MERCATOR MISUNDERSTANDINGS
IF FLAT-EARTHERS were correct (they aren’t, by the way), life would be a lot easier for cartographers. As noted here at SimanaitisSays, the two-dimensional plane and three-dimensional sphere are not … Continue reading
BAVARIA AND THE CONRAD CASE
MUCH OF THE action in vintage radio hero Paul Temple’s Conrad Case takes place in Bavaria. So, despite more than a little anachronism, I turn to my Baedeker’s Southern Germany. … Continue reading
JAPANESE CONVERSATION STARTERS—AND TERMINATORS
I’VE FORGOTTEN WHERE I acquired my Traveler’s Phrase Book & Dictionary; its price notation suggests it was here in the U.S. Nevertheless, it was published in Japan by Nanun-Do, 1976, … Continue reading
SPACE GRUB EXTRAORDINAIRE
“THIS BOEUF BOURGUIGNON is over the moon!” Well, not quite yet, but it is among the offerings to astronauts now joined up at the International Space Station. Kenneth Chang writes … Continue reading
LONDON BRIDGE—FALLING TO LAKE HAVASU CITY
GREAT CITIES ARE established on rivers: London’s Thames, Paris’s Seine, Vienna’s Danube, St. Petersburg’s Neva, Prague’s Vltava; the list goes on. Rivers encourage commerce and development. But they also offer … Continue reading
CHINA’S DIGITAL ECONOMY
LONG LING, A GOVERNMENT official in Beijing, contributed “Diary: At the Temple,” in the London Review of Books, January 21, 2021. A vignette in her article encouraged me to learn … Continue reading
CELEBRATING THE FRENCH TACOS
WHAT DO THE Australian H.S.P., the Tanzanian Chipsi Mayai, and the French Tacos have in common? Their common ingredient is chips in English, chipsi in Swahili, pommes frites in French, … Continue reading
CELEBRATING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF CALIFORNIA’S ROUTE 1 IN 1988
DOROTHY CLENDENIN WASN’T yet Wife Dottie in 1988 when she celebrated the 50th anniversary of California Route 1. She traveled this fabled route down the coast from Monterey to Morro … Continue reading
CHARING CROSS—LONDON’S CENTREPIECE PART 2
YESTERDAY, WE FOUND London’s Charing Cross named for a bend in the River Thames and a cross honoring Eleanor, wife of England’s Edward I. We’d like to believe she’d rest … Continue reading
CHARING CROSS—LONDON’S CENTREPIECE PART 1
CHARING CROSS, LONDON, is sort of New York City’s Times Square, Los Angeles’s Hollywood and Vine, and Paris’s Place de l’Opera. It’s the geographical center, er…, make that centre of … Continue reading
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