The pronunciation of "Cholmondeley" really cracks me up. What's the origin of the name, is it Gaelic? Leaving out all those syllables does make it much easier to pronounce. "Beaulieu" as byoo-lee is another one.

The final "r" added in non-rhotic accents is sometimes used to separate vowel sounds, i.e., "sonatar in G-major" instead of "sonata in G-major", so that a glottal stop isn't necessary between the words. It's similar to saying "an apple" instead of "a apple".

My Latin teach in Jr. High School pronounced it "et-KAY-ter-ah", i.e., with the classical Latin hard "c". The practice of pronouncing the letter c like "ch" is from the Roman Catholic Church, from what I was told.

For many years, Road and Track used to run a short annual(?) article on "Cars of the Staff" listing the various exotic and mundane vehicles they owned, along with some explanatory comments (e.g. "the three Siata Springs all belong to the same person"). I don't read R&T regularly any more, I'm not sure if they…

Something like this happened years ago when a co-worker of mine went camping in the Adirondacks. His description of the phone call to his car insurance company was pretty entertaining. "It was a BEAR, B-E-A-R, as in 'Smokey the ...'"

Bear as passenger - for when a yellow Lamborghini doesn't get you enough attention.

This would also explain wearing sheer clothing and no underwear at movie openings.

Are there any of these movie stars who actually go to college and take real science classes like chemistry? Excepting Natalie Portman, Jodie Foster, Dolph Lundgren, etc.

I agree on both counts.

I've never heard of the book or theory in question ("water has consciousness"), but it sounds as if it's some sort of outgrowth of Homeopathy, which posits that massively diluted substances still have therapeutic effects.

My understanding was that the Porsche Lithium battery was another example of small improvement in performance for huge increase in cost - Sort of like ceramic brakes.

Beat me to it, I was going to post the same thing.

Yep, my Mom wound up cleaning the litter box after my parents gave in to our repeated requests for cats.

I have to agree - The series with wide-open rules (the original Can-Am, F1, etc.) often result on processional racing (think McLaren, then Porsche in Can-Am). Any competition is typically sporadic and short-lived, as big-spending underdogs start losing regularly and cut their losses.

A lot of those old '60's -'70's muscle cars are really only good for two things: they look really cool, and they accelerate well. Stopping, turning, handling? Not so much.

He really had a life like a Hollywood movie, I think if his life story were written as a work of fiction, it would be considered too colorful to be believed.

He flew P51s in WW2 and shot down a Me 262 jet, which was the first jet fighter ever, in 1944. I saw him signing books at Lime Rock a few years ago (he was 93 or 94?) and he was still sharp. I asked him about the Me262 shoot down and he was straightforward about it - He got the Me 262 when it was trying to land,…

They might not BAN human drivers, but insurance and legal considerations could make it a very unattractive proposition in terms of cost and liability.

Even if it wasn't a "glamorous" profession, the low pay is particularly shocking when you consider all the lives they're responsible for.

AHEM!