We have two events coming up – one on Sunday and one on Monday. Both feature our own Tom Levenson, so if you want an overdose of same, here’s your chance.
We’ll be talking about Tom’s new book…
…which is about a bunch of stuff centered on the South Sea Bubble of 1720–the first great stock market boom, fraud, bubble and bust. There are all-too-obvious connections to our own day, which we can talk about. Also, the book spends a fair amount of time connecting financial innovation, with all the wealth and woe that has carried with it, to the larger change in how people were figuring out the material world back than, a transformation we now call the scientific revolution. That too is still with us.
A good time will be had by all (or the beatings will continue, in Balloon Juice’s finest tradition.)
The details:
Sunday at 6pm: Medium Cool – Money for Nothing: Ask Me Anything with Tom Levenson
Monday at 8pm: Balloon Juice Zoom – Money for Nothing: Ask Me Anything with Tom Levenson
(8pm is the tentative time; final time to be determined):
Everyone is welcome to attend one or both sessions.
?Tom was able to score 4 audio passes (!) for Money for Nothing, to be given as gifts at the events.
How do I sign up to have a chance to win an audio pass, you ask?
Comment below as you normally would, but if you want to be in the drawings for the gifts, say so in the comments. Be sure to indicate whether you plan to do the Medium Cool Post, the Zoom, or both.
I will scan the comments for MC, ZOOM, or BOTH
I will also try to read the comments a bit more closely – for those who either won’t read the entire post or who might have read it but are unlikely to follow directions. Yes, I have met you guys before. :-)
?More About The Zoom
Zoom will be hosted and moderated by Immanentize.
We’ll start with about 15 minutes BGinCHI asking Tom some questions, author-to-author. Then we’ll go to questions from the audience.
Everyone will start out muted, but you can enter your questions for Tom through Chat function, either while BG and Tom are talking, or afterwards.
If you like, you can even ask your questions in the comments of this post, and we’ll collect those for the Zoom, too.
We’re still working out the final details for the format, but we’ll share them as soon as we can.
IMPORTANT: We want to avoid unwanted visitors crashing the zoom, so if you want to attend the zoom, please send me email so I can reply with the Zoom password.
Open thread.
Mary G
Already purchased the Audible version, so don’t want to be in the drawing. Highly recommend it!
Will try to attend Sunday, depending on status of Christmas decorating.
Benw
I’d come but I gotta move these refrigerators
trollhattan
Psst, Secret Zoom password: Zoom
Goku (Amerikan Baka)
I’d love to attend! I have the next few days off, so I have some free time.
Here’s a question I have for Mr. Levenson:
Have you ever read The Half Has Never Been Told by Edward E. Baptist? It’s a book that details the origins of American Capitalism from American chattel slavery. If so, do you have any thoughts about it?
I had the opportunity to read it during a college Early American history course and thought it was very insightful as well as powerful
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Benw: Don’t forget the microwave ovens.
WaterGirl
@Benw: That made me laugh. Is that a polite way of saying you are not interested?
WaterGirl
@Goku (Amerikan Baka): Which one are you planning to attend, Goku? Or is it both?
trollhattan
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Color TV.
NB My child does not believe me that one once had color/not color options when selecting a television. Nor further, that most television programs broadcast was not color and there was considerable debate whether the significant extra cost and technical pickiness were worth the bother.
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: I guess you don’t need to send me the email since you already know the password.
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: I can see why s/he is skeptical… I suppose you had to walk 5 miles to school every day, and it was uphill both ways?
trollhattan
@WaterGirl: 
Right? We’re a smart bunch. :-)
Goku (Amerikan Baka)
@WaterGirl:
I guess both, just in case anything comes up and I can’t attend one. Do you remember my email address or do you want me to send an email?
HumboldtBlue
I wanna win a thing please and I’ll most likely attend both zoom meetings.
It’s either that ir wash the cat.
Also, here’s a cat with a vacuum.
WaterGirl
@Goku (Amerikan Baka): I am not going to look up email addresses. :-)
Up top I ask for all Zoom folks to send me an email message that I can reply to with the password.
WaterGirl
@Goku (Amerikan Baka): Hey Goku. I know the title is Ask Me Anything, but with the event only being an hour or so, it might be better to ask a question related to Tom’s book or area of study?
satby
@Goku (Amerikan Baka): because the perfect question to ask in a book chat centered on an author’s book is a question about another book entirely. You really are a piece of work.
