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viraljournalist · 5 years

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Key quotes and takeaways from AJ Hinch's first interview since sign-stealing scandal

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Key quotes and takeaways from AJ Hinch's first interview since sign-stealing scandal

Deposed Houston Astros manager AJ Hinch is currently out of baseball, but he is finally back on the record.

Since a completely unenlightening performance at the winter meetings, Hinch made his first public comments during a televised interview with veteran scribe Tom Verducci that aired Friday evening on MLB Network. In the previous interview, Hinch sweated in front of a gathered throng of reporters, unable to make substantive comments about Houston’s sign-stealing scandal because MLB had yet to complete its investigation.

Since then, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred dropped the hammer on Hinch and the Astros, suspending the manager and his boss, ex-Houston general manager Jeff Luhnow, for the entire 2020 season, as well as fining the franchise $5 million and stripping it of four draft picks. Hinch and Luhnow were singled out in Manfred’s report for failing to stop the scheme. Immediately after the commissioner announced the penalties, Astros owner Jim Crane followed with the dismissals of Hinch and Luhnow.

Hinch released an apologetic statement after being fired, saying, “While the evidence consistently showed I didn’t endorse or participate in the sign stealing practices, I failed to stop them and I am deeply sorry.” However, the MLB Network interview marked the first time Hinch faced a questioner in a public forum since the suspensions were handed out.

The scandal doesn’t show many signs of fading from the public eye even as teams across the league make their way to Florida and Arizona for spring training. Just prior to the airing of Verducci’s interview with Hinch, the Wall Street Journal published a report detailing the possible front-office origins of Houston’s system, known internally as “Codebreaker,” per the report. The findings detailed by Manfred were that the scheme was driven and executed at the player level.

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Not surprisingly, during the interview, Hinch was diplomatic in a classically Hinch sort of way, with even his non-answers sounding like actual answers until you started to think about them. Hinch has been a media favorite for years because of his affability, accessibility and his willingness to give in-depth answers to pretty much any query thrown his way, all while also showing a willingness to be pointed when the occasion calls for it. As time has passed, Hinch has grown so confident in his dealings with the media that he has developed the often annoying habit of beginning to answer questions before they are finished being asked.

Hinch’s demeanor with Verducci was measured, as you’d expect. Prior to the airing of the interview, which took place at Hinch’s home outside Houston, Verducci described the atmosphere of the conversation as “anxious.” It’s easy to understand why. Still just 45 years old, Hinch ranks 17th all time in winning percentage (.558) among those who have managed at least 1,000 games in the majors. If he wants to build on that résumé — once his suspension expires at the end of the 2020 season — many wounds will have to be cauterized. Friday’s telecast was Hinch’s first tentative steps toward that healing process.

Here are some responses and takeaways from Hinch’s interview:

Question: Is the Astros’ 2017 title tainted?

Hinch: “It’s a fair question. I think everyone is going to have to draw their own conclusions. I hope over time, and the demonstration of the talent of this team and the players and the careers that are being had — we have some of the best players in the entire sport all together on the same team — I hope over time, it’s proven that it wasn’t. But I understand the question.”

Here Hinch is taking an objective approach to an issue that is almost entirely in the realm of the subjective. He’s certainly right in that in All-Star performers such as Alex Bregman, Jose Altuve, George Springer and Carlos Correa, the Astros have fielded one of the majors’ most talented teams in recent years. While Houston’s collective offensive performance spiked in many ways between the 2016 and 2017 seasons, most of those gains have been maintained in the seasons to follow. Because of that, Hinch is probably correct in suggesting that if Houston’s stars continue to perform at a high level, the context of their 2017 and early 2018 numbers will be largely drowned out.

However, this has never been a question about whether the Astros have had championship-caliber players. If public consensus about the Astros’ championship is that it is tainted, then it is tainted. That is not something that is within the control of Hinch, Luhnow or any of the players. They could win the next three World Series and the reality would not change. The only way we could really bring this question back into the objective is to replay the 2017 season all the way through the World Series without the sign stealing. Obviously, that is a physical impossibility. Thus, the taint cannot be removed. In many ways, that is the biggest penalty those associated with the 2017 Astros will have to endure.

Question: How much of an advantage did the Astros’ hitters gain from the scheme?

Hinch: “I can’t pinpoint what advantages or what happened or exactly what happened otherwise. But we did it to ourselves.”

The chorus of anti-Astros sentiment that has emerged over the past few months has blended into one overarching, one-word mantra: Cheaters. The anecdotally based condemnations of the Astros are generally logically solid. If you know what pitch is coming, then it’s a huge advantage. Opposing pitchers, such as Cleveland’s Mike Clevinger, have compared the Astros’ scheme to stealing food off their table. (A terrible analogy for any millionaire ballplayer to use, by the way, but that’s a side issue.) If the scheme didn’t work, the Astros wouldn’t have kept doing it for as long as they did. And so on.

Putting analytical meat on those anecdotal bones has proved to be largely elusive. Baseball Prospectus has tried more than once. So did our friends at FiveThirtyEight. Fangraphs has taken multiple stabs at it, including a piece that came out Friday. Ben Lindbergh of the Ringer also dug in. The cottage industry that has emerged around the Astros’ scandal got a second wind recently when a tech-savvy Houston fan published a database of every documented instance of trashcan banging. The data is compelling but also inconclusive.

Did the Astros get what they deserved? How aware were opposing players? Here’s what those around the game told us. MLB players, execs on sign-stealing scandal

No satisfactory consensus has emerged from these studies. Did it help? Probably, at least some of the time. Some players were helped more than others, and at the same time some opponents were hurt more than others. At times, the system probably hurt the Astros. The net effect might have largely been negligible to nonexistent. At the very least, it might be impossible to ever truly suss out the effects of the scheme from other factors. Indeed, Manfred’s report included the passage, “At some point during the 2018 season, the Astros stopped using the replay review room to decode signs because the players no longer believed it was effective.”

