“ROUND ATLAS” FUN
I ONCE KNEW A YOUNG LADY, perfectly accomplished in other ways, who called globes “round atlases.” This popped into mind recently when I came upon several neat geographical tidbits, including … Continue reading
CALDER’S CIRCUS—AND SO MUCH MORE
ALEXANDER CALDER CAME FROM a family of artists—his grandfather’s colossal William Penn stands atop Philadelphia’s City Hall; his father’s public installations grace this and other cities; his mother, having studied … Continue reading
WRITER BASES HIS FICTIONAL DETECTIVE ON REAL PERSON PART 2
YESTERDAY IN PART 1, we learned about Charles Dickens and his Metropolitan Police pal Charles Frederik Field prowling London’s seedier districts. Today, Dickens honors his pal with two fictional personages. … Continue reading
WRITER BASES HIS FICTIONAL DETECTIVE ON REAL PERSON PART 1
GEE. IS THIS GOING TO BE another recounting of Arthur Conan Doyle, medical-school mentor Joseph Bell, and Sherlock Holmes? Or Edgar Allan Poe and whoever gave him the idea for … Continue reading
CELEBRATING VIVA MAGENTA—AND ALSO 1797, 716, 107, 356, 2748, AND 2607
WHAT BEGAN IN THE 1950s as a systemization of color pigments has evolved into Pantone and its PMS (Pantone Matching System). Today the company’s standards are used in a variety … Continue reading
GMAX/FLTSIM IMITATES LIFE
SO THERE I WAS, just like SAAB engineers with their 21A fighter: They wanted to convert it to jet power. For details, see “Saab 21—Where’s My Prop?” here at SimanaitisSays. … Continue reading
TONY’S BUG PART 2
TONY HOGG, IN TIME Editor-in-Chief of R&T, fulfilled a childhood dream through purchase of a Type 37 Bugatti in the late 1940s. Today in Part 2, he enters his Bug … Continue reading
TONY’S BUG PART 1
I WAS IDLY LEAFING through the 1960 volume of R&T when I came upon its February Bugatti Issue. One of the articles was “Bugattis Were Meant to be Raced,” by … Continue reading
A.I. LEARNS THE DIPLOMACY GAME
MACHINE-LEARNING ARTIFICIAL intelligence (A.I.) has already beat humans in playing chess, Go, and poker. But what about a board game that involves negotiation and even deception? The classic board game … Continue reading
FREUDENFREUDE—THE ETYMOLOGY OF HAPPINESS
THE WORD FREUDENFREUDE, “pleasure’s pleasure,” is a feeling of happiness encouraged by another’s success. It evolved from its opposite Schadenfreude, the German word describing the malicious joy resulting from another’s … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 