FIAT’S MOUSE—THE 500 TOPOLINO
THE FAME of Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse gave a name to one of the world’s most charming automobiles, the Fiat 500 Topolino (Italian: Little Mouse, and Mickey’s nickname there). The … Continue reading
MY NATION—AND I MEAN MINE: MICROCON 2015
FROM TIME to time, people complain that they could do a better job of running things than the incumbent politicos. And, for a select few, they do just that. These … Continue reading
BROOKLANDS AERO
IT WAS like having the Wright Brothers’ Kitty Hawk nestled in the infield of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Brooklands, 25 miles southwest of central London, 12 miles south of Heathrow … Continue reading
SHORT RIDE IN A FORMULA FORD
SIRIUSXM SATELLITE radio’s Symphony Hall channel recently featured Short Ride in a Fast Machine, a fanfare for orchestra by modern composer John Adams. I immediately thought of my brief but … Continue reading
SHERLOCKIAN WOMEN
IT’S GOOD fun researching Sherlock Holmes through the chronicles of Dr. John H. Watson as represented by his literary agent Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. At this website, for instance, I’ve … Continue reading
AND THAT MEANS….
LATELY, RESEARCHING one thing and another, I’ve been enjoying Google Translate. This online tool supports 90 languages as either input source or translated target. Google Translate says that during 2013 … Continue reading
1954 LE MANS—A DUEL IN THE RAIN
IT OCCURRED more than 60 years ago, but the epic battle of the 1954 Le Mans remains fresh in my memory. It was a classic one of brute force versus … Continue reading
ブリヂストン美術館—BRIDGESTONE MUSEUM OF ART
SHOJIRO ISHIBASHI chose the name Bridgestone for his company in 1931 for two reasons: His surname is literally ishi (stone) bashi (bridge); and he liked the British sound of its … Continue reading
THE URBANE ART OF DONALD MACKAY
THOUGH I’VE never been there, I know my way around New York City’s home of the Metropolitan Opera. What’s more, I have a good idea of what its Lincoln Center … Continue reading
EARLY LIFTING-BODY AIRCRAFT
WHAT A tantalizing idea: Use the fuselage of an aircraft for lift, not just its wings. Lifting-body aircraft have recurred throughout aviation history (the Space Shuttle, for instance, glided to … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 