What seems more clear is that regardless of whether the scheme helped Houston, the talent of the hitters in question was at a level where the ham-handed system was probably not necessary in the first place. That might be the biggest misfortune of all of this — how unnecessary it all was. So Hinch is right on both counts — it’s hard to pinpoint the advantages, or lack thereof. But that we’re asking these questions at all is entirely on the Astros.

Question: How do you feel about a former player of yours, Mike Fiers, exposing the sign-stealing scheme publicly, which ostensibly led to your suspension and dismissal?

Hinch: “I haven’t spent a lot of time focusing on the emotional side of the reaction to Mike telling the story and getting this message out. I wish I would have had an environment and a culture that was better for him to have come to me in real time. I wish I could have done better, to maybe get that nudge to make better leadership decisions. I focus on that. I understand that there are going to be people on both sides of the argument about what should have happened. But I haven’t talked to Mike since 2018, 2019, every time you play somebody.”

Hinch’s response to Verducci’s question about Fiers is really the encapsulation of the entire conversation. One of the post-penalty debates on social media has been about the role of Fiers in breaking baseball’s time-honored code of silence and informing on his former teammates. It would have been easy for Hinch to have at least qualified his answer with a “the clubhouse is a sacred place” comment. He did not, instead turning the focus back on himself.

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The cynical among us might say Hinch is playing up the accountability angle because he wants to get back into the game when his suspension is over. No one can know for sure what role that would have played. However, Hinch’s contrition came across as sincere, even if it remains somewhat hard to understand why he felt strongly enough about his team’s escapades to twice destroy the monitor they were using to execute their scheme yet never called a team meeting to draw some firm lines about how his team went about its business.

Of course, Hinch subtlety explained his inaction in 2017 multiple times by saying that his confidence as a leader then was not what it had become by 2019. Whether or not those who do the hiring in baseball see that as true will go a long way in determining his career prospects after the end of the coming season.

Question: Do you want to manage a big league team again? Will you get the chance?

Hinch: “I do [want to manage again]. It’s up to other people to determine whether I’m the right fit, but I love managing. I love players. I love the competition. What I’ve learned about myself over the last few years of doing it is that player-manager relationship, that coach-manager relationship, the front office; I love being in that center hubcap of that wheel that makes it all go around. That comes with a lot of responsibility. I’ve been proud of how I’ve handled it. I’m not proud of talking about the issues in 2017 with the sign stealing, but I’m not going to let that deter me from my hope and desire to have a long career in Major League Baseball doing what I love.”

Hinch’s credentials as a big league skipper were impeccable. He has won at a high level that included two pennants and a World Series. He often has been used as the prototypical example of the 21st century manager because of his skills with the media, ability to connect with younger players and understanding of analytics. During the 2019 season, the Astros became the first team never to order an intentional walk, which speaks to Hinch’s statistical bent. None of this is in question. Until the scandal broke, Hinch’s reputation in the game was strong, even as the face of a franchise that hasn’t been the most popular within the industry. During the winter meetings, Hinch said, “My relationships in baseball are still strong.”

How the internet helped crack the Astros’ sign-stealing case. Joon Lee »

• Passan: Buzzers, burner accounts and conspiracies: Inside a day of epic chaos

Of course, that was before he was suspended and fired. The formula for Hinch going forward is simple: Does the value he brings as a top-level dugout and clubhouse manager outweigh the public relations baggage that will invariably come from hiring him? He does have many friends in the game, such as Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, whose team fell to Houston in the 2017 World Series. Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen is a close friend and former roommate while the two were at Stanford.

That Hinch didn’t plan, execute or condone his players’ behavior are all points in his favor. However, for all his emphasis on leadership, Hinch didn’t provide it when it was most needed. He stated a few times during the interview that he’s a better leader now than he was in 2017, so he’s cognizant of that disconnect. The guess here is that Hinch will get another shot at running a club. It might not be his next gig, though. He might have to serve as a bench coach or even spend a year working with a front office. But it doesn’t feel as if the stain on Hinch’s reputation is going to be a permanent deal breaker.

Question: I know the commissioner’s office looked into this and they determined that there was nothing to it. Can you assure us that there were no buzzers or anything like that being used [in 2019]?

Hinch: “We got investigated for three months. The commissioner’s office did as thorough of an investigation as anyone could imagine was possible. I knew you mentioned about the emails and the texts and the messages [examined during the investigation] and I believe it.”

That was Hinch’s answer and some took to social media afterward to paint it as a non-denial. That’s what happens on social media. The bottom line is that the issue was investigated and the commissioner’s report didn’t find anything to it. At some point, don’t we have to believe what those in charge are telling us?

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gooeydra-blog · 5 years

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Fringe of Darkness Mel Gibson Returns To The Entrance Of your Digicam With This Dim Tale Of Revenge

Fringe of Darkness - Mel Gibson Returns towards the Entrance of the Digital camera With this particular Dim Tale of Revenge

If revenge is usually a dish very best served cold, then a revenge flick is greatest served with popcorn and overpriced Milk Duds. Revenge films absolutely are a dime a dozen in Hollywood as of late, primarily do to the fact that they ship moviegoers into a ticket-getting frenzy. I do not truly know why either.

It truly is challenging to explain what we since the viewers locate so appealing about witnessing a man (or girl, for that matter) whose had every little thing they really like in everyday life tragically taken from them only to vow vengeance and discover the just one's dependable, killing any lousy sap who stands inside their way. Maybe It can be the concept of us vicariously going through the justice throughout the protagonist, or maybe the notion that we believe we would Individually do precisely the same factor if we have been place inside their shoes. Regardless of the rationale, we hold currently being entertained by them thus Hollywood retains cranking them out.

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The most recent revenge flick to discover its way into theaters is Fringe of Darkness, a whole new motion-packed thriller from Warner Bros. The film will mark Mel Gibson's triumphant and lengthy-awaited return towards the front with the camera, an area exactly where audiences have not found him considering that 2004.

