LET’S DIFFERENTIATE “BULLY PULPIT” FROM A WRETCHED BULLY
I AM a lover of the English language, with a deep appreciation of Theodore Roosevelt. It was he who characterized the presidency as a “bully pulpit.” But, I note emphatically, … Continue reading
SPOOKY ACTION AT (REALLY) AFAR
CHINESE RESEARCHERS have sent entangled photons from a satellite to two ground stations 745 miles apart. This distance is by far a new record for what Einstein called “spooky action … Continue reading
THE FIRST BUGATTI IS IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD
THE LYON Air Museum is located at John Wayne Airport, not far from SimanaitisSays world headquarters in Orange County, California. Among the museum’s regular displays are an American Airlines Douglas … Continue reading
A MODEST PROPOSAL FOR DISNEY IMAGINEERS
IT IS rare that I turn to Variety, America’s weekly entertainment trade magazine, for political updates. Typically, the Orange County Register and The New York Times suffice for balance, along … Continue reading
MY (NON-FAKE) MAGAZINE COVERS
WHAT WITH the current brouhaha concerning the alternative-fact March 1, 2009, Time magazine cover, I should like to go on record that my eight, possibly nine, covers of R&T are … Continue reading
A HOLMES RIVAL IN DEDUCTION?
THE WORLD’S first consulting detective has exhibited great deductive prowess, but he may have a new rival, a mere junior office clerk in the Cambridgeshire village of Grantchester. I enjoy … Continue reading
HERMANN THE GERMAN JOINS THE GREATER HUMAN RACE
MIGRATION, ETHNICITY, and racial purity have been much in the news these days. Fortunately, so have the stabilizing influences of scientific research. In particular, goodbye to a favorite myth believed … Continue reading
TOURING THE WORLD’S LETTUCE CAPITAL
EL CENTRO, once renowned as the Lettuce Capital of the World, is in California’s Imperial Valley, about 115 miles east of San Diego and 15 miles north of the Mexican … Continue reading
GIMME AN O! GIMME AN X! GIMME AN …
LET’S CELEBRATE the Oxford comma and its use at this website. Indeed, it made its debut here only yesterday with that second comma in “greed, stupidity, and political corruption.” There’s … Continue reading
NIKOLAI GOGOL’S GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR
IT’S A “story as timely as today’s headlines.” Well, maybe only in that Nikolai Gogol is a Russian and his play The Government Inspector, 1842, is a satire about greed, … Continue reading
