Alden > Recent Status Updates

“The fact that modern living standards are driven primarily by innovation rather than natural resources is the fundamental reason that population growth increases rather than reduces prosperity.” P. 141

“Daryl was convinced that the word for a group of scientists ought to be a *blackout*, because that was what the fuckers seemed determined to cause.”

Writing about Howard EnDean, inventor of the electrical-potential-gradient pig, Waldman writes:

“He was obsessed with the insides of pipes. Before he died in 1996, he expressed his wish to have his ashes poured into an oil well so that he could finally see what happened at the bottom.”

Fifth time reading this. Bujold’s imagination is awesome.

Wow. This book is a lot bigger than I expected.

P 285: “Not that Indians always used fires for strictly utilitarian purposes. At nightfall tribes in the Rocky Mountains entertained the explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark by applying torches to sap-dripping fir trees, which then exploded like Roman candles.” Must have been the 4th of July, LOL.

Very impressed so far.

This book is a blast. Euny Hong writes with a fine combination of earnestness and irony.

LOL. Atlantic City, WW1 memorial: “Liberty in Distress”, 1928. The sculptor said distress, a lot of observers claim her expression looks like.. something else.

Practically every page has something that makes me stop and think, sometimes in horror and anger at the crimes that were perpetrated freed slaves, sometimes in amazement at how relevant Du Bois' thoughts still are.

Searing. Hard to read more than a few pages at a time. The things that were done to propagate racism and white supremacy are just revolting. What am I doing today to fight this insanity? Not nearly enough.