PITY THE SIMULTANEOUS INTERPRETER
IT IS difficult to imagine a more nerve-wracking job than real-time translation. A person prattles on in one language while the audience wearing headphones awaits your interpretation in another. This … Continue reading
THE ULTIMATE SLEDDING MACHINE
THIS TITLE sounds like a sister slogan of a Bavarian automaker, but it’s completely appropriate: BMW plays an important role in the U.S. Olympic Team’s two-man and two-woman bobsled competition … Continue reading
PRIDDY FINE ART
AUTOMOBILE SPY photographers have been known for stealth, but not particularly for artistry. Brenda Priddy, however, is an exception. Her spy photo credits have appeared in prestigious magazines such as … Continue reading
SOLID-STATE BATTERY UPDATE
TOYOTA HAS recently released data on its battery research, both for solid-state batteries expected during a 2020s’ timeframe as well as a next-generation lithium-air concept perhaps a decade beyond that. … Continue reading
ABRAMS P-1 EXPLORER
EARLY AVIATOR Talbert “Ted” Abrams was the father of aerial photography. Not only did he perfect the genre into a measurement-oriented photogrammetry, he also established an aircraft manufacturing company to … Continue reading
A ROYAL WAY WITH WORDS
OVER THE years, the English royals have been generally an entertaining lot. A book in my collection offers proof of this. Elizabeth Countess of Longford, 1906 – 2002, had a … Continue reading
WORLD WAR I AVIATION
AVIATION ENTERED World War I as almost a curiosity, balloons and fledgling aeroplanes used for observation and little more. Within five years, 1914-1918, aircraft became deadly weapons bringing warfare to … Continue reading
WHAT A SYNECDOCHE!
WORDS CAN arise in the most circuitous ways. I was reading about French president Francois Hollande’s relational complexities—His Élysée Palace live-in pal, Valérie Trierweiler, apparently moving out in response to … Continue reading
HOLMES IN AMERICA?
DID SHERLOCK Holmes ever set foot on the North America continent? I mean actually, not just in those charming, but non-Canonical pastiches. Watson’s chronicles are wonderfully ambiguous in this regard. … Continue reading
