On Fri, Jul 1, 2016 at 6:15 PM, C. Berry <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:

Regarding the third tier, it's remarkable how resistant tech choices are to change once they've turned into infrastructure. See e.g. left- versus right-hand drive cars, rail gauges, electrical voltage and frequency, broadcast TV specs, and so forth.

I read somewhere that one important reason Germany and Japan became such industrial powerhouses after WWII is that they previous industrial plants were totally trashed, forcing them to start over from scratch. And since they had to do so, they were able to build everything to cutting edge standards from the ground up.

Richard Aiken

"Never insult anyone by accident." Robert A. Heinlein

"I studied the Koran a great deal. I came away from that study with the conviction there have been few religions in the world as deadly to men as Muhammed." Alexis de Tocqueville (1843)

"We know a little about a lot of things; just enough to make us dangerous." Dean Winchester

"It has been my experience that a gun doesn't care who pulls its trigger." Newton Knight (as portrayed by Matthew McConaughey), to a scoffing Confederate tax collector facing the weapons held by Knight's young children and wife.