HYDROGEN IN THEM THAR FAIRY CIRCLES PART 1
“DOES EARTH HOLD VAST STORES of a renewable, carbon-free fuel?” queries the subhead in Eric Hand’s article “Hidden Hydrogen,” Science, February 16, 2023. Here in Parts 1 and 2 today … Continue reading
YOU CAN COUNT ON IT—LINGUISTICALLY
HAD WE ALL EVOLVED WITH SIX DIGITS on each appendage (such polydactyly is one of the most common congenital abnormalities), we’d likely have a “dozenal” number system. Ancient Egyptians, John … Continue reading
VIKTOR BELYAEV’S FLYING WING PART 2
SOVIET AIRCRAFT DESIGNER VIKTOR BELYAEV had faith in his batwing idea, but one thing and another complicated matters. We’ve already discussed its rear gunner locations being too cramped to operate … Continue reading
VIKTOR BELYAEV’S FLYING WING PART 1
I ENJOY BUILDING SCREWBALL AIRCRAFT with GMax for importation into Microsoft Flight Simulator. These include the Stipa-Caproni, which Daughter Suz calls the flying toilet-paper roll; the Pemberton-Billing Nighthawk, which I … Continue reading
RLS’S GRANDDAD’S LIGHTHOUSES
ROSEMARY HILL ENCOURAGED another bit of my Internet sleuthing with her recent review of Veronica della Dora’s Where Light in Darkness Lies: The Story of the Lighthouse in London Review … Continue reading
COMPACT COMPARO PART 2
R&T INTRODUCED ITS READERS to compact cars in November 1959. Yesterday in Part 1, its chart identified 21 of these with wheelbases between 100 and 110 in., and the magazine’s … Continue reading
COMPACT COMPARO 1959 PART 1
WHAT WITH OPULENCE GONE WILD in the late 1950s domestic auto scene (and increasing popularity of foreign cars notably the Volkswagen Beetle), compacts were a rational response. R&T was there … Continue reading
ON GRAUPEL AND A STRANDED CAN-AM CAR
I WAS RAISED IN CLEVELAND and spent undergrad years in Worcester, Massachusetts. So snow is nothing new to me. Indeed, it’s where I learned about not just drifting snow, but … Continue reading
TIME FOR HYDROGEN (AND NOW WE MEAN IT)
“NO LONGER ’20 YEARS IN THE FUTURE,’ ” writes Lindsay Brooke, Editor-in-Chief, in SAE International Automotive Engineering, February 2023. “Hydrogen and fuel cells are a vital, high-growth solution for carbon … Continue reading
FRATER, CAN YOU SPARE A DENARIUS? PART 2
TODAY WE CONTINUE WITH TIDBITS gleaned from Michael Kulikowski’s “What the Badger Found,” London Review of Books, February 2, 2023. The Drachm. Kurlikowski describes, “… the large silver coin that … Continue reading
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