What Are You Currently Reading? 2013

[Backwards Observer]

You don't have to go out in the midday sun to appreciate the full-contact gentility of old-school British entrepreneurship.

Dedicated - (By Permission) - To The Honourable The Court of Directors - Of - The East India Company; Through Whose Liberality The Mission Was Provided With The Means OF Prosecuting Objects Of Science, - By Their Most Obedient Humble Servant, - Thomas Stamford Raffles.

Introduction

----------------

In the year 1821, a mission was sent by the Governor-General of Bengal to the courts of Siam and Cochin-China, having for its object the opening of a friendly intercourse between those countries and the British possessions, and the establishment of free trade on both sides.

This mission it is well known was not attended with the success expected; little or no positive advantage was gained to our trade, but the foundation of friendly intercourse was laid by the visit, and the knowledge procured may prepare the way for a future attempt under more favourable circumstances. (from The Mission to Siam, and Hue the capital of Cochin China, in the years 1821-2. From the Journal of G. F. [Edited] with a memoir of the author, by Sir T. S. Raffles.)

The Mission to Siam, and Hue the capital of Cochin China, in the years 1821-2. From the Journal of G. F. [Edited] with a memoir of the author, by Sir T. S. Raffles.
by George Finlayson & Thomas Stamford Raffles - apple iBooks

Sir Stamford Raffles - wikipedia

Summer in Siam - The Pogues - youtube



-----------------

Also, a second copy of Rust in peace: South Pacific Battlegrounds Revisited by Bruce Adams. The first went missing after a drunken visit by an itinerant amateur frogman who was trying to offload his old SLR before departing for parts unknown.

Rust in peace: South Pacific Battlegrounds Revisited - amazon

Rust In Peace Review - pacificwrecks.com

Bruce - Monty Python - youtube

[Firn]

Originally Posted by ganulv

albeit only a few pages, chapter 35 of Roland Huntford’s Two planks and a passion. The book is a very well done history of skiing up to 1945. (There is a final chapter with a post-War history of skiing that feels a little tacked-on, but that period has already been covered by a number of books, in any case.)

Interesting, that might be worth a read. Still can't figure out what the author has against our alpine style. Downhill is great fun indeed and 'Alpine touring' as it seems to be called in English, is a fantastic sport, which sadly costs quite a bit of lifes every winter.

Touring has become big in the last ten years or so. Some of my relatives did practice it regulary over 40 years ago. Technology has come a long way indeed. The review was a bit meh, seriously:

Huntford reproduces a 4,000-year-old rock drawing from Russia that depicts three Stone Age hunters on skis stalking elk. It's an astonishing image, like seeing a stick figure on a Jet Ski in the caves of Lascaux.

...

[ganulv]

Originally Posted by Firn

Interesting, that might be worth a read. Still can't figure out what the author has against our alpine style.

I get the impression that he enjoys the emphasis being put on being out in the wilderness rather than on fancy technique. I didn't get the impression from the book that he had anything against Alpine per se; he is honest about the fact that apart from Telemark that no Nordic style ski or technique is really up to a big run in the Alps.

Originally Posted by Firn

Downhill is great fun indeed and 'Alpine touring' as it seems to be called in English, is a fantastic sport

In the U.S. there are two kinds of touring. Alpine touring emphasizes descent and usually means free heel skis and stepping up to climb (with skins, if need be) with randonee bindings offering the option to clamp down the heels on the way down. Light or Nordic touring allows for kicking and gliding as well as moderate turns during descents (the skis have a little width and metal edges).

Originally Posted by Firn

which sadly costs quite a bit of lifes every winter.

Avy beacons, probes, and shovels are de rigueur in the western part of the United States, even for a lot of lift-served pistes.

Originally Posted by Firn

Technology has come a long way indeed.

I spotted a pair of Kandahar bindings (aka bear traps, aka ankle-breakers) while I was rummaging around yesterday. Yikes!

