BENETTON B186
THE RECENT U.S. Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, reminds me of my own Formula 1 drive. (It’s difficult to work this into ordinary conversation—but it can be done.) The car … Continue reading
HIGH TECH, WHY TECH
AVOWED TECHIE though I am, some modern automotive offerings have me wondering. Here are my current citations in both categories, High Tech and Why Tech. Rear view camera. High Tech! … Continue reading
MATRYOSHKA
AT FIRST glance, the phrase “Matryoshka Holmes” looks like one of Sherlock’s obscure Russian relatives. And, in a sense, this is correct—by way of China, in more ways than one. … Continue reading
SPACE FRONTIER 1952
DESCRIBED AS “the story of the greatest adventure awaiting man,” Across the Space Frontier is a wonderful book written by top space scientists in 1952. A good many of their … Continue reading
WHAT IS A SPORTS CAR?
THE QUESTION “What is a sports car?” was addressed in Road and Track by no less than John R. Bond. And, indeed, when John and his wife Elaine assumed control … Continue reading
BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE A DIME?
THE U.S. Department of Labor has provided us all with an entertaining and thought-provoking gizmo at http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm. As its name suggests, the CPI Inflation Calculator uses the Consumer Price Index and … Continue reading
ARE THERE OPERA DIVOS?
HOW HAVE I waited this long to write about opera? Wife Dottie introduced me to its joys—and madness—quite a few years ago, and I’ve never looked back. For neophytes, let … Continue reading
A NEED FOR (COMPUTER) SPEED?
MY FELLOW tweeters (see @simanaitis) recently received one derived from my reading Turing’s Cathedral, George Dyson’s wonderful book about the post-WWII emergence of the digital age. What’s more, the October … Continue reading
SWEDISH OLD CAR RALLY
A FELLOW automotive journalist and I were motoring down a country road on Sweden’s northwest coast; the car was one of Saab’s new convertibles; the year was 2004. First, a … Continue reading
CATAPULTING INTO SCIENCE
ARTICLES IN The Orange County Register, Sunday, Nov. 11, 2012, seem to counter each other. One laments the apparently low priority in the U.S. given to mathematics and science. The … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 