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

IS IT EV TIME YET? PART 1

I’VE BEEN COLLECTING news items on what’s seen as the inevitable transition to electric vehicles. Indeed, this stack has reached critical mass, worthy of Part 1 today and Part 2 … Continue reading

November 11, 2018 · Leave a comment

TRUMAN ON READING, THE PRESIDENCY, AND TRUTH

THE MORE I learn about Harry S Truman, 33rd President of the United States, the more I admire him. He was an omnifarious reader. He made difficult decisions after considerable … Continue reading

November 10, 2018 · 2 Comments

PUCCINI’S WORLD TOUR PART 2

YESTERDAY, WE began Puccini’s World Tour in Nagasaki, Japan. Today, it’s in California during the Gold Rush and Peking, China, in a Middle Age fairyland. La Fanciulla del West, The … Continue reading

November 9, 2018 · Leave a comment

PUCCINI’S WORLD TOUR PART 1

RICHARD WAGNER VISITED the underworld Nibelheim and the upperworld Valhalla in his epic Ring Cycle, but a much more practical world tour is offered by Giacomo Puccini in his Madama … Continue reading

November 8, 2018 · Leave a comment

CELEBRATING OSCA

OSCA IS short for Officine Specializzate Costruzione Automobili—Fratelli Maserati. In business between 1947 and 1967, this Italian automaker fabricated some of the swoopiest, snarliest, and most potent of sports cars. … Continue reading

November 7, 2018 · 2 Comments

ON POLITICAL BRILLIANCE

WHAT WITH this being Election Day, and indeed one of the more important elections in our nation’s history, I offer thoughts from three Americans of unalloyed brilliance: Mark Twain, Will … Continue reading

November 6, 2018 · 2 Comments

CHARLES FLETCHER LUMMIS—NOT A STEREOTYPICAL LIBRARIAN PART 2

YESTERDAY, IN SimanaitisSays, Charles Fletcher Lummis left Harvard early, married his first Mrs. Lummis, walked across the U.S. in knickers and tomato-red knee socks to a job with the fledgling … Continue reading

November 5, 2018 · Leave a comment

CHARLES FLETCHER LUMMIS—NOT A STEREOTYPICAL LIBRARIAN PART 1

I REMEMBER HAVING a crush on my junior high school librarian. She was tall, lithe, and wore glasses and a shirtwaist dress. Alas, or maybe fortunately, the affair came to … Continue reading

November 4, 2018 · Leave a comment

TINTYPES—MAKE THE AMERICAN MUSICAL GREAT AGAIN

IF EVER THERE was a Broadway musical revue that’s ripe for revival these days, it’s Tintypes. The Tintypes revue was originally produced by the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. It … Continue reading

November 3, 2018 · Leave a comment

1940 AUTO AVIO COSTRUZIONI TIPO 815

THE FIRST FERRARI wasn’t called a Ferrari. Yet it is quite an automobile with a tale to tell. What’s more, Jim Donick, editor of Vintage Sports Car, the quarterly magazine … Continue reading

November 2, 2018 · 5 Comments