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

Author Archives: simanaitissays

THIS VIDEO GAME IS ON ME

I ENJOY the time-gobbling hobby of building virtual GMax craft for use in Microsoft Flight Simulator. So it is with interest that I read the article “Video Games: The Bad, … Continue reading

April 10, 2017 · 5 Comments

MEASLES REDUX—AN IGNORANCE OF SCIENCE

ON SEPTEMBER 27, 2016, the Pan American Health Organization declared that “The Region of the Americas is the first in the world to have eliminated measles, a viral disease that … Continue reading

April 9, 2017 · 1 Comment

WHO WANTS DRIVERLESS CARS?

BOTH KEITH CRAIN, editor-in-chief of Automotive News, and I are gray-tops—and car enthusiasts. No doubt this colors our shared opinion of driverless cars. His editorial in the March 20, 2017, … Continue reading

April 8, 2017 · 4 Comments

LANGUAGE TRIPPIN’, GOOFINESS AN OPTION

ARMCHAIR TRAVEL has several advantages over reality these days: No TSA hassles, no visas, no returning worries because of mixups of ethnicity or origin. What’s more, if the guidebook is … Continue reading

April 7, 2017 · Leave a comment

LOCKHEED MARTIN F-35—THE FINAL GENERATION?

MY INTERESTS in aviation are few beyond its Golden Age of the 1930s. However, I’m fascinated by the overwhelming technicalities of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter. … Continue reading

April 6, 2017 · 4 Comments

MUSICAL MALFEASANCE

THE HISTORY of music is replete with examples of less than straightforward behavior. Here are three tidbits along these lines, stretching from 1700 to the latest of film scores. One … Continue reading

April 5, 2017 · Leave a comment

HOLMES TRUTH

TRUTH IS being assaulted these days through alternative facts. Early a.m. tweets claim this truth is spread by “enemies of the people.” Truths of intelligence and science are downplayed or … Continue reading

April 4, 2017 · Leave a comment

THE FIRST 1.5-LITER COOPER, AN EARLY BEETLE AND OL’ SHEL TOPS THE HILL

I’LL NEVER LACK for automotive reading material, what with a closet full of old magazines. R&T October 1956 is a perfect example. Formula 1 was at the height of its … Continue reading

April 3, 2017 · 4 Comments

CON WOMEN—BALANCING THE GAME

I’VE HAD a good time here discussing con men such as Pierre Arnold Bernard, aka Oom the Magnificent; Wolfgang von Kempelen and The Turk chess-playing automaton; and Donald J. Trump, … Continue reading

April 2, 2017 · 1 Comment

ON HEARING ONESELF, AND OTHERS

AS A KID in Cleveland, I worked occasionally at WBOE, a pioneer public radio station operated by that city’s Board of Education. I suspect I was identified early on as … Continue reading

April 1, 2017 · 1 Comment