TRANSPORT MEMORABILIA, 1995 (AND TIMELESS)
I LOVE auction catalogs. They contain a wealth of information. Printed on fine stock, they are typically a bibliophile’s delight. Christie’s catalog for a Transport Memorabilia and Models auction is … Continue reading
TRADING IN NANOSECONDS
I RECALL that my degree in mathematics came with a pledge to use this knowledge always for Good and never for Evil. Apart from occasionally torturing students with exam tie-breakers, … Continue reading
UNIVERSAL DESIGN
THE PRINCIPLES of universal design offer utility to people with the widest possible range of abilities, operating within the widest possible range of situations. Note, too, this isn’t just about … Continue reading
HENRY DREYFUSS—DESIGNER FOR HUMANITY
ONE PROMINENT American industrial designer gave the world the Hoover vacuum cleaner, the Bell telephone, the Honeywell thermostat, the Westclock Big Ben, the 20th Century Limited’s design of locomotive, dining … Continue reading
GMAX, THE SCHMID LSR—AND SET THEORY
DO YOU remember set theory? This amalgam of logic and geometry is fundamental to mathematics and was part of The New Math of the 1960s. Do you remember New Math? … Continue reading
CARBON FIBER TIDBITS
CARBON FIBER’S time has come. This is not only in aerospace and high-end sports like Formula 1, but in automotive uses where material costs are typically figured in pennies rather … Continue reading
I RECOGNIZE THAT!—GOOD OR BAD?
THE TECHNOLOGY of image recognition is as old as computers. To wit, consider the CAPTCHA test used to separate our recognition abilities from those of electronic machines. CAPTCHA stands for … Continue reading
CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?
THE CONTROLLED fury of Formula 1 racing has been affected this season by discontent over the sound of the cars’ exhaust. To me, this is misguided acoustics, much ado about nothing, and in … Continue reading
TOYOTA LINEAR GENERATOR
RESEARCHERS AT Toyota’s Central R&D Labs in Japan have shared details of generating electricity with an unorthodox internal combustion engine. The engine is a two-stroke design, but with a piston … Continue reading
TALK TO ME, IRIS
WE’RE FAMILIAR (sometimes irritatingly so) with autonomous voices and their menu-based options. “Hello, your call is important to us,”—but apparently not enough to employ a real person. What’s more, whether … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 