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Post by Phaedrus on Apr 2, 2019 16:30:35 GMT -5
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Post by mln59 on Apr 2, 2019 17:59:23 GMT -5
Please continue to make more recommendations. i realized on my way home from work that making recommendations is hard if i have to summarize without help.
for many of my favorite books, it's been too long since i've read them to say anything more than: i really liked it.
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Post by Wolfgang on Apr 2, 2019 18:20:36 GMT -5
Please continue to make more recommendations. i realized on my way home from work that making recommendations is hard if i have to summarize without help. for many of my favorite books, it's been too long since i've read them to say anything more than: i really liked it.
I have no idea why you're apologizing.
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Post by volleylearner on Apr 2, 2019 21:25:21 GMT -5
I liked it, especially the details about how our grid has evolved both technically and as a business over time. The book lost some momentum toward the end--probably could have been shorter--but for the most part I found it interesting. Of course it was a bit depressing because the electrical grid is another case of unmaintained infrastructure in decline, but there were enough thoughts about opportunities in the future that I still have some hope. It certainly educated me, and I always enjoy that.
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Post by mikegarrison on Apr 2, 2019 23:40:35 GMT -5
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Post by Wolfgang on Apr 3, 2019 1:49:20 GMT -5
These are probably great books but I’ve been involved in engineering, science, and technology all my life, so I’m now more drawn to things outside my sphere of knowledge, which may explain why I love violence in video games so much. However, I like the structures-as-works-of-art premise of the Maillart book and I’ll check that out. Whenever I read engineering type books, I don’t get dazzled. I’d read the descriptions including how they built such-and-such and most of the time, I’m thinking, yes that makes sense, yes, I’d do it that way, too. I follow along...and there’s no fascination. I’ve lost the sense of wonder.
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Post by mikegarrison on Apr 3, 2019 2:09:33 GMT -5
I like the structures-as-works-of-art premise of the Maillart book and I’ll check that out. It's really great. Basically it's a coffee table art book, except the art is all mountain bridges in Switzerland.
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Post by Phaedrus on Apr 3, 2019 8:38:10 GMT -5
I work in the area and I quit reading because she was plowing some ground for me. I need to go back and see what she actually says. In a way she is being very pessimistic. I am working in Smart Grid and the devices and concepts behind that are incredible, even for technologists. I hope we can sustain it in the is country. Third world countries are treating the concept as a way to catchup, Europe is treating it as a mandatory revolutionary leap. We are talking about going back to coal, which no one actually wants.
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Post by volleylearner on Apr 3, 2019 11:05:09 GMT -5
I work in the area and I quit reading because she was plowing some ground for me. I need to go back and see what she actually says. In a way she is being very pessimistic. I am working in Smart Grid and the devices and concepts behind that are incredible, even for technologists. I hope we can sustain it in the is country. Third world countries are treating the concept as a way to catchup, Europe is treating it as a mandatory revolutionary leap. We are talking about going back to coal, which no one actually wants. Despite who you quoted, my guess is that this reply is to my post about The Grid. I can certainly understand not enjoying the book if you knew the information beforehand. I don't enjoy most books/movies/tv shows about my field (computer science). Living in California, I knew about the Enron "burn baby burn" stories and have followed PG&E's recent woes, which is maybe why I didn't view The Grid as unduly pessimistic. I did not know that the original theory was the electricity business would be like HVAC--production in every building--or that the trend is toward utilities simply operating what is generated for them by third parties. Her comment about the Smart Grid experiment that failed in Colorado (I think that's where it was) was really about process not technology. The company tried to push what the company wanted instead of listening to what customers wanted, a common big company problem (very common in tech). Anyway, I learned a bunch reading the book--hopefully most of which was accurate. I'm glad you are working on Smart Grid--we need good people doing that. It is the right thing regardless of whether our country understands it or not.
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Post by Orpheus on Apr 3, 2019 14:03:21 GMT -5
In December of 1991, an Austin yogurt shop was set ablaze. When first responders contained the fire, they found the store robbed and four teenage girls raped and murdered. Still a cold case, the next twenty-five years produced forced confessions, 4 young men tried, 2 found guilty and imprisoned then later set free, and lots of errors by the Austin Police Department and DA's office. There remains a few witness accounts by the last customers that night that point to two unidentified shady looking individuals. There was even a serial killer known to be in the area. False confessions abound in this tale as well. Beverly Lowry wrote a true-crime book based on these events that trace the victims and their families lives up to that date, the investigation, the trials, the evidence, and her own conclusions on what may have happened. The book is called Who Killed These Girls. I sort of lost my absolute love of reading, but this book was certainly one I couldn't put down.
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Post by mln59 on Apr 3, 2019 14:09:43 GMT -5
I sort of lost my absolute love of reading what happened?
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Post by mln59 on Apr 4, 2019 6:09:33 GMT -5
another recommendation - rising tide: the great mississippi flood of 1927 and how it changed america.
the amount of water was staggering and the destruction immense.
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Post by Wolfgang on Apr 4, 2019 9:55:43 GMT -5
another recommendation - rising tide: the great mississippi flood of 1927 and how it changed america. the amount of water was staggering and the destruction immense. Isn't this the one with two leading figures who butt heads? If so, I heard great things about this book. Not only was this a great account of a historical event, but also a fascinating character study of two strong-willed individuals. I knew about this book for a long time but forgot about it. Thanks for the reminder! -- I mean, if this is indeed the book I'm thinking of.
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Post by mln59 on Apr 4, 2019 10:34:20 GMT -5
another recommendation - rising tide: the great mississippi flood of 1927 and how it changed america. the amount of water was staggering and the destruction immense. Isn't this the one with two leading figures who butt heads? If so, I heard great things about this book. Not only was this a great account of a historical event, but also a fascinating character study of two strong-willed individuals. I knew about this book for a long time but forgot about it. Thanks for the reminder! -- I mean, if this is indeed the book I'm thinking of. i believe so.
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Post by Orpheus on Apr 5, 2019 14:19:28 GMT -5
I sort of lost my absolute love of reading what happened? Forced reading via law school and a legal career.
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