SEA ALIENS
THE OCTOPUS is as near to intelligent alien life as anything found on this planet. I’ve learned about two books that explain this outlandish statement. The London Review of Books, … Continue reading
FROM GYPSYING TO GLITTERY CEILINGS
BACK BEFORE driving was considered an undesirable activity, people used to “take drives” as entertainment. Imagine that! And, indeed, there’s a most informative account of this: Americans on the Road, … Continue reading
CLIMATE CHANGE, LANGUAGEWISE
THE TERM climate change has been all but eliminated from the Trump administration’s nomenclature. Thus, I guess, to some this means it doesn’t exist. As an example of this thinking, … Continue reading
RALLY HEROICS
ON-BOARD TRIP computers have taken the fun out of cars. And maybe saved a few relationships. I’m thinking of the competitive motorsport activity of time-speed-distance rallying, still practiced here and … Continue reading
B.R.1 ROTARY AERO ENGINE
QUICK: NAME a famous automaker who first manufactured aero engines. Oh, the one with the spinning prop logo? Actually, I was thinking of an even earlier one: W.O. Bentley and … Continue reading
IS THAT WALTER P. SPINNING TO REDLINE?
NO, ACTUALLY the metaphor for Chrysler’s founder spinning in his grave is long out of date. True, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is being courted today by possibly four—count them, four—Chinese automakers. … Continue reading
ELEMENTAL HAIKU
A HAIKU, as is familiarly known, is a Japanese poem of a particular length and structure. It consists of three lines, the first and last having five sound units, the … Continue reading
THE COMPLEX TALE OF LUNAR PARAPHERNALIA
WHO SAYS Science, the weekly magazine of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, is full of dull and boring (you’ll excuse the expression) science? Here’s a tale of … Continue reading
BUCKLING UP WITH ROVER
SEAT BELTS came late to the automobile, as we will see here from a series of 1967 R&Ts. In the earliest days of powered mobility, no one thought of securing … Continue reading
ON BENJAMINS, JACKSONS, HAMILTONS—BUT MAYBE NOT TUBMANS
U.S. CURRENCY has been in the media a lot these days. Recently I’ve read stories about our paper money in The Christian Science Monitor, The New Yorker, The New York … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 