AFFINITY, LOVE, AND JOY IN OLD-TIME RADIO
I FEEL AFFINITY for Frank Lovejoy’s old-time radio portrayal of Randy Stone, night-beat reporter for the Chicago Star. In real life, Daughter Beth, Michael, and their two kids, Lilly and … Continue reading
WWHD—WHAT WOULD HOLMES DRIVE?
I RECENTLY HAD THE DELIGHT (AND HONOR) OF BEING INTERVIEWED on the “I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere” Podcast with Baker Street Irregulars Scott Monty and Burt Wolder. With due respect to … Continue reading
ON THE VERNE BRAND PART 2
PART 1 STARTED WITH RAYMOND N. MACKENZIE’S LRB review of Jules Verne’s Journey to the Moon, a new translation of both his De la Terre à la Lune and its … Continue reading
ON THE VERNE BRAND PART 1
RAYMOND N. MACKINZIE OBSERVES, “By the last decades of the 19th century, Jules Verne was less a writer than a brand—one carefully cultivated by his publisher, Pierre-Jules Hetzel—promising a specific … Continue reading
THE MAJESTIC 747’S FINAL DESCENT
TRUMP’S BROUHAHA WITH HIS QATAR 747 overflies the reality noted by Ian Bogost in “Queen of the Skies,” The Atlantic, July 2026: “The Boeing 747, the world’s first jumbo jet, … Continue reading
LEAPIN’ AERIAL AQUABOTS! PART 2
YESTERDAY WE ACKNOWLEDGED THE CHALLENGE of studying aerial-aquatic birds and, thus, the idea of devising a robotic equivalent. Today in Part 2 we continue with “Leaping Out Of The Water: … Continue reading
LEAPIN’ AERIAL AQUABOTS! PART 1
“DIVING BIRDS,” SCIENCE’S MARC S. LAVINE SUMMARIZES, “transition between flying through the air and navigating through water by flapping, but the mechanisms by which different species try to do this … Continue reading
TRUMP AND HIS GIFTED USED BOEING 747-800
FOR A SELF-PROFESSED HYPERDEALER, TRUMP SURE SCREWED UP BIG with his gifted used 747-800. And, as is often the case, we’re being stuck with the outcome. Here are tidbits gleaned … Continue reading
ON LAUNCHING 1000 SHIPS AND BURNING TOPLESS TOWERS PART 2
YESTERDAY WE BEGAN EXAMINING THE BROUHAHA of casting Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. Today in Part 2, Odyssey authority Daniel Mendelsohn continues his analyses. In time, we hear as well from … Continue reading
ON LAUNCHING 1000 SHIPS AND BURNING TOPLESS TOWERS PART 1
NADIRA GOFFE PUTS IT SUCCINCTLY in her movie review, “What Did Helen of Troy Look Like? That’s the Wrong Question to Ask,” Slate, July 17, 2026: “Lupita Nyong’o plays the … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 