CALIFORNIA, HERE I CAME
I’M A born-again Californian, not a native one. Wife Dottie, by contrast, is a desert rat from El Centro. In rearranging some bookshelves recently, I came upon a fine California … Continue reading
WONDERS OF A CAR’S CATALYTIC CONVERTER
MY RECENT item on fuel cell catalysts got me and several readers thinking about conventional automotive catalytic converters. Are automotive catalysts the same as those in a fuel cell? No. … Continue reading
CREATE ONE’S OWN LA BOHÈME
I’VE REDISCOVERED a book about making one’s own opera production with nothing more than scissors and glue. What fun. A snip-and-paste challenge. I think of this as preparation for the … Continue reading
CUTTING FUEL CELL COSTS
AN ADVANCE at Argonne National Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy may significantly lower the cost of fuel cell propulsion. Briefly, Argonne researchers have developed a less costly replacement … Continue reading
AIRCRAFT DEICING/ANTI-ICING TIDBITS
TEMPERATURES TODAY in a few Southern California locales may hit three digits (Fahrenheit, thankfully). So I thought some tidbits about aircraft deicing and anti-icing might be cool. Maybe you’re familiar … Continue reading
SHAMUS SLANG—YOU GET ME, NATCH?
WIFE DOTTIE fears I might be enjoying too many old-time radio shows. You know, Nero Wolfe, Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe, Boston Blackie. Shamuses who treat their molls tough. Dolls who … Continue reading
THE MOOR OF THE MET
GIUSEPPE VERDI’S Otello opens the Metropolitan Opera’s 2015-2016 season with a break in tradition. Hitherto, its Moor of Venice has appeared in black makeup, but not this time. Tenor Aleksandrs … Continue reading
MOROCCAN RIFFS—AND MORAL CONSEQUENCES
FULL DISCLOSURE: This began as an item on U.S. World War I pilots taking part in the 1925 Riff Uprising in Morocco. However, the name Riff rang an old-movie bell. … Continue reading
VW’S DIESEL SCAM
THERE IS technical interest in Volkwagen’s scamming of government and customers. According to Bloomberg Business, almost 500,000 VW and Audi diesels, beginning in Model Year 2009, are involved in the … Continue reading
JEREZ, CADIZ, AND A BASELESS GLASS OF SHERRY
FORMULA 1 winter testing is big-time today, with guided tours for enthusiasts in March 2016 to the Spanish Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. In 1989 when I first attended one, things were … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 