YESTERDAY, Gary Marcus’ “The Fever Dream of Imminent ‘Superintelligence’ Is Finally Breaking,” a Guest Essay in The New York Times, described that today’s A.I. is failing to achieve Artificial General … Continue reading →| Simanaitis Says
A.I. SPECIALIST GARY MARCUS WRITES IN THE NEW YORK TIMES, SEPTEMBER 3, 2025, “The Fever Dream of Imminent ‘Superintelligence’ Is Finally Breaking.” Here, in Parts 1 and 2 today and tomorrow, are ti…| Simanaitis Says
“AT AROUND 20 FEET TALL,” PBS SENIOR ARTS Correspondent Jeffery Brown recounts, “they’re hard to miss, brightly colored and intricately designed…. fantastic animals that have their roots in Oaxaca …| Simanaitis Says
3 posts published by simanaitissays during September 2025| Simanaitis Says
THERE—THAT SHOULD GET YOUR ATTENTION AGAIN. Who would have guessed Boccacio’s Decameron was once described as “probably the dirtiest great book in the Western canon.” I gleaned this from Barbara Ne…| Simanaitis Says
AN ENLIGHTENED ENGLISH TEACHER ENCOURAGED US to master the first lines of Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales—in Middle English: “Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote/ The droghte of March hath perc…| Simanaitis Says
10 posts published by simanaitissays during August 2025| Simanaitis Says
JIA LYNN YANG WRITES OF DEMOCRATS in The New York Times, August 15, 2025: “Will the battle over Texas’ gerrymandering lead to a new era for the party?” An interesting … Continue reading →| Simanaitis Says
YESTERDAY WE BEGAN SELECTING FAVS from Classic & Sports Car’s “29 Sexy Cars for the Masses.” We continue here in Part 2 with others from its list, also accompanied by … Continue reading →| Simanaitis Says
MY FAVORITE CAR MAGAZINE, THE BRIT CLASSIC & SPORTS CARS, has assembled “29 Sexy Cars for the Masses,” a selection of “lust-worthy classic cars that didn’t cost the Earth when … Continue reading →| Simanaitis Says
HOW CAN ANYONE TRUST A PATHOLOGICAL LIAR? As Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously said, “You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to our own facts.” Succinctly, … Continue reading →| Simanaitis Says
THOMAS JONES’ ARTICLE IN LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS “Lunch With Mussolini” is replete with tidbits continued here in Part 2. A Young Enzo. Jones relates that Ferrari’s first business venture … Continue reading →| Simanaitis Says
I’M OFTEN ENTERTAINED BY THE LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS. To cite a few examples, see “Just Because I’m a Librarian Doesn’t Mean I Have to Dress Like One”—Belle Da Costa … Continue reading →| Simanaitis Says
GEEZ, HOW IS SAM SPADE LINKED with Parnell Thomas?? Spade was the classic sleuth of The Maltese Falcon, The Kandy Tooth Caper, and numerous other adventures, 1946–1951, recounted these days … Continue reading →| Simanaitis Says
I ENJOY TWO EXTREMES IN DETERMINING WORD DEFINITIONS: the online Merriam-Webster and the microprinted Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, 1971. The M-W is only a click away; but the O…| Simanaitis Says
ART CRITIC DONALD KUSPIT IDENTIFIES THE APPEAL of Mitchell Johnson by noting this artist’s fusion of abstraction and realism. My introduction to Johnson’s oil paintings came from their occasi…| Simanaitis Says
I’VE HARPED ON THE QUEENS FELON MOB all too often at this website (I’d much rather write about my usual topics). Nevertheless, I was gratified that I’m not the only one making this observation. The…| 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| Simanaitis Says
QUITE INDEPENDENT OF RECENT BUSINESS MACHINATIONS in the A.I. industry, there still remains the inherent problem of addressing hallucinations. SimanaitisSays discussed this in “On Chatbots and Othe…| Simanaitis Says
REGULAR READERS, BLESS ’EM, ARE FAMILIAR with my rantings about Artificial Intelligence, its immense energy gobbling, its vast data scrapings, and its hallucinations. Today let’s celebrate an…| Simanaitis Says
10 posts published by simanaitissays during July 2025| Simanaitis Says
YESTERDAY IN PART 1 WE SAVORED CBS RADIO WORKSHOP and enjoyed entertaining CBS corporate suits through the R&T slalom. Today, lamentably enough, we recount CBS actions that seemingly replace fr…| Simanaitis Says
I’VE KNOWN COLUMBIA BROADCASTING SYSTEM, now a division of Paramount Global, at its best, its lamentable, and—first hand—its middling. Let’s briefly recount the best and middling of these and then …| Simanaitis Says
