THIS GUY HAD STUFF! PART 1
GABRIELE D’ANNUNZIO was an Italian poet, patriot, soldier, aviator, hypochondriac, scoundrel, libertine, thrill-seeking meglomaniac, womanizer, proto-fascist and, some say, even worse. Il Vittoriale degli italiani, loosely, the shrine of Italian … Continue reading
GOT ENERGY? KNOW HOW TO STORE IT? PART 2
THIS CONTINUES a discussion of energy-storage concepts, begun here at SimanaitisSays. The New York Times, June 3, 2017, “The Biggest, Strangest ‘Batteries’ ” is a primary source, along with my … Continue reading
GOT ENERGY? KNOW HOW TO STORE IT? PART 1
AS THE COST of renewable energy comes down, a significant challenge remains in its inherent intermittency of supply. It is well known to science (you’ll excuse the S word) that … Continue reading
CELEBRATING MORT SAHL
LONG BEFORE BILL Maher and John Oliver, even before Lenny Bruce and George Carlin, there was Mort Sahl. And there still is! A recent Tweet from Sahl: “Executive Privilege is … Continue reading
THE TSAREVICH AND THE BALLERINA, PART 2
THE RUSSIAN bioflick Matilda, detailing Tsarevich Nicholas’s affair with ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya, isn’t scheduled for release until October 2017. However, it has already generated lots of buzz in its homeland. … Continue reading
THE TSAREVICH AND THE BALLERINA, PART 1
SOMETIMES I encounter fascinating things even before they occur. Precognition? Or just stumbling into the right place at an earlier time? Recently here at SimanaitisSays I’ve mentioned the fall of … Continue reading
HOLMES AND VAMPIRES
I’M NOT really into vampires, apart from the frisson delivered by Bram Stoker’s wonderful Dracula and my appreciation of Buffy Summers (truth be known, it’s actually Sarah Michelle Gellar and … Continue reading
THEATER ARTS—BENOIS PÈRE ET FILS
LIKE FATHER, like son, they say. Fortunate indeed for the Russian-born theater arts pair of Alexandre and Nicolas Benois. Their careers extended from 1895 to 1978, encompassing costume and set … Continue reading
MIXING CHURCH AND STATE—THE GORDON RIOTS
A DECADE BEFORE American rebels ratified the United States Constitution, including its First Amendment definitively separating church and state, Britain was roiling in the Gordon Riots—largely on grounds of religion. … Continue reading
CONGRESS, THE PRESIDENT AND THE S-WORD (SCIENCE)
TWO ARTICLES on the same two-page spread of Science, May 5, 2017, suggest the turmoil taking place in scientific communities funded at least in part by the federal government. One … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 