YESTERDAY’S TOMORROWS
“THE FUTURE,” SAID Arthur C. Clarke, “isn’t what it used to be.” This was a fitting comment from the science-fiction author of 2001: A Space Odyssey. And, almost four decades … Continue reading
MALAPROPING THROUGH THE AGES
WHICH CAME FIRST: the malaprop, a humorous misuse of similar sounding words, or Mrs. Malaprop, a character in Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s 1775 play The Rivals? The French language gives a … Continue reading
HAVE I GOT A DEAL FOR YOU!
OPTIONS ARE SO enticing in car purchases, even more so in the early days of motoring. Here are automotive enhancements gleaned from Floyd Clymer’s Historical Motor Scrapbook, Clymer Motors, 1944. … Continue reading
eVTOL UPDATE PART 2
YESTERDAY IN PART 1, we looked at “The Battery That Flies,” Ben Ryder Howe’s article in The New York Times, April 16, 2022. Today in Part 2, we do a … Continue reading
eVTOL UPDATE PART 1
“VTOL” MEANS “VERTICAL take-off and landing” aircraft. Drones are VTOL; so are helicopters; and so are aircraft like the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey, Hawker Siddeley Harrier Jump Jet, and Dornier … Continue reading
SOLID-STATE BATTERIES: WHEN? IF? WHOSE?
THIS IS A PARTICULARLY interesting time for solid-state batteries, those, as their name indicates, using a solid material rather than liquid means of conveying their ions from post to post. … Continue reading
SKOOL IS BACK
NOW THAT KIDS ARE returning, sorta, to traditional schooling, maybe it’s time to bring some humor, er… humour to the educational process. I do this in vintage fashion, by examining … Continue reading
HOLMES, THE ISLE OF MAN, AND PETER H. WOOD
AMONG PETER HARRY WOOD’S PASSIONS were vintage British cars and Sherlock Holmes. Peter was invested into The Baker Street Irregulars in 1985 with the BSI sobriquet “The Second Stain” and … Continue reading
STAGING WAGNER
RECENTLY, I NOTED, WATCHING Bergman’s The Virgin Spring reminded me of Wagner staging of medieval interiors. I was thinking especially of the Hunding residence built around a massive ash tree … Continue reading
TIDBITS ABOUT AUNTIE BEEB
BBC WORLD SERVICE is my wakeup call at 6:00 a.m. Pacific, 13.00 GMT. They used to play Lillibullero, but now it’s just a zippy modern sound check. This year is … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 