CONNECT THE DOTS: LEAD, BALLOONS, PENCIL, NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
THIS CONNECT-THE-DOTS has an easy solution: Nicolas-Jacques Conté. He was a French polymath who gave Napoleon’s army the first significant use of aircraft and he also perfected the lead pencil … Continue reading
THANKS, CHRISTO, FOR GIVING US PLEASURE
ART GIVES PLEASURE in many ways. It can illuminate; it can provoke. It can be ephemeral; it can be timeless. All of the above describe the artistic endeavors of Christo. … Continue reading
GOOD SNACKIN’ ON YA, MATE! PART 2
YESTERDAY IN PART 1, we met the Australian Halal Snack Pack’s North American cousins, Poutine and Chili Cheese Fries. Today, we sample H.S.P., as it’s known to Ozzies. And I … Continue reading
GOOD SNACKIN’ ON YA, MATE! PART 1
THE HALAL SNACK PACK is an Australian cousin of Québécoise Poutine and American Chili Cheese Fries. What’s more, H.S.P., as the Ozzies call it, has become a symbol of liberal … Continue reading
ETYMOLOGY: I AM APPALLED
BACK IN JANUARY 2018, I examined the word “embarrassed” in my series of Etymologies for our Times. Today, I add the word “appalled.” Indeed, as in “I am Embarrassed,” the … Continue reading
THE WIT OF AUTOMOTIVE ARTISTS
I WAS LEAFING through a Gooding & Company auction catalog when I encountered its auto memorabilia section. It impressed me with an aspect of automotive artists I hadn’t considered recently: … Continue reading
A GLIMPSE AT SIR MODELING PART 2
YESTERDAY IN PART 1, tidbits on epidemic modeling were offered, based on Paul Taylor’s “Susceptible, Infectious, Recovered,” London Review of Books, May 7, 2020. Today in Part 2, we see … Continue reading
A GLIMPSE AT SIR MODELING PART 1
AN “SIR” MODEL (as in S.I.R.) is a mathematical simulation of an epidemic. In full application, the model incorporates extremely detailed assessments of an epidemic’s factors. However, in “Susceptible, Infectious, … Continue reading
CELEBRATING EN HEDU’ANA
THE EARLIEST KNOWN poet, variously, En hedu’ana, Enheduanna, Sumerian 𒂗𒃶𒌌𒀭𒈾, flourished in the 23rd century B.C. I think of her as a Mesopotamian William Shakespeare, Johannes Kepler, and Emily Dickinson. … Continue reading
LOUIS BREGUET—A MAN AHEAD OF HIS TIME PART 2
THE NAME BREGUET is associated with time, but French pioneer aviator Louis Breguet was ahead of his. Here in Part 2, we see him as aviation entrepreneur, visionary, and theoretician. … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 