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beef

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Posts posted by beef

  1. I have read 24 so far, aiming for 50.

     

    Best books so far of the year:

    Y: The Last Man - Brian K Vaughn

    A book that has been on my list of books to read since about 2003-2004, I waited until i was able to buy all 5 volumes in hardback and I am glad I waited. Probably the best written comic I have ever come across it. This is probably my favorite thing I have read all year.

    5/5

    How to get away with murder in America - Evan Wright

    A fairly short but never the less disturbing read, from the same author as 'Generation Kill' which I read last year. This book tells the tale of organised crime, murder and the CIA in the 80's and 90's

    4/5

     

    The Whistleblower: Sex Trafficking, Military Contractors and One Woman's Fight for Justice -  Kathryn Bolkovac

    Eye opening story from inside the world of the UN and its private security contractor and the kind of things that people get up to when they are dumped in war torn places and are above the law.

    4/5

     

    books that were a bit me

     

    Executioner Pierrepoint - Albert Pierrepoint

    An autobiography of a historically very interesting man, who came from a line of executioners. This book was equal parts interesting and tedious. Albert is clearly from a time where men did not express their feelings and really struggles to talk about his work at times.

    3/5

     

    Star Man - The right hand of rock'n'roll - Michael Francis

    Another autobiography, this is the life story of a man who spent his adult life protecting the likes of Cher, Bon Jovi and Michael Jackson. he has a lot of wild stories but the book trundles on just a little too long and becomes, much like I imagine touring does becomes tedious.

    3/5

     

     

    clunkers:

    Kicking the Habit - Jason Marriner

    yet another autobiography, this one is of a man who was one of England's most notorious football hooligans. Shows no regret or shame in his past actions, comes across as a horrible man. and proud of it.

     

    all in all the good has far outweighed the bad :) 

  2. Ooooh nice :D I'm having my morning porridge and I'm so going to go over your gallery over breakfast :D By the way, you have a Bill Hicks book! Did you like it? Do you know if he's written something by himself (I think he has but I can't remember at the moment).

     

    Edit: Is the Rik Mayall book any good? I think I got that for a friend on her Birthday but it was years ago. She's a huge fan.

     

    Edit: And how was the Insanity: My Life by Charles Bronson? That's on my wishlist.

     

    Edit: That was a great way to start the day, cheers! :D

     

    The Bill Hicks book is good, I dont remember him writing one of his own, unless it was a written collection of his material.

     

    Rik Mayal book I did not even finish, I think he tried way too hard to be funny rather than tell his story and for me failed on both fronts.

     

    The Bronson book was good, The Bronson film was pretty accurate to his book, a window into madness.

  3. I'm not sure if it classes a 'self-help' but I recently read a book all about memory techniques and it has helped me a fair bit at work with things like names as well as being able to memorise lists. I think it has helped me feel better at work as there are lots of people who knew me by name and I had no clue and I always felt a little awkward but now I can remember their names and feel more comfortable.

  4. Does it happen when its plugged in or on battery? I know my desktop does a similar thing as we experience lots of brown outs at home (mini power cuts that don't last long enough to fully cut off) and it flickers from time to time. Total pain.

  5. We haven't read it yet, but Simon is the creator/writer on the TV/HBO series The Wire, and as far as I know, The Wire was based on this book, and that writing is amazing.

    Sort of, Parts of that book were used along with The Corner and as well as the experiences of co-writers of The Wire were use. Homicide did have its own HBO series (called Homicide, creative chaps at HBO!).

    Both The Corner and Homicide are well worth reading if you enjoyed The Wire as there are a lot of similar characters including some of the real people from the show (Jay Landsman is in Homicide).

     

     

  6. I would suggest the following:

     

    The corner by David Simon - Follows a small area of Baltimore and the drug addicts/dealers that live there, this is not got a LOT of gang content but it has lots of the social effects drug gangs have on inner city areas with high drug usage

     

    Redemption by Tookie Williams - The life story of a founding member of the Crips gang, one of the biggest gangs in the world.

     

    Street kids The story of 7 kids from a run down estate

     

    Mafia Enforcer by Cecil Kirby This book combines motorcycle gangs and the Mafia as the author was a President (may have been Vice president its been a long time since I read it) of a MC then became a hitman for the Mafia in Canada

     

     

    Gang Leader for a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh An academic walks into gangland, is taken hostage overnight and then freed, only to return the next day with a 6-pack of beer and some questions. One of the best insights into a working gang that you will find even though its not a 'crime' book.

    Gaspipe by Philip Carlo The life story of Casso, a man who rose through the Mafia ranks to become head of the Lucchese family lots of info about crooked cops etc and how criminals use them.

    Befriend and Betray: Infiltrating the Hells Angels, Bandidos and Other Criminal Brotherhoods by Alex Caine - The story of one of the most successful undercover law enforcement workers ever, he infiltrated multiple gangs/organisations including the Hells Angels, Bandidos and even the KKK

     

     

    No Angel by Jay Dobyns - Jay Dobyns is an ATF agent who goes under cover into the world of the Hells Angels, this book has lots of information about the inner workings of a MC

     

    Under and alone by William Queen Another story of an undercover agent infiltrating an MC again has lots of information about the inner workings and the day to day of being in a MC

  7. I would have probably said up until recently I read 'selectively' but when I take a look at my bookshelves there are lots of books on subjects that prior to reading I had little to no interest in. I have found over time that if a book is written properly almost anything can become interesting. A perfect example would be the 'Freakonomics' books, I am *terrible* with number and usually avoid them, thus economics has never been high up my list but those books put it into a fun and entertaining way which allowed me to really enjoy a book based round number and statistics so I would say I am willing to read extensive topics but only after careful selection :D

  8. you can do the unformatted paste in open office using these*

    1)

    Ctrl + Shift + V into OpenOffice

    Down arrow

    Enter

    Enter (Unicode is default)

     

    2)

    Paste into notepad

    Cntrl + A, Cntrl + V

    Cntrl + V into OpenOffice

    Enter (Unicode is default)

    (*from google, untested by me)

  9. I have picked up quite a few hobbies since this thread started. Back at the beginning I had just gotten tropical fish (still alive and well!) but said I doubted I would go marine - I did about a year or so ago and have been so far enjoying it although it was very expensive at the start.

    other new/random hobbies include:

    Lockpicking

    Juggling

    knife throwing (still needs practice but can be rather scary if it bounces back)

    Just started a banknote collection

    I also got a parrot a few months back :D

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