Odysseus
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Trump = Disaster
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Post by Odysseus on Nov 2, 2021 6:58:46 GMT
Just started reading Nikola Tesla's autobiography. It's in a volume with other of his writings (about his various inventions).
I have learned from this that it was Tesla who invented the AC induction motor, without which most of our modern technology would be nigh impossible. Unfortunately he lost control of the patent along the way, and suffered on and off financially for the rest of his life.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2021 17:33:39 GMT
Well, I just really enjoy all the different strands of the conversation. It is partly a re-evaluation of numerous core ideas in economics, by an economist at the top of their profession, at the end of their career. These are thoughts that have had time to develop and it shows. Along with the economic theory and history, we also get an enlightening discussion on ethics, a defense (and elaboration) of virtue ethics, and the evolution from aristocratic to the bourgeois virtues; and a telling of how that evolution first happened in 16th Holland and how it spread across the globe. It is also a discussion of these themes in literature, theatre, and film. Jane Austen and Shakespeare offer a nice illustration of this change in the diverging way they treat commercial life and the issue of whether commercial prudence can ever be honorable (Austen) or not (Shakespeare). Part of the project is to call economist's attention to the importance that the "sacred" plays in human motivations and why a pure profit seeking/self interest/ utility maximizing approach to studying the economy is incomplete. One of the reasons why this project is so interesting to me is that McCloskey has neatly disabused me of a number of ideas in economics that I thought were rather well grounded, but it turns out aren't. I have mentioned the utility maximization idea, that's one example. Another deals with how much causal weight we want to place on things like private property rights, saving, international trade, etc for understanding how and why the modern world developed the way it did. The modern world is such a break with the past and the typical rate of growth known for millennia. Economists since Adam Smith have tried to answer this question and none have really solved it. In short, we escaped the Malthusian trap which had perennially haunted human society. Explaining this "great enrichment" is the purpose of these books. My old explanations were materialistic or economistic. "Piling brick upon brick" (as McCloskey puts it) does not suffice for explaining it as people have been piling bricks upon bricks for millennia. And the same is true for saving money, trading internationally, private property rights, contracts, the rule of law, etc. These are all ancient so if they explain the great enrichment, it should have happened 2000 years earlier. The routine gains from established practices do not add up to enough to explain the great enrichment. McCloskey turns our attention to culture & ethics as the change that ushered in the great enrichment. New norms and beliefs. New ways of talking and thinking are her answer for the change. And the evidence marshaled in support of it is vast. I love learning. I love seeing things in a new way. And this trilogy has done that for me, over and over again. I like learning, too, but Heavens to Murgatroyd! Do you not sleep well? I've been reading some novels by Nelson DeMille. Strictly entertainment and pretty good entertainment. Author recommended to me by someone on another board. Just before that a couple books by Marvin Kittman. Better of the two was George Washington's Expense Account. Old George knew how to suck a government teat! I do have trouble sleeping, honestly, lol. But yes, that book was full of rather dry and specialized conversation but it's one I have dipped my toe into a lot and have become comfortable with and entertained by. But I can totally see how I am a mutant in that regard. I'm not familiar with anything in your list but the book about Washington's expense account seems interesting. Right now I am reading "Hayek's Modern Family" by the late great Steve Horwitz. Its an account of the evolution of the family, its taking on of new functions and forms in response to a changing context. Fascinating stuff. |
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Odysseus
Legend
Trump = Disaster
Posts: 41,112
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Post by Odysseus on Nov 8, 2021 19:11:10 GMT
Turns out the best part of the Tesla autobiography was the introduction by a writer other than Tesla. His own stuff is relatively turgid and arcane. I'm sure he was brilliant, but he couldn't write too good.
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Post by elmerfudd on Nov 9, 2021 22:19:39 GMT
George Washington's Expense Account by Marvin Kittman is a real eye-opener. The father of our country is also the father of living on the expense account. He refused a salary as commander in chief and only asked for reimbursement of expenses. The Sons of Liberty thought this very noble until after the war when the Father of our Country presented his expense account totals. Records are fuzzy, but some of the Sons of Liberty committed blasphemy and two beshat their knickers.
