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

THE ULBRICHT CAPER

FROM TIME to time, stories on the electronic currency Bitcoin appear in the media. On May 2, 2016, for example, BBC News reported that “Australian Craig Wright Claims to be Bitcoin … Continue reading

May 8, 2016 · Leave a comment

PORTSMOUTH AEROCAR, PART 2

THE BEAUTY OF a good hobby is never knowing where it might lead. And so it is with my GMax/Microsoft Flight Simulator hobby and the Portsmouth Aerocar. Yesterday I offered a … Continue reading

May 7, 2016 · 4 Comments

PORTSMOUTH AEROCAR, PART 1

THIS IS a tale of post-World War II aviation optimism, the independence of India and, seven decades later, serendipity of the name Portsmouth in researching my GMax/Flight Simulator hobby. This … Continue reading

May 6, 2016 · 3 Comments

CRETORS POPCORN AND PEANUT WAGONS

LAST SATURDAY, I ate popcorn during the Metropolitan Opera’s HD presentation of Strauss’s searing Elektra. What’s more, the popcorn came from a theater concession directly related to this fetching bit … Continue reading

May 5, 2016 · 9 Comments

IT USTA BE SAID…

COLLOQUIALISMS ARE here today and gone tomorrow. But like this temporal analysis, some remain. A little research and some thinking revealed several gems of both categories, which follow in no … Continue reading

May 3, 2016 · 1 Comment

ON GRAVITY CLOCKS

THE TERM “gravity clock” suggests sci-fi. In fact, though, it can be quite the traditional opposite. I learned about gravity clocks through a friend gifting me with the RM /Sotheby’s auction … Continue reading

May 2, 2016 · Leave a comment

THE NEAR FUTURE: LET’S GET REAL

MEDIA ARE filled with predictions of a personal-mobility future. It’s “Soon we’ll commute by helicopter!” all over again, and in as few as four more years. Let’s get real. Despite … Continue reading

April 30, 2016 · 2 Comments

FRANCE FOR THE MOTORIST, 1927

CHARLES L. FREESTON legitimately appended F.R.G.S. to his name. Indeed, he was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences. In the … Continue reading

April 28, 2016 · Leave a comment

HOME THEATER, FIFTIES STYLE

MY PARENTS, rest their souls, were home-theater hip in the 1950s. This was a half-century before movie streaming, Amazon Fire, Hulu, Netflix and the like, but our shared experiences remain … Continue reading

April 27, 2016 · 1 Comment

STEERING WHEELS I’VE LOVED

I DON’T PARTICUARLY like modern steering wheels. What with their buttons for everything from sound system to phone to navigation to cruise control to voice activation, not to say their … Continue reading

April 25, 2016 · 10 Comments