ELECTION LORE 2020
BALLOT BOX STUFFING! The executive-in-chief favors one candidate; a sex toy retailer favors another! The incumbent gracefully withdraws, even before the election begins! And everything turns out okay. In what … Continue reading
BESPEAKING DURING A PANDEMIC
SAVILE ROW, LONDON’S legendary street of bespoke clothiers, is caught in a Covid-19 bind. Even if not locked down, it’s difficult indeed to tailor a custom suit while social distancing. … Continue reading
FASTEN YOUR SEATBELT! (NO KIDDING….)
A recent topic was “The World’s Most Dramatic Airport Approaches.” Here are tidbits on three of the article’s eight that I’ve actually experienced, together with comments about my flight simulator … Continue reading
HEALTH RESORTS—JUST IN TIME PART 2
YESTERDAY, COOK’S HANDBOOK to the Health Resorts of the South of France, Riviera and Pyrenees offered advice, albeit most appropriate for the year of its publication, 1905. Today, in Part … Continue reading
HEALTH RESORTS—JUST IN TIME PART 1
IF EVER I’VE needed a health resort, it’s now, right?. So I turn to my Cook’s Handbook to see what meets my fancy. It’s a 1905 edition? Whatever. This particular … Continue reading
1939 GOLDEN GATE INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION—A TREASURE OF AN ISLAND
INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITIONS OFTEN have special features that remain after the expo itself has ended. Seattle’s Space Needle, built for that city’s 1962 World’s Fair, is such an icon. Brussels’ Atomium, … Continue reading
POMPEII—95 OR 1941 YEARS ON
THIS DUAL DATING, almost a century or nearly two millennia, has logic: Pompeii was destroyed by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. and my primary source for this … Continue reading
AN INSPIRATIONAL OPERA INDEED
OPERAS CAN INSPIRE—but enough to create a country? Yes, the history of Belgium is woven into the obscure La Muette de Portici, The Mute of Portici, an 1828 opera by … Continue reading
SWEDEN, 1923 PART 2
THOUGH IT’S ALMOST a century old now, my Cook’s Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, 1923, is a fine means of catching up with this Scandinavian country. Yesterday in Part 1, we … Continue reading
SWEDEN, 1923 PART 1
WHAT WITH its less than orthodox, and perhaps less than successful, response to the world pandemic, Sweden is much in the news these days. I’m encouraged to learn more about … Continue reading
