ETYMOLOGY: JINGOISTIC, JINGOISM
THE WORD “JINGOISTIC” came to mind, even before Trump’s trumped-up photo op at the West Point commencement on June 13, 2020. It might have been my memory of him standing … Continue reading
CELEBRATING A STEAM PUNK ZEPPELIN BUSTER PART 2
NOEL PEMBERTON BILLING had a fertile imagination, exemplified by his four-winged P.B. 31E Zeppelin buster. We continue the tale of this quadruplane in Part 2 today and view one in … Continue reading
CELEBRATING A STEAM PUNK ZEPPELIN BUSTER PART 1
THE 1917 P.B. 31E Nighthawk was Supermarine Aircraft’s first design, an utterly bizarre steam punk Zeppelin buster, from this English firm destined, two decades later, to produce the legendary Spitfire. … Continue reading
GLOBAL TRUTHS AND THINGS TO PONDER
YESTERDAY’S CELEBRATION OF global—and extraglobal—adventurer Kathy Sullivan got me thinking about planet Earth and its physical extremes, its heights, depths, and shape. Here are tidbits gleaned from a variety of … Continue reading
DR. KATHY SULLIVAN—WORLD TRAVELER EXTRAORDINAIRE
I’VE BEEN AT 30,000 ft. in jetliners and 282 ft. below sea level at Death Valley’s Bad Water Basin in a car. However, Kathy Sullivan’s achievements make me look neighborhood-bound … Continue reading
A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, BALNIBARBI, LUGGNAGG, GLUBBDUBDRIB, AND JAPAN PART 2
YESTERDAY IN PART 1, we learned why Jonathan Swift included Japan among fanciful destinations in Gulliver’s Travels and also why he chose anonymous authorship for this satire. Today in Part … Continue reading
A VOYAGE TO LAPUTA, BALNIBARBI, LUGGNAGG, GLUBBDUBDRIB, AND JAPAN PART 1
THE ITINERARY ABOVE is actually the title of Part Three in Gulliver’s Travels, published anonymously in London in 1726. Why, I wondered, did Jonathan Swift include Japan with these outlandish, … Continue reading
ATALANTA—THE WOMAN, THE CARS PART 2
YESTERDAY, THE VIRGIN huntress Atalanta held center stage. Today in Part 2, automobiles profit from the etymological origin of Atalanta: αταλαντοσ, Greek for “unswaying” or “equal in weight” Atalanta, the … Continue reading
ATALANTA—THE WOMAN, THE CARS. PART 1
THIS IS A TALE of ancient Greek mythology and latter day British ingenuity, with a soupçon of French style. It’s told in Parts 1 and 2, today and tomorrow. A … Continue reading
SERENDIPITOUS SORTING
WHAT WITH SHELTERING-IN, I have engaged in serendipitous sorting. I was actually looking for something I never did find, but was delighted by what I did stumble on. Here are … Continue reading
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