tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6568915967186844196.post5852017088733548537..comments2024-03-26T14:19:33.332-07:00Comments on Bench Grass: A Meta-Technical Appendix to Postblogging Technology, December 1947: Capital Cuts and Lost TriumphsErik Lundhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05728486209757153685noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6568915967186844196.post-875220222438051932018-02-19T14:03:50.933-08:002018-02-19T14:03:50.933-08:00I was not totally delighted hiking over miles of s...I was not totally delighted hiking over miles of spinifex bush after the gear lever on the Yamaha 350 parted company and left it stuck in third and therefore impossible to restart, no.Alexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17153530634675543954noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6568915967186844196.post-75158844646457200412018-02-19T13:14:59.224-08:002018-02-19T13:14:59.224-08:00I had the sense that there was a west-east gradien...I had the sense that there was a west-east gradient of house-blowing-up that would favour the Poles, completely forgetting about the razing of Warsaw, which covers off the difference.<br /><br />The Greek case, on the other hand, seems like it demonstrates the extreme case of neglect. What does it look like if no-one repairs a roof for four years?<br /><br />Subcultures, yes, yes. Do subcultures enjoy searching the side of the road for five miles looking for a thrown gear shift lever? (My Japanese bike subculture, in contrast, enjoyed choosing between opening up and rebuilding the transmission, or getting a new motorcycle; because the splines on the gearshift shaft had rubbed smooth. The official excuse is "No-one rides these things for more than 10,000 miles." The mechanics, of course, had never been asked to open up the transmission. Theoretically, they would say, it can be done; but I don't think anyone's ever actually bothered.) Erik Lundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05728486209757153685noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6568915967186844196.post-43742860384708154802018-02-19T04:36:06.754-08:002018-02-19T04:36:06.754-08:00Only “6—9”% of prewar British housing stock had be...<em>Only “6—9”% of prewar British housing stock had been lost in the war, compared with 20% in Germany, Poland and Greece, and with the large existing stock, the new house-building only added 1.5%. It's strange that the loss in housing stock should be the same in Poland and Greece as in heavily-bombed Germany</em><br /><br />"Poland" post-1945 hands over a big tract of sparsely populated steppe to Russia and receives in exchange much of West Prussia, all of East Prussia, and the target-y Silesian industrial basin. Also, Warsaw was deliberately razed and that would be a big fraction all by itself.<br /><br />Greece is weird. There wasn't large-scale land warfare after 1941 and there weren't big air targets. Is this the micro-violence of civil war - torching the neighbours' house for being on the wrong side - rather than the macro-violence of air and artillery bombardment?<br /><br /><em> of gross domestic fixed capital investment in 1946, £1055 would be net investment, £540 million depreciation and maintenance. With a national income of £8120, this produced a ratio of 19.6% gross and 13% net. Gross investment is 5% higher than in 1938; net investment 40% lower</em><br /><br />I see this as evidence of a huge inventory of deferred maintenance and hacky wartime fixes that needs catching up on or doing properly. Technical debt is a bitch! That said, losing to the Nazis is no fun either.<br /><br />This is a really good and interesting post, by the way. I'd just like to add that Hunter S. Thompson rode a BSA Lightning 650, in an interesting example of British industry helping to create US subculture.Alexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17153530634675543954noreply@blogger.com