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: @satby: As far as I can tell, this isn’t the AMA. So better here than there, right?
FelonyGovt
@trollhattan: We were the last on our block to have a color TV.
I would love to attend the Zoom on Sunday and be entered in the drawing (although I expect to buy the Kindle edition). WaterGirl, I will email you.
satby
@Omnes Omnibus: ?
WaterGirl
@FelonyGovt: Great! I’ll look for your email.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: Good point. But I did say I could collect questions if people submitted them here, so I though that was what Goku was intending. Though I may have misunderstood.
satby
@WaterGirl: coulda sworn this was what we (me formerly) in the detective trade used to call “a clue”:
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: Goku always thinks I am picking on him, so I thought I would toss up a half-hearted defense this time.
WaterGirl
@satby: Ha! You make a good point.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: It’s the thought that counts.
NotMax
One could adequately point to the Mississippi Company bubble as an example pre-dating the South Seas debacle.
/history nerd
Goku (Amerikan Baka)
@satby:
Thanks for reminding me I’m such a piece of shit fuck up. I know I’m a fuck up. I don’t know why I even fucking bother half the time
Just One More Canuck
@Benw: Yes, but do you have a blister on your little finger?
satby
@Goku (Amerikan Baka):
Act 1 throw out something to derail a topic
Act 2 get a response pointing out the derail
Act 3 butthurt
Act 4 people not as cognizant of your M.O. rush in to defend poor little you, further derailing any conversation.
mission accomplished, you.
Omnes Omnibus
@Just One More Canuck: I have one on my thumb.
satby
@Omnes Omnibus: come help me move this color TV
Goku (Amerikan Baka)
@satby:
How the fuck else did you expect me to react? You blatantly attacked me. I thought it was a nice question related to the topic of the book: financial history. I wasn’t trying to fucking derail anything! I said the other night I just wanted to move on.
Omnes Omnibus
@satby: Sorry, I am moving a refrigerator.
Omnes Omnibus
@Goku (Amerikan Baka): You have acquired non-fans. Deal with it. Everyone on this blog won’t like you. Expecting that they would is unrealistic.
Just One More Canuck
@Omnes Omnibus: I shoulda learned to play the guitar
satby
@Just One More Canuck: I shoulda learned to play the drums.
Amir Khalid
Bianca’s litter tray is now empty. Her food and water bowls have been put away. There’s still about 2kg of her food that she doesn’t need anymore. I didn’t get to kiss her head this morning.
Omnes Omnibus
@Just One More Canuck: @satby: I want my MTV.
FelonyGovt
@Just One More Canuck: Maybe get a blister on your thumb
ETA Omnes beat me to it
Goku (Amerikan Baka)
@Omnes Omnibus:
Maybe she has a point? In the past I have made “scenes” to say the least.
I know not everyone is going to like me. I get it. But she didn’t have to do what she did. I meant no harm; I didn’t think before I typed; I admit it probably isn’t a good question to ask an author at a zoom event for their book. It was something I knew about the subject, I thought they were related, and wanted to ask the question. I thought it was relevant. I didn’t think anything of it at the time
I’m just so sick of drama crap like this. I just want it to stop
satby
@Amir Khalid: ?? Oh Amir. Big virtual hug my friend. They leave huge holes when they leave us.
No name
@Amir Khalid: My heart hurts for you. I am so sorry.
FelonyGovt
@Amir Khalid: I am so, so sorry for your loss. It’s especially hard seeing their food bowl and little toys and so on. ?
Omnes Omnibus
@Goku (Amerikan Baka): My last comment on this. “Don’t start no shit. Won’t be no shit.”
Aleta
@Omnes Omnibus: He can reasonably expect to not be repeatedly demeaned and personally attacked on John’s blog, since there’s a comment policy against targeted harassment of other commenters.
Goku (Amerikan Baka)
@Omnes Omnibus:
Here’s the thing: I didn’t even mean to. It was a dumb comment in retrospect, but it was just a dumb comment that could’ve been ignored
lurker
@Omnes Omnibus:
@Benw:
@WaterGirl:
this ain’t … working
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTP2RUD_cL0
satby
@Aleta: pointing out a rude question in a planned event isn’t targeted harrassment. It could be a teachable moment. But thanks, we were missing the Act 4 player, who can usually be relied on to be you.
