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: November, 2021

LIGHT MY FIRE—SELECTIVELY

A NEW BOOK, Stephen J. Pyne’s The Pyrocene, puts historic and environmental aspects of fire into perspective. Its review in Science, October 15, 2021, by Mary Ellen Hannibal is subtitled, … Continue reading

November 8, 2021 · Leave a comment

A POTATO NAMED DOUG

OUR FAMILY HAS a heritage of worshipping Solanum tuberosum, the potato. But we’ve never taken to naming individual ones. This is despite potatoes being among our Christmas ornaments and a … Continue reading

November 7, 2021 · Leave a comment

POM ON THE 4 1/2-LITRE SUPERCHARGED BENTLEY PART 2

THOUGH DESIGNED AS a Le Mans sports car, the 4 1/2-litre Bentley in supercharged form took to Grand Prix racing. Today, we continue Laurence Pomeroy’s analysis of this car in … Continue reading

November 6, 2021 · Leave a comment

POM ON THE 4 1/2-LITRE SUPERCHARGED BENTLEY PART 1

LAURENCE POMEROY, F.R.S.A., M.S.A.E., is author of The Grand Prix Car.Though not explicitly designed for Grands Prix, a 4 1/2-Litre Bentley finished second in the 1930 French Grand Prix and, … Continue reading

November 5, 2021 · Leave a comment

A TYPEFACE RECONCILIATION PART 2

YESTERDAY IN PART 1, Comic Sans typeface entertained us with its popularity—and notoriety: Indeed, which other typefaces foster hate groups? To which I‘m tempted to respond “Get a life.”  Today … Continue reading

November 4, 2021 · 4 Comments

A TYPEFACE RECONCILIATION PART 1

IT’S QUITE ENOUGH that we argue about Covid vaccinations, women’s bodies, and batshit crazy politicos. I offer here reconciliation on typefaces, specifically Helvetica versus Comic Sans. My sources for these … Continue reading

November 3, 2021 · 2 Comments

NORMA JEAN, AS SHE WAS KNOWN

THESE NORMA JEAN TIDBITS come to me from two sources: SimanaitisSays reader Bob Storck and SiriusXM’s “Radio Classics.” You may well remember her by another name, Marilyn Monroe.  This autographed … Continue reading

November 2, 2021 · Leave a comment

RECALLING THE MARTIN AM MAULER

A RECENT REFERENCE to control-line aircraft modeling here at SimanaitisSays evoked strikingly similar memories from reader Bob Storck. As a kid, he too enjoyed carrier event with model Navy aircraft … Continue reading

November 1, 2021 · Leave a comment