еще о тонком дендизме

Любопытно:

Another example [Hans-Hermann Hoppe] gave the class was that homosexuals tend to plan less for the future than heterosexuals.

Reasons for the phenomenon include the fact that homosexuals tend not to have children, he said. They also tend to live riskier lifestyles than heterosexuals, Hoppe said.

He said there is a belief among some economists that one of the 20th century's most influential economists, John Maynard Keynes, was influenced in his beliefs by his homosexuality. Keynes espoused a "spend it now" philosophy to keep an economy strong, much as President Bush did after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Еще:

For the Viennese Joseph Schumpeter, Keynes's advice was "always English advice, born of English problems even when being addressed to other nations." Schumpeter saw Keynes's advocacy of monetary manipulations as a consequence of "the kind of Englishman" he was--childless, from the rentier class, hostile to business, and thus fixated on the short term. (Keynes's homosexuality has frequently been adduced, usually sotto voce, or through the creative use of innuendo, as an instance of his lack of "bottom," to use the bizarre term favored by the English elite.)

оптимизм

Беньямин писал:

The story is told of an automaton constructed in such a way that it could play a winning game of chess, answering each move of an opponent with a countermove. A puppet in Turkish attire and with a hookah in its mouth sat before a chessboard placed on a large table. A system of mirrors created the illusion that this table was transparent from all sides. Actually, a little hunchback who was an expert chess player sat inside and guided the puppet’s hand by means of strings. One can imagine a philosophical counterpart to this device. The puppet called ‘historical materialism’ is to win all the time. It can easily be a match for anyone if it enlists the services of theology, which today, as we know, is wizened and has to keep out of sight.

Я уже начинаю думать, что материализм чрезмерно оптимистичен. Рассел писал, что Лейбниц с помощью формальной логики пришел от монадологии к материализму, но держал это в тайне, полагая подобные идеи чересчур опасными. (Упоминается письмо Арно, в котором это говорится прямым текстом.) Еще неизвестно, где больше оптимизма, в его экзотерической философии, основанной на идее предустановленной гармонии, или в этих тайных изысканиях.

как Ньютон ловил фальшивомонетчиков

Вот как:

As warden of the royal mint, Newton estimated that 20% of the coins taken in during The Great Recoinage were counterfeit. Counterfeiting was treason, punishable by death by drawing and quartering. Despite this, convictions of the most flagrant criminals could be extremely difficult to achieve; however, Newton proved to be equal to the task.

He gathered much of that evidence himself, disguised, while he hung out at bars and taverns. For all the barriers placed to prosecution, and separating the branches of government, English law still had ancient and formidable customs of authority. Newton was made a justice of the peace and between June 1698 and Christmas 1699 conducted some 200 cross-examinations of witnesses, informers and suspects. Newton won his convictions and in February 1699, he had ten prisoners waiting to be executed. He later ordered all records of his interrogations to be destroyed.

А я-то был уверен, что Нил Стивенсон про переодевания все выдумал.