Fringe of Darkness is darkish tale set in Boston where Gibson performs Thomas Craven, a seasoned homicide detective who welcomes his 24-calendar year-previous daughter house for a visit just after an prolonged separation. But prior to the two may even catch up on misplaced periods, she is mysteriously murdered on his front porch and dies within the detective's arms. Can you're taking an informed guess at what happens next?

You betcha, Craven vows to avenge his daughter's Dying by discovering the Guys liable and making them fork out, regardless of what the fee. His vow of vengeance prospects him down a rabbit hole of political greed and company corruption where by everyone knows a thing but no one will converse. So, As you can imagine, Thomas Craven resorts to somewhat Bodily violence for getting what he desires.

The movie was directed by Martin Campbell, The person whose past credits include things like 2006's Remarkable James Bond makeover On line casino Royal, and was penned by William Monahan (the scribe guiding The Departed) and Andrew Bovell. As well as Gibson, Darkness also stars the immensely talented Danny Huston (30 Times of Night time, Children of Adult men) in addition to Ray Winstone (Indian Jones plus the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull). With a movie geek's side not, the last time Huston and Winstone co-starred jointly was in the fantastic film The Proposition. Here's hoping the identical magic takes place all over again.

Interestingly more than enough, Martin Campbell not just directed this Edge of Darkness movie, he also directed the 1985 BBC six-part miniseries of a similar name where the Gibson movie is based on. Returning to the fabric and remaking the very profitable sequence for American audiences was entirely fantastic with Campbell, who loved the concept of creating Darkness into a aspect film. "I have normally felt it had been a really highly effective Tale: a father loses his daughter and goes on the journey of discovery not only to find out who killed her and why, and also who she actually was. He's someone that cherished his daughter, and imagined he recognized her, but what he discovers is that she was associated with an entire means of daily life that he realized almost nothing about."

As I mentioned earlier, Edge of Darkness is Mel Gibson's initially time back in a leading part of a film since 2002's Signals (He appeared in blink-and-you can expect to-miss out on-him roles in both of those Paparazzi as well as the Singing Detective considering the fact that then, but I don't rely cameos). His time without work from performing was mostly because of the legendary actor returning for the director's chair with the incredibly entertaining Apocalypto, a little something I personally hope to begin to see the actor do additional of Sooner or later.

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But Gibson isn't going to credit history his return being an actor to anything in addition to what he termed "an intriguing character," something which is completely necessary for the actor to return on board to any movie. "Craven is quite pedestrian, only a man who's finding by, working day-to-working day," states Gibson. "He hasn't https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film been the greatest father but he supplied. His journey now could be a war of attrition; everything that comes about wears absent at who he is. The pressure, the traumatic practical experience of shedding a youngster like that, has him just a little unhinged and going for walks all-around more often than not within a condition of near breakdown. He's shut-appropriate at the sting-but he won't be able to Allow it crack an excessive amount of mainly because he's bought a career to do."

The filmmakers of Edge of Darkness had been intelligent to cast Mel Gibson inside the position of Thomas Craven, not simply since the person is a great actor but mainly because if you're going to attempt to make A prosperous movie about revenge, why not Forged anyone whose proven various situations that he can vengefully find retribution. No stranger into the revenge flick, Gibson has starred in many movies as a man over a mission which includes although not limited to Mad Max, Payback and each of the Lethal Weapon movies where by it generally appeared like Riggs was avenging a person. A person could even mention that Braveheart is kind of a revenge flick (would William Wallace seriously are already that enthusiastic if they hadn't killed his spouse? Think it over). Will Edge of Darkness be equally as fantastic as these mentioned titles? Well, you'll learn before long, the Motion picture opens in theaters nationwide on January 29.

Adam Krause is a huge film buff. If he isn't watching a Film, he is most certainly creating one particular or about them. To browse movie reviews, website posts and even more content articles similar to this one, please pay a visit to adamkrause.webs.com. Or go to www.staticmultimedia.com, an internet site that Adam writes for that comprehensively addresses film, television, video games and tunes for all of your amusement needs.

#movie #film #cinema

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jatamansi-arc · 8 years

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@illusivexemissary brought this up in her vocaroo about Salome’s and Gabe’s relationship with each other. So, let’s talk about that really quick.

I lied, it’s going to be a multiple part escapade. So here, let’s get the first part done.

Salome’s History, Pt. I: Familial Relations

As I’ve talked about before, and what can be found in her biography, Salome was born as Shelomit Rut Bernadette Cohn on November 4th, 1985. Her parents are named Tzvi and Rachel.

Here’s the important stuff you need to know about her parents:

Tzvi: Her father was born in 1956, to two Holocaust survivors named Avraham (31) and Rut (29). He’s the youngest of three, with a brother a sister. He grew up, went to school, graduated, and otherwise lived in Syracuse his entire life. Was raised in a Conservative Jewish environment, but became BT” (baal teshuva) in his early college career, c. 1976-77, and went to rabbinical school. From there, he formed his own haredi congregation with himself as rabbi in Syracuse.

Her father was charismatic, but he also was incredibly mean-spirited, manipulative, and an otherwise questionable human being. I’ve said before that power went to his head. With luxury cars and amazing showmanship, Rebbe Cohn, like many in positions like him, pretty much ignored or buried any allegation of abuse in his community, including the ones that directly impacted his daughters. And it’s a precedence he teaches to his followers. Aloft and mysterious, even to family, it’s not a surprise that Salome finds herself unable to describe him to strangers, let alone under bad terms.

Because, to everyone under his influence, even his children, a rabbi can’t do any wrong. Even if all of his children are the victims of his wrongdoing and predilection for manipulation and intimidation. Salome, not around for the final years of his life, eventually concludes that karma catches up with him in the form liver cancer that kills him slowly, over the course of two years.

She doesn’t attend his funeral, nor does her brother. It’s an invitationafforded only to his eldest daughter.

Rachel: Younger than her husband, born in the spring of 1962 in a Moroccan hospital to now French expats, Rahelita has lived a much more colorful life than her husband. One half of identical twins, to which she’s a few minutes earlier than her sister Estimada, they both earn instant citizenship to the country of their parents’ origin before the family returns to Northern Paris after a few weeks time. There, she goes to secular day school and an Orthodox school in the afternoon.

