MALL MUSINGS
I’M TOLD THE CULTURE of giant shopping malls is ending. But this wouldn’t be evident by driving past South Coast Plaza here in Orange County, California. Even without holiday shopping, … Continue reading
“ROUND ATLAS” FUN
I ONCE KNEW A YOUNG LADY, perfectly accomplished in other ways, who called globes “round atlases.” This popped into mind recently when I came upon several neat geographical tidbits, including … Continue reading
CALDER’S CIRCUS—AND SO MUCH MORE
ALEXANDER CALDER CAME FROM a family of artists—his grandfather’s colossal William Penn stands atop Philadelphia’s City Hall; his father’s public installations grace this and other cities; his mother, having studied … Continue reading
WRITER BASES HIS FICTIONAL DETECTIVE ON REAL PERSON PART 2
YESTERDAY IN PART 1, we learned about Charles Dickens and his Metropolitan Police pal Charles Frederik Field prowling London’s seedier districts. Today, Dickens honors his pal with two fictional personages. … Continue reading
WRITER BASES HIS FICTIONAL DETECTIVE ON REAL PERSON PART 1
GEE. IS THIS GOING TO BE another recounting of Arthur Conan Doyle, medical-school mentor Joseph Bell, and Sherlock Holmes? Or Edgar Allan Poe and whoever gave him the idea for … Continue reading
CELEBRATING VIVA MAGENTA—AND ALSO 1797, 716, 107, 356, 2748, AND 2607
WHAT BEGAN IN THE 1950s as a systemization of color pigments has evolved into Pantone and its PMS (Pantone Matching System). Today the company’s standards are used in a variety … Continue reading
GMAX/FLTSIM IMITATES LIFE
SO THERE I WAS, just like SAAB engineers with their 21A fighter: They wanted to convert it to jet power. For details, see “Saab 21—Where’s My Prop?” here at SimanaitisSays. … Continue reading
TONY’S BUG PART 2
TONY HOGG, IN TIME Editor-in-Chief of R&T, fulfilled a childhood dream through purchase of a Type 37 Bugatti in the late 1940s. Today in Part 2, he enters his Bug … Continue reading
TONY’S BUG PART 1
I WAS IDLY LEAFING through the 1960 volume of R&T when I came upon its February Bugatti Issue. One of the articles was “Bugattis Were Meant to be Raced,” by … Continue reading
A.I. LEARNS THE DIPLOMACY GAME
MACHINE-LEARNING ARTIFICIAL intelligence (A.I.) has already beat humans in playing chess, Go, and poker. But what about a board game that involves negotiation and even deception? The classic board game … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 