PLATO, THE INTERNET, EDUCATION, AND A.I.
“WHAT WOULD PLATO SAY about ChatGPT?” asks Zeynep Tufekci, a young lady with more than just an interesting name: Dr. Tufekci is a sociologist, a professor at Columbia University’s Craig … Continue reading
A CAST OF FALCONS
AN ASSEMBLY OF BIRDS OF PREY of the genus Falco is known as a “cast” of falcons. How utterly appropriate, in that I’m thinking of the multiple personages portraying a … Continue reading
CHANGING TIMES? ADDING ZEROES AT EITHER END
THE JULIAN CALENDAR USTA BE just fine, thank you, until Pope Gregory XIII was informed in 1582 that the actual length of a year was a tad less than the … Continue reading
MALL MUSINGS
I’M TOLD THE CULTURE of giant shopping malls is ending. But this wouldn’t be evident by driving past South Coast Plaza here in Orange County, California. Even without holiday shopping, … Continue reading
“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
Simanaitis Says 