Flash forward to her early adulthood, Rahelita adopts the more traditional name of Rachel and goes to America to study medicine on a scholarship. Here, looking to an Orthodox matchmaker, she meets Tzvi. They are married within four months, and soon after, she earns the title of Rebbetzin. And if being a rabbi went to Salome’s father’s head, being the wife of the rabbi certainly went to Rachel’s twofold. Nagging, overbearing, and almost every other stereotype of a Jewish mother wrapped into a 5′1″ package, Rachel is nearly unbearable to all of her children, and Salome rarely escapes from her gaze, even now.

That said, she struggled through motherhood physically and nearly died having Salome, so she had to give up on her big family of kids. It’s a grudge I don’t think she’s ever forgiven Salome for, even if it’s not the kid’s fault. And when Salome was four, Rachel also developed a very severe form of breast cancer that resulted in her having to undergo a double mastectomy and reconstruction.

This was when Rachel learned Salome had a talent for drawing, as her daughter brought her get well cards in the hospital with sprawling landscapes and other details that were impressive for a near toddler. Rachel took them, crumpled them after her daughter left, and would eventually tell her daughter that her hands were blessed only by the devil’s, and art was the work of idolatry. Starting what would become a cavernous pit of a relationship between the two by the time Salome reached adulthood.

When it comes to her siblings, Salome is the youngest -- and therefore the baby and black sheep -- of them. Preceding her are an elder sister, named Tova, who is five years her senior, and then a brother, this time three years greater, named Moses (but almost exclusively going by Moishe.)

Tova

Works as an emergency room nurse somewhere around Monsey, NY. Married at 17, Tova is now a divorced mother of three boys who is trying to date and work and balance single motherhood with both. Cute, kind and incredibly naive about the non-Orthodox world, Tova is everything Salome isn’t. She’s also consistently, and patently, adorable.

Salome and her sister are close, but somewhat also strained. Tova caves under the pressure of their mother easily and it oftentimes has the worse impact of the baby sister. Tova tries to protect her, but there’s only so much she can do.

Basically: Salome knows her sister is sensitive and under an incredible amount of stress, but sometimes it gets frustratingly old.

Other important details? Her husband was abusive as fuck, which is why she took her boys and left in the middle of the night, and never looked back. She also also worked progressively, since then, to try to make inroads on the Orthodox community when it comes to sweeping abuses under the rug.

Moishe

The middle sibling, Moses seemed to be like everything her parents ever wanted. Gifted, with the same talent for language as his baby sister, he excelled in his studies and their father wanted him to take over the family “business” at some point. Moishe, instead of seeking out rabbinical school, veers towards medical school after his four years as an undergrad. Oh, and then he blows, just like his baby sister did.

Now he lives in New Canaan, CT (which I laugh, because omg so close to the X Mansion oops), and is a cardiac surgeon. He specializes in transplants, but he generally also works the Emergency department, which means only the idiot baby sister escaped emergency medicine. He’s not Orthodox, nor does he even really practice, and is pretty much an atheist. If it’s not science or medicine, he doesn’t really have time for it.

Other things I know about Moishe: he has an autism spectrum disorder, along with a mild form of OCD. He likes dogs, and owns five. He’s more like Salome than Tova is, in actuality, and if they would bloody talk to each other, I think they’d actually get on. But Salome is bitter mcprissy pants because her brother got spoiled and treated better, so she doesn’t much talk to him unless she has to.

Salome doesn’t talk to her immediate family in adulthood, or at least not willingly. The only exception to this is Tova. There’s also a few cousins of hers, namely Miriam and Darcy ( @zzapzzaptasers ), but Miriam lives in France and Darcy is off on space adventures, usually.

Salome was also close to her paternal grandparents, perhaps even moreso than her parents. Which brings us to another cut off to talk about them.

Avraham

Born in Warsaw in 1925, Avraham was the oldest of two children by a year (the other is Basia, a sister), and grew up under tons of turmoil throughout his entire childhood. A year to the day of his birth saw the start of the May Coup and a more authoritative government, for example, but by the time he was fourteen, Warsaw was already under threat from the air by Nazi Germany. By the end of that year, 40,000 or more people had been injured or killed while the city was shut down, and the President deported to Dachau.

The prospects of going to college basically were destroyed soon after, though Avi, being the son of a Rabbi who was also a sofer, contributed to family means by also scribing for the Jewish community. Usually in the form of mezuzah parchments or marriage certificates, though this would become increasingly unstable once the Warsaw Ghetto was established. In the winter of 1941, Avi’s mother perishes from starvation, with the toll of a roughly <175 calorie intake a day finally taking its final toll on her already weakened body.

In late 1942, their father refuses to be deported to Treblinka, knowing it is a death sentence, and is subsequently shot. Basia, infuriated by this and long having been involved in the illegal ZOB, encourages her brother to become involved in the Resistance movement and they begin to smuggle weapons into the ghetto. This is, perhaps humorously, where Avi meets his later wife, Rut.

During the Uprising, two major points happen for Avraham:

His sister, Basia, working as a sniper in one of the ghetto’s buildings, is killed when the Nazi forces begin to torch buildings to destroy the opposition. She dies from a combination of smoke inhalation and burns at the age of 17.

Terrified by this, and now without any family, Avi convinces Rut to escape with him and they manage to get out but are captured. Avi is sent to Auschwitz, and Rut would eventually end up at Mauthausen.

Some of this is more relevant than others, as for example, in her canon with @metallsinne, Avraham meets Erik’s parents there eventually and tries to protect Edie from being gassed immediately upon arrival (though we all know how well that worked.) But after the war, he becomes what will eventually be known as a Sh'erit ha-Pletah and helps form a cohesive government before emigrating from Poland to the United States. Why?

He finds out Rut is alive and living in New York from one of his peers. And in one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever written, after he manages to get to New York, a bloody year later, he arrives on her doorstep with his mother’s wedding ring in a shitty cardboard box and a bouquet of flowers.

