ELIZABETHAN NOIR
THE WORDS “SHAMUS,” “gumshoe,” and “P.I.” didn’t exist in Elizabethan England, but it did have “watchmen,” men on the streets of London to counter suspicious activity from nightfall to sunrise. … Continue reading
THOUGHTS ON CONTAINER SHIPS
I WAS ADMIRING a southern California sunset—and stopped counting when I reached 35 giant container ships in view. A recent White House statement, November 10, 2021, said that fully 40 … Continue reading
RINOIMBY?
RECENTLY I READ the other meaning for “WEIRD,” namely describing us as “Western Educated Industrialized Rich Democratic.” I do not apologize for this designation; we earned it fair and square. … Continue reading
THE DUESENBERG W-24—GO COMPLEX OR STAY HOME
I LIKE COMPLEX POWERPLANTS. The W-12 Napier Lion, for instance, is a trio of four cylinders arranged broad-arrow fashion and powering the Napier-Railton. Another is even more elaborate: the Duesenberg … Continue reading
EVADING THE PERILS OF PIMM’S PART 2
SO THERE I WAS, comfortably hob-nobbing at the Stewards’ Enclosure of the 1988 Henley Royal Regatta. We encouraged favourite teams and, between rowing events, chatted about university days, motor racing, … Continue reading
EVADING THE PERILS OF PIMM’S PART 1
I WAS RECENTLY SEARCHING through old files for something or other which I never found. But I did uncover two bits of Henley Royal Regatta memorabilia, plus a goofy photo … Continue reading
FAUX PEOPLE AND PLACES
I’M REMINDED OF the practice of including a fake entry to detect unauthorized use of copyrighted material. A recent example appears in the Interesting Facts website, November 25, 2021: “Google … Continue reading
A TRIAD OF SCIENCE TIDBITS
THE NOVEMBER 12, 2021 ISSUE of Science magazine had an array of interesting topics, among them the Genetics of Aging in Rockfishes (they live to 150 years), Cash Incentives, Ethics, … Continue reading
TUPOLEV’S SST PART 2
YESTERDAY’S PART 1 discussed Russian aircraft designer Andrei Tupolev’s various responses to Soviet “requests.” A most recent one involved Supersonic Transport competition between Russia and the West. Today in Part … Continue reading
TUPOLEV’S SST PART 1
RUSSIAN AIRCRAFT DESIGNER Andrei Tupolev was familiar with Soviet “requests.” His 1932 ANT-20 Maksim Gorki was to celebrate the 40th anniversary of this Russian writer’s first publication. This vast aircraft’s … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 