HERMANN THE GERMAN JOINS THE GREATER HUMAN RACE
MIGRATION, ETHNICITY, and racial purity have been much in the news these days. Fortunately, so have the stabilizing influences of scientific research. In particular, goodbye to a favorite myth believed … Continue reading
TOURING THE WORLD’S LETTUCE CAPITAL
EL CENTRO, once renowned as the Lettuce Capital of the World, is in California’s Imperial Valley, about 115 miles east of San Diego and 15 miles north of the Mexican … Continue reading
GIMME AN O! GIMME AN X! GIMME AN …
LET’S CELEBRATE the Oxford comma and its use at this website. Indeed, it made its debut here only yesterday with that second comma in “greed, stupidity, and political corruption.” There’s … Continue reading
NIKOLAI GOGOL’S GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR
IT’S A “story as timely as today’s headlines.” Well, maybe only in that Nikolai Gogol is a Russian and his play The Government Inspector, 1842, is a satire about greed, … Continue reading
PAPER CHASE!
DESPITE OUR “paperless society,” my computer printer still inexplicably keeps asking for the stuff. And I learned a lot more about it in the London Review of Books, June 15, … Continue reading
WHAT AN ODD LANGUAGE ENGLISH IS
AEON IS a not-for-profit digital magazine “committed to big ideas, serious enquiry and a humane worldview.” Founded in London in 2012, it publishes thoughtful essays, ideas and videos on all … Continue reading
WHAT IF ROBOTS UNIONIZE? PART 2
YESTERDAY, I shared robotic tidbits from Isaac Asimov and an Automotive News story about mirror specialist Gentex’s closure of its Mexico facility. Today, we pick up with Gentex’s business in … Continue reading
WHAT IF ROBOTS UNIONIZE? PART 1
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE is making robotic devices smarter every day. The societal implications of this are profound in the near, as well as long, term. Here are two days of my … Continue reading
TWO WINSTONS—AND A FAMILY PORTRAIT
A TWO-PERSON biography described in The New York Times Book Review, June 11, 2017, reminded me of a family portrait in one of our bookcases. The common theme is the … Continue reading
ROBERTS 6X AEROPLANE ENGINE
THE ROBERTS Motor Company of Sandusky, Ohio, manufactured advanced aircraft engines in the early part of the last century. Indeed, according to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, more … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 