JAGUAR XK-120—LEAPING BEYOND 120 MPH
THE 1948 EARLS COURT Automobile Show was Britain’s first after World War II. The country had yet to evolve from wartime austerity: Cars were fueled by 70-octane “Pool petrol.” Chocolate … Continue reading
LORENZO DA PONTE—A MULTIVARIATE CAREER PART 2
YESTERDAY, LORENZO Da Ponte assumed a bishop’s name, joined the priesthood, took a mistress, got banished from Venice, and worked with Mozart. Today, we learn more of one of their … Continue reading
LORENZO DA PONTE—A MULTIVARIATE CAREER PART 1
OPERA COMPOSERS get all the compliments. Seemingly, librettists either crib the tale from an earlier source or just come up with words that match the composer’s notes. But there was … Continue reading
THE INVISIBLE MAN—PAST, PRESENT, FANCIFUL AND SCIENTIFIC
I’M NOT INTO horror as an entertainment genre; I guess there is enough of it in real life. But the recent rave about The Invisible Man movie encourages today’s tidbits … Continue reading
SOAPY SMITH—19TH-CENTURY CON MAN, GANGSTER, POLITICAL BOSS PART 2
SOAPY SMITH CAME a long way from practicing the prize soap racket: He put politicos on the take and didn’t have to move around so much. Until, that is, the … Continue reading
SOAPY SMITH—19TH-CENTURY AMERICAN CON MAN, GANGSTER, POLITICAL BOSS PART 1
THESE DAYS, IT’S COMFORTING to learn that our country has survived earlier crooked politicians, gangsters, and conmen. Jefferson Randolph “Soapy” Smith II is just such a character. Jeff practiced classic … Continue reading
THE SILVER LINING OF A GREEN CLOUD
DESPITE EARLY FEARS, it turns out computer technology’s electrical surge is not going to dim the world’s lights. Science magazine, February 28, 2020, publishes details of “Recalibrating Global Data Center … Continue reading
AN AMUSING SIDE TO IT ALL
I AM THANKFUL to find humor in presidential matters of late. Here are tidbits, both Red and Blue, most of them recent, one vintage, from a variety of sources. On … Continue reading
AN ENGLISH ECCENTRIC PART 3
WE’VE heard of Noel Pemberton-Billing setting his headmaster’s office ablaze, designing a combined cabin cruiser/aeroplane and other inventive ideas, some successful, others less so. Today in the concluding Part 3, … Continue reading
AN ENGLISH ECCENTRIC PART 2
NOEL PEMBERTON-BILLING, pioneer aviator, aeroplane manufacturer, outspoken adventurer, succeeded and failed a goodly number of times in his early years. Founder of Supermarine, Pemberton-Billing built no aeroplanes as renowned as … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 