A hero is a man who does what he can
What to read, 20 years after 9/11? Some of the best writing I found is about its heroes:
The story of Rick Rescorla, whose foresight and self-sacrifice saved 2,700 lives.
“People like Rick, they don’t die old men. They aren’t destined for that and it isn’t right for them to do so. It just isn’t right, by God, for them to become feeble, old, and helpless sons of bitches. There are certain men born in this world, and they’re supposed to die setting an example for the rest of the weak bastards we’re surrounded with.”
The better-known story of Todd Beamer, who helped stop Flight 93 from slamming into the US Capitol.
“They said the Lord’s Prayer together in full, and other passengers joined in. Beamer then recited Psalm 23, concluding, ‘Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.’ Immediately after, he turned to his co-conspirators and asked, ‘Are you guys ready? OK, let’s roll.’“
This amazing 10-minute documentary narrated by Tom Hanks about the improvised boat evacuation of Manhattan – bigger than Dunkirk, the largest sea evacuation in history. The boatlift got 500,000 people off the island in less than nine hours!
And a heart-rending account by Tom Junod of how the NYPD and NY fire departments deal with the loss and hold onto the memory of that terrible day:
“what happened on September 11, 2001 wasn't really a memory there – it was more like an amputation, something you wish you could forget but instead must live with. You have no choice in the matter, because you have to manage the prosthesis and you have to go to physical therapy and you have to stay away from the pain pills. It's not something you talk about every day, but it's something your kids have to see every day with terror and pride, and something maybe their kids dare to ask you about, when they're sitting on your knee. That's where the memory comes in – when you tell the story and try to reassure them, try to reassure yourself, that they can't inherit your limp, only your resolve.”
But 9/11 isn’t about heroes, though it showed us them. It was an act of mass murder that showed us things we didn’t want to see, and still don’t.
And for all the hard questions of how to respond, with the time for heroism long past, the only human answer remains grief:
Where you’ve gone, there will be a
What to read, 20 years after 9/11? Some of the best writing I found is about its heroes:
The story of Rick Rescorla, whose foresight and self-sacrifice saved 2,700 lives.
“People like Rick, they don’t die old men. They aren’t destined for that and it isn’t right for them to do so. It just isn’t right, by God, for them to become feeble, old, and helpless sons of bitches. There are certain men born in this world, and they’re supposed to die setting an example for the rest of the weak bastards we’re surrounded with.”
The better-known story of Todd Beamer, who helped stop Flight 93 from slamming into the US Capitol.
“They said the Lord’s Prayer together in full, and other passengers joined in. Beamer then recited Psalm 23, concluding, ‘Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.’ Immediately after, he turned to his co-conspirators and asked, ‘Are you guys ready? OK, let’s roll.’”
This amazing 10-minute documentary narrated by Tom Hanks about the improvised boat evacuation of Manhattan – bigger than Dunkirk, the largest sea evacuation in history. The boatlift got 500,000 people off the island in less than nine hours!
And a heart-rending account by Tom Junod of how the NYPD and NY fire department deal with the loss and hold onto the memory of that terrible day:
“what happened on September 11, 2001 wasn't really a memory there – it was more like an amputation, something you wish you could forget but instead must live with. You have no choice in the matter, because you have to manage the prosthesis and you have to go to physical therapy and you have to stay away from the pain pills. It's not something you talk about every day, but it's something your kids have to see every day with terror and pride, and something maybe their kids dare to ask you about, when they're sitting on your knee. That's where the memory comes in – when you tell the story and try to reassure them, try to reassure yourself, that they can't inherit your limp, only your resolve.”
But 9/11 isn’t about heroes, though it showed us them. It was an act of mass murder that showed us things we didn’t want to see, and still don’t.
And for all the hard questions of how to respond, with the time for heroism long past, the only human answer remains grief:
Where you’ve gone, there will be a
a cello’s goose neck, fingers waiting
Something for the weekend
I’ve noticed a strange absence of good pieces on 9/11 in the run-up to the anniversary. Perhaps they will turn up today, or perhaps we’re all battle-weary. Has the failure in Afghanistan emptied out our ability to talk about the whole thing? As Henry James once wrote, “The war has used up words… and we are now confronted with a depreciation of all our terms.” For more on the fascinating rabbithole of semantic satiation, try here.
There is still good writing on the culture war however. Including this. My favourite sentence: “It is like a series of whodunnits where the murderer is ‘the capitalist hegemony’ every time.”