And she accepts. They lived, very happily married, for the rest of their lives. Avi eventually taking up work as a clockmaker and repairman. And they are become a beacon to the outside world to Salome and her siblings, to remind them that normal people exist. So close to her grandfather was Salome in particular, that when he dies in the year 1998, she is devastated.

Rut

Rut is also born in Warsaw, Poland, in 1926, but unlike her husband, she is the only daughter of a young couple just trying to find their way in [ the already explained shithole that was ] Poland before WWII. Rut grows up wanting to be a normal kid but generally gets involved in the ZOB pretty early into the Ghetto’s existence. Doing what, you may ask?

Generally helping to facilitate food being smuggled in, which she also helps deliver to those who are in most need along with her parents’ help. It’s at a meeting shortly before the uprising, in 1942, where she meets Avraham and quickly falls in love with him. Her parents bless this potential union, provided everyone survives the hell that is the Holocaust, and it is one of the last things they do. Like Avi’s parents, they too, succumb to a combination of forces like starvation and illness that end up taking thousands in the few years they are trapped there with so many others.

After trying to escape after Basia’s demise in the Uprising, both are deported to Auschwitz, though Rut is later moved to Mauthausen where she works as a “nurse” in the Krankenlager. Here, she sees many of her people breathing their last, though Rut can’t reconcile is this is for the better or not, considering the alternatives.

Once the camp is liberated, Rut manages to secure a place emigrating to America and settles in Syracuse in a tiny mother-in-law apartment at the home of relatives who already lived in the area. She makes money to pay for her expenses by tailoring clothing and sewing dresses for others, which is something she will continue until her death in 1994.

Before way then, however, Avi shows up on her doorstep, like I said. And they eventually get married a few months later, with very little to show for it. Rut sews her own dress, to save money, and it’s very simple. They don’t start a family for several years after that, out of this survival’s instinct that it’s not safe to, but eventually they have three kids they adore. Mostly adore. Tzvi’s always been kind of questionable.

They take their grandkids on alternating weekends, though Salome usually stays every weekend, unlike her siblings. Her parents find her attitude better, along with her mood, so they encourage it to help ease their own stresses. Salome’s name is also chosen by her grandmother in the end, because she hopes that she’ll grow exhibiting the traits of a warrior queen. Something she thought was fitting in the post-Holocaust state.

Oh, and she also worked at a drug store in her senior years. She enjoyed it, and collected a bunch of stupid stuff. Rut was kind of a giant nerd like that. Avi was just... pretty fucking lost without his wife, to be honest. I’m surprised he made it another four years without her, because they did everything together.

AND THERE’S THE FAMILY PORTION. YOU GET MORE SOON.

#ooc #hc #salome's family

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meraenthusiast · 5 years

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The Richest Man In Babylon Summary – 7 Wealth Lessons

The Richest Man In Babylon Summary

If you’re reading this post, then it’s safe to say you want to improve your financial life. There’s also a good chance that you’ like to read.

People that don’t read much (but want to) usually blame their busy lifestyle yet the smartest and wealthiest people have linked much of their success with their reading habits.

In fact, Jordan Peterson’s best advice he gave to college students was to read good books.

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Tom Corley of Rich Habits, performed a five-year study of the daily habits of the rich and poor. He found that your daily habits are responsible for your financial circumstances in life.

Here’s a few stats that he uncovered:

86% of the wealthy loved reading vs. 26% for the poor

63% of the wealthy listened to audio books during their commute to work vs. 5% for the poor

85% of the wealthy read two or more self-improvement books every month vs. 15% for the poor

88% of the wealthy read 30 minutes or more each day vs. 2% for the poor

94% of the wealthy, on a daily basis, read newspapers, newsletters, magazines, blogs and other digital media vs. 11% of the poor

Billionaire Reading Habits

As you can imagine, the world’s wealthiest people are avid readers as well.

Here’s a handful to learn from:

Bill Gates

Bill Gates reads 50 books a year or one a week.

Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg read a book every two weeks in 2015, and even started a book club called “A Year of Books”.

Warren Buffett

The Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett, reportedly spends five to six hours a day reading.

He also goes through 500 pages of financial documents and recommends prospective investors do the same.

He once told a Columbia University investment class, “That’s how knowledge works, it builds up, like compound interest. All of you can do it, but I guarantee not many of you will.”

Mark Cuban

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban constantly looks for the competitive edge however he can with his multiple businesses.

Often, that means reading for three hours every day, just to learn more about the industries he works in. Cuban has said this worked wonders at the start of his career.

Now that we know one of the key habits that many of the successful people have, let’s take a look at a great story that can help change your financial future.

The Richest Man In Babylon Summary

Here’s a brief, five minute video summarizing The Richest Man In Babylon:

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In 1926, George Clason published a series of pamphlets written in parables that took place in the ancient city of Babylon. These stories eventually turned into a financial classic known as The Richest Man in Babylon. Even though it was written almost a century ago, the book is still well known because of its timeless principles on wealth creation.

Background

Babylon was once the richest city in the world, known for its lavish houses and palaces all protected behind massive walls. It was founded around 2300 B.C. and located along the Euphrates River in present-day Iraq..

It created fertile farmland where once there had been a desert through the use of irrigation. All forms of lending and borrowing within the city were highly developed thus making it extremely prosperous. Most people living there, including slaves, were allowed to freely make money.

The success of Babylon inspired George Clason to write several stories including what’s become known as The Richest Man In Babylon. Many of his stories discussed principles of finance and wealth-building and were distributed by banks, insurance companies and other employers to teach the benefits of saving and hard work.

The story is about two friends, Bansir, a chariot builder and Kobbi, a musician. They both were good at their trade but had no money. (Sound like anyone you know?) One day Kobbi had an idea to visit their childhood friend, Arkad, who was the richest man in Babylon.

The two set out on a journey and eventually met with Arkad. During their time together, they asked him why he thought they had no money to show for all of the hard labor they’ve performed all of their lives.

