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NICE NEWS—AN ONLINE SOURCE OF POSITIVITY
THESE DAYS, NEWS NEGATIVITY isn’t hard to come by. But the Nice News website offers a much welcome reason to visit online (as well as a great source for SimanaitisSays). Here are tidbits, based on...
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THE LRB ON LONDON’S WILD ’N’ CRAZY SIXITIES
“IF YOU REMEMBER THE SIXTIES,” Comedian Charlie Fleischer observed, “you really weren’t there.” Well, true, I was at Worcester Poly—majoring in mathematics, of all things—and later in grad school at...
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WHA’CHA’CALL’IT IN OLD MANHATTAN?
IT’S ALWAYS ENTERTAINING—and never too late—to bring one’s knowledge up to date. Like, for instance, is there an original Mr. Wall of Wall Street? Or why did a street in old Manhattan get named for...
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THE MONTEGASQUE FALCON—AND YR FTHFL SRVT PART 1
IN THE 1964 MONTE CARLO RALLY, Ford Falcons garnered 2nd place overall, 1st in the Touring Cars over 2500 cc, 1st and 2nd in the Grand Touring over 2500 cc, quickest in the five Special Sections, and...
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THE MONTEGASQUE FALCON—AND YR FTHFL SVRT PART 2
YESTERDAY IN PART 1, the 1964 Monte Carlo Rally was contested by the likes of Paddy Hopkirk, Bo Ljungfeldt, Pat Carlsson née Moss, and Formula One World Champion Graham Hill. The second and fourth of...
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BERNOULLI’S JAALI
ARCHITECTS OF THE TAJ MAHAL, Formula One designers, and cricket bowlers have all been inspired by Daniel Bernoulli. Here are tidbits on these gleaned from BBC as well as my usual Internet sleuthing....
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JAPAN TRIPPIN’—1958
THE JAPAN POCKET GUIDE entered my collection in 09/06, meaning it was already 48 years old when I acquired it. Hmm…. Now that it’s 64 years old, I wonder how well it describes my own Tokyo adventures....
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BEING HEP, LIKE, TWENTY-THREE SKIDOO
A BEAUTY OF SLANG is its etymological appeal. Why “23” anyway? And, y’know, is it “hep” or “hip”? This clearly calls for some research. Books and the Internet are helpful My sources are...
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THE FOURTH ELEMENT: FIRE
LIFE WAS A LOT SIMPLER when Aristotle had only four elements: air, earth, water, and fire. Later, he added heavenly aether, and things have gotten more complicated since then. It’s fire that interests...
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SPERM WHALE CLANISH CLICKING
IT HAS LONG BEEN KNOWN that sperm whales make clicking sounds to communicate as well as to echolocate prey in ocean darkness at depths of a mile or more. Recently, researchers have identified clans of...
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