2021, week 18
Created:
Here and Now
- Subscribed to Razib Khan’s Substack - Unsupervised Learning. My first paid subscription to a substack - $75/yr.
- Replaced smoke alarms with no wire, 10year battery ones. They have low profile too. paid $49.99/2 at Costco.
- Filed taxes for 2020. Turbotax charges $45 (“audit protection”), $25 for state e-filing. I could have done paper mailing of IN taxes for the price of a stamp. Since I get the Turbotax at Costco, it’s probably a wash.
Books
Recommendations via Razib Khan’s Clubhouse discussions –
- Razib’s amazon page
- Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam by Patricia Crone (some else in the discussion mentioned this)
- History of the Byzantine Empire: Vol. 1, 324-1453 by Alexander A. Vasiliev https://smile.amazon.com/dp/0299809250
- Tom Holland – The shadow of the sword and Persian fire
- Chris Wickham
Archive.org finds
ನಮ್ಮ ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ by Dr T V Venkatachalashastri. (Alternate pages seem to be not scanned; have to find a better copy)
From around the web
- Experience: I’ve had the same supper for 10 years – a Welsh farmer talks about his routine.
If I could go anywhere, it would be to the Great Wall of China. The amount of work that went into building it is unbelievable. I’ve been a stonemason; I understand the ingenuity involved.