LRB LETTERS AND ….
THE LONDON REVIEW of Books can be highly literary and illuminating, occasionally obtuse to us Yanks, invariably entertaining, and at times an outright hoot. Here are tidbits collected from a … Continue reading
THE ADVENTURE OF THE TWISTED PIPE
SHERLOCK HOLMES SMOKED a pipe, kept his tobacco in a Persian slipper, and certainly knew his tobacco ashes: “To the trained eye,” he told chronicler Dr. John H. Watson, “there … Continue reading
FUNNY I SHOULD ASK….
WIFE DOTTIE RECOGNIZES me as an inquisitive sort, as shown by two gift books under our Christmas tree. By the way, just in case you’re inquisitive as well, here’s our … Continue reading
SCIENCE BREAKTHROUGH 2020: THE COVID-19 VACCINES
SCIENCE MAGAZINE, PUBLISHED by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, identifies each year’s most significant scientific breakthrough. Some years, the choices are important, but may be arcane to … Continue reading
HOCKNEY’S DRIVE
I’M IN GOOD company indeed with my “Wagner’s Norns and PCH.” Famed artist David Hockney has framed a southern California road trip with the music of Richard Wagner. Alex Ross … Continue reading
LET US CELEBRATE!
TODAY, JANUARY 20, 2021, at noon Eastern Time, 9 a.m. for those of us on the Pacific side, 7 a.m. in Hawaii, we gratefully return to our democracy’s decency, honesty, … Continue reading
WHERE THE RUBBER MEETS THE ROAD—BUT THEN WHAT?
“WHY WERE SALMON Dying?” asked Science, December 4, 2020. This weekly magazine of the American Association for the Advancement of Science responded, “The Answer Washed Off the Road.” The culprit, … Continue reading
ON CULTS OF IGNORANCE
WE ARE BEING besieged by cults of ignorance. Alas, in their dying breath, Covid-19 sufferers are calling the disease a hoax. What appeared to be a late summer diminishing of … Continue reading
BEL GEDDES AIRLINER NUMBER 4 PART 2
NORMAN BEL GEDDES had a grand design evolving between 1929 and 1932: His Airliner Number 4 was envisioned as a flying hotel traveling non-stop between Chicago and London in 42 … Continue reading
BEL GEDDES AIRLINER NUMBER 4 PART 1
IT’S A SIGNIFICANT understatement to call Norman Bel Geddes an industrial designer: His designs were artistic, innovative, eccentric, flamboyant, occasionally bordering on the wacky, hardly just “industrial.” Here in Parts … Continue reading
