NEW COPTER REPELLED BY MARS TOO!
IT’S A HOARY old joke of fixed-wing aviators that helicopters don’t really fly; it’s just that the Earth repels them. With this in mind, it’s time to celebrate another rotary-wing … Continue reading
THE SIAI-MARCHETTI-NARDI FN-333—FOR PIRATES OF THE RIVIERA PART 2
YESTERDAY, THE FN-333 RIVIERA’S heritage was described here as a rare amphibious aircraft, 26 produced in Italy, perhaps six in the world airworthy today. Here in Part 2, I offer … Continue reading
THE SIAI-MARCHETTI-NARDI FN-333—FOR PIRATES OF THE RIVIERA PART 1
IN “THE COOL World of Seaplanes,” Flying magazine, June 1966, James Gilbert summed up the FN-333 Riviera, “The ads talk about your being a private pirate in the Riviera, but … Continue reading
CELEBRATING SECONDHAND ROCKETRY
ONE-USE ROCKETRY IS so 20th Century. In the old days of space exploration, rockets and their boosters were one-use entities, discarded in the ocean as part of the space capsule … Continue reading
SPACE GRUB EXTRAORDINAIRE
“THIS BOEUF BOURGUIGNON is over the moon!” Well, not quite yet, but it is among the offerings to astronauts now joined up at the International Space Station. Kenneth Chang writes … Continue reading
CHRONICLE OF AVIATION—1921
THE ROARING TWENTIES followed the roar of warfare, the latter including unprecedented combat in the air. Bombers were converted to passenger service. Surplus fighter planes gave barnstormers a peacetime career. … Continue reading
NEW THOUGHTS ON A.I. PART 2
YESTERDAY, WE SHARPENED our discussion of artificial intelligence by separating A.I. from some guy named Al. We also gleaned tidbits from James Fallows’ article in The New York Times Book … Continue reading
NEW THOUGHTS ON A.I. PART 1
MY MOST RECENT thought on artificial intelligence is to add punctuation, A.I. Hitherto, depending upon type font, discussions of this subject here at SimanaitisSays resembled a bio of a guy … Continue reading
LONDON BRIDGE—FALLING TO LAKE HAVASU CITY
GREAT CITIES ARE established on rivers: London’s Thames, Paris’s Seine, Vienna’s Danube, St. Petersburg’s Neva, Prague’s Vltava; the list goes on. Rivers encourage commerce and development. But they also offer … Continue reading
A FABULOUS GEM, ETYMOLOGY—PLUS A LAST-MINUTE PUZZLE!
I’VE NEVER VISITED M.S. Rau Fine Art Antiques Jewels, on Royal Street in New Orleans. But it runs some of the spiffiest ads. This recent one, “Beyond Blue: Tanzanite Ring,” … Continue reading
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