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
HOW DO YOU SAY “HALLELUJAH” IN TURKISH?
GOOGLE TRANSLATE SUGGESTS “şükürler olsun” as a Turkish “hallelujah.” Back-translated, though, this literally means “Thank God,” which somehow misses the fervor of Adnan Oktar. This Turkish Islamic TV evangelist was … Continue reading
BUCATINI CONFIDENTIAL PART 2
THIS CONTINUES RACHEL Handler’s entertaining story of missing bucatini pasta, described in “What the Hole Is Going On?,” New York Magazine’s “Grub Street,” December 28, 2020. Yesterday’s tidbits concluded with … Continue reading
BUCATINI CONFIDENTIAL PART 1
TO QUOTE RACHEL Handler, “What the Hole Is Going On? The very real, totally bizarre bucatini shortage of 2020.” The story of this extruded pasta is compelling. Rachel Handler’s investigative … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 
HAVE YOU ENCOUNTERED SEALIONING LATELY?
GIVEN INCESSANT DEBATES of late, it’s likely that you have encountered sealioning, described by Merriam-Webster as “a harassment tactic by which a participant in a debate or online discussion pesters … Continue reading →