THE FIRST U.S. CIVIL WAR
DISPUTED SURVEYS led to the first war between U.S. citizens. The year was 1835, 26 years before the Battle of Fort Sumter and the American Civil War. The conflict, known … Continue reading
PRESS ONE FOR BASIC ENGLISH
CHARLES KAY OGDEN had a revolutionary idea when he wrote Basic English: A General Introduction with Rules and Grammar, published in 1930. By Basic English, he didn’t mean merely the … Continue reading
WATER BUGS DO IT, BUT CAN WE?
GERRIDS ARE a family of insects including water bugs, pond skaters, water striders and jesus bugs, all of which can travel atop the water. Water bugs use their mass, musculature … Continue reading
KFAC, REMEMBERED FONDLY
ONLY RECENTLY, in researching “The Birth of Los Angeles TV,” did I learn that Auburn/Cord/Duesenberg auto mogul E.L. Cord was the C of Los Angeles classical radio station KFAC. (A … Continue reading
CHRISTIE’S MOST OUTRAGEOUS RACE CAR
WALTER CHRISTIE designed and built outrageous race cars from 1904 to 1909. And the most outrageous was his last one, the 1909 racer that was later used by Barney Oldfield in … Continue reading
MAN, THE FIERCEST—AND MOST SHORT-SIGHTED?—PREDATOR
HUMANS ARE hunter-gathers by nature. However, in contrast to other predators, we are also technologists devising improved means of predation. And we are the only predators hunting for trophy or … Continue reading
THE BIRTH OF LOS ANGELES TV
PHILO T. FARNSWORTH may not have foreseen what he started. In 1927, the same year Charles Lindbergh flew non-stop New York to Paris, Farnsworth transmitted a televised image at his … Continue reading
THE CHAMPIONSHIP OF THE UNIVERSE, 1914
WHAT A glorious time it must have been. Airplanes were barely a decade old, cars only a little more familiar. Both were novelties that people loved to watch. Race driver … Continue reading
UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFERENTIAL
EVERY FEW years, I feel compelled to reeducate myself on the workings of an automotive differential. There’s nothing particularly life-critical about this; it’s akin to doing crosswords left-handed when one … Continue reading
TV HISTORY AND CULTURE
MY PRINCIPAL enthusiasms for television are British (its mysteries and period dramas) and historical (TV’s place in an evolving culture). I unearthed a book on this latter topic. I’ll save … Continue reading
