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

Monthly Archives: August, 2018

ON BACH, VON KEYSERLING, GOLDBERG—AND GOULD PART 1

THE MUSIC of Johann Sebastian Bach has delighted me ever since I realized that music was more than patty-cake. I’m not a musician of any sort. But a far-sighted Cleveland … Continue reading

August 21, 2018 · Leave a comment

A SCIENCE TRIAD

ONE THING to be said for science: It certainly offers a variety of thought. Proof of this comes in every issue of Science, the weekly magazine of the American Association … Continue reading

August 20, 2018 · Leave a comment

TRI-GENERATION—A NEXT STEP IN ENERGY EFFICIENCY

THE UNIVERSITY OF California, Irvine is at the forefront of tri-generation, advanced technology that transforms human waste into hydrogen, electricity, and heat. In many ways, this is a 21st-century version … Continue reading

August 19, 2018 · Leave a comment

KABUKI ART—AND A GREAT NEW SOURCE

I LOVE THE art of Kabuki and find I have much in common with a Frenchman who goes by the name Shôriya Aragôrô. It is he who researches, composes and … Continue reading

August 18, 2018 · Leave a comment

ON HANGING OF VARIOUS SORTS

THE WORD “HANG,” its various tenses and compounds have a multitude of meanings, some commonplace, some anachronistic, some all but forgotten. Merriam-Webster cites no less than eight different definitions for … Continue reading

August 17, 2018 · Leave a comment

GEOMETRIES OTHER THAN EUCLID’S PART 2

YESTERDAY, WE left geometry in a quandary. Mathematicians were trying to accommodate Euclid’s Fifth Postulate, the one about parallel lines, into 19th-century goals of mathematical rigor. Could it follow from … Continue reading

August 16, 2018 · 1 Comment

GEOMETRIES OTHER THAN EUCLID’S PART 1

FOR TWO THOUSAND years, geometry codified by Euclid, a Greek mathematician who flourished c. 300 B.C., gave a model of reality for the likes of Johannes Kepler, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz, … Continue reading

August 15, 2018 · 2 Comments

HOLMES IN ERROR, GOOSEWISE?

THERE’S CONTROVERSY resulting from Dr. John H. Watson’s chronicling of “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle.” The gemstone of this title, belonging to the Countess of Morcar, was allegedly found … Continue reading

August 14, 2018 · Leave a comment

SCIENCE FOR DILETTANTES

DON’T BE put off by “dilettantes.” In most areas of modern science, many of us qualify as having what Merriam-Webster calls “a superficial interest in an art or branch of … Continue reading

August 13, 2018 · Leave a comment

WHAT A SWEET LITTLE BÉBÉ!

THE PEUGEOT Type BP1 Bébé was designed by no less than Ettore Bugatti. Though not officially the first Bugatti, nor the first of Peugeot’s cyclecars, the Bugatti-designed Bébé built between … Continue reading

August 12, 2018 · 2 Comments