You wrote about the condenser/capacitor. About twenty years ago an engineer I knew who was working on the power plant up near Lake Anna told me not to run my automobile air conditioner with my window down. He said that practice would ruin my condenser. First, is this the same condenser in your reference; and, second, would you please explain in a few simple words whether this is true.

I don't think it is the same sort of condenser. The thing in a car's A/C does something (what exactly, I'd have to look up) to make the air cold. A capacitor (also called a condenser) stores electric charge. Basically it is two metal plates quite close together, with a voltage across them. It just sort of "holds on" to the electrons. Normally these are quite small. If you look at any circuit board, the little things that look like yellow Chiclets are capacitors. Anyway, a microphone which uses a capacitor to convert sound to electric signal is called - you guessed it - a condenser mic.