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

GALLIC INNOVATION AUTOWISE PART 2

YESTERDAY IN PART 1, Maurice and Georges Sizaire made their automotive mark with hyphenated -Naudin and -Berwick. Today in Part 2, they get wacky with the latter and then settle … Continue reading

April 16, 2023 · Leave a comment

GALLIC INNOVATION AUTOWISE PART 1

I STUMBLE ONTO THESE THINGS in straightforward ways: Jim Donnick is editor of Vintage Sports Car, published by the Vintage Sports Car Club of America. Each issue, he selects an … Continue reading

April 15, 2023 · 1 Comment

LET ME SLEEP ON IT—BIPHASICALLY

“5 Interesting Facts (and Myths) About Sleep,” at the Interesting Facts website described that medieval peasants slept better than we do.  (Artificial light makes sleep less natural today.) In giving … Continue reading

April 14, 2023 · 2 Comments

THE O.S.S. AND RUBE GOLDBERG

NOT TO DISPARAGE THE HEROIC WORK of the Office of Strategic Services during World War II, but several of its false starts make for entertaining reading. My source of this … Continue reading

April 13, 2023 · 1 Comment

IT USTA BE SANTA CLARA VALLEY   PART 2

YESTERDAY, COMPUTER VACUUM TUBES FAILED every couple days and the valley had yet to be named Silicon. Today in Part 2, we continued gleaning insights from John Lanchester’s “Putting the … Continue reading

April 12, 2023 · Leave a comment

IT USTA BE SANTA CLARA VALLEY  PART 1

John Lanchester’s “Putting the Silicon in Silicon Valley,” London Review of Books, March 16, 2023, offers information galore about our silicon chip age. At almost 6000 words, the article is … Continue reading

April 11, 2023 · Leave a comment

RECITERS OF LONDON—HENRY MAYHEW, CHARLES LAUGHTON, AND VIVIAN LEIGH

IN HIS FASCINATING COMPENDIUM of London during the mid-1800s, Henry Mayhew described everything from costermongers’ comestibles to mudlarkers’ low-tide Thames treasures. Recalling classic Charles Laughton flicks got me researching another … Continue reading

April 10, 2023 · Leave a comment

2024 CORVETTE E-RAY HYBRID

WHEN I WROTE “WHY NOT HYBRIDS?” I suspect Corvette engineers were thinking along decidedly different lines. Celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Vette, they’ve revealed the 2024 hybrid E-Ray. Here … Continue reading

April 9, 2023 · Leave a comment

TOOT THAT YURUPARÍ, MAN!

NICOLAS SLONIMSKY SURE FOUND JOY in musicology. He has appeared several times here at SimanaitisSays. And I remember Nick fondly from the old days of Southern California classical radio KFAC, … Continue reading

April 8, 2023 · 1 Comment

“HOW SAFE IS SAFE ENOUGH FOR AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES?”

THIS MOST COGENT QUESTION is addressed by a Carnegie Mellon associate professor who has written a book on this crucial topic.  Professor Philip Koopman has also written an article in … Continue reading

April 7, 2023 · 1 Comment