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

Author Archives: simanaitissays

PHYSICS OF A FORWARD PASS

I HAVE LONG ASSUMED GYROSCOPIC ACTION was responsible for the stability of a football’s spiral pass. Well, it turns out yes and no, as described by Regina G. Barber, Rachel … Continue reading →

February 11, 2024 · 2 Comments

PHONY MATH CITATIONS

 THE QUALITY OF A RESEARCH PAPER, in mathematics as well as other areas, is often assessed by counting the number of other scholars who have referred to the paper. Alas, … Continue reading →

February 10, 2024 · 1 Comment

ALLARD K3—GRENDEL’S SOPHISTICATED BROTHER?

TO GET A SENSE FOR THE K3’S RELATIONSHIP to Grendel, check out “Allard Palm Beach—Grendel’s Kid Sister,” appearing only three months before this particular R&T road test.  This and other … Continue reading →

February 9, 2024 · 1 Comment

VAMPIRIC NUMERICS

I’M NOT PARTICULARLY INTO BLOODY TALES; I love garlic; and I’m not adverse to mirrors nor crosses. But by training I am a mathematician and can thus understand arithmomania, a … Continue reading →

February 8, 2024 · 2 Comments

EMAIL ELUCIDATION 

THE INFORMATION HIGHWAY, ALAS, is sometimes a sewer. However I must say that, garbage deleted with a click, there are also gems of email elucidation, serendipitous bits of knowledge I … Continue reading →

February 7, 2024 · Leave a comment

CHINA BANS TIME TRAVEL

NOT THAT I NEED YET ANOTHER reason to dislike the Chinese Communists government and control, but Interesting Facts reported that “China Banned Time Travel in TV and Movies.” Interesting Facts recounts, … Continue reading →

February 6, 2024 · 4 Comments

LET’S TALLY UP NOW

THIS ALL STARTED with my recently perusing Mayhew’s London and his tale “Of the Tally Packman.” Mayhew writes of 19th-century London, “The pedlar tallyman is a hawker who supplies his … Continue reading →

February 5, 2024 · 2 Comments

OPERA TIDBITS FROM SIR DENIS (AND DENNIS) PART 2

YESTERDAY A DIFFERENT APPROACH was offered for operatic review: Combine Daughter Suz and my Met HD Live Carmen experiences with the irreverent—and occasionally non-PC—analyses of Sir Denis Forman’s A Night … Continue reading →

February 4, 2024 · Leave a comment

OPERA TIDBITS FROM SIR DENIS (AND DENNIS) PART 1

SIR DENIS FORMAN’S A NIGHT AT THE OPERA is subtitled “An Irreverent Guide to the Plots, the Singers, the Composers, the Recordings.” Daughter Suz and I, indeed, have just seen … Continue reading →

February 3, 2024 · Leave a comment

NASH-HEALEY AND THE BENEFIT OF FORCED INDUCTION 

ACTUALLY I ADMIRE NASH-HEALEYS of 1950-1952 Le Mans fame (finishing 4th, 6th, and 3rd overall, respectively) more than I do the marque’s later Pinin Farina iteration. To my eye, the … Continue reading →

February 2, 2024 · 2 Comments