A very different twenty year anniversary: the launch of The Office, a bleak sitcom with an edge of snobbery that grew into a great – and remarkably universal – love story. “Besides the US, The Office has also been adapted in Canada, Chile, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Finland, France, Germany, Israel and, most recently, in India.” Gervais’ more recent effort After Life is also excellent, and won Best Comedy at the National Television Awards.
Music: That’s The Way The World Goes Round. Happy enchilada.
I’ve noticed a strange absence of good pieces on 9/11 in the run-up to the anniversary. Perhaps they will turn up today, or perhaps we’re all battle-weary. Has the failure in Afghanistan emptied out our ability to talk about the whole thing? As Henry James once wrote, “The war has used up words… and we are now confronted with a depreciation of all our terms.” For more on the fascinating rabbithole of semantic satiation, try here.
There is still good writing on the culture war however. Including this. My favourite sentence: “It is like a series of whodunnits where the murderer is ‘the capitalist hegemony’ every time.”
A very different twenty year anniversary: the launch of The Office, a bleak sitcom with an edge of snobbery that grew into a great – and remarkably universal – love story. “Besides the US, The Office has also been adapted in Canada, Chile, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Finland, France, Germany, Israel and, most recently, in India.” Gervais’ more recent effort After Life is also excellent, and won Best Comedy at the National Television Awards.
Music: That’s The Way The World Goes Round. Happy enchilada.
Good news and better news
Good news: Huge advances are taking place in fusion, meaning the prospect of endless clean power could be closer than we think. In particular, startup Commonwealth Fusion Systems and MIT took a big step forward this month, successfully powering up an unbelievably powerful magnet.
“I think we’re going to look back and think about how we got there, and I think the demonstration of the magnet technology, for me, is the time when I believed that, wow, we can really do this.”
Better news: Fresh from its success with Covid-19, mRNA vaccine technology is being used to develop powerful anti-cancer treatments, one of which is already moving into human trials. In mice, the treatments shrank 17 out of 20 tumours to nothing within 40 days.
More like these, please.
Good news: Huge advances are taking place in fusion, meaning the prospect of endless clean power could be closer than we think. In particular, startup Commonwealth Fusion Systems and MIT took a big step forward this month, successfully powering up an unbelievably powerful magnet.
“I think we’re going to look back and think about how we got there, and I think the demonstration of the magnet technology, for me, is the time when I believed that, wow, we can really do this.”
Better news: Fresh from its success with Covid-19, mRNA vaccine technology is being used to develop powerful anti-cancer treatments, one of which is already moving into human trials. In mice, the treatments shrank 17 out of 20 tumours to nothing within 40 days.
More like these, please.
Can something as great as reading get 10x better?
I love reading, but I’m greedy. Why shouldn’t it be easier? Easier to remember what you’ve read and connect your cross-platform discoveries. Easier to get into the flow of reading. Easier to take notes and highlight. Maybe even easier, somehow, to manage your TBR pile. Well, maybe it’s about to happen.
I’ve been using Readwise for a while to get better access to highlighted passages from my Kindle. Now they are rolling out a comprehensive reading app which promises to replace alternatives like Instapaper and Pocket with something even more powerful. They’ve written a blog post explaining what they are up to and I haven’t been so excited since the Kindle launched. If you’re a serious reader, you probably should be too. Who wouldn’t want this?
“…blazingly fast, full-text search of your entire library of books, articles, annotations, and highlights. You can find whatever you're looking for, even if all you can remember is a single word. Even offline.”
And it’s hard to argue with this:
“…the technology industry thus far has focused on building out hardware and distribution infrastructure rather than reimagining what a reading application could be.”
If you’re a reading nerd like me, you’ll want to read the whole thing. Or for the impatient, join the waitlist for early access.
I love reading, but I’m greedy. Why shouldn’t it be easier? Easier to remember what you’ve read and connect your cross-platform discoveries. Easier to get into the flow of reading. Easier to take notes and highlight. Maybe even easier, somehow, to manage your TBR pile. Well, maybe it’s about to happen.
I’ve been using Readwise for a while to get better access to highlighted passages from my Kindle. Now they are rolling out a comprehensive reading app which promises to replace alternatives like Instapaper and Pocket with something even more powerful. They’ve written a blog post explaining what they are up to and I haven’t been so excited since the Kindle launched. If you’re a serious reader, you probably should be too. Who wouldn’t want this?
“…blazingly fast, full-text search of your entire library of books, articles, annotations, and highlights. You can find whatever you're looking for, even if all you can remember is a single word. Even offline.”