PERHAPS THIS TITLE BRINGS TO MIND THE ROYALE, the 12,760-cc straight-eight Golden Bug only six of which left Molsheim. No, actually these tidbits are gleaned from the British Autocar Road Tes…| Simanaitis Says
ENOUGH WITH POLITICS; THERE HAS BEEN PLENTY of great dissing in other areas. Dr. Mardy Grothe has a fine collection in Viva La Repartee, tidbits from which are offered here occasionally enhanced by…| Simanaitis Says
YESTERDAY, WE FIGURED IT’S TIME to learn more about Canada. And my Baedeker’s Travellers Guide, 1900, seemed a fine place to start. Here in Part 2, we’ve missed our train outta Halifax by confusing…| Simanaitis Says
WHAT WITH THE ACQUISITIONAL WEAVES of our Queens Felon, I thought it’s time to direct attention toward our friends to the north. And, you’ll not be surprised, I have a definitive source for this re…| Simanaitis Says
I BELIEVE ANDY BOROWITZ IS the preeminent political satirist of our time. As I noted in “The Best of Lines,” he has “an amazing way of condensing his satirical news stories into four or five concis…| Simanaitis Says
YESTERDAY IN PART 1, WE DISCUSSED THE WORLD’S FIRST CONSULTING DETECTIVE and his appearance in advertising. We continue here with thirst-quenching themes. Holmes, Gin, And What’s That Building? The…| Simanaitis Says
DR. JOHN H. WATSON HAD A CRACKIN’ GOOD literary agent Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. How else to explain the numerous ad placements about the World’s First Consulting Detective? Several of these have alre…| Simanaitis Says
LET’S APPLAUD THE AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION! Never has its activism been more critical. Zach Montague and Pat Grossmith’s article “Judge Blocks Trump’s Citizenship Order in Class-Action Challe…| Simanaitis Says
I’M IN GOOD company asking whether Leonard Bernstein’s Candide is an opera, an operetta, or a musical comedy. No less than the composer himself asked the same question, with his answer being essent…| Simanaitis Says
I’VE BEEN collecting thoughtful comments, or in some cases just great one-liners, from a variety of sources. Some come from movies I’ve enjoyed or books I’ve read, others from TV or radio, especial…| Simanaitis Says
THE 1934 FLICK THE GAY DIVORCEE DESERVES an award among car enthusiasts: Not only does it feature three of the era’s classic automobiles, but one of them was actually owned by one of the movie’s st…| Simanaitis Says
10 posts published by simanaitissays during March 2025| Simanaitis Says
10 posts published by simanaitissays during June 2025| Simanaitis Says
PATRICIA MARX HAS IDENTIFIED “TRUMP’S TO-UNDO LIST” coming in The New Yorker, June 23, 2025. If you’re not already a subscriber, I encourage you to buy a copy as an excellent example of a wonderful…| Simanaitis Says
R&T DECEMBER 1962 BROUGHT TECHNICALITIES TO THE FORE in its test of the Triumph Sports Six: “Many years ago,” it wrote back then, “when it was the custom to put automobile engines in semi-solid…| Simanaitis Says
THESE DAYS THE PHRASE “WITHOUT EVIDENCE” is tacked on pronouncements galore. By contrast, legitimate science has held fast to the concept of attributing sources. And, to some extent, the judiciary …| Simanaitis Says
YESTERDAY, PORSCHE INTRODUCED US to the 963 RSP (as in “Roger Searle Penske”). A cool part of the intro, described in a Porsche press release, was the drive of this road-worthy Le Mans car from Zuf…| Simanaitis Says
GEE, I REMEMBER ROGER PENSKE when he was a Lehigh University kid setting FTD in a Porsche RSK at Giants Despair Hillclimb in eastern Pennsylvania. That was in 1959. Penske has done a lot with…| Simanaitis Says
HERE ARE TIDBITS ABOUT TODAY JUNE 14, assembled from a variety of sources including Britannica and the Britannica Book of the Year. Quoted comments are Britannica’s; the rest are my comments or ide…| Simanaitis Says
STUTI MISHRA REPORTS “NEW PLASTIC THAT DISSOLVES in Seawater Raises Hopes for Tackling Ocean Pollution,” The Independent, June 4, 2025. She recounts, “The material, created by researchers at the Un…| Simanaitis Says
YESTERDAY, WE EXAMINED UNCLE DON’S ADDLEPATED WEAVES about robotic Bidens. Today we continue with his bizarre behavior as exhibited at this year’s recent West Point graduation ceremony and during o…| Simanaitis Says
