WORDS ON MUSIC
“IF ONE HEARS bad music,” Oscar Wilde said, “it’s one’s duty to drown it in conversation.” Natural philosopher and polymath Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz commented, “Music is a calculation performed by … Continue reading
GASOLINE RATIONING AND OLD-TIME RADIO PART 2
YESTERDAY’S TOPIC here at SimanaitisSays offered details of U.S. gasoline rationing during World War II. Today, a SiriusXM “Radio Classics” broadcast of Lum and Abner describes its effect on the … Continue reading
GASOLINE RATIONING AND OLD-TIME RADIO PART 1
MY INSPIRATIONS for tidbits about World War II rationing came from several sources. Reading a social history gave “Eating Brit-Style, the 1940s,” an Anglo flavor of WWII culinary matters. And … Continue reading
ON REAL DOLLARS PART 2
THE CONSUMER Price Index Inflation Calculator is a useful tool. Yesterday in Part 1, it helped assess the cost of today’s cars and their gasoline. Today in Part 2, we … Continue reading
ON REAL DOLLARS PART 1
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND the Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator offered online by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. This gizmo clarifies a multitude of issues. Among them … Continue reading
THE WRIGHT ENGINE PART 2
IN PART 1 yesterday, we learned that the 1903 Wright Flyer was powered by a horizontally aligned inline-four designed and fabricated by the brothers themselves and their mechanician Charlie Taylor. … Continue reading
THE WRIGHT 1903 ENGINE PART 1
THE WRIGHT BROTHERS designed and developed the first powered heavier-than-air craft with theoretical as well as practical considerations. “The Wright Brothers—Aero Theoreticians” here at SimanaitisSays described one aspect of this, … Continue reading
VACATIONING IN EUROPE—1909 STYLE
THE IDEA of a European vacation in 1909 was different from one today. There was no jet lag. No carefully sized carryons. But it did call for suitable planning. My … Continue reading
THE AMERICAN AUTO FACTORY—A MINI HISTORY
THE AMERICAN AUTO business began some 120 years ago. What was originally small-shop, hand-made, one-off fabrication evolved into a highly automated, complex, internationally integrated industry. Olsen and Cabadas’s fine 2002 … Continue reading
TIDBITS ON AUTOS—FROM THE BEST SOURCES
EVEN IN these days of e-this and e-that, I find the weekly print Automotive News the most useful and authoritative source of what’s happening in the world auto industry. And … Continue reading
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