SIR WILLIAM DAVENANT—SHAKESPEARE’S SON?? PART 1
ROMANTIC THEORIES HAVE SPICED UP HISTORY: Caesar and Mark Anthony both slept with Cleopatra (true, albeit separately). Sir William Davenant was William Shakespeare’s illegitimate son (might this explain Anne Hathaway’s … Continue reading
FAKE IT TILL IT MAKES IT
HALLUCINATIONS MADE BY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE are rooted in the adage above. Celina Zhao recounts, “A.I. Hallucinates Because It’s Trained to Fake Answers It Doesn’t Know,” AAAS Science, October 28, 2025. … Continue reading
MACHEATH’S LADY FRIENDS PART 2
YESTERDAY WE CELEBRATED MACHEATH, a theatrical alter ego of real 17th-century Brit bad guy Jack Sheppard. This got us investigating Mack’s lady friends, “Suky Tawdry, Jenny Diver, Lotte Lenya and … Continue reading
MACHEATH’S LADY FRIENDS PART 1
THIS RESEARCH STARTED INNOCENTLY ENOUGH with Louis Armstrong’s “Mack the Knife.” He sings, “Suky Tawdry, Jenny Diver, Lotte Lenya, Sweet Lucy Brown,/ Oh the line forms on the right, dear,/ … Continue reading
SCIENCE AND OUR WORLD
ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO, ENGLISH MATHEMATICIAN ALFRED NORTH WHITEHEAD delivered a series of Lowell Lectures titled Science and the Modern World. In a “Classics Revisited” essay, Science, October 16, 2025, … Continue reading
“WINDOW; WINDOW IN THE TEST; WHO’S AMONG THE VERY BEST?” PART 2
YESTERDAY, THE 1982 R&T BOUND VOLUME brought back memories of tire testing. We continue here with details of our hard-working tire-changing crew, confidence windows, blind testing, and an R&T visit … Continue reading
“WINDOW; WINDOW IN THE TEST; WHO’S AMONG THE VERY BEST?” PART 1
I WAS RECENTLY RESEARCHING SOMETHING OR OTHER in the 1982 bound volume of R&T and came upon this subhead cited above. It brought memories of a significant achievement during my … Continue reading
QUAINT LITTLE PUBS
AND WHEN I SAY “LITTLE”…. IN PARTICULAR, KAREN BONES IS A SCOTTISH ARTIST EXTRAORDINAIRE who “started making miniature buildings as a natural progression.” Karen Bones and her artful miniatures. This … Continue reading
THE SUBLIME, THE HEARTWARMING, AND (LAMENTABLY) THE RIDICULOUS PART 2
YESTERDAY WE CELEBRATED FRANCE MINTING TWO NEW COINS heralding Notre-Dame’s reopening. There was also a Notre-Dame wedding of one of its artisans and his bride. Alas, today in Part 2, … Continue reading
THE SUBLIME, THE HEARTWARMING, (AND THE LAMENTABLY RIDICULOUS) PART 1
THE MONNAIE DE PARIS, FRANCE’S NATIONAL MINT, IS ISSUING 2-Euro and 10-Euro coins celebrating the reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris after construction following the cathedral’s horrific fire on April 15, … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 