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: January, 2017

I’M JUST A GHEE WITH THE LINGO

WIFE DOTTIE believes I am overdoing the old-time radio bit. Be that as it may, for her sake alone it is appropriate that I consult a period document, my Dictionary … Continue reading

January 19, 2017 · 1 Comment

A BUGATTI ELECTRIC VEHICLE!

THE 1931 TYPE 56 wasn’t Bugatti’s first electric car, but it’s likely his rarest. Following the popularity of his Baby Bugatti half-scale electric car for kids, le Patron had a … Continue reading

January 18, 2017 · Leave a comment

INNES’S GOLD COUNTRY

GRAND PRIX driver Innes Ireland could be something of a historian. His R&T Formula One reports were always entertaining and accurate. And when he wrote off the beaten track, his … Continue reading

January 15, 2017 · 2 Comments

YOU SAY “TOMATILLO”…

AND I SAY “Physalis philadelphica.” Yet how this relative of the tomato got associated with the city of brotherly love is a mystery to me. There’s news related to it, … Continue reading

January 13, 2017 · 1 Comment

ON SATIRE, SELF-INFLICTED AND OTHERWISE

SATIRE STRETCHES from Aristophanes’ The Wasps to Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz to Vaughn Meader’s parodies of JFK to today’s Saturday Night Live and recent goings-on with the U.S. … Continue reading

January 12, 2017 · 2 Comments

PEACEMAKER LORE

TIMING: IT’S IMPORTANT in peace as well as in war. Ironically, one of the latter’s weapons of mass destruction has the name Peacemaker, and this aircraft is an interesting example of … Continue reading

January 11, 2017 · 2 Comments

BEATRICE D’ESSLING WAS A REAL CRACK

ONCE AGAIN, I SEEM to feed myself (and you) lines that call for more research. A couple days ago, I cited The San Francisco Call newspaper describing actress Beatrice d’Essling … Continue reading

January 9, 2017 · 1 Comment

MUST IT BE GOVERNMENT VS SCIENCE?

I HAD PLANNED today to highlight the 2016 Breakthrough of the Year, as identified by Science, the weekly magazine of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, December 23, … Continue reading

January 8, 2017 · 8 Comments

(FUN)DAMENTALS OF CUISINE

HOW ABOUT RETURNING to the fundamentals of cuisine, as described in one of my older cookbooks? Good Housekeeping produced it in 1958, and it shows how healthy meals have evolved … Continue reading

January 7, 2017 · 5 Comments

MRS. F.J. LINZ, PART 2

When we left plucky automobilist Mrs. F.J. Linz yesterday, she had already earned the respect of the San Francisco motoring community. In 1908, Mrs. Linz served as the General Manager … Continue reading

January 6, 2017 · 2 Comments