The 1903 Winton touring car had 20 horsepower — two fewer than a modern John Deere riding mower. No windshield, no roof, no doors, topped out at 30 mph, and was essentially a tub on wheels that Jackson drove across a continent.
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The star of the story is Horatio Nelson Jackson: a doctor who contracted tuberculosis, gave up medicine, married the wealthy Bertha Richardson Wells (whose New England family made their money in celery compounds), and settled into a life of comfortable adventure. By 1903 he was a devoted car enthusiast and collector. At the University Club of San Francisco, when fellow members dismissed automobiles as useless, Jackson defended their honor with a $50 wager — worth about $1,500 at the time — that he could drive from San Francisco to New York in under 90 days [1] — Josh "$50 bet sparked the road trip: Horatio Nelson Jackson wagered $50 (about $1,500 in 1903 value) at the University Club of San Francisco that…" 16:08 . The bet was accepted on the spot. Four days later he was on the road, having only just purchased the car. His wife, whom he addressed in letters as 'My dearest Swipes,' took a train to Burlington and wished him well. The letters home, voiced in the documentary by Tom Hanks, paint a picture of a warm, loving couple — and a man who approached the whole enterprise with infectious good cheer.
Horatio Nelson Jackson wagered $50 (about $1,500 in 1903 value) at the University Club of San Francisco that he could drive coast to coast in under 90 days.
Jackson put the entire transcontinental road trip together in just 4 days, including buying the car, and set out with no corporate sponsor or support team.
Jackson paid roughly $3,000 in 1903 dollars (equivalent to about $100,000 today) for the used 1903 Winton touring car, which was the only one available.
Kierkegaard lost five of six siblings and his mother before adulthood, grew up under a shame-ridden father, fell in love, proposed, then mailed back the ring and fled to Berlin. His inability to live up to his own most important commitment became the engine of his entire philosophical project.
Casanova escaped from Venice's inquisition prison, met Voltaire, Catherine the Great, Benjamin Franklin, and Mozart — then died completely alone in a Slovak castle, broke, telling stories to children who thought he was a crazy old man. His 2,000-page memoir sat unread for decades. A life full of fireworks that meant nothing.
Factories that replaced coal engines with electric ones in the early 1900s got only 6% efficiency gains. Those that redesigned their entire factory around electricity got a 3x productivity improvement. Swapping AI tools into your existing structure will give you 6%. Rebuilding around AI will give you 10x.
Lebanese terrorists backed by Iran were holding American hostages throughout the Reagan presidency. Reagan had loudly campaigned against negotiating with terrorists — putting him in an impossible position that his team quietly decided to ignore.
During the Iran-Iraq War, the US openly supplied Iraq with weapons, training, and intelligence. At the same time, Oliver North was secretly funneling missiles to Iran. The US was playing both sides of a shooting war.
Oliver North traveled to Iran under the alias 'William P. Goode' with a fake passport. CIA Director William Casey allegedly gave him cyanide pills so he could kill himself rather than be tortured if captured. He returned safely and the deal moved forward.
The Pentagon sold missiles to the CIA for $3,700 each. The CIA sold them to Richard Secord at cost. Secord sold them to Iranian middleman Ghorbanifar for $10,000 each. Ghorbanifar charged Iran even more. The profit — including $3 million in interest in one Swiss account — was diverted directly to fund the Nicaraguan Contras.
America secretly transferred 2,000 missiles and missile parts to Iran in 8 shipments over more than a year. Only 3 of 7 hostages were released. Three more were taken. The net result was zero freed hostages and a full-blown constitutional scandal.
On October 5, 1986, a CIA Contra supply plane flew a weapons drop at 2,500 feet in broad daylight. A Sandinista soldier shot it down. The only survivor, Eugene Hasenfuss, had borrowed a parachute from his skydiving brother. He was captured, paraded in front of cameras, and told the Sandinistas everything he knew.
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