On the beautiful muddy Mississippi
"Look here, Sonny, you'll double your money overnight when MSTR steamboat stock goes to $600 and Bitcoin to 100k" the large sweaty man said
Later on the poop deck
Images from Steamboats on the Mississippi
Discussion
America used to have a beautiful civilization
It's crazy to think how dangerous it was. The captains usually owned their own boats and tried to fit them out as expensively as possible...
"The greatest danger was fire. Mi- chael Chevalier, a Frenchman who traveled in the West, was amazed at the carelessness he saw. "The Americans show a singular indifference in regard to fires," he wrote. "They smoke without the least concern in the midst of half-open cotton-bales, with which a boat is loaded; they ship gunpowder with no more precaution than if it were so much maize or salt pork, and leave objects packed in straw right in the torrent of sparks that issue from the chimneys." Chevalier added that the important thing seemed to be not the safety of people but to have steam- boats moving as fast as possible and at the least expense (Steamboats on the Mississippi)."
Move fast and break things.
and smoke next to the gunpowder
Even the attitude was beautiful... You feel life so much more when danger is present, but add on top the innocence of not even caring to try to be safe - that's a superior man and a superior civilization
It does sound romantic. It probably speeds up innovation to have an element of danger. Less precaution and more invention.