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

MAYBE IT WASN’T A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT….

OPENING LINES CAN urge compelling reading. Here are some tidbits of such openers that sure worked for me. Perhaps you’d like to share your favorites. The Big Sleep. Raymond Chandler. … Continue reading

October 8, 2021 · Leave a comment

ON THE SMOOT

LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS is a perhaps surprising source of Americana. For instance, what’s a “smoot”? The London Review of Books online, October 4, 2021, presented “Paper Cuts: Smoot Day,” … Continue reading

October 7, 2021 · 1 Comment

PARENTING/PARENTALITÉ/ELTERNSHAFT

ADAM GOPNIK’S ARTICLE “How to Raise a Prodigy,” recently featured in The New Yorker Classics online, also discussed different parenting in the U.S., France, and Germany.  Here are several tidbits. … Continue reading

October 5, 2021 · Leave a comment

LET THEM EAT GOSSIP?   PART 2

MARIE ANTOINETTE OF France and Swedish nobleman Axel von Fersen were 18th-century pen pals Later, many of her letters underwent redaction by an unknown hand. However, as reported by Sabrina … Continue reading

October 4, 2021 · Leave a comment

LET THEM EAT GOSSIP?  PART 1

THE HEADLINE READS, “Marie Antoinette’s Letters to Her Dear Swedish Count, Now Uncensored,” by Sabrina Imbler, The New York Times, October 1, 2021. However, if you’re seeking the embarrassment of … Continue reading

October 3, 2021 · Leave a comment

LITHUANIA RULES—YET AGAIN

“AR GALITE MANE IŠGIRSTI DABAR?” This Lithuanian query of “Can you hear me now?” is most appropriate in response to news reported by the Voice of America, October 1, 2021: … Continue reading

October 2, 2021 · Leave a comment

ONE SWIFT AND AGILE FORMULA FORD—A GREAT QUARTER POUNDER TOO

TRACK TESTING WAS good fun at R&T. And testing the national champion Swift DB-1 Formula Ford in March 1984 was particularly satisfying. Here are tidbits on our time with the … Continue reading

October 1, 2021 · 4 Comments

1489 WORDS—WILLIAM CONRAD AND JERRY GOLDSMITH

THE CBS RADIO WORKSHOP was radio at its best. This series, originally broadcast from January 27, 1956 to September 22, 1957, was  “dedicated to mans imagination… the theatre of the … Continue reading

September 30, 2021 · 2 Comments

BLÉRIOT 125   PART 2

YESTERDAY, WE LEARNED about Louis Blériot’s enthusiasm for air transport, as exemplified in his company’s development in the early 1930s of the innovative Blériot 125. Today in Part 2, here … Continue reading

September 29, 2021 · Leave a comment

BLÉRIOT 125   PART 1

LOUIS BLÉRIOT BELIEVED in air transport. In 1908, Blériot became the first to fly La Manche, what we English speakers call the English Channel. Barely three years later, on commission … Continue reading

September 28, 2021 · 1 Comment