JAPANESE AESTHETICS, COURTESY OF MAZDA
SOME YEARS back, Mazda offered a short course in Japanese aesthetics through publication of several books. Being the Nipponophile I am, I am delighted to share details here. The four … Continue reading
A COYOTE TALE
IT’S ONE of North America’s more encouraging ecological tales: Coyotes are thriving. Never endangered, never protected, Canis latrans (Latin for “barking dog”) was once indigenous to roughly the U.S. Mountain … Continue reading
HOUDINI—PIONEER AVIATOR
HARRY HOUDINI performed death-defying feats during the early years of the 20th Century. Flying through the air—in the earliest of aeroplanes—was one of these feats, an achievement that got him … Continue reading
HERE’S TO THE IGGIES!
IG NOBEL Prizes for 2013 have been announced. These annual honors are organized by the Annals of Improbable Research magazine and co-sponsored by the Harvard-Radcliffe Society of Physics Students and … Continue reading
OP SHAKESPEARE
WE RECOGNIZE the sounds of Shakespearean English, that regal, full and slightly plummy resonance of the language. But this is modern theatrical English; it’s not the language as she was … Continue reading
SUBARU EYESIGHT
ACCIDENT MITIGATION and autonomous driving are much in the news these days. Autonomous driving claims to replace the driver in mundane tasks of mobility. By contrast, accident mitigation takes over … Continue reading
TOM McCAHILL
THERE HAVE been lots of automotive journalists over the years, but Tom McCahill was one of a kind. He more or less invented the U.S. road test and certainly enriched … Continue reading
YOU READ IT HERE FIRST (MAYBE)
EVERY SO often, even the blind pig finds a truffle. And so it is with this website. One way or the other, items in the past resonate with the latest news. … Continue reading
THE RIGHT STUFF, THE WRONG WAY
AN IRASCIBLE Douglas Corrigan wanted to fly the Atlantic solo in the mid-1930s. However, federal officials looked at his clunker of an airplane and said no. The officials had good … Continue reading
MOLLS, SPIVS AND GOODY TWO-SHOES
A BOOK on slang may seem like a contradiction in terms. Slang is ephemeral; books are lasting, or used to be thought so. On the other hand, historical slang is … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 