AWARDING THE SIMSEZ
WE BEGAN THIS YEAR’S SIMANAITISSAYS with celebrations of friendly cities and historical automotive achievements. It would be fun to continue with such niceties. But recent news resurrects my inverted elephant … Continue reading
THE AUSTIN A90, SPEED, AND OLD R&TS
WHAT WITH SIMANAITISSAYS EVOLVING from 33+ years at R&T, it’s no surprise that automobiles are occasional topics at this website. Here at the beginning of 2024 let’s return to R&T’s … Continue reading
TRIPPIN’ TO THE WORLD’S FRIENDLIEST CITIES—VIRTUALLY AND IN RECOLLECTION
WHAT BETTER WAY TO BEGIN THE YEAR than to visit friendly cities?! Good for Marika Spitulski and Nice News for offering “From Amsterdam to Auckland: 15 of the Friendliest Cites … Continue reading
KISSOFF 2023
WRAPPING UP THIS YEAR, I will focus on the pleasurable rather than the problematic. Here’s a selection of SimanaitisSays 2023, the particular research, composition, and presentation of which gave me … Continue reading
ON FAITH, FANCY, POETRY, LOVE, AND ROMANCE
IN 1897 VIRGINIA O’HANLON WROTE a letter to The Sun, a New York City newspaper: “Dear Editor: I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is … Continue reading
CALIFORNIA TINY TOWN TIDBITS
RECENTLY, THE DISCOVERER LISTED “The Tiny Towns of California.” Being as I am a born-again Californian (since 1979) though not a tiny town dweller, I am interested in its selection. … Continue reading
ON BERKELEY, DEL RÍO, AND WELLES—TOSS IN PARSONS AND HEARST AS WELL
BUSBY BERKELEY WAS RENOWNED for kaleidoscopic choreography. Dolores del Río with a career spanning 50 years was the first major female Latin American crossover star in Hollywood. Orson Welles was … Continue reading
EARLY FLIGHT AND THE FEAR THEREOF
BACK WHEN I WAS ACCUMULATING aviation books (I can’t call this hodgepodge a “collection”), I tended to limit my acquisitions to pre-1914 civilian. Imagine my excitement upon adding Pioneer Aircraft … Continue reading
KEEP ON DANCIN’
THE WORD “CHOREOMANIA” IS MORE THAN a song by Florence + the Machine. It’s a recognized phenomenon of dancing, something that’s been going on for millennia and yet as timely … Continue reading
ARG! HONORIS CAUSA
PH.D., OF COURSE, MEANS Doctor of Philosophy. And adding the Latin phrase honoris causa, “for the sake of honor,” means that the degree is awarded in recognition of one’s life … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 