Simanaitis Says

On cars, old, new and future; science & technology; vintage airplanes, computer flight simulation of them; Sherlockiana; our English language; travel; and other stuff

Monthly Archives: February, 2013

FUEL-CELL NEWS FROM SAE

FUEL CELLS have often been called “the best technology that’s always 10 years away.” But updates from the SAE 2013 Hybrid & Electric Vehicle Technologies Symposium, held February 19-21 in … Continue reading

February 28, 2013 · Leave a comment

WHAT’S THAT IN GUINEAS?

IT HAS been said the English were the most honest of people when they had to deal with each other and their ₤ s d currency system. A recent item … Continue reading

February 27, 2013 · 1 Comment

STATE OF THE (HYBRID/EV) UNION

THE SAE 2013 Hybrid & Electric Vehicle Technologies Symposium, held February 19-21 in Anaheim, offered a wealth of information on the timely topics of hybrids and EVs. The following mini-essay explores … Continue reading

February 26, 2013 · Leave a comment

VICKERS VIMY

WHO MADE the first non-stop transatlantic flight? Not Lindbergh; his 1927 achievement was the first solo performance of this feat. Not the Navy-Curtiss NC-4 and its May 1919 flight from … Continue reading

February 25, 2013 · Leave a comment

HYPER HYBRIDS

THE 2013 SAE Hybrid & Electric Vehicle Technologies Symposium was held this past week in Anaheim, and I profited from three days of interaction with experts in the field. I’m in the … Continue reading

February 24, 2013 · 1 Comment

ESTONIAN GAMBIT

ESTONIA HAS launched a nationwide system of electric-vehicle fast chargers, with 507 EVs to use them and a financing program for people to buy these EVs—all in exchange for some … Continue reading

February 23, 2013 · 1 Comment

OWLS AND WRINKLY FINGERS

TWO COMPLETELY unrelated items jumped out of recent Science magazines, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. One details how owls can twist their heads so far … Continue reading

February 22, 2013 · Leave a comment

MY KINGDOM FOR A PARKING SPACE

AN ITEM in Science magazine, 8 February 2013, got me thinking about England’s Richard III, the last of its Plantagenet kings and recently unearthed beneath a Leicester parking lot. There … Continue reading

February 21, 2013 · Leave a comment

RED BULL FLUG TAG

ONE OF the more imaginative events I covered for R&T was the September 2003 Red Bull Flug Tag competition at the Santa Monica Pier. There’s a similar event planned for Long … Continue reading

February 20, 2013 · Leave a comment

GEORGES PAULIN: STYLIST, SPY

GEORGES PAULIN was a talented inventor, car designer and dentist—and during World War II, an operative for the French Resistance. One of his automotive inventions earned him a French patent. … Continue reading

February 19, 2013 · 2 Comments