THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
THERE’S IRONY TO BE HAD in my having a Ph.D. in mathematics. This is at least in part because I spent the majority of my career working in automotive journalism, … Continue reading
DALÍ DIALING
“YOU’VE GOT SALVADOR DALÍ ON LINE ONE.” Ask Dalí at the Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. Image by Martin Pagh Ludvigsen/Goodby Siverstein & Partners via NPR. Details are given … Continue reading
PEKING TO PARIS—1907
THE CHALLENGE WAS SET by the Paris newspaper Le Matin on January 31, 1907: “What needs to be proved today is that as long as a man has a car, … Continue reading
TIMEKEEPING—OBJECTIVE, GEOMETRIC, NUMERICAL, FRACTIONAL, DIGITAL
THE SANDS OF TIME ARE ONLY ONE way we describe its passage. The positions of stars and angled points of a sundial are geometric. We have numerals: “three fifty-two.” Also, … Continue reading
DIALECTS THAT I’VE HEARD, LIKE, Y’KNOW
A RECENT WORDS TRIVIA WEBSITE “Top 6 English Dialects That Sound Like Different Languages” got me thinking of dialects I have known. Here are tidbits gleaned from the Words Trivia … Continue reading
ART DECO AT THE METROPOLITAN OPERA
I REALLY ENJOY ART DECO. And if you do too, have I got a deal for you on this Wednesday, April 24, 2024: The Metropolitan Opera HD Encore presentation of … Continue reading
“NOSTALGIA STRAIGHT-UP”—THE MORGAN +8 TURBO
IN R&T’S 1978 “10 BEST CARS FOR A CHANGING WORLD,” the Morgan +8 Turbo garnered the coveted Henry N. Manney III Intransigence Can Be a Virtue Award. The magazine noted, … Continue reading
LLM HALLUCINATING: AN A.I. PARLOR GAME
ROBERT CRAWFORD’S ARTICLE “After the British Library Cyberattack,” London Review of Books, April 4, 2024, is an excellent—and humorous—imagining of A.I. It follows up on the lamentable October 2023 British … Continue reading
FIAT X1/9: EXPERIENCING AN R&T TIME MACHINE PART 2
THIS ALL STARTED IN PART 1 celebrating a bargain mid-engine sports car, the Fiat X1/9. Here in Part 2, we pick up with 1980. Fuel Injection, 1980. Replacement of Weber carburetion … Continue reading
FIAT X1/9—EXPERIENCING AN R&T TIME MACHINE PART 1
FIFTY YEARS AGO, R&T SAID THE FIAT’S X1/9 “is the first good-looking open mid-engine roadster available to buyers of modest means. In nearly every way imaginable—handling, ride, looks, comfort, luggage … Continue reading
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