VARIABLE COMPRESSION RATIOS–NISSAN, HONDA AND THE CFR
AS NOTED BY edmunds.com, Nissan made news at the 2016 Paris Motor Show with its variable-compression-ratio VC-T engine scheduled for production in the 2018 Infiniti QX50 crossover. Not that it’s … Continue reading
MINI THOUGHTS
AN AD in the January 1961 R&T got me thinking about the impact of the original Morris 850 in automotive history. This car evolved indirectly from the 1956 Suez Canal … Continue reading
BATTLING ALGORITHMS
MACHINE LEARNING benefits mankind only if the machine learns things to mankind’s benefit. I do not intend this simply as a play on words or philosophical tautology. The thought arose … Continue reading
SALOME, OH MY!
OPERA RIDES THE razor edge of absurdity, Peter Ustinov observed. I’ve already had fun here with operatic production goofs, such as costume malfunctions, tomb doors not closing properly and unexpected … Continue reading
AUDI: VORSPRUNG DURCH SKULDUGGERY
I’VE LONG ADMIRED German automaker Audi’s slogan, Vorsprung Durch Technik, Advancement Through Technology. Back in the mid-1970s, for example, Audi was one of the first automakers to promote the safety … Continue reading
THANKS, WOMAN’S DAY
A GOOD COOKBOOK is like a good travel guide. If it was worth visiting a century ago, it’s likely worth a visit today. If it was tasty 50 years ago, … Continue reading
CURTA CURTAIN CALL
THE CURTA CALCULATOR looks like a pepper grinder with numerals peering out. There’s a crank on the top that whirs with reassuring precision. And anyone serious about Time-Speed-Distance rallying in … Continue reading
HOLMES AND A TRAIN BLUFF
SHERLOCK HOLMES may have bluffed his chronicler Dr. John H. Watson during a train trip in their “Silver Blaze” adventure. I’m particularly fond of this tale and its implications because … Continue reading
SO, HOW FAR IS THAT STATION ANYWAY?
STUDENTS USED TO tell me they liked having the answer in the back of the textbook. Here, in a sense, it’s in the back of the website. Yesterday’s Peg Lynch … Continue reading
PEG LYNCH, THE DRUMMER, ALGEBRA AND THE HUMOR OF MARRIED LIFE
PEG LYNCH, PLAYING THE wife in radio’s The Couple Next Door, was the spiritual godmother of Tina Fey. Lynch’s warm and gentle comedic writing and acting are recurring pleasures to … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 