He also claimed he was not seeking the office as commander in chief, but he was the only one who showed up wearing a uniform.
He offered the same deal as president but, once burned twice shy, the Congress put him on a fixed salary. He complained it was not enough to live on, which may be the real reason he self limited himself to two terms.
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Post by elmerfudd on Nov 9, 2021 22:25:43 GMT
Turns out the best part of the Tesla autobiography was the introduction by a writer other than Tesla. His own stuff is relatively turgid and arcane. I'm sure he was brilliant, but he couldn't write too good. I have never heard of any autobiography that was not self serving. I generally avoid such. Is your phrase "couldn't write too good" a test of any sort, or kind of tongue in cheek? |
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Odysseus
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Trump = Disaster
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Post by Odysseus on Nov 9, 2021 22:50:08 GMT
Turns out the best part of the Tesla autobiography was the introduction by a writer other than Tesla. His own stuff is relatively turgid and arcane. I'm sure he was brilliant, but he couldn't write too good. I have never heard of any autobiography that was not self serving. I generally avoid such. Is your phrase "couldn't write too good" a test of any sort, or kind of tongue in cheek?
You may be onto something there!
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Post by elmerfudd on Nov 11, 2021 22:38:15 GMT
I am currently reading A Fighter Pilot in Buchenwald by Joseph Moser as told to Gerald R. Barron. Mr. Moser was a P51 pilot shot down on his 44th mission and, unluckily, sent to Buchenwald concentration camp rather than a Luftwaffe POW camp as he should have been. About 167 other equally unlucky recent captives went, too. REALLY good book. I won't spoil it for anybody, but he obviously did live to tell about it, though that was not part of the German SS plans for him and the other 167.
A German SS guard told them on arrival "See that smoke coming from that big chimney over there? That's the only way you'll leave this place. As smoke from that chimney."
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Odysseus
Legend
Trump = Disaster
Posts: 41,112
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Post by Odysseus on Nov 11, 2021 23:03:45 GMT
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Odysseus
Legend
Trump = Disaster
Posts: 41,112
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Post by Odysseus on Nov 11, 2021 23:17:43 GMT
Also,
The P-38 Pilot, Joe Moser, was a farm boy from Ferndale, Washington. He died in 2015 at the ripe old age of 94.
Here's the start of the newspaper story:
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Post by elmerfudd on Nov 11, 2021 23:31:17 GMT
You're absolutely right about the aircraft. I don't know where I got the idea it was a P51. Age related memory loss I guess.
Since we're telling some of the story, Buchenwald also was in the business of executing Russian prisoners. About 500 a day.
I got my copy from abebooks.com for under $5 including tax and shipping. And it's like new.
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Odysseus
Legend
Trump = Disaster
Posts: 41,112
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Post by Odysseus on Nov 11, 2021 23:43:52 GMT
The P-38 is one of my favorite WWII aircraft. I seem to remember there was a TV show in the 50's the featured a similar but single fuselage twin engine plane, a Cessna 310. The TV series was Sky King. I seem to recall growing up with a model toy version of the P-38, so it's always held my interest. I believe Goering called it "The Fork Tailed Devil"...
It was that good.
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Post by elmerfudd on Nov 11, 2021 23:49:44 GMT
The P-38 is one of my favorite WWII aircraft. I seem to remember there was a TV show in the 50's the featured a similar but single fuselage twin engine plane, a Cessna 310. The TV series was Sky King. I seem to recall growing up with a model toy version of the P-38, so it's always held my interest. I believe Goering called it "The Fork Tailed Devil"... It was that good. I remember that show. The P38 is definitely a cool plane. It was a pic of that plane that made Joe Moser work so hard at becoming a pilot. I used to build models, including aircraft, and had a P38, but later only did cars. Preferred AMT. |
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Odysseus
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Trump = Disaster
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Post by Odysseus on Nov 12, 2021 2:07:00 GMT
I have some pre-made large airplane models on display in the living room, including: P-38 Lightning, A-10 Warthog, F4U Corsair, SR71 Blackbird, and a 1929 Curtiss Robin high wing monoplane (the last one took a few hours to identify).
