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Category Archives: Sci-Tech

SAVORING LENNY LIPTON’S LABOR OF LOVE PART 2

I’VE JUST STARTED Lenny Lipton’s astonishing 795-page celebration of The Cinema in Flux: The Evolution of Motion Picture Technology from the Magic Lantern to the Digital Age. It’s not the … Continue reading

July 25, 2022 · Leave a comment

SAVORING LENNY LIPTON’S LABOR OF LOVE PART 1

MY ACQUISITION OF BOOKS arises occasionally from reading The New York Times Book Review or the London Review of Books. This time around, it involves the latter, but in a … Continue reading

July 24, 2022 · Leave a comment

WHICH CAME FIRST, THE CHICKEN OR THE RICE? OR WAS IT A TIE? PART 2

RECENT RESEARCH SUGGESTS THAT a wild jungle fowl evolved into today’s chicken, and much later than was previously thought. Today in Part 2, we continue sharing tidbits from AAAS Science … Continue reading

July 2, 2022 · Leave a comment

WHICH CAME FIRST, THE CHICKEN OR THE RICE? OR WAS IT A TIE? PART 1

DOMESTICATION OF THE CHICKEN, you’d think, would have been an historically defined deal. But, indeed, research published only recently has upset traditional thoughts on the matter. Here, in Parts 1 … Continue reading

July 1, 2022 · Leave a comment

SPINNING MERCURY!

THOSE OF US of a certain age remember pushing little blobs of Mercury around in science class; this, before people got all antsy about handling this extremely toxic element. Science … Continue reading

June 29, 2022 · 2 Comments

FILL ’ER UP—GLOBALLY PART 2

YESTERDAY, WE FOUND HISTORICAL continuity in our sourcing of crude oil over the years. Today in Part 2, as is traditionally the case, we see the U.S. with lots of … Continue reading

June 17, 2022 · 1 Comment

FILL ’ER UP—GLOBALLY  PART 1 

AS I WRITE THIS, the average price of regular gasoline in the U.S. is $5.02/gallon. Ours here in California is $6.44/gal., by far highest in the nation, though note we … Continue reading

June 16, 2022 · 3 Comments

HAVE YOU GOT THE TIME? BUT WHERE??

THIS IS A COLLECTION OF Time Zones tidbits from around the world, combined with a confession of misinformation I offered five decades ago.  When people didn’t travel much, the sun’s … Continue reading

June 12, 2022 · 2 Comments

HISTORIES OF COMPUTING BY MICHAEL SEAN MAHONEY

THE PLURAL OF THE WORD “Histories” sets Mahoney’s book apart from other attempts of putting computers in historical perspective. Published in 2011, the book was assembled by Thomas Haigh following … Continue reading

June 5, 2022 · Leave a comment

HOW TO BECOME EXTINCT

THE FASCINATING BOOK EXTINCT, recently reviewed here at SimanaitisSays, describes six different categories of extinction: Failed, Superseded, Enforced, Defunct, Aestivated, and Visionary. Here are tidbits about these criteria and examples … Continue reading

May 9, 2022 · 9 Comments