And it’s hard to argue with this:
“…the technology industry thus far has focused on building out hardware and distribution infrastructure rather than reimagining what a reading application could be.”
If you’re a reading nerd like me, you’ll want to read the whole thing. Or for the impatient, join the waitlist for early access.
“I am the mate and companion of people…”
“…all just as immortal and fathomless as myself”. There are only eight concertina-makers in the world. Bob Tedrow is one of them. From the Whitman, Alabama series of videos, which is one of my favourite things in the world. And since there are some banjos in this video, you might also want to check out Britain’s own master of claw-hammer banjo, Dan Walsh, who I was lucky enough to hear play this weekend at the Maverick festival in Suffolk.
“…all just as immortal and fathomless as myself”. There are only eight concertina-makers in the world. Bob Tedrow is one of them. From the Whitman, Alabama series of videos, which is one of my favourite things in the world. And since there are some banjos in this video, you might also want to check out Britain’s own master of claw-hammer banjo, Dan Walsh, who I was lucky enough to hear play this weekend at the Maverick festival in Suffolk.
Life off Twitter in one image…
Plato was onto something. Possibly also Glenn Reynolds. I found this on Twitter, but was it just bait in the algorithm’s trap?
Plato was onto something. Possibly also Glenn Reynolds. I found this on Twitter, but was it just bait in the algorithm’s trap?
Twitter in one image…
This cartoon (found on Twitter, ironically enough) is both funny and dangerously true. For a deeper dive, start with Luke Burgis’ book, Wanting.
Found on Twitter, ironically enough
This cartoon is both funny and dangerously true. For a deeper dive, start with Luke Burgis’ book, Wanting.
How to fix social care
I was on LBC this morning, as a follow-on to my article for the Telegraph yesterday. I talked with Nick Ferrari about the Boris tax and how it is no answer to the (very real) problem of social care. The proposed NI hike will not only hit the wrong people at the wrong time, but it isn’t even a solution, just extra money with no detail of how to spend it. There are better and fairer answers. (Frankly, just raising income tax would be fairer than the NI hike.) One interesting attempt was Damian Green’s paper in 2019, which recommended a state pension-type model.
I was on LBC this morning, as a follow-on to my article for the Telegraph yesterday. I talked with Nick Ferrari about the Boris tax and how it is no answer to the (very real) problem of social care. The proposed NI hike will not only hit the wrong people at the wrong time, but it isn’t even a solution, just extra money with no detail of how to spend it. There are better and fairer answers. (Frankly, just raising income tax would be fairer than the NI hike.) One interesting attempt was Damian Green’s paper in 2019, which recommended a state pension-type model.
Tory Tax Blues
My comment for the Telegraph in praise of private enterprise over tax rises
Books worth reading
Michael Nielsen started a great Twitter thread devoted to obscure books that people adore.
Several gems from the replies are now on my TBR list, such as:
First Light by Richard Preston
Proofs & Refutations: The Logic of Mathematical Discovery by Imre Lakatos
The Wandering Jew by Stefan Heym
The real tragedy is how many of the recommended books are out of print and difficult to get hold of. The publishing industry is so broken as a quality filter and distribution mechanism.
Related, here's Robin Hanson also tweeting today on a very different model for the bookshop.
I’ve dreamt of creating something similar, but it wouldn’t help for books that aren’t readily available to buy.
The start of a great Twitter thread devoted to obscure books that people adore.
Several gems from the replies are now on my TBR list, such as:
First Light by Richard Preston
Proofs & Refutations: The Logic of Mathematical Discovery by Imre Lakatos
The Wandering Jew by Stefan Heym
The real tragedy is how many of the recommended books are out of print and difficult to get hold of. The publishing industry is so broken as a quality filter and distribution mechanism.
Related, here's Robin Hanson also tweeting today on a very different model for the bookshop.
Here is the online bookstore I want to browse: They only stock GOOD books, chosen by a select panel to stand the test of time. They show me that panel. They wait a few years after publication before even considering a book. I'd pay 20% more to buy from them.
I’ve dreamt of creating something similar, but it wouldn’t help for books that aren’t readily available to buy.
How to lose a (drug) war
One of the many disasters in Afghanistan, it turns out, was a war on the heroin trade that ignored basic economic principles. The result? Opium poppy crops soared in value, filling the coffers of the Taliban.
One of the many disasters in Afghanistan, it turns out, was a war on the heroin trade that ignored basic economic principles. The result? Opium poppy crops soared in value, filling the coffers of the Taliban.