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

FIAT X1/9: EXPERIENCING AN R&T TIME MACHINE    PART 2

THIS ALL STARTED IN PART 1 celebrating a bargain mid-engine sports car, the Fiat X1/9. Here in Part 2, we pick up with 1980. Fuel Injection, 1980. Replacement of Weber carburetion … Continue reading

April 18, 2024 · 1 Comment

FIAT X1/9—EXPERIENCING AN R&T TIME MACHINE   PART 1

FIFTY YEARS AGO, R&T SAID THE FIAT’S X1/9 “is the first good-looking open mid-engine roadster available to buyers of modest means. In nearly every way imaginable—handling, ride, looks, comfort, luggage … Continue reading

April 17, 2024 · 3 Comments

CARFREE (CAREFREE?) LOCALES    PART 2

BARCELONA’S SUPERBLOCK CONCEPT was Part 1’s topic yesterday. We continue today with more locales developing the idea of carfree (and maybe more carefree?) urban areas. Ginza Strolling. As noted by … Continue reading

April 16, 2024 · Leave a comment

CARFREE (CAREFREE?) LOCALES    PART 1  

IT MAY SOUND HERETICAL FROM A CAR GUY, but I see nothing wrong with selected portions of cities and towns being carfree. And, indeed, they may well be carefree as … Continue reading

April 15, 2024 · 3 Comments

RPI BEATS WPI—QUANTUM-WISE!

BACK IN MY DAY, WORCESTER POLY always scheduled its homecoming weekend for when it played Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute—because a victory was all but assured. However, I must report that RPI … Continue reading

April 14, 2024 · 1 Comment

GEE, I THOUGHT I HAD STUFF

THE HISTORIC ENGLAND WEBSITE recently posted “Birkenhead’s Hidden Gem of Outsider Art ‘Ron’s Place’ Newly Listed.” An Unassuming Victorian Villa—Not. Historic England writes, “Concealed for over 30 years within an … Continue reading

April 13, 2024 · Leave a comment

CELEBRATING LATE-19TH-CENTURY LITERARY ART

“THE VOGUE FOR LITERARY POSTERS,” Leah Greenblatt writes in The New York Times, April 5, 2024, “burned briefly, beginning in 1893 and lasting not much more than a decade.”  And … Continue reading

April 12, 2024 · 1 Comment

SHAKESPEARE’S WORDS

THE Words Trivia website offers “5 Ways Shakespeare Changed English That You Never Knew.”  I add these Shakespearean tidbits to “Bereft of Insults?,” “Shakespeare’s Vocabulary,” and “OP Shakespeare,” this last … Continue reading

April 11, 2024 · 2 Comments

HOLMES AND A.I.     PART 2

YESTERDAY IN PART 1, WE BEGAN EXPLORING how attuned the world’s greatest consultive detective would have been with Artificial Intelligence. We continue here in Part 2 with more analyses. There’s … Continue reading

April 10, 2024 · Leave a comment

HOLMES AND A.I.    PART 1

WHAT WOULD THE WORLD’S GREATEST consulting detective think of Artificial Intelligence? Having examined Sherlockiana for clues, I offer tidbits for some future Large Language Model. The LLM will have Parts … Continue reading

April 9, 2024 · Leave a comment