I'm reading "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt" by Edmund Morris (Amazon Associates link/commission earned).
That passage jumped out at me, because I'd just heard Elon Musk say about himself "My mind often feels like a very wild storm."
December 1, 2023
"The man’s personality was cyclonic, in that he tended to become unstable in times of low pressure."
"The slightest rise in the barometer outside, and his turbulence smoothed into a whirl of coordinated activity, while a core of stillness developed within. Under maximum pressure Roosevelt was sunny, calm, and unnaturally clear.”
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I attribute that, in both men, to having a strong sense of vision for the way things ought to be, and for what is potentially possible.
I'm about to start that book myself.
It works like a language. You parse out the various voices, their answers, modulations. You can replay by ear whatever you've just heard.
It's all earth rotation.
I thought it was about Elon before I read further. Some people are like that. They need action and turmoil and if it isn't there they will create it.
"My mind often feels like a very wild storm."
Ditto. I used to hear music playing constantly.
I'm reading the book at the same time. It's a very enjoyable read. The book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1979 when it was first published. Morris writes very well with a good narrative flow.
If you Google Morris (as I did) and read the Wikipedia entry, you'll be amused to learn how he developed his writing style. Born in Africa, one of his first jobs was writing advertising copy for an advertising agency in South Africa. The ads were aimed at the native Zulu population.
Interesting. Is that Morris giving his take, or quoting someone? Seems a very specific for an observation made more than a century later with no attribution.
@Crack, Me Too! I'm always singing something in my head.
I guess we are fortunate that Roosevelt didn't ascend mountains with any kind of frequency, given how quickly the pressure falls when you do that. I just imagine an unhinged man at the top of Pikes Peak, or atop something like Clingman's Dome or even High Point in New Jersey.
AL: And that's sports. Now for the Roosevelt Outlook, over to Tom.
TOM: Thanks, Al. Going forward over the next few days, we can expect an increasing pressure front to sweep in. Despite this, the forecast is for sunny, calm, and clear, culminating in Friday being a perfect day to charge up San Juan Hill.
I'd rather recommend Teddy and Booker T., subtitled HOW TWO AMERICAN ICONS BLAZED A PATH FOR RACIAL EQUALITY, because it really has that "untold story" feel to it, unlike the well-known Morris bio. Teddy demonstrated how to reject racists with the same "damn the torpedoes" attitude with which he attacked other problems.
Beware of Theodore Roosevelt. He was a Scots Irish tough fighter. Nothing like the sophisticated F Delano Roosevelt.
Sturm und Drang... smells like victory!
Cyclones become more stable as the interior pressure decreases. They do, however, become much less fun to be around.
Cyclonic? The man’s a teddy bear…
Crack!!
I still hear music. I can see the strings being plucked, and the keys being played!!
Of course, I don't do woodwinds. Which are absolutely magical!!
Guys, I’m beginning to suspect being on the spectrum could well be a plus for engineering the manufacture of physical objects but a minus for running a media company and persuading other human beings to be your customers and advertisers.
Call it a hunch.
You're error, Mr. Prole, is that you mistake Xwitter for a media company. It's the data mining arm of an AI company.
Teddy's journey down Brazil's River of Doubt is a great read of a bum trip.
“I was born for the storm, and a calm does not suit me.”
― Andrew Jackson
Lemme guess.......soon Teddie Rooosevelt will be compared to Stalin, Lennin, or Hitler.
How else are you going to sell the newspaper!?!?!?!?
Under maximum pressure Roosevelt was sunny, calm, and unnaturally clear.
Lots of people perform substantially better under pressure than when they are not under pressure. Race drivers in particular. Roosevelt’s outstanding performance with the Rough Riders at the heights above San Juan was probably due to this feature of his personality.
Under maximum pressure Roosevelt was sunny, calm, and unnaturally clear.
Climate control.
We could have used Teddy Roosevelt before Google became Alphabet and got too big to tame. I miss American democracy.
TR responded well in emergencies and life/death situations. Unfortunately when there was any excitement, he would supply the drama. Although that's been overdrawn.
Boring plodders, and dull mediocrities will often call men with charisma "Actors" "Drama queens" or "Superfical". CF: Jerry ford and Reagan for example.
Taft went that route in 1912, but what else could he say?
I have two minds about TR. He had large elements of greatness. And he was the best man for his time. But he was a complete warmonger and globalist and we're lucky he lost in 1912. And died in 1920.
God knows what he would have done if he'd been POTUS in 1914.
I'd recommend a couple old timey books for anyone VERY Interested in learning more about TR:
1) Owen wister - Story of a Friendship
2) Edward Wagenknecht - The Seven Worlds of TR
But there's a huge amount of TR literature out there. Looker's - The White House Gang, The Roosevelt family of Sagamore Hill, Putnam's - The Young TR, The letters of TR - 8 volumes, and his own books: African game trails, The winning of the west, etc.
We've never had an POTUS who wrote so much and so well.
I'd recommend a couple old timey books for anyone VERY Interested in learning more about TR:
1) Owen wister - Story of a Friendship
2) Edward Wagenknecht - The Seven Worlds of TR
But there's a huge amount of TR literature out there. Looker's - The White House Gang, The Roosevelt family of Sagamore Hill, Putnam's - The Young TR, The letters of TR - 8 volumes, and his own books: African game trails, The winning of the west, etc.
We've never had an POTUS who wrote so much and so well.
Ernie (can I call you Ernie?)
Touche
You're error, Mr. Prole, is that you mistake Xwitter for a media company. It's the data mining arm of an AI company.
Yes, I’m sure Musk’s AI team of (checks notes) twelve people is on the verge of revolutionizing Xwitter.
If I were Musk I'd put my AI engineers to work on a machine-editing function recognizing anti-semitism and libelous mentions of pedophilia before a tweet is sent -- that function alone could be worth close to $44 billion to him.
My mind is filled with storm when I listen to Beethoven's orchestral rendition in the Pastorale; Strauss's tempest on the mountain in the Alpine Symphony has the same effect.
And that's just some of the programmatic stuff.
Friday being a perfect day to charge up San Juan Hill.
Kettle Hill. Roosevelt’s Rough Riders and the “Buffalo Soldiers” of the 10th cavalry captured Kettle Hill, which along with San Juan Hill formed part of the San Juan Hrights.
My personality has been described as cyclonic.
My bad, they said colonic.
I am curious about the currency; this is the second reference I've seen to this older work this week. I haven't read it, but I much enjoyed Morris's "Theodore Rex" volumn and think I need to purchase this one, too (from Amazon via the professor's link, of course).
TR hated being called Teddy. After leaving office he preferred Colonel.
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