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

R&T 20TH + 51ST ANNIVERSARY ANSWERS

READERS OF R&T back in the 1960s had to wait a year before its June 1968 issue was published with Henry N. Manney’s answers to his June 1967 R&T 20th … Continue reading

June 28, 2018 · 3 Comments

R&T 20TH + 51ST ANNIVERSARY QUIZ

IN ITS JUNE 1967 issue, R&T celebrated its 20th anniversary by having Henry N. Manney compose a 39-question quiz. Here, SimanaitisSays selects six portions of these questions for you to … Continue reading

June 27, 2018 · 11 Comments

THE MAN WHO WOULD BE—AND WAS—KING PART 2

THE YEAR 1810 was a busy one for Napoleon, for Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte (Napoleon’s appointed Prince of Portecorvo), and for King Charles XIII of Sweden. Emperor Napoleon’s goal of conquering … Continue reading

June 26, 2018 · 1 Comment

THE MAN WHO WOULD BE—AND WAS—KING PART 1

WITH HOMAGE to Rudyard Kipling’s The Man Who Would Be King, 1888, here’s a tale of Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte who actually became Sweden’s King Charles XIV John. It’s a … Continue reading

June 25, 2018 · Leave a comment

BEREFT OF INSULTS?

THESE DAYS, one can easily run short of invectives. However, in the spirit of literary recycling, we can learn from a master of the English language, William Shakespeare. Here’s a … Continue reading

June 24, 2018 · 3 Comments

FUNICULÌ, FUNICULÀ!

THE NEAPOLITAN ditty Funiculì, Funiculà celebrated the 1880 opening of the first funicular on Mount Vesuvius. Today here at SimanaitisSays, I celebrate this steep form of rail transportation based on … Continue reading

June 23, 2018 · 3 Comments

HARRY NILE, SEATTLE P.I.

THE GLORIOUS ERA of radio detectives ran from the 1940s into the 1960s. Private investigators such as Johnny Dollar, Philip Marlowe, and Sam Spade entertained me back then. And, through … Continue reading

June 22, 2018 · 3 Comments

ETYMOLOGY: DEVIL, DIABOLICAL

DEVIL AND DIABOLICAL are perfect additions to the SimanaitisSays series of Etymology for our Times, what with the Trump administration’s Wall hostage program of children. The words’ origins trace to … Continue reading

June 20, 2018 · 1 Comment

MAGIC POSTERS FROM TASCHEN

THERE WAS a time several years back when my grandson Carter was interested in magic. My singular influence in this activity was teaching him how to palm the pea in … Continue reading

June 19, 2018 · Leave a comment

A MOTOR TOUR OF THE MULTIVERSE

THERE ARE three basic states of matter: solid, liquid, and gas. Even in today’s more deeply revealed world of quantum physics, these distinctions still apply. In fact, Science, the weekly … Continue reading

June 17, 2018 · 3 Comments