THE LOTUS ELEVEN—IN A RETROSPECTIVE AND IN TONY’S WORDS PART 2
BACK IN THE OLD DAYS, intrepid sports car drivers could, at least in theory, finance their motor sports through starting stipends supplemented by occasionally finishing in the money. And so … Continue reading
LOTUS ELEVEN—IN RETROSPECT AND IN TONY’S WORDS PART 1
AS RECENTLY AS 1995 (ha, recently for some of us), an R&T Salon celebrated the 1956 Lotus Eleven for its “Engineering prowess, esthetic appeal, and absolute timelessness.” Way back in … Continue reading
PLATO, THE INTERNET, EDUCATION, AND A.I.
“WHAT WOULD PLATO SAY about ChatGPT?” asks Zeynep Tufekci, a young lady with more than just an interesting name: Dr. Tufekci is a sociologist, a professor at Columbia University’s Craig … Continue reading
A CAST OF FALCONS
AN ASSEMBLY OF BIRDS OF PREY of the genus Falco is known as a “cast” of falcons. How utterly appropriate, in that I’m thinking of the multiple personages portraying a … Continue reading
CHANGING TIMES? ADDING ZEROES AT EITHER END
THE JULIAN CALENDAR USTA BE just fine, thank you, until Pope Gregory XIII was informed in 1582 that the actual length of a year was a tad less than the … Continue reading
MALL MUSINGS
I’M TOLD THE CULTURE of giant shopping malls is ending. But this wouldn’t be evident by driving past South Coast Plaza here in Orange County, California. Even without holiday shopping, … Continue reading
“ROUND ATLAS” FUN
I ONCE KNEW A YOUNG LADY, perfectly accomplished in other ways, who called globes “round atlases.” This popped into mind recently when I came upon several neat geographical tidbits, including … Continue reading
CALDER’S CIRCUS—AND SO MUCH MORE
ALEXANDER CALDER CAME FROM a family of artists—his grandfather’s colossal William Penn stands atop Philadelphia’s City Hall; his father’s public installations grace this and other cities; his mother, having studied … Continue reading
WRITER BASES HIS FICTIONAL DETECTIVE ON REAL PERSON PART 2
YESTERDAY IN PART 1, we learned about Charles Dickens and his Metropolitan Police pal Charles Frederik Field prowling London’s seedier districts. Today, Dickens honors his pal with two fictional personages. … Continue reading
WRITER BASES HIS FICTIONAL DETECTIVE ON REAL PERSON PART 1
GEE. IS THIS GOING TO BE another recounting of Arthur Conan Doyle, medical-school mentor Joseph Bell, and Sherlock Holmes? Or Edgar Allan Poe and whoever gave him the idea for … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 