OLD COPPER FLOURISHED IN GREAT LAKES REGION
NO, I’M NOT making a political comment about policing in the U.S. Upper Midwest. Rather, I’m citing “Great Lakes People Among First Coppersmiths,” as reported by David Malakoff in Science … Continue reading
STRENGTHEN YE, STRENGTHEN YE!
THERE ARE SEVERAL views on the etymology of the word “stork,” but Katherine Rundell’s suggestion is particularly appealing in “Consider the Stork?,” London Review of Books, April 1, 2021. “Storks … Continue reading
THE PERILS OF CWT
THERE’S DUI (DRIVING under the influence), OWI (operating while intoxicated), and DWI (driving while intoxicated). But what about CWT (cooking while tattooed)? It sure got an alleged mafioso in a … Continue reading
CELEBRATING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF CALIFORNIA’S ROUTE 1 IN 1988
DOROTHY CLENDENIN WASN’T yet Wife Dottie in 1988 when she celebrated the 50th anniversary of California Route 1. She traveled this fabled route down the coast from Monterey to Morro … Continue reading
A MISSION IMPOSSIBLE BOOK HEIST
WHAT WITH GLOBAL complexities, the Internet, lawyer highjinks, and business school finesses, malefactors now have enhanced opportunities to evade punishment. On the other hand, malefinders (my new word, with obvious … Continue reading
CHARING CROSS—LONDON’S CENTREPIECE PART 2
YESTERDAY, WE FOUND London’s Charing Cross named for a bend in the River Thames and a cross honoring Eleanor, wife of England’s Edward I. We’d like to believe she’d rest … Continue reading
CHARING CROSS—LONDON’S CENTREPIECE PART 1
CHARING CROSS, LONDON, is sort of New York City’s Times Square, Los Angeles’s Hollywood and Vine, and Paris’s Place de l’Opera. It’s the geographical center, er…, make that centre of … Continue reading
HOPALONG HOPPED ALONG IN LIFE TOO
HOPALONG CASSIDY MAKES regular appearances among other cowboys on SiriusXM’s ”Radio Classics.” I recall him too as a frequent star of Saturday matinee westerns when I was growing up. Always … Continue reading
DOUBLE-NICKEL TIDBITS
“THE DOUBLE-NICKEL,” grandpa explains, as he and the grandkids travel a pandemic-emptied freeway at 80, “was once the National Maximum Speed Limit, 55 mph.” A grandkid says, “55? I drive … Continue reading
LEAPING FOR JOY: EVER GIVEN TIDBITS
THANKFULLY, IT’S NOT every day that a giant container ship gets wedged in the Suez Canal, thus crippling world trade to the tune of billions of dollars. But we can … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 