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, 2022

LE MANS AND TARASCON, 1907

I BOUGHT THE BOOK A Spring Fortnight in France some years ago because its first chapter is about Le Mans and its last one about Tarascon. I know of Le … Continue reading

January 21, 2022 · Leave a comment

DON’T LOOK BACK 1.0, 2.0, 2.1, AND 3.0 PART 2

YESTERDAY WE ENCOUNTERED the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice and its Gluck Opera. Today in Part 2, we see a Don’t Look Back 2.1 variation and an envisioning from … Continue reading

January 20, 2022 · 2 Comments

DON’T LOOK BACK 1.0, 2.0, 2.1, and 3.0 PART 1

ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE is a myth with legs. Or, to crib computer parlance, there’s a 1.0, sorta its beta; 2.0, an early operatic rendering; 2.1, a later operetta; and 3.0, … Continue reading

January 19, 2022 · Leave a comment

MY NEW EYES

I’VE HAD MY new eyes for about a month now and I want to celebrate the talented people who made this possible. Here are tidbits on my experience with cataract … Continue reading

January 18, 2022 · 3 Comments

FRENCH STREAMLINING OF THE EARLY 1920S PART 2

STREAMLINING TOOK AWHILE to beat automotive perpendicularity, though its innovations were certainly entertaining, if not entirely successful. Today in Part 2 we admire the Voisin Type 6 Laboratoire and Chenard-Walcker … Continue reading

January 17, 2022 · 5 Comments

FRENCH STREAMLINING OF THE EARLY 1920S PART 1

IN THE EARLY 1920s, the French were well into racecar streamlining when perpendicularity still ruled on the British side of La Manche. Here, in Parts 1 and 2 today and … Continue reading

January 16, 2022 · Leave a comment

SCHOOLING AT BONDURANT’S

I’M IN GOOD COMPANY having been schooled in high-performance driving by Bob Bondurant. Bob, who died last November at the age of 88, had taught Jim Garner and Yves Montand … Continue reading

January 15, 2022 · 3 Comments

WHY EVER DID I SAVE THIS?

I HAVE BEGUN DECLUTTERING the garage. No mean feat, this, what with 33+ years of R&T memorabilia and even more years of other stuff, plus 150 boxes of books accumulated … Continue reading

January 14, 2022 · 9 Comments

THE CASE OF THE TWO IAN FLEMINGS, AND ANOTHER MISTAKEN LINKAGE

WHAT DID THE 007 AUTHOR have in common with the man portraying Dr. John H. Watson in British movies in the 1930s?  Nothing, except for sharing the name Ian Fleming. … Continue reading

January 13, 2022 · 4 Comments

TWO EINSTEIN ANECDOTES

I WAS SORTING THROUGH colloquium presentations of mine from the mid-1970s—Geez, was I ever scholarly back then—and I came upon these two Einstein anecdotes. Their source was Ira M. Freeman, … Continue reading

January 12, 2022 · 1 Comment