The lessons that Arkad provided, which he calls the seven cures to a lean purse, are wealth building habits that anyone can follow to build a solid financial foundation.

7 Wealth Building Lessons From The Richest Man In Babylon

1) Pay Yourself First (“Start thy purse to fattening.”)

The greatest lesson in the book is this first lesson. Arkad was faced with a similar situation as Bansir and Kobbi. He told them a story of how he once was a scribe with no money and sought out advice from a wealthy man. This man gave him the secret to wealth in exchange for his work on a clay inscription.

His secret was that he found the road to wealth when he decided that a part of all he earned was his to keep. And that anyone can do that by simply paying themselves first before spending any money.

The IRS REALLY gets this concept as they pay themselves first with our money during each pay period. Are you doing everything you can to lower your taxes?

Paying yourself first is also one of the key lessons David Bach teaches in his books, The Automatic Millionaire and The Latte Factor.

Clason recommends that we pay ourselves at least 10% of all that we earn. I suggest 20% or more. If you’re not diligent enough to do this yourself, have someone else set it up for you so that it’s automated each month.

The difference between wealthy and poor people is knowing this first rule. Wealthy people pay themselves first while poor people don’t.

2) Live below your means (“Control thy expenditures”)

This is one of the concepts that young docs and high-income professionals that I coach can’t seem to grasp; live on less than you earn. When I recommend this, the excuses start flying such as, “It’s hard because I have so many expenses” or “My spouse pays the bills so it’s hard to know what’s happening with the money each month“.

It’s hard to reach financial freedom if both spouses aren’t on board. If I can just get to someone coming out of residency to encourage them to live on their resident’s salary 3-5 years, then they’d see success much sooner in life. It would also help them to ingrain this habit – live on less than they make.

According to Becker’s Hospital Review, the overall physician salary is $300,000. If you follow Rule #1 and save at least 10% ($30,000), then you’d have $270,000 to live on. If you can’t live on $270K a year, you have bigger problems that need addressing.

Most millionaires state that finance is 80% behavior and 20% knowledge. Meaning, you don’t have to be a doctor to become rich, simply adopt and apply good money habits.

3) Make your money work for you. (“Make thy gold multiply”)

This lesson reminds me of two verses about investing in the Bible:

Proverbs 21:20 – “The wise store up choice food and olive oil, but fools gulp theirs down.”

1 Corinthians 16:2 – “On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.”

In the The Richest Man In Babylon, Arkad recommended invested only in things that you’re knowledgeable about. I see too many doctors lose money in risky investments that they don’t have a clue about even though the broker says it’s the next BIG THING.

If you want to invest in index funds, then learn about them first. If you’re interested in real estate, then meet with others that can teach you about it first. You don’t have to become a professional, but at least learn enough to ask smart questions before investing.

Put your money to work by making smart investments and taking advantage of time and compounding interest.

4) Insurance protects our wealth. (“Guard thy treasures from loss.”)

In the book, Arkad encourages the protection of one’s wealth from loss. This is fantastic advice that, unfortunately, many younger docs don’t consider when starting out. I remember the early days of practicing when all I could do was make ends meet and pay off loads of student loan debt.

Getting all of the adequate insurance policies needed wasn’t on my radar.

Learn from my mistake and make sure that you have all of the insurance coverage in place as soon as you being practicing. Insurance helps safeguard our wealth by absorbing potential loss and mitigating our financial situation.

There are many types of polices that you should consider. Make sure you research those that you need or find an agent that can guide you.

Another thing you should do is re-evaluate your policies on an annual basis. For instance, we noticed two years ago that our health insurance premiums were going to triple. I began researching online and with others and ended up dropping it and going with a much more affordable option, MediShare.

You can read about it in more detail here.

5) Our home is our biggest expense. (“Make of thy dwelling a profitable investment”)

Of all of the lessons mentioned in the book, this one could be the most debatable. I understand the principle behind it; rather than pay a landlord rent each month, it’s better to pay a mortgage to eventually own a home.

Our homes are potentially the biggest expense we have to tackle and there’s nothing wrong with following this lesson as long as we approach it correctly.

If you follow Dave Ramsey’s real estate principle, then you know:

When you buy a home, put at least 20% down on a 15 year, fixed mortgage. The monthly payment should be no more than 25% of your take home monthly income.

Many people got burned in 2008 when they decided to take on a huge mortgage. Once the real estate market tanked, they were left with homes that lost their value and many had to go into foreclosure.

If you follow Lesson #2 and live below your means, you’ll be in much better financial shape when it comes to making larger purchases in the future.

6) Have a retirement plan. (“Insure a future income.”)

A 25 year old earning an annual salary of $40,000 with an annual raise of say 3% will have earned an estimated $3 million if they retire by age 65. That’s about 40 years of working and earning. We should have a retirement plan if we want to retire comfortably. We can do that by setting aside money to be invested for our retirement. There are many retirement investment plans out there such as 401K, Traditional IRA, Roth, etc. The younger we can start putting money away for our retirement the better. When we start putting money away for retirement early we take advantage of a magical thing called ‘compounding interest‘.

Our net-worth does not equal our self-worth. We need to keep them separated. Compounding interest is known as the eight wonder of the world. Benjamin Franklin knew of this knowledge. Did you know that Benjamin Franklin left 1,000 pounds (about $5,000 in today’s money) when he died to a trust. He bequeathed that trust and left it to his favorite cities Philadelphia and Boston with the provision that the money was to remain untouched for as long as 200 years. What was left in the trust after it grew was the amount of $2 million given to Philadelphia and a whooping $5 million for Boston. The lesson we can learn from this is to make time work for us when we plan for retirement by starting early. Time can be our retirement’s greatest friend.

“Remember that money is of a prolific generating nature. Money can beget money, and its offspring can beget more.” – Benjamin Franklin

7) Invest in ourselves. (“Increase thy ability to earn.”)

