CHRISTIE’S MOST OUTRAGEOUS RACE CAR
WALTER CHRISTIE designed and built outrageous race cars from 1904 to 1909. And the most outrageous was his last one, the 1909 racer that was later used by Barney Oldfield in … Continue reading
MAN, THE FIERCEST—AND MOST SHORT-SIGHTED?—PREDATOR
HUMANS ARE hunter-gathers by nature. However, in contrast to other predators, we are also technologists devising improved means of predation. And we are the only predators hunting for trophy or … Continue reading
THE BIRTH OF LOS ANGELES TV
PHILO T. FARNSWORTH may not have foreseen what he started. In 1927, the same year Charles Lindbergh flew non-stop New York to Paris, Farnsworth transmitted a televised image at his … Continue reading
THE CHAMPIONSHIP OF THE UNIVERSE, 1914
WHAT A glorious time it must have been. Airplanes were barely a decade old, cars only a little more familiar. Both were novelties that people loved to watch. Race driver … Continue reading
UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFERENTIAL
EVERY FEW years, I feel compelled to reeducate myself on the workings of an automotive differential. There’s nothing particularly life-critical about this; it’s akin to doing crosswords left-handed when one … Continue reading
TV HISTORY AND CULTURE
MY PRINCIPAL enthusiasms for television are British (its mysteries and period dramas) and historical (TV’s place in an evolving culture). I unearthed a book on this latter topic. I’ll save … Continue reading
FIAT ABARTH BRAVA ALITALIA GROUP 4
COMPETITION CARS are a hoot to drive, mainly because they make few concessions to anything resembling practicality. I’ve driven more than few in special settings, a Lancia Beta Montecarlo Group … Continue reading
DISNEY ANIMATION: THE ILLUSION OF LIFE
LET’S CELEBRATE Disney animation and also the near-term evolution of publication. Initially published in 1981, the book Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life has been the classic work describing the … Continue reading
DID POIROT EVER MEET HOLMES?
THE WORLD’S two greatest consulting detectives, Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot, had overlapping careers. It was around the advent of the Great War, World War I to those of us … Continue reading
AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE WORRIES
DESPITE ALL the hype of autonomous vehicles as the hot tip for 2020, I predict society’s principal winners in this won’t be those seeking enhanced personal mobility. It will be … Continue reading
