FUEL-CELL UPDATE
IT’S NO longer “if,” but “when” hydrogen fuel-cell cars and trucks enter the mainstream. In the past few weeks, significant news from distinctly different quarters corroborates this. These include yet … Continue reading
SINSHEIM AUTO & TECHNIK
THE SOUTHWESTERN German town of Sinsheim is about 50 miles northwest of Stuttgart, 22 miles southeast of Hockenheim’s Formula 1 circuit. In May 1999, I had been visiting the university … Continue reading
FREBERG’S U.S.A.
HAPPY JULY 4TH! A great way to celebrate our nation’s 237th birthday is with the satire of Stan Freberg. His two-volume CD set, Stan Freberg Presents the United States of … Continue reading
ONLINE HOOKUPS
I SPEAK here of hookups in the more permanent sense of the M-word—of marriage. A recent report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, June 3, 2013, proposes … Continue reading
CHEETAHS: SPORTS CAR FELINES
YOU’VE PROBABLY heard that the fastest animal in the world, with reported bursts of 70 mph, is the cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus). However, A.M. Wilson et al, reporting in Nature, 12 … Continue reading
ON CHINESE STYLE
IS YOUR car daqi? In what has been the world’s largest car market since 2009, the People’s Republic of China is evolving its own sense of automotive style. A couple … Continue reading
FAILED DESIGNS
ENGINEERING HAS been defined as “doing a lot with a little.” But, of course, too little is not a good idea. This is the theme of To Forgive Design: Understanding … Continue reading
LA CREATION DU MONDE
LET’S CELEBRATE the art of theater set design. Here’s a wonderful book on the topic, together with focus on one of its subjects, artist Fernand Léger, and one of my favorite pieces … Continue reading
HOLMES’ LONDON
WATSON CALLED London “that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained.” Hardly high praise, though he and Holmes were also familiar with … Continue reading
DORNIER DO-X
THE TALE of the Dornier Do-X flying boat has technicalities galore, an impressive world tour—and even a bit of post-Versailles skullduggery. In the early days of aviation, the efficacy of a … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 