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HOLIDAY CHEER 2024
SEASONS’ GREETINGS TO YOU ALL. Let’s close off this at-best mixed year with laughs gleaned from a variety of Internet sleuthing and my fondness for SiriusXM “Radio Classics.” A Bunch of Dad/Grandpa...
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THE WATERS SISTERS—ROLLS-BENTLEY ENTHUSIASTS, FAVS OF CHURCHILL, FOES OF LORD...
YESTERDAY BERNARD L. KING TOLD US about the Waters sisters and the adventures in a Bentley Oxborrow and Fuller Continental Tourer. But there’s a lot more to this talented pair: Elsie and Doris Waters...
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AULD LANG SYNE
LET’S LOOK FORWARD to a Happy New Year tomorrow. But here on New Year’s Eve, it’s fun to be reflective with the Best of 2024, sorta. I’ve selected seven postings that I’m glad I researched and...
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STRIKING UP DECIDEDLY DIFFERENT BANDS—SOME WITH TARIFFS, SOME WITHOUT
MY INTRODUCTION TO STRIKE UP THE BAND was a harmless Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland flick on Turner Classic Movies. By the time my research completed, I learned of an entirely different origin, a tycoon...
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DO OUR LANGUAGES SHAPE US? OR DO WE SHAPE OUR LANGUAGES? PART 1
ANSWER: BOTH, AS MANVIR SINGH DESCRIBES in “How Much Does Our Language Shape Our Thinking?,” The New Yorker, December 23, 2024. Here, in Parts 1 and 2 today and tomorrow, are tidbits gleaned from this...
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DO OUR LANGUAGES SHAPE US? OR DO WE SHAPE OUR LANGUAGES? PART 2
YESTERDAY, WE LEARNED OF A LANGUAGE that logically places the past in front of us (where it’s readily perceived) and the future behind us (because it cannot be seen). Today in Part 2, tidbits continue...
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OXBURROW AND FULLER CONTINENTAL TOURERS SURELY GOT AROUND
OF COURSE, IT’S THE BENTLEY DRIVERS CLUB—contrasted with the Rolls-Royce Owners Club. The italics mine, not theirs. Confirmation of this is evident in Bentley Motors: On The Road, a compendium of...
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WHO OR WHAT IS GENIUS? PART 1
CHRISTOPHER BEHA OFFERS A GUEST ESSAY in “A.I. Isn’t Genius. We Are,” The New York Times, December 26, 2024. Here, in Parts 1 and 2 today and tomorrow, are tidbits gleaned from his article, together...
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WHO OR WHAT IS GENIUS? PART 2
YESTERDAY’S TIDBITS BEGAN ANALYSES of Christopher Beha’s “A.I. Isn’t Genius. We Are.” Today in Part 2 we pick up Western philosophy in our early first millennium. The Christian Era’s Unity with God....
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A HOT ’55 CHEVY AND MORE
“AFTER 25 YEARS OF BUILDING CONSERVATIVE six-cylinder automobiles,” R&T wrote, “the 1955 Chevrolet V-8 is an anomaly…. but it certainly appears that a Chevrolet V-8 with optional 180 bhp engine...
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HAS TRUMP READ BUDISH? OR ANYTHING BEYOND SOCIAL MEDIA?
TRUMP IS A (SELF-ACKNOWLEDGED) “VERY STABLE GENIUS.” Quite apart from other “weaves” about Greenland and the Panama Canal, he has also talked of creating a bitcoin strategic reserve. How very stable...
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A GRAND SUMO CHRISTMAS BOOK
DAUGHTER SUZ AND I ENJOY Grand Sumo Highlights on NHK World TV. To enhance our knowledge of this Japanese sport ritual, she gifted me a copy of The Perfect Guide to Sumo. The Perfect Guide to Sumo in...
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ON A.I. COMMENTARIES, ELEPHANT HIJINKS, AND TRUMP CLIMATE IGNORANCE PART 1
THERE ARE TIDBITS A’PLENTY in scientific matters, as reported in Science, publication of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Here in Parts 1 and 2 today and tomorrow are three...
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ON A.I. COMMENTARIES, ELEPHANT HIJINKS, AND TRUMP CLIMATE IGNORANCE PART 2
YESTERDAY’S SCIENCE TIDBITS REVEALED A.I. SKULLDUGGERY within academic journal commentaries. Today’s continue with elephants and weather forecasting. Talk about variety. Behaviors Reveal Sophisticated...
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EUROPEAN SOUVENIRS
THE DISCOVERER BLOG RECENTLY RECOMMENDED “Ten Souvenirs You Should Actually Buy in Europe.” Which, in turn, got me thinking of my own travel acquisitions, about which I score pretty well on the...
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“GHOST WORDS” IN DICTIONARIES
THERE’S NOTHING SCARY ABOUT DICTIONARY “GHOST WORDS.” They’re the result of misreading, mistranscribing, and plain old editorial goofing. Here’s a selection gleaned from several Internet sources....
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TRUMP’S BUNCH PART 1
ELLIOT WEINBERGER IS AN AMERICAN ESSAYIST regularly appearing in London Review of Books. By way of achievements, Wikipedia notes, “In 2021, Weinberger was awarded the Jeanette Schocken / Bremerhaven...
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TRUMP’S BUNCH PART 2
YESTERDAY WE BEGAN GLEANING TIDBITS from Elliot Weinberger’s London Review of Books article “Incoming!” concerning Trump appointees. Today, we continue (is there no end to this madness?). “The future...
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KALININ’S K-12: WIN SOME, LOSE IT ALL
KONSTANTIN KALININ WAS A SOVIET AIRCRAFT DESIGNER. His designs were unconventional, which made them controversial during the Stalin era—and also, in retrospect, interesting projects for my GMax hobby...
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90S SLANG STILL ALIVE AND WELL
NEAR THE END OF THE 1990S I WAS—wisely, it turns out—debunking the Y2K Dread that gizmos were incapable of counting 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001…. I was driving a Morgan at the time and we even used it to...
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