MORE POWER TO YA
AMERICA’S POWER GRID is the largest in the world. But it’s not the most modern, nor the most reliable. Gretchen Bakke’s book The Grid addresses these points and others. Cymene Howe … Continue reading
DRIVING THROUGH A BRUSSELS LOOPHOLE
THE SOOT CONTINUES to accumulate around diesel cars finagled to run clean in official testing, though not necessarily otherwise. “VW’s Diesel Scam” made news last year when the International Council … Continue reading
DUESENBERG HORSEPOWER—BUT WHICH ONE?
CLASSIC DUESENBERGS were powerful automobiles, but how powerful? How does horsepower circa 1930 compare with today’s measurement of automotive power? Yesterday’s tale at this website continues. When E.L. Cord bought … Continue reading
CELEBRATING PENGUIN BOOKS
PENGUIN BOOKS is celebrating its eightieth anniversary, thus reminding me of the pleasure I’ve derived from these pocket-size, color-coded, modestly priced editions of literature. A Penguin celebration also appeared in … Continue reading
CALIFORNIA, HERE I CAME
I’M A born-again Californian, not a native one. Wife Dottie, by contrast, is a desert rat from El Centro. In rearranging some bookshelves recently, I came upon a fine California … Continue reading
PRESS ONE FOR BASIC ENGLISH
CHARLES KAY OGDEN had a revolutionary idea when he wrote Basic English: A General Introduction with Rules and Grammar, published in 1930. By Basic English, he didn’t mean merely the … Continue reading
WHA’ CHA’ M’ CALL IT
LIKE DOOHICKEY and gizmo, wha’ cha’ m’ call it (also rendered whatchamacallit) is a placeholder, a word referring to things the names of which are irrelevant, unknown or temporarily forgotten. … Continue reading
ENGLISH AS LINGUA FRANCA?
HAS ENGLISH become the world’s lingua franca? I offer two examples of this—and dispel one folk legend. A nuanced example involves computer science. A recent one definitively pertains to a … Continue reading
NON-DEPRESSING TALES OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION
ADVERSITY BREEDS its own humor, and the Great Depression is a perfect example of this. I’ve been enjoying The WPA Guide to America, whence came a lot of delightful tales. … Continue reading
I WISH I SAID THAT (FIRST)
I’VE BEEN collecting thoughtful comments, or in some cases just great one-liners, from a variety of sources. Some come from movies I’ve enjoyed or books I’ve read, others from TV … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 