ON POLYMATHS
MERRIMAN-WEBSTER DEFINES polymath as “a person of encyclopedic learning.” This is a direct translation of its Greek origin, πολυμαθής, polymathis. I’d add “and of encyclopedic doing,” for how else would … Continue reading
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN ENDORSES JOE BIDEN
THE EDITORS OF Scientific American declared, “We’ve never backed a presidential candidate in our 175-year history—until now.” “This year,” the editors wrote in Scientific American, October 2020, “we are compelled … Continue reading
SCIENCE GOES DEUTSCHE POP
AN UNUSUAL EXPERIMENT was performed at a trio of pop concerts in Leipzig, Germany, on August 22, 2020. Tim Bendzko and his band performed at a 12,000-seat arena, but unlike … Continue reading
HUGO PICTOR’S SELFIE
IT’S RARE TO know authorship of an 11th-century manuscript. However, thanks to Christopher De Hamel’s Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts, the Oxford University’s Bodleian Library’s Bodley 717 is an exception. Tidbits … Continue reading
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL—GLOBALIST PART 2
COMPOSER HANDEL WAS quite the globalist in an era when many folks only rarely left the villages of their birth. By his early 20s, he had already resided in Halle, … Continue reading
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL—GLOBALIST PART 1
FOR A VARIETY of reasons, the pandemic one of them, bullying nationalists another, “globalism” is almost a pejorative these days. However, reading about composer George Frideric Handel, I found a … Continue reading
QUOTE MARKS REDUX
THE QUOTATION MARK is the anonymous hero of written clarity. As described in Keith Houston’s entertaining Shady Characters, it is “quietly competent, thank you very much, and would like to … Continue reading
1954 MORRIS MINOR—A TRIM TIDY SEDAN
THE MID FIFTIES were an exuberant time in American automotive design. Bigger was better. Fins were appearing, albeit not yet as expansively as in the late Fifties. In the MOBILGAS … Continue reading
LE MANS 2020—PANDEMICALLY MODIFIED
TRADITIONALLY HELD MID-JUNE, the 24-hour race at Le Mans is being held this year on September 19-20. Here are tidbits on implications of this pandemically modified event gathered from a … Continue reading
KING CNUT’S BAD RAP
APART FROM HIS name offered as Canute, the medieval King Cnut got another bad rap from history. You know the story: The king planted his throne at the seashore and, … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 