QUEEN ELIZABETH II—A MAJESTIC PERSONAGE PART 2
IT’S NOT SURPRISING that Elizabeth Longford’s The Oxford Book of Royal Anecdotes includes insights concerning Queen Elizabeth II. Today, in Part 2, we encounter Britain’s first Queen Elizabeth and loyal, … Continue reading
QUEEN ELIZABETH II—A MAJESTIC PERSONAGE PART 1
WHAT WITH her kids, and more recently her grandkids, Queen Elizabeth II has had her share of annis horribilis. More than three decades ago, royal biographer Elizabeth Longford edited The … Continue reading
FERRARI F2002—A HIGHPOINT IN F1 HISTORY PART 2
YESTERDAY, WE BEGAN our celebration of the Ferrari F2002, the car that propelled Michael Schumacher to his fifth (of seven) World Drivers’ Championships. Today in Part 2, we see the … Continue reading
FERRARI F2002—A HIGHPOINT IN F1 HISTORY PART 1
FERRARI AND MICHAEL SCHUMACHER absolutely dominated Formula 1 in 2002. In one sense, such dominance might have translated into boredom. But there are plenty of tidbits gleaned from recounts of … Continue reading
“MAKING FEDERAL BUILDINGS BEAUTIFUL AGAIN”??
IN 1961, PRESIDENT John F. Kennedy quoted Pericles to the Massachusetts legislature: “We do not imitate—for we are the models of others.” A year later, Daniel Patrick Moynihan cited this … Continue reading
MR. JONES MOTORS THROUGH EUROPE
MANY GUIDEBOOKS, Baedeker’s among them, eschew advertising. Others, such as Rider’s, have ads grouped together in the back. A third approach is exhibited by Motoring Through Europe, published by a … Continue reading
FROM WASTE TO WONDER MATERIAL
SHEETS OF GRAPHENE, a super-strength material, can be zapped from just about any carbon-containing waste. All that’s required is electricity generating immense heat. Here are tidbits on the material, the … Continue reading
INVISIBLE MEN, SEEN AND UNSEEN
I’VE RECENTLY ENCOUNTERED invisible men; I’ve even seen one of them. A photo, actually. One encounter was in an episode of Murdoch Mysteries, a Canadian TV series that Wife Dottie … Continue reading
AN ISLAND OR WHAT?
RECENTLY IN the SimanaitisSays Trippin’ item on “Domain Names,” I encountered a geographers’ quandary about island size and definition. For instance, the second-largest island nation, so sources say, is Madagascar; … Continue reading
ETYMOLOGY: PURGE, PERJURY
TWO SIMILARLY SOUNDING, albeit distinctly different words, “purge” and “perjury,” are related these days, what with the article “Vindman, Sondland Removed As Trump Purges Impeachment Witnesses,” by Roberta Rampton, Amita … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 