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
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BOOK EXTINCT, recently reviewed here at SimanaitisSays, describes six different categories of extinction: Failed, Superseded, Enforced, Defunct, Aestivated, and Visionary.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
GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN PART 2
YESTERDAY IN PART 1, we discussed the obsolescence of arsenic wallpaper and the Chaparral 2J Sucker Car, both appearing in the book Extinct: A Compendium of Obsolete Objects. Today in … Continue reading
GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN PART 1
DOES YOUR HOUSE EXHIBIT obsolescence? Mine does, sorta, as described in a book I just bought. Penner is a professor of architectural humanities at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University … Continue reading
eVTOL UPDATE PART 2
YESTERDAY IN PART 1, we looked at “The Battery That Flies,” Ben Ryder Howe’s article in The New York Times, April 16, 2022. Today in Part 2, we do a … Continue reading
eVTOL UPDATE PART 1
“VTOL” MEANS “VERTICAL take-off and landing” aircraft. Drones are VTOL; so are helicopters; and so are aircraft like the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey, Hawker Siddeley Harrier Jump Jet, and Dornier … Continue reading
BIOFUELS—ASSESSED HOLISTICALLY
BLENDING CORN-BASED ETHANOL into gasoline has been seen as a means of reducing anthropomorphic carbon dioxide emissions. However, “Environmental Outcomes of the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard,” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., … Continue reading
EXTRACTING RARE EARTHS FROM WASTE
RARE EARTH ELEMENTS present an environmental paradox: REEs are key to green technologies such as solar panels, wind turbines, and electric vehicles. Yet their rarity involves mining that causes significant … Continue reading
DEISM—THROUGH A COMPUTER HARD DRIVE?
I LEARNED YEARS ago that our Founding Fathers were Deists. And I knew from Roman Catholic Latin/English missals that “Deus” meant “God.” Thus, I figured, Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, and those … Continue reading
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
Simanaitis Says 