[Firn]

1. A question for the moderator first: Can we include MOOCs* in our 'reading' list?

I recently came after some quick personal research to the youtube channel of Standford and became interested first in a specific class and then in the broader concept.

2. General Overview and the Development of Numbers is the specific lecture and it is great from a mathematic but also an broader economic point of view. Great stuff and absolutely logical. Love the Babylonian bank deposits.

It is always a bit funny to hear an Englishman saying Franci, Pisano and so forth. It is of course the same the other way around.

P.S: Ganulv, I missed your reply and enjoyed it now. You will love to see how Didier Cuche skies goodbuy

*Interesting that MMOs, the games that is came first

[davidbfpo]

Firn you asked:

1. A question for the moderator first: Can we include MOOCs* in our 'reading' list?

I see no problems with that; we sometimes link elsewhere to podcasts and the like.

[ganulv]

This was on display at the new book table at my local library and I gave it a read. I enjoyed it well enough, but I was most interested in discussion of the author’s time spent as commander of training at Ft. Bragg and there actually is not a lot of that in the book.

Originally Posted by Firn

P.S: Ganulv, I missed your reply and enjoyed it now. You will love to see how Didier Cuche skies goodbuy

That is an awesome video, thanks for sharing! I actually own and regularly use both a pair of boiled wool mitts and a set of waxed wool gaiters!

[Firn]

Thanks for the quick answer of the moderator.

Part 3 discusses the 'arab' contributions to mathematics, for example algebra. It is amazing and logical to see the geometric roots of many approaches. Love the influence of business on the devlopment of that noble and 'pure' science.

I loved that show by soft-spoken Didier and it really shows how things have changed in the last couple of years. The Austrians also put up a good farewell for the Swiss rival.* It also reminds me to actually spell-check my posts because it was certainly a nice goodbye and has nothing to do with a good buy. Too much finance ruins your brain, but if you watch the online class it shows that it certainly helped a great deal to develop math. Incentives and utility.

*The Swiss and the Austrians are big rivals, even if it has soften up in the last years. I actually had some nice chats with Italian, Swiss and German coaches at the junior level and all of them say that the Austrians have more funding. The Swiss juniors are training often in Italy because is cheaper and the parents face a much steeper bill for giving their kids the chance to compete at high levels. It is not a healthy sport on the higher levels, and the cousin of one of my classmates, a multiple worldcup winner had to recently give up after another brutal training injury.

The great Ghedina has fun and impresses also the Austrians. He is from the small 'ladin' minority in Italy.

P.S: Love the gaitors. For hunting modern ones tend to be a bit loud. Many use Loden gaitors for short hunts. Good for powder and colder temps but terrible in wet snow on warm days.

[Firn]

The Complete Guide to Tracking: Concealment, Night Movement, and All Forms of Pursuit Following Tracks, Trails and Signs

I actually have owned that book for quite a while now, but with the start of the hunting season I like to refresh mentally some of the basics. It helps a great deal to make use of your rifle and sometimes also after the shot your own or that of others.

Cheap and possibly even cheaper looking - not even basic pictures made it into the book - it is arguably the best manual I know and has helped me a great deal. A very well organized and structed book, it blends tracking with other fieldcraft important for a hunter and offers you an efficient path for learning and improving said skills.

The track pursuit drill with it's 7 steps is a no-nonsense approach to follow a track and to stalk. It helped me to slow down, hone my stalking and to increase my overall awerness. If you know the area well you can stalk well and pick up tracks to get a sense of the game patters. We have a vastly different situation from Austria and Germany as well from a good deal of Italy, with the red deer being very hard to hunt.

It goes very well with Practical Tracking and Mammal Tracks & Signs. Fantastic books. The informations on lynx, bears and wolves are becoming highly relevant for my region.

German-speaking, European readers interested in local fauna should like Tierspuren erkennen & bestimmen or Tierspuren&co.