VPS (VIKING POSITIONING SYSTEM) PART 1
FISH DO it, bees do it. Even medieval Vikings do it: namely, use polarized light to navigate. Navigation skills in the animal kingdom have been recognized for awhile. I just … Continue reading
YOU VOTE, GRRL!
THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY of victory for British suffragettes is celebrated in the February 2018 issue of BBC History, though the magazine notes that this victory was a nuanced one. To … Continue reading
TROOPS (AND PLANES) TO THE BORDER PART 2
YESTERDAY WE left U.S Army General John J. “Black Jack” Pershing and Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa poised for interaction in a border squabble. Today, we see how aeroplanes played a … Continue reading
TROOPS (AND PLANES) TO THE BORDER PART 1
“A STORY as timely as today’s headlines,” it has been said. However, this story about the United States versus Mexico took place 100 years ago. The tale involves a U.S. … Continue reading
SCIENTIFIC HUZZAHS!
THERE ARE times when I delight in celebrating multifold aspects of science. Here are three examples appearing in Science magazine, published weekly by the American Association for the Advancement of … Continue reading
CLEARING THE MPG AIR, IF NOT THE AIR ITSELF PART 2
OUR DISCUSSION of the Trump administration’s proposed backpedaling on existing Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards started here yesterday in Part 1. Today, we touch on states’ rights, international implications, returns … Continue reading
CLEARING THE MPG AIR, IF NOT THE AIR ITSELF PART 1
CORPORATE AVERAGE Fuel Economy (CAFE) has the news all agog with the Trump administration undoing yet another Obama administration action, this one involving fuel economy and emissions of new cars … Continue reading
ETYMOLOGY: CRONY, CRONYISM
MERRIAM-WEBSTER nails cronyism as “partiality to cronies especially as evidenced in the appointment of political hangers-on to office without regard to their qualifications.” Furthermore, M-W defines a crony as “a … Continue reading
GEORGE CONSTANTINESCU—SCIENTIST, ENGINEER, INVENTOR, AUTOMAKER PART 2
WHEN WE left Romanian-British polymath George Constantinescu, in yesterday’s SimanaitisSays, he had already received plaudits for designing the C.C. synchronization gear used on allied fighter planes in World War I. … Continue reading
GEORGE CONSTANTINESCU—SCIENTIST, INVENTOR, ENGINEER, CARMAKER PART 1
ALLIED AIRCRAFT synchronized armament in 1917. An automotive torque converter in 1926. Let’s celebrate the fellow who devised these two and other technicalities: George Constantinescu, a Romanian-Briton with an office … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 