ROUND, BLACK, STICKY—AND ARTFUL (REDUX)
’WAY BACK WHEN SIMANAITISSAYS WAS YOUNG, “Round, Black, Sticky—And Artful,” April 7, 2014, celebrated the Discount Tire Company’s collection of poster art. Indeed, I visited its headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona. … Continue reading
HAVEN’T WE A WORD FOR IT? PART 2
YESTERDAY, WE BEGAN GLEANING TIDBITS FROM FRANCIS GOODING’S LRB REVIEW of Steven Mithen’s The Language Puzzle: How We Talked Our Way Out of The Stone Age. We continue here in … Continue reading
HAVEN’T WE A WORD FOR IT? PART 1
FRANCIS GOODING’S “ROCKET SCIENCE FOR MONKEYS” is the compelling title of his London Review of Books review of Steven Mithen’s The Language Puzzle: How We Talked Our Way Out Of … Continue reading
WE USTA HEAR AMERICA PINGING
“TO UNDERSTAND THIS (HISTORICAL) ABNORMALITY OF COMBUSTION,” I wrote (sans the parenthetical modifier) in R&T back in December 1979, “we’d be wise to begin by examining the combustion process as … Continue reading
HORTUS DELICIARUM—THE GARDEN OF DELIGHTS
MY RECENT TREATISE ON PRETZELS got me consulting The Authorized King James Version of the Bible. Prompting of this biblical research was straightforward: Queen Esther and King Ahasuerus enjoying a … Continue reading
D.J. SIMS GOT THINGS RIGHT, SORTA
IT WAS MORE THAN A HALF-CENTURY AGO (AGG!?) that a math professor at the College of the Virgin Islands on St. Thomas submitted a freelance piece to R&T. Image by … Continue reading
IN PRAISE OF THE COMMON PART 2
THE THEME OF GENTLE CONVENTIONALITY echoes in our review of the British flick This Happy Breed. Its time capsule continues here in Part 2 as the Gibbons family settles in … Continue reading
IN PRAISE OF THE COMMON PART 1
BEING THE ANGLOPHILE I AM—SHAKESPEARE, MARLOWE, Morgans, Dellows, and White Stilton with Apricots—I was attracted to Turner Classic Movies’ recent showing of This Happy Breed. This Happy Breed, based on … Continue reading
JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE TO GO BACK IN THE CRETACEOUS SEA PART 2
YESTERDAY, WE LEARNED FROM AAAS SCIENCE THAT THE CRETACEOUS SEA contained cephalopods of unprecedented size. Sources for this are Phie Jacobs’ “Octopus ‘Krakens’ as Large as Semi-Trucks Stalked Ancient Seas,” … Continue reading
JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE TO GO BACK IN THE CRETACEOUS SEA…. PART 1
AAAS SCIENCE TELLS US ABOUT NANIOUTEUTHUS haggarti: “the largest invertebrate ever described,” an octopus that makes even the sea-monster krakens of legend seem playful. What’s more, the 23 April 2026 … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 