Featured Image: Valens Aqueduct, Istanbul In our last installment I mistakenly referred to the Strait of Bosporous as a “river.”  Kudos to Ernest Lewicki for correcting me — and for leading me to explore the mechanisms by which Constantinople ensured its water supply.   Though he gets all the credit for the famous Aqueduct which bears his name,  Valens‘ primary […]

  On June 29, 1956 Dwight Eisenhower authorized a 41,000-mile “National System of Interstate and Defense Highways” to ensure safe, speedy and reliable transcontinental travel — and evacuations in the event of nuclear war.  Today much of the Interstate Highway System has exceeded its design life.  Unforeseen traffic and congestion stress concrete and commuters alike. In […]