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

ALGORITHMS REDUX PART 1

BRIDGET KENDALL RECENTY observed on the BBC World Service that algorithms are “so fundamental to the way we live our lives today that one commentator has even gone as far … Continue reading

September 21, 2021 · Leave a comment

YET MORE ANTIQUITY CONS

LAMENTABLY ENOUGH, ANTIQUITIES are as accessible to bad guys as to legitimate people. This was an earlier topic here at SimanaitisSays. Here are updates of antiquity cons, inspired by references … Continue reading

September 19, 2021 · Leave a comment

1981 LOTUS 88—BERTRAND RUSSELL WOULD HAVE LOVED IT!

IT’S IMMODEST TO quote oneself. But what the hey, my 1981 commentary on the Lotus 88 Formula 1 car is still spot-on for today’s topic here at SimanaitisSays.  Background: Racing … Continue reading

September 18, 2021 · Leave a comment

HE, SHE, HIM, HER, THEY, THEM

UNLIKE MANY OF the world’s languages, English is relatively gender-independent. We don’t have the lady table, la table, at the gentleman cafe, le café. True, we have he/she and him/her … Continue reading

September 17, 2021 · 1 Comment

CELEBRATING YOGI-ISMS

YOGI BERRA WAS famed as a baseball catcher and also as a wordsmith of the highest order. He was an 18-time All Star and won 10 World Series championships as … Continue reading

September 16, 2021 · 3 Comments

KING FOR A DAY—OR, IN FACT,  ON AND OFF FOR YEARS

HERE ARE TIDBITS about how one thing can lead to another… and another…. and another. So there I was, listening at 6:30 a.m. to classical KUSC’s Jennifer Miller comment on … Continue reading

September 15, 2021 · Leave a comment

HURRAH FOR OPERA!

AