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ENTERTAINING ENGLISH HISTORY
SURE, WE HAVE our George Washington cutting down that apple tree and proving the law of gravity by throwing an apple across the Potomac. (Or do I have this wrong?) But our admittedly short-lived...
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ERTÉ, MARION DAVIES, AND WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST
A COIN TOSS linked Art Deco artist Erté with publishing mogul William Randolph Hearst. One result of the coin toss was a movie, The Restless Sex, all but forgotten—and for good reason. Another was...
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POM ON MOTOR RACING AND NATIONALISM
LAURENCE “POM” POMEROY, 1908–1966, wrote about more than automotive technicalities in his classic book The Grand Prix Car. There is a tale that Pom’s father, English automotive engineer Laurence Henry...
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HELDENDIVAS OF WAGNER’S RING DES NIBELUNGEN
HELDENTENORS ARE RENOWNED for their heroic Wagnerian singing. But what about the divas? They’re typically portrayed as plumpish, large-bosomed ladies wearing cow-horned helmets. Tenors, Helden and...
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1914 G.P. VAUXHALL—ANALYZING A FATHER’S WORK PART 1
IN 1913, ENGLISH engineer L.H. Pomeroy designed an innovative racing car for the 1914 Tourist Trophy race as well as the internationally important, and highly popular, French Grand Prix. In 1966, his...
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1914 G.P. VAUXHALL—ANALYZING A FATHER’S WORK PART 2
YESTERDAY WE BEGAN discussing Laurence “Pom” Pomeroy’s analyses of his father L.H.P.’s design for the 1914 G.P. Vauxhall, a car replete with innovative features. Today in Part 2 we offer Pom’s...
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THE DRONE RACE
DRONES CAN BE entertaining radio-controlled hobby craft. They’re useful for aerial photography and employed in news and traffic reports. They’re increasingly seen as delivery vehicles. And, alas,...
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BARD STATS
WHEN WIFE DOTTIE was a kid, she and her friend Gracie Watts would perform plays for their parents. When she asked her dad which part he liked best, he’d invariably say, “the last act.” Similarly,...
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ETYMOLOGY: VACCINE
MUCH ON OUR minds these days, the word “vaccine” has interesting etymology and important current usage. Here are tidbits gleaned from my usual Internet sleuthing. Dictionary Definition....
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OBAMA’S MEMOIRS
I HAVEN’T READ Barack Obama’s A Promised Land, and considering the number of books already on my “to-read” stack, I’m not likely to attempt this 768-page challenge. On the other hand, this is an added...
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