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Post by elmerfudd on Nov 12, 2021 2:11:54 GMT
I have some pre-made large airplane models on display in the living room, including: P-38 Lightning, A-10 Warthog, F4U Corsair, SR71 Blackbird, and a 1929 Curtiss Robin high wing monoplane (the last one took a few hours to identify). that 1929 one kind of rings a bell. I know a guy who retired from FAA who was a pilot and had bought a late 1920's monoplane and restored it to flying condition. Had a grass airstrip near his house out in the boonies he could use. I don't think it took much to get it flying. This was years ago and the plane was in fairly good shape but not flyable when he bought it. And I am thinking Curtiss. He later sold the plane and I haven't seen him in years. If that's a fairly common plane, it might be it. If it's a rare plane, I doubt it. |
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Odysseus
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Trump = Disaster
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Post by Odysseus on Nov 12, 2021 2:47:22 GMT
I have some pre-made large airplane models on display in the living room, including: P-38 Lightning, A-10 Warthog, F4U Corsair, SR71 Blackbird, and a 1929 Curtiss Robin high wing monoplane (the last one took a few hours to identify). that 1929 one kind of rings a bell. I know a guy who retired from FAA who was a pilot and had bought a late 1920's monoplane and restored it to flying condition. Had a grass airstrip near his house out in the boonies he could use. I don't think it took much to get it flying. This was years ago and the plane was in fairly good shape but not flyable when he bought it. And I am thinking Curtiss. He later sold the plane and I haven't seen him in years. If that's a fairly common plane, it might be it. If it's a rare plane, I doubt it.
Well, it's a die-cast 1929 Curtiss Robin, with a coin slot on top (and bottom) for "limited storage". The original plane cannot be that common if only from its great age. From what I've read, it was popular not for speed but for its durability, reliability, and handling, and chosen for stuff like aerobatics and endurance demonstrations. That said, the stuff I saw online said there are a "few" Robins still operational today. The model I have is a die-cast one I picked up at Orchard Supply Hardware about 15 years ago. Long before Loews bought OSH, changed the name slightly to "Outdoor Supply Hardware" and shut down a number of stores.
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Odysseus
Legend
Trump = Disaster
Posts: 41,112
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Post by Odysseus on Nov 12, 2021 2:54:53 GMT
 I have no idea why this blank post exists. I did have an internet outage in the last 24 hours. |
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Post by elmerfudd on Nov 13, 2021 15:50:58 GMT
finished A Fighter Pilot in Buchenwald. Definitely a great book. If it's ever reprinted, I will offer my services as an endorsement. I can't imagine any publisher not appreciating an endorsement from Elmer Fudd, especially if there's no charge.
Lots of books in the unread pile, next one probably will be Natchez Burning by Greg Iles. Checked it out from daughter's liberry.
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Post by elmerfudd on Nov 19, 2021 22:12:22 GMT
Natchez Burning Is kinda unrealistic, tiresome, and too long. Half a star.
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Post by elmerfudd on Jan 16, 2022 3:43:33 GMT
I read The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen, an English perfesser at USC, a month ago or so. One of the best books I have ever read. I recommend it highly to the literate posters who frequent this forum. I had never heard of the guy - ran up on the book in another internet forum.
He wrote a follow up called The Committed. Just started it - it's even better, so far, than the first one. And you don't really have to have read the first one, but it would definitely be better. I might post an excerpt or two - this fellow can craft sentences better than anybody I have read in a long time.
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Odysseus
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Trump = Disaster
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Post by Odysseus on Jan 16, 2022 5:16:17 GMT
In my reading room (read: bath) there's a bookshelf. In there I have a book about Leonardo DaVinci. I've been ignoring it for some years, because for some reason I thought I had read it. Turns out I had only read some parts of it. In any case, decided about a week or two ago to read it entire from start to finish. DaVinci was apparently quite a character. In some ways, an epic genius. In other ways, quite predictable and erratic at the same time. He finally got the station he deserved, late in life, when King Francis I brought him out of Italy to the Loire Valley, gave him a substantial house, full funding, and unquestioning artistic freedom for the last three years of his life,
We should all be so lucky.
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