http://tspwiki.com/index.php?title=1749
Here are some one liners...
Selling Your Soul for Rock-and-Roll -- Goethe is born. He is the author of Faust: a Tragedy, an epic poem about a man who sells his soul to the devil. You know this story because it is used over and over again, but it all begins with Faust.
It is Hell Pumping Water -- J.K. Hell is pumping water out of a gold mine using his new pumping system. He is a hero! Less of a hero is a man named Euler who is good at design but not building.
France Is Flipping It's Wig! -- The wigmakers guild has a racket going. It benefits from its monopoly AND from illegal wigmaking too.
Selling Your Soul for Rock-and-Roll
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (GOO-tah) is born in Frankfurt in the province of Hesse, and he will grow up to be a poet and a natural scientist. He will theorize that plants changed into their present form through the ages... an evolutionary idea. But he will be known best as the author of the poem, Faust, a Tragedy. Faust is a character who sells his soul for worldly knowledge... and then immediately uses his new found power to knock up a teenage girl, proving once again that no matter how big a brain a man has, he still has to watch out for the little brain. The poem and play will be considered Germany's greatest contribution to literature. Every play, movie or TV show thereafter, where the hero sells his soul for power, fame, or glory will be a variation on this theme. The most ridiculous adaptation will be Brian De Palma's film, "The Phantom of the Paradise" (1974) in which a songwriter will sell his soul for rock-and-roll! Finally, Goethe (GOO-tah) will be a founding member of the Strum und Drang literary movement which means: "Storm and Stress". It features characters driven by extreme emotions. Oddly enough, in 1776 a German play of the Strum und Drang movement will use the American Revolution as its subject. The name of the play will be: Strum und Drang, naturally. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
My Take by Alex Shrugged
I hate poetry but I've read a couple from Goethe (GOO-tah) and they are actually good, even in translation. He also has a string of quotes that are fabulous. Here are a few...
I hate poetry but I've read a couple from Goethe (GOO-tah) and they are actually good, even in translation. He also has a string of quotes that are fabulous. Here are a few...
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- "You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." [7]
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- Investigate what is, and not what pleases. [7]
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- One never goes so far as when one doesn't know where one is going. [7]
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- There is strong shadow where there is much light. [7]
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- More light! (His last words.) [7]
It is Hell Pumping Water
Jozef Karol Hell is a mining engineer who needs to pump the water out of existing gold mines in what is modern day Slovakia. The current system of pumping stations cannot handle the load, mostly because it is so labor intensive, employing over a thousand men and horses. It just isn't worth the trouble unless he can find a cheaper way to pump the water out. The current steam-powered pumps are too weak. He'd like to use something like a water wheel to power the pumps but there is no handy stream, so he builds a number of water reservoirs (far away), collects the winter snow runoff and channels the water several miles past a system of water wheels. Then a piston and rod pump pulls the water out of the mine. He will build 8 of these pumps and keep the gold mines open. [8] [9] [10] [11]
My Take by Alex Shrugged
OK. I'll admit that I viewed one barely legible drawing so I can only guess how this pump worked. I can tell you that this effort was amazingly better than what Fredrick the Great of Prussia did IN THE SAME YEAR simply to fill his fountains. He hired a mathematical theorist on hydraulics named Euler and put him to work on a pumping system. Euler was sharp in hydraulic design but his practical experience with pumping water was ZERO! The project failed so Fredrick the Great hired another guy who convinced him to build a reservoir far away and then pipe the water toward the fountain. His theory was that the weight of the water would carry it past the low point and up to the fountains. (I assume he thought it would pick up speed.) All the water did was to fill up the low point of the piping system and sit there. Euler and the fountains stand as an object lesson to all engineers that what happens on paper often is not what happens in real life. [12]
OK. I'll admit that I viewed one barely legible drawing so I can only guess how this pump worked. I can tell you that this effort was amazingly better than what Fredrick the Great of Prussia did IN THE SAME YEAR simply to fill his fountains. He hired a mathematical theorist on hydraulics named Euler and put him to work on a pumping system. Euler was sharp in hydraulic design but his practical experience with pumping water was ZERO! The project failed so Fredrick the Great hired another guy who convinced him to build a reservoir far away and then pipe the water toward the fountain. His theory was that the weight of the water would carry it past the low point and up to the fountains. (I assume he thought it would pick up speed.) All the water did was to fill up the low point of the piping system and sit there. Euler and the fountains stand as an object lesson to all engineers that what happens on paper often is not what happens in real life. [12]
France Is Flipping It's Wig!
The Barber-Wigmaker and Bath Provider Guild takes a very dim view of non-guild members making wigs. Only proper and paid up guild members should cut hair, bathe people and make wigs! It's the law! (Who could argue with that?) The penalty for the unauthorized wig-making is 300 livres (3.24 ounces of gold or roughly $4,000). Yet despite the sensible rules for quality control and onerous penalties, illicit wig-making continues to flourish. (Gentlemen! Have you no shame?) Bakers are also involved since hair is often baked in bread to enhance its moisture. A baker's hair tax has been imposed and rules are discussed regarding separating the hair-baking from normal baking to reduce cross-contamination. (I assume they mean the contamination of the BREAD WE EAT!) Illicit wig making is a crime against the state, so strict police measures can be invoked if requested by guild members. The guild will push for enforcement but only so much. Illicit wig-making actually benefits the guild members in some ways if not the guild as a whole. [13] [14] [15]
My Take by Alex Shrugged
OK. This was a racket. A proper wigmaking license was around $27,000 in 2016 dollars (which was often resold at an even higher price). Licenses were inheritable and a license holder could rent out his license. However, the King would issue licenses based the number needed. If there was a shortage, he would issue more... which would reduce the entry price for new wigmakers, which would cause more wigmakers to seek licenses, which would cause the King to issue more licenses... and so forth. To keep the entry price high and maintain their semi-monopoly, the guild made it appear that there were enough licenses to go around, so they didn't complain too much. Then there was the "double renting" of licenses. If I can rent my license to Joe then why can't I rent to Joe and Bill at the same time? Who would know? Well... the French tax collectors noticed that they were collecting twice the tax on the same license. Hooray! And frankly, the guild members were hiring the illicit wigmakers to do some of the labor-intensive work, so everyone knew! It was a real racket. FYI: this segment is a summary from a single source, but I felt compelled to point out that guilds have less to do with quality and more to do with monopoly.
OK. This was a racket. A proper wigmaking license was around $27,000 in 2016 dollars (which was often resold at an even higher price). Licenses were inheritable and a license holder could rent out his license. However, the King would issue licenses based the number needed. If there was a shortage, he would issue more... which would reduce the entry price for new wigmakers, which would cause more wigmakers to seek licenses, which would cause the King to issue more licenses... and so forth. To keep the entry price high and maintain their semi-monopoly, the guild made it appear that there were enough licenses to go around, so they didn't complain too much. Then there was the "double renting" of licenses. If I can rent my license to Joe then why can't I rent to Joe and Bill at the same time? Who would know? Well... the French tax collectors noticed that they were collecting twice the tax on the same license. Hooray! And frankly, the guild members were hiring the illicit wigmakers to do some of the labor-intensive work, so everyone knew! It was a real racket. FYI: this segment is a summary from a single source, but I felt compelled to point out that guilds have less to do with quality and more to do with monopoly.
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