The best way we can increase our earning is by investing in ourselves. We can do that by continually learning and striving to develop ourselves. We are now in a very exciting time: the Information Age where knowledge is literally within our fingertips thanks to the Internet. I really love the OpenCourseware idea where many schools including Ivy Leagues post their whole class courses for free. It’s a great way to learn on our own. Another one is Coursera which has many online courses for free from Finance to Philosophy, check it out.

“Those eager to grasp opportunities for their betterment, do attract the interest of the goddess of fortune. She is ever anxious to help those who please her. And who is she pleased with? She is pleased with those who do – rather than those who merely talk and engage in wishful thinking. Action will lead you forth to the successes you desire.”

There are many things we can learn on our own and should strive to make ourselves well-rounded. Whether we learn to eat more healthy, enhance our current work skills, or learn to make more money, we must take the initiative to invest in ourselves. When we become smarter and wiser our ability to earn more also increases.

The 5 Rules of Gold from the “Richest Man in Babylon”

Gold comes gladly and in increasing quantity to any man who will put by not less than one-tenth of his earnings to create an estate for his future and that of his family

Gold labours diligently and contentedly for the wiser owner who finds fir it profitable employment, multiplying even as the flocks of the field

Gold clings to the protection of the cautious owner who invests it under the advice of men wise in its handling

Gold slips away from the man who invests it in business or purposes with which he is not familiar or which are not approved by those skilled in its keep

Gold flees the man who would force it to impossible earnings or who follows the alluring advice of tricksters and schemers or who trusts it to his own inexperience and romantic desires in investment

8) Track Our Wealth. (Know where you are and where you are going.)

In order for us to know where we stand financially we need to face the whole truth of our current situation. We can do that by tracking our current wealth or lack thereof. This is a tough exercise but we must face the truth of how we earn and spend our money in order for us to know where we are going. There is a big difference between wealthy people and those who are not, wealthy people know their net worth while the poor do not pay particular attention nor care at all about tracking their assets and liabilities.

“You cannot manage what you do not measure.” – Bill Hewitt (co-founder of Hewlett Packard)

We can track our wealth by creating a spreadsheet of all our months earnings and expenses and tallying the difference between the money we earn and how much we spend. When we do this work we are able to gauge how we are doing financially. We can also track our net worth by calculating our assets versus our liabilities (our debt). If you have not done this work yourself it is an eye-opening experience. In order for us to fully develop a plan to be wealthy we need to learn how to track our wealth so that we may know where we want to go and create a plan to get there.

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New Post has been published on https://shovelnews.com/hey-stupid-yeah-you-across-the-dutch-kiwi-scribe-lays-in-boot/

Hey stupid! Yeah, you across the dutch – Kiwi scribe lays in boot

Rattue goes on to list the latest salary cap scandal in the NRL – the 90th by his count, with no sign of abating.

Fair call? Chris Rattue sledged Michael Cheika, the cricket team and Nick Kyrgios among others.

Photo: Rugby.com.au, AAP, EPA

He looks at our erstwhile passions of summer: “The nation which produced legendary and respected tennis icons such as Rod Laver, Yvonne Goolagong and Margaret Court now comes up with knuckleheads like Nick Kyrgios and Bernard ‘the Tanker’ Tomic.”

Enough, already?

No, Chris had barely cleared his throat.

“As for cricket, there has never been a sadder more pathetic episode in sport than the sandpaper scandal in South Africa, the nadir for a team which had spun out of control on anger and arrogance.”

Perhaps, he might be kinder to the Wallabies?

Fault: Bernard Tomic is an enigma.

Photo: AP

“As for rugby . . . sophisticated, clever, that’s how the best of Australian rugby used to be. There were elegant leaders like John Eales and Rod Macqueen, and never-to-be-forgotten players such as David ‘Campo’ Campese, Mark Ella, Stephen Larkham and many more . . . What have we got now? Whinging Michael Cheika and a team which doesn’t know what it is about.”

He finishes: “Hey, if the once great Australian sports nation is determined to be a sporting laughing stock, it’s a free world.”

Too harsh? Too unbalanced? Too brutal?

Nuh.

Too shay.

But hey, at least we’re light years ahead of those Kiwis in politics, and are not infected by the same stupidity there.

Oh, wait!

Hopping to it

Good around the house: John Hopoate.

Photo: Fox Sports

As you will see in the quotes section, we have it on the sincere authority of Will Hopoate that his father John has another side: “If people saw him at home, they’d see mum is the real boss, she’s got him under the whip, vacuuming and doing the dishes.”

As one who’s had my fair share of goes at Hopoate Snr over the years, I am glad to hear it. In similar spirit, as one who has criticised Josh Dugan many times, and those who only go to children’s hospitals as the cameras roll, a reader sent me a story this week that showed another side.

It concerned his eleven year-old grandson Gabe Smith, who was diagnosed with a brain tumour and admitted to the Randwick Children’s Hospital, where Dugan came across him . . . and held on, going to see him many times thereafter, through all his many treatments and even into palliative care at Manly’s Bear Cottage, where he would stay for four hours at a time.

For yes, young Gabe tragically didn’t make it, and died in July. Dugan and his girlfriend attended the funeral at the Avoca Beach Surf Club and stayed for the wake.

So, there you go. Just as I struggle to put the public Hopoate I know of with the private figure described by his son, I can’t quite fathom that the Dugan described above is the troubled, swaggering bruiser we know – but accept that it is.

Still, if it turns out that Greg Norman has a humble side, that Shane Warne actually delights in Dosteovsky, and Nick Kyrgios is releasing a motivational lecture , I’ll give up!

Fat chance

Très drôle, as we say in the classics. The 53-year-old pro golfer from Michigan, Scott Parel, see, was asked at the end of the second round of the PGA senior tournament what he thought of his chances of winning.

“I think I have two chances – slim and none. And I think I just saw Slim heading out of town.”

It might be straining the metaphor a little, but Slim came back and tucked into the buffet something fierce, because he soon became Huge, and Parel shot 63 on the final round to win the whole thing.

