TIDBITS GLEANED FROM AUTOMOTIVE NEWS
AUTOMOTIVE NEWS is the weekly source of its industry’s happenings, data, and trends. It has been around since 1925. At one time called Automotive Daily News, it was published on … Continue reading
IDZ! POLSKIE WILGA! IDZ!
IN POLISH, THE WORD wilga describes a golden oriole; also, the Wilga PZL-104 is a Polish aircraft of notable STOL (short-takeoff-and-landing) characteristics. Its first variant having flown in 1962, the … Continue reading
ETYMOLOOGY: DEUTSCHESPRACH AND OTHERS
THE GERMAN LANGUAGE is great at word-building. For instance, I recall the following storefront signage. Come to think of it, my source for this photo, translated into German, is another … Continue reading
ROBOTS: DO WE PREFER PALS OR MACHINES? PART 2
YESTERDAY IN SIMANAITISSAYS, we encountered variations of robot design: C3-PO’s plated mechanicals are nonetheless humanlike. R2-D2’s mechanical torso, arms, and legs give him some humanoid cred. HAL 9000’s impersonal red-eye … Continue reading
ROBOTS: DO WE PREFER PALS OR MACHINES? PART 1
SCI-FI AND REALITY have given us extremes of human/robotic interaction, everything from anthropomorphic constructs to idealized machines bearing no resemblance to humans. What do we prefer? A human-shaped C-3PO? A … Continue reading
CASES OF MISTAKEN IDENTITIES
LITERATURE—AND LIFE—are replete with mistaken identities. Confusion, chaos, and often hilarity follow, as exemplified in the following three tidbits. Gogol’s Government Inspector.. One of these mistaken identities made an earlier … Continue reading
EGYPTOLOGY, THIS TIME WITH HIGH TECH
WHEN I MENTIONED EGYPTOLOGY as the topic of yesterday’s SimanaitisSays, Daughter Suz said, “Oh, you mean that thing about King Tut’s meteorite?” Then the postman delivered Wife Dottie’s latest BBC … Continue reading
