TARUFFI’S BISILURI
PIERO TARUFFI was a race driver—and also a dott. Ing. This Italian doctorate, equivalent to the English MEng degree, gave Taruffi the ability, and ambition, to design his own competition … Continue reading
HAPPY 800TH, MAGNA CARTA!
IT WAS JUNE 15, 1215, that King John of England granted concessions to 25 of his barons at Runnymede, about 20 miles west of what’s now central London. From then … Continue reading
LIFE WITH A MOGGIE TRIKE
THE GOOD folks of HB Automotive just attended to a 12,000-mile servicing of my Honda Crosstour, an oil change of Mobil 1 Synthetic, a new oil filter and a look … Continue reading
HELLCAT SURVIVES SCORPIONS’ ATTACK OVER SOCAL
MY FAVORITE World War II fighter aircraft is the Grumman F6F Hellcat. Though I certainly respect this carrier-based stalwart’s record number of kills over the Pacific, my favorite tale involves … Continue reading
PHYSICS FOR GEARHEADS
MY HIGH-SCHOOL physics teacher liked cameras. Following his whims, and not any school board guidelines, I came away with a deep appreciation for optics. He evidently hated levers. And, to … Continue reading
TRANSPACIFIC AIR LOCALES
INTERESTING ISLAND history lives in the tale of transpacific air travel. In the Golden Years of Aviation, 1919 – 1939, airliners lacked sufficient range for the vastness of the Pacific. … Continue reading
IN GOD WE TRUST—BUT FROM WHEN?
I SEEM to be finding religion and patriotism at this point of my life, prompted by a piece by Michael Kazin in The New York Times Book Review, May 17, … Continue reading
PICASSO’S THEATER
WONDERFUL ART comes about when famous artists are cajoled into theater costume and set design. I’ve offered examples of this, with Pablo Picasso’s contribution to Le Tricorne, Fernand Leger’s work … Continue reading
A MOTHER LODE OF NUGGETS
CALIFORNIA’S FORTY-NINER Gold Rush owes its origin to a construction fault at Colonel John Augustus Sutter’s mill. What’s more, Sutter wasn’t really a colonel. He didn’t actually discover the gold. … Continue reading
CHURCHILL’S FLIGHTS, PART 2
WINSTON CHURCHILL had aviation adventures galore, including those occurring not long after the dawn of flight. Here, we pick up his air travels during World War II in 1942. Playing … Continue reading
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