Lunch date

As mentioned, this year’s Cauliflower Club lunch is at the Hyatt Regency on Sussex St on October 12, with special guests Wally Lewis, Michael O’Connor and Ricky Stuart on deck, and you can book at www.cauliflowerclub.org.au.

This week though, our Chair, John Fordham, secured a very interesting auction prize: a big lunch with all of Bob Dwyer, Alan Jones and Rod Macqueen.

Father’s Day

Reluctantly, I must accept that there is some chance that, for Father’s Day, some of you won’t be buying or getting my own latest book, Monash’s Masterpiece, the 93 Minutes That Changed the World. In that case (sniff), allow me to recommend Greg Growden’s The Wallabies At War, which looks at the stunning service of many Wallabies from the Boer War onwards, or Michael Visontay’s Beyond the Stereotype: A Celebration Of Jews In Australian Sport.

Both are, as you’d expect from two long-time Herald scribes, exceptionally well-written and chokka with good yarns.

In Growden’s book, my favourite is about the great Stan Bisset – a man I was proud to call a friend – who was decorated for his bravery on the Kokoda Track where, during the Battle of Isurava, his brother Butch was riddled with machine gun bullets. Stan carried Butch to a clearing, where he held his hand through the night, singing him songs from the old days, till he died just before dawn. Vale, great men.

Steve who?

Take a hike: All Blacks coach Steve Hansen.

Photo: AAP

Meantime?

Meantime, reader Michael Milgate reports that when about to head off on a hike along New Zealand’s spectacular Milford Track with his daughter last year, they were encouraged to have dinner the night before with other hikers. As dinner is being served, his daughter finds herself in the company of a group of charming strangers, one of whom is notably robust, resplendent in a black tracksuit, introduced as “Steve” but addressed by his companions as “Coach”.

“And what do you coach?”

“Rugby,” he replies.

“Oh, and is it a local team?”

“Have you heard of the All Blacks?”

Oh . . . pass the bread?

Short and sweet

The way forward for the Wallabies? Fitzphile Robert King has the answer! “In the same way T20 has rocked the cricket world,” he writes, “let’s push for a shorter version of the Bledisloe Cup. We will play the first 35 mins only, two-man lineouts and no scrums. I understand Lord Bledisloe died in 1958 so he can’t object.” That works!

What They Said

Lovely writing from Matthew Johns on the early days of Johnathan Thurston: “He first came to the Bulldogs in the mid-2000s and he looked like a rabbit trying to find a hole in a barbwire fence. He was a ducker and a darter . . .”

When ESPN commentator Brad Gilbert asked Nick Kygrios after the first round if all his carry-on was to get himself going, Kyrgios replied: “Not really. It keeps me relaxed.”

Tennis umpire Mo Lahyani to Nick Kyrgios during a break in the second round of the US Open, asks him to carry on with more purpose:

“I want to help you. I want to help you. I’ve seen your matches: you’re great for tennis. Nick, I know this is not you.” Kyrgios won nineteen of the next 25 games to win the match. There was hell to pay.

Helpng hand: Mo Lahyani and Nick Krygios. Illustration: John Shakespeare

Will Hopoate on his dad: “For most of my life I’ve seen the John Hopoate off the field, and that’s the man I respect and love as a father. The bloke you see on the field and off the field are two different blokes. If people saw him at home, they’d see mum is the real boss, she’s got him under the whip, vacuuming and doing the dishes.”

Venus Williams laughs at the prospect of playing her sister, Serena, in the American Open: “The last time we played, in Australia, it was two against one. At least this time it’s fair.” On that occasion, at the 2017 Australian Open, Serena was pregnant.

Barry Hall: “I got no income, and there’s no real light at the end of the tunnel of when that will change or when that will be. So it’s a big cock-up.”

Collingwood President Eddie McGuire on another Pies player testing positive: “The last person to find out anything to do with drugs is the club itself. It’s an AFL issue. They have control of everything that goes, as far as the testing is concerned. In fact, as the president of the club I’m not even allowed to ask about these situations.”

Carlton coach Brendon Bolton on the upside of having won two games for twenty losses this season: “In some time we’ll look back and say this time paid us back.” Sure you will, Coach.

Wayne Bennett following the Roosters game: “I could make a headline easily, but I won’t tonight. I’ll leave you with this guys, you’re all journalists here, you see what I see, why don’t you write the stories?”

Eels coach Brad Arthur on the wooden spoon, after his side lost 44-6 to the Cowboys last Friday: “At the end of the day, I’m in charge. Someone has got to claim responsibility, that’s me. I feel a sense that I’ve let people down. It’s just embarrassing. I have to face up to it, I can’t run and hide from it.” Coach? Look to the blokes laughing and joking within seconds of being on the wrong end of a 40-point drubbing – and wipe them. Start with Jarryd Hayne, who was doing precisely that.

Gus Gould: “Sunday afternoon at Jubilee Oval. One of the great pleasures of life.” Andrew Johns: “Gus, you’ve gotta get out more.”

Team of the Week

Fond farewell: Thurston waves goodbye to the Cowboys home crowd last week.

Photo: AAP

Johnathan Thurston Plays the final match of his extraordinary 17-year career tonight, against the Gold Coast Titans.

Richmond and Hawthorn How very odd. Between them they have won 24 Premiership flags and yet next Thursday, for the first time, they contest a finals match.

Argentina Pumas Snapped an 11-match losing streak in the Rugby Championship by beating South Africa.

Sunshine Coast Lightning Gone back to back to claim their second Super Netball title. So I suppose it does strike twice!

The second annual Chappell Foundation Golf Day To raise money for the homeless, it will be held on Tuesday September 11 at the spectacular NSW Golf Club, La Perouse.

Italy Has just banned all advertising for gambling, most particularly including sponsorships of sporting teams. Watch this space!

Caloundra Won their first rugby grand final since their foundation in 1982, beating Noosa.

Twitter: @Peter_Fitz

Peter FitzSimons is a Herald journalist, columnist and author, based in Sydney. He is also a former Wallabies player.