It’s a game, but not mine. I’m normally not even on at night.
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: Did you miss the news?
WaterGirl
@FelonyGovt: @Omnes Omnibus:
I appear to have missed the origin of the blister on the thumb thing. Can someone enlighten me?
satby
@WaterGirl: Bianca passed away this morning our time.
Goku (Amerikan Baka)
@satby:
Look. You’re entirely right. It was a rude comment. I’m sorry. I didn’t think it through. I’ll try to police myself better in the future. Have a nice night and stay safe
zhena gogolia
@Amir Khalid:
Oh, I am feeling for you. It is so, so hard.
satby
@WaterGirl: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wTP2RUD_cL0
WaterGirl
@Amir Khalid: Oh my gosh, Amir, I did not know you had lost Bianca. I am so sorry. I have been so busy with the calendar that I haven’t been able to read most of the threads for the better part of a week.
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: The Dire Straits song.
Goku (Amerikan Baka)
@WaterGirl:
It’s the lyrics to a Dire Straits song
WaterGirl
@satby: Thank you.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: I did. As soon as I saw satby’s comment I deleted my clueless one.
Omnes Omnibus
@Aleta: And yet you keep up your low key campaign of general disappointment in me.
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: Yeah, I didn’t think you were trying to taunt him, but it’s also why I didn’t say it directly.
satby
@Omnes Omnibus: Come sit 6 feet away from me, because we’re probably both in that category. We’ll have to bear it as best we can.
wait, now I’m a satay? I hope peanut satay. I like that.
Aleta
@satby: You often insult him. You’ve tried to shame him several times for making his own decisions about masks and working in a grocery store. Seems like targeting to me.
satby
@Aleta: funny you left out the context around those comments, but whatev. We all have a POV. I’m bored now.
WaterGirl
@satby: Sometimes I curse you (in the nicest possible way) for having a nym that autocorrect insists on “correcting”. I suppose it would lear if it was a capital S, but that’s not how you spell it.
Goku (Amerikan Baka)
@Aleta:
I appreciate what you’re doing, but I think it’s best to just let this go. Satby has made her mind up about me. And maybe she’s right about how I act sometimes. It’s just something I need to work on. I “spoke” without thinking and made a careless, dumb, and rude comment. I’ve done it before.
Just One More Canuck
@Amir Khalid: I’m so sorry Amir. My condolences
RedDirtGirl
We were the first divorce in the neighborhood when I was a kid. @FelonyGovt:
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@Amir Khalid: I’m so sorry for your loss. They leave such big paw prints on our hearts.
RedDirtGirl
@Amir Khalid: I’m so sorry to hear your news.
RedDirtGirl
dead thread?
Tom Levenson
@Goku (Amerikan Baka):
@Omnes Omnibus:
@satby:
Not to rev up a beef that I hope is dead, (in fact the reverse)…
So–friends?
Tom Levenson
@Amir Khalid: So sad.
I am very sorry for your loss. It’s terrible when our shorter lived companions have the presumption to leave us.
Omnes Omnibus
@Tom Levenson: You’re no fun.
HumboldtBlue
@Amir Khalid:
We feel you.
So does the Kop.
lurker
@WaterGirl: am interested in the chats. More likely to make sunday than monday. I will email you about the password, to confirm that trollhattan has it correct. Email will likely come from a different email than the one I registered with on the site. Am also interested in a drawing for the audio code. Do you want a drawing of a cat? dog? sun and moon? (Keeping in mind I have skills for stick figures…) Still, drawing would be better than moving refrigerators or color tvs.
Amir Khalid
@WaterGirl:
That’s all right. No offence taken.
NoraLenderbee
@satby: JFC, stop already.
Middlelee
I want to attend the Monday Zoom. Please send secret password.
Thanks, Constance
sab
I am partly through Levenson’s book. Wow.
NotMax
Making people jump through additional hoops to get the password seems overkill. With four Zooms on turkey day there was a grand total of one noxious a-hole, who was booted right quick.
Also, no way to determine if the person sending you the e-mail is legit or troll.
WaterGirl
@lurker: Ha!
When you write, can you include that you are the “lurker” who wrote comment #76? Or if you’ve already written, can you write again so I can make the connection?
thanks