Nothing is guaranteed

I was once quite comfortable with the idea that speaking English conferred absolute advantages (beyond being able to demand aircraft landing instructions in that language, worldwide).

Then, gradually, I discovered it was much more complicated. There were the German internal combustion pioneers, Nikolaus Otto, Karl Benz, Wilhelm Maybach, getting the game started. Proper Germans strongly disapproved the smell and the noise, leaving enthusiastic adoption of the automobile and motorcycle to the crazed French, who transformed the whole affair into