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

PEACEMAKER LORE

TIMING: IT’S IMPORTANT in peace as well as in war. Ironically, one of the latter’s weapons of mass destruction has the name Peacemaker, and this aircraft is an interesting example of … Continue reading

January 11, 2017 · 2 Comments

BEATRICE D’ESSLING WAS A REAL CRACK

ONCE AGAIN, I SEEM to feed myself (and you) lines that call for more research. A couple days ago, I cited The San Francisco Call newspaper describing actress Beatrice d’Essling … Continue reading

January 9, 2017 · 1 Comment

MUST IT BE GOVERNMENT VS SCIENCE?

I HAD PLANNED today to highlight the 2016 Breakthrough of the Year, as identified by Science, the weekly magazine of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, December 23, … Continue reading

January 8, 2017 · 8 Comments

(FUN)DAMENTALS OF CUISINE

HOW ABOUT RETURNING to the fundamentals of cuisine, as described in one of my older cookbooks? Good Housekeeping produced it in 1958, and it shows how healthy meals have evolved … Continue reading

January 7, 2017 · 5 Comments

MRS. F.J. LINZ, PART 2

When we left plucky automobilist Mrs. F.J. Linz yesterday, she had already earned the respect of the San Francisco motoring community. In 1908, Mrs. Linz served as the General Manager … Continue reading

January 6, 2017 · 2 Comments

MRS. F.J. LINZ—PLUCKY AUTOMOBILIST

WOMEN AT SimanaitisSays have been aviatory, artistic, aviatory and artistic, and a passle of other descriptions. But “plucky” is a new one, perfectly suited to Mrs. Frederick J. Linz of … Continue reading

January 5, 2017 · Leave a comment

MAY YOHÉ, A TALE OF ADVENTURE–AND HOPE

I POSED AN irresistible challenge to myself in recent tales about massive diamonds: The fabulous Hope Diamond owned by “an American musical theater actress.…” How could this not lead to … Continue reading

January 4, 2017 · Leave a comment

MOCK THE PRESIDENT-IN-WANTING?

RECENT NEWS has it that President-in-Wanting Donald Trump’s communications director Sean Spicer complained on national television that people should stop mocking his boss. Pobrecito! I suspect Spicer missed my earlier … Continue reading

January 3, 2017 · 5 Comments

MASSIVE DIAMONDS, PART 2

F. SCOTT FITZGERALD wrote a novella about a diamond the size of a mountain. However, the massive diamonds discussed here yesterday aren’t fictional. These Type II diamonds are real, with … Continue reading

January 2, 2017 · Leave a comment

MASSIVE DIAMONDS, PART 1

A MASSIVE DIAMOND of 404.2 carats (almost 1/5 lb.) made the December 16, 2016, cover of Science, the weekly magazine of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. It’s … Continue reading

January 1, 2017 · Leave a comment