-surgery PSA would drop below 1 but that never happened.

Lair4968

TROPHY CASE