Recently, in the incomparable 2Blowhards * , Donald Pittenger was carblogging. He described how the French carmaker Panhard, in the Thirties, made an attempt to make cars with the steering in the middle, and with curved windows on the sides. He explains plausibly why this was not a success, though I would rate the car’s …
Author: Steve Bodio
Rick Brookhiser on Books
He thinks reports of their demise are premature. For one thing they are optimally user- friendly: “Books have already found the optimal size. “You will never be alone with a poet in your pocket,” John Adams told one of his sons—and that was two centuries ago, long before paperbacks. Big books push the limit; some …
More Doom from the Doom- Master
… John Derbyshire, of course. This time he is worried about our culture’s new- found reluctance to DO all the old physical things: “I remember being a ten-year-old myself, spending hours watching my next-door neighbor, a butcher by trade but an amateur cabinet-maker by inclination, manipulating his saws, planes, chisels, and spokeshaves. My kids won’t …
Alpha on Cheney
The usual strong stuff from the Alpha Environmentalist on the quail kerfuffle: “Was Cheney reluctant to publicize it? You bet! Heck, if I wounded a hunting partner, I’d be so mortified I’d probably reload and finish the job, then kill all the other members of my party, then tell the police they had slaughtered each …
Against Pandas?
In the spirit of our penguin – bashing (see “Favorites”) here is a rant about pandas by brilliant anthro- blogger John Hawks: “….I am so tired of having to hear about it every time a panda ovulates in this country! “Count me out of this number: [V]isitors flock to see them, and when they cannot …
.600 Nitro
This video (requires Windows Media) , sent to me by an outdoor writer friend, is pretty funny but may need a little explanation. The .600 Nitro cartridge was the last and biggest of what might be thought of as the Edwardian elephant cartridges. It was exceeded in size only by the shotgun “Bore” rifles– ten …
England’s Decline and Fall, Continued..
Ted Dalrymple has another installment, in the Times of London, ready made. A few samples: “I have lived under a Latin American military dictatorship where daily life was freer than in Britain today. Of course, you couldn’t go out into the street and shout “Down with Señor Presidente”, at least not without dire consequences; on …
Has Evolution…
… made it hard for us to understand evolution? Matt’s post below on toads put me in mind of this provocative essay by Razib at Gene Expression. It is long, and I can’t seem to “capture” any paragraphs from it, but let me quote one bit for the flavor: “Science is hard,science is abnormal, and …
Crunchy
I am eagerly awaiting Rod Dreher’s new book on small- “c” conservatism and green issues. I was pleased to see this post on the issues by blogger Mark Shea. He says: ” Rod Dreher noted that the air in Dallas is filthy and that there’s no particular reason conservatives (whose name is, after all, related …
Quailgate
I think gunblogger Tam just about nails it, with one caveat: “Yes, we know that Ted Kennedy (aka “The Evel Kneivel of Chappaquidick”) is a pusillanimous toad who killed a woman with his total lack of backbone, and that his car has killed more women than Dick’s pansy little 28 gauge shotgun has “Yes, we …