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: August, 2015

DISNEY ANIMATION: THE ILLUSION OF LIFE

LET’S CELEBRATE Disney animation and also the near-term evolution of publication. Initially published in 1981, the book Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life has been the classic work describing the … Continue reading

August 31, 2015 · 2 Comments

DID POIROT EVER MEET HOLMES?

THE WORLD’S two greatest consulting detectives, Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot, had overlapping careers. It was around the advent of the Great War, World War I to those of us … Continue reading

August 29, 2015 · Leave a comment

AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE WORRIES

DESPITE ALL the hype of autonomous vehicles as the hot tip for 2020, I predict society’s principal winners in this won’t be those seeking enhanced personal mobility. It will be … Continue reading

August 28, 2015 · 1 Comment

AVIATION ART SOARING TO THE ABSTRACT

IT DIDN’T take long for art to discover aviation as a subject. A Wright Flyer had already appeared in Henri Rousseau’s Les Pêcheurs à la ligne avec aeroplane less than … Continue reading

August 27, 2015 · Leave a comment

FREEZER CLEAN-OUT GUMBO

I HAVE several gumbo recipes, some so wonderfully authentic with Andouille sausage, filé and the like that I daren’t serve them without a couple Abita brews. Another is FCO (Freezer … Continue reading

August 26, 2015 · 1 Comment

WHAT’S MODERN?

I CONFESS, I don’t usually read Elle Decor. However, its September 2015 issue caught my interest: “What’s Modern Now?” Being a sometimes Luddite who still likes to think I’m edgy … Continue reading

August 25, 2015 · Leave a comment

MACGYVER—YOU GO, GRRL!

HOLLYWOOD AND engineering organizations have teamed up with a neat project: Five aspiring screenwriters are developing TV pilots of series starring female heroes of science. The Next MacGyver competition is … Continue reading

August 24, 2015 · 3 Comments

MOZART SELLS! BUT SO DOES WILLY NELSON

AUSTRALIAN RESEARCHERS have studied the music congruity effects on consumer behavior; loosely, how background music affects sales of one thing or another. Not surprisingly, it depends on what’s being sold … Continue reading

August 23, 2015 · Leave a comment

THE DEMISE OF AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING

STUDENTS ENTERING traditional automotive engineering programs today may be the last generation of this noble profession. If predictions about future automobiles are correct, the only discipline surviving will be body … Continue reading

August 22, 2015 · 2 Comments

SLEEVE VALVES ALOFT

BRISTOL’S HERCULES rivals the Rolls-Royce Merlin as the most important British aircraft engine of World War II. The Merlin was a liquid-cooled V-12 with conventional poppet valves, four per cylinder, … Continue reading

August 21, 2015 · Leave a comment