Month: September 2005

C.S. Forester wrote other seafaring historical novels besides the Hornblower books. To the Indies is a retelling of Christopher Columbus’s third journey to America by a Catalan lawyer who accompanies the (now) Admiral on a fact-finding mission for the crown. Published in July 1940, this one hasn’t stood the test of time quite so well. Next…

Fun morning spent watching part of the San Francisco Grand Prix bike race. I checked the final results and saw that, as expected, the lone racer out in front of the pack for several laps was gobbled up. In fact, the lone race – Michael Creed of the Discovery Channel team – didn’t even finish. Wonder when he dropped out?

I took a couple of dozen pictures along Lyon Street, none of them fantastic, but just reminds you how fast even those in the back of the pack are moving. Update: Check out the dozen pictures that were OK.

When you’re in the mood for definitive history, pick up N. A. M. Rodger’s The Command of the Ocean, subtitled “A Naval History of Britain, 1649-1815.” Like most of the non-historian audience for this book, my entrypoint to the “wooden world” was Horatio Hornblower and, more recently, Jack Aubrey. (The Wooden World is the title of an earlier book by the same author.) I’ll admit that this one sat on the bedside table for almost two months, as I nibbled at it from time to time. Maybe it would be less daunting to alert the potential reader that over one-third of the 900 pages are devoted to bibliography, index, glossary, and appendices which would make useful historical additions on their own, from my quick scan. After the main reading, I didn’t delve into the historical asides or facts (chart of different ranks across different navies during the period, for instance). But the sheer authority conveyed by these appendages doesn’t drag down the actual history.

This tome is well written, not lost in academic dribble, and smartly organized into what the author calls “parallel streams” of administration, operations, social history, and ships. In the introduction, Rodger states his goal:

The purpose of this, the second of three volumes of a Naval History of Britain is to put naval affairs back into the history of Britain.

I’m already pre-disposed to think of the navy when thinking about British history from my historical fiction interests. Rodger supports these links going much deeper into the political and industrial fabric of the nation. The rise of the navy – with its tremendous logistical needs – prefigured the industrial revolution, and Rodger makes forceful arguments that (in some respects) arming the navy drove the centralization of markets, finance, and government. Without that impetus, British industrial might was no certainty. I’m certainly overstating the thesis, or at least putting it less elegantly. Yet it’s believable.

Telling from the social history chapters was the rise of class distinctions in the 18th century navy. More than other parts of English society, per Rodger, the navy was a meritocracy early on. However, as the 18th century wore on, and the navy became more successful (and therefore more fashionable), being a gentleman became more of prerequisite for becoming an officer. It never became a total glass ceiling, even by 1815, to which some of the success is still attributed.

I’m off to lighter fare again, but this is a reference worth reading.

I haven’t wondered, as some apparently have, why people choose to live in New Orleans where hurricanes were such a known threat. Here’s one funny/angry response. I’m sitting in the heart of the “big f***ing earthquakes” section.

I’ve never been to New Orleans, but I do wonder just what the nation will pay to rebuild the city. Hastert’s comments on the subject were slightly more nuanced than I had heard, and I expect the “stubbornness” he attributes to Los Angeles and San Francisco in rebuilding after earthquakes will triumph once more. My initial impressions are that this process is going to make rebuilding a fraction of NYC after 9/11 look inexpensive and straightforward. One more reason for America to focus on America for a bit?

Jim Fallows in the NYTimes explains why postal mail has not gone away, and won’t, even in the internet age.

“Two-thirds of all consumers do not expect to receive personal mail, but when they do, it makes their day,” it concluded. “This ‘hope’ keeps them coming back each day.” Even in this age of technology, according to the survey, 55 percent of Americans said they looked forward to discovering what each day’s mail might hold.

I’m in the majority, then. I look to email more often, but nothing beats a letter, in part because of its scarcity. I write that knowing I’m not a particularly good paper correspondent. My one significant outpouring of actual-ink-on-paper missives came while I was abroad in a foreign country, where forming the English words on paper was the only part of my day I allowed myself to think in English. I probably learned less of the foreign language than I would have otherwise, but the letters seemed important at the time.

The reasons for more mail in the internet age? Per Fallows, it’s

1. Online retailers: think Netflix, paper catalogs, and eBay.
2. Credit-card solicitations. Obviously, these have invaded email, too, but they must still work (statistically) in postal mail. I detest this part of the daily mail.
3. More targeted advertising due to USPS “advances” in technology.

Isn’t technology grand?

My favorite stat?

Personal letters of all sorts, called “household to household” correspondence, account for less than 1 percent of the 100 billion pieces of first-class mail that the Postal Service handles each year.

Guess I should write a letter and be one in a billion.

Not quite sure what went wrong today, but the kids were at their worst today. Everything started off normally for a Saturday, and life was normal through mid-morning. Somewhere before lunch, both the boy and the girl just seemed to lose it, and most of the rest of the day was a wreck, with crying, tantrums, and whining. Lots of whining. Whining doesn’t seem like a strong evolutionary strategy, as all it engenders in parents is a feeling of total rage which cannot be acted upon.

Let’s hope we find the proverbial right side of the bed tomorrow.