TO A RELATIVELY SELECT FEW, I am myself an uncle, sorta. So it is with personal sensitivity, in Parts 1 and 2 today and tomorrow, that I address the concept of addlepated avuncular behavior. Full d…| Simanaitis Says
PART 1 YESTERDAY GOT US STARTED VISITING the Discoverer website’s choices of cool buildings around the U.S. Our travels and recollections continue here. Topeka High School—Kansas. “It’s hard …| Simanaitis Says
I ADMIRE THE SAGACITY of ZEYNEP TUFEKCI, (“zey-NEP tuu-FEK-chee,” her given name Turkish for “precious gem” related to Arabic “fragrant flower.”) Dr. Tufekci is a Turkish-American sociologist, Henr…| Simanaitis Says
I KINDA SAW THIS COMING with Google searches occasionally offering corrupted versions of SimanaitisSays comments: “Dennis Simanaitis says Benito Mussolini and Ercole Boratto won the 1936 Mille Migl…| Simanaitis Says
“AUTOMOBILE BROCHURES,” R&T CLAIMED, “ARE ALMOST AS WELL ENDOWED WITH SUPERLATIVES as is the publicity for a Hollywood movie production, and about as accurate.” This and following images …| Simanaitis Says
THE UTTER IDIOCY OF DOGE has added yet another tooth on its chainsaw. It’s described by Drs. Iago Hale and Michael Kantar in “Why Did Elon Musk Go After Bunkers Full of Seeds?,” The New…| Simanaitis Says
BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE, FEBRUARY 2025, OFFERS AN INTERVIEW with historian Laurence Rees; his topic, “the history of the Nazi regime yields warnings—but that frighteningly few people are interested in…| Simanaitis Says
ONE MIGHT THINK THE ARROGANCE OF EGO WOULD HAVE LED ME TO ASSOCIATE Trump and Beethoven. But no, prodigious musicality seals the deal: It’s Mozart and Trump—separated at birth by 190 years! A…| Simanaitis Says
NO TYPO HERE. THE BROTHERS GRIMM: A BIOGRAPHY is a book by Ann Schmiesing given a review by Colin Burrow “Ogres Are Cool,” London Review of Books, March 20, 2025. Here are tidbits glean…| Simanaitis Says
THERE IS IRONY GALORE IN THE NEW U.S. Environmental “Deregulation” Agency having originally been established by Richard Nixon on December 2, 1970, “to protect human health and the environment” (thi…| Simanaitis Says
WHAT A MARVELOUS OPPORTUNITY FOR SATIRE: The dust is far from settled about what The New York Times, March 25, 2025, is calling “an extraordinary leak of internal national security deliberations, d…| Simanaitis Says
“THE ASTON MARTIN CYGNET,” this fabled sports car manufacturer said back in 2011, “was designed as a luxury solution to urban mobility.” A city car that’s “Elegant and distinctive whilst individual…| Simanaitis Says
THE VOTERS HAVE SPOKEN. TRUMP WANTS TO “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN” by turning the clock back to President McKinley’s time. This, despite plenty of us having already had enough of seemingly Gild…| Simanaitis Says
KONSTANTIN KALININ WAS A SOVIET AIRCRAFT DESIGNER. His designs were unconventional, which made them controversial during the Stalin era—and also, in retrospect, interesting projects for my GMax hob…| Simanaitis Says
NOTES WIKIPEDIA, “AT THE TEHRAN CONFERENCE WINSTON CHURCHILL made his famous remark that in wartime ‘truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.” By c…| Simanaitis Says
R&T SUMMED UP THE FIAT-ABARTH BIALBERO perfectly: “expressly for the discriminating enthusiast.” The magazie continued in December 1959, “This extremely small Italian car, which has the r…| Simanaitis Says
I DON’T THINK OF MYSELF AS an ornithophile, but swans, Cygnus olor, seem to get pretty good coverage at SimanaitisSays. Tidbits here have related them to cars, opera props, Ogden Nash poetry, and a…| Simanaitis Says
IN COZY ENGLISH WHO-DONE-ITS, watercress sandwiches at teatime seem to coincide with reveal of the rascal. Now according to Korin Miller writing in Food & Wine, September 12, 2024, “The C…| Simanaitis Says
WHAT WITH A VERY BUSY NEWS WEEK, victim-extraodinaire Donald Trump has been displaced by Joe and Kamala. Poor him. To counter this Trumpian ennui, today’s SimanaitisSays recounts several past Trump…| Simanaitis Says
YESTERDAY, WE VISITED an ancient movie set, a chapel in saintly red rocks, and a Czech “Fred and Ginger.” Today in Part 2 we continue trippin’ around Europe and then return to the U.S. for easy par…| Simanaitis Says
WE CONTINUE YESTERDAY’S CELEBRATION OF MY FAVORITE sports car as detailed in my favorite car magazine, Classic & Sports Car. Today in Part 2, we pick up with C&SC’s Senior Contributor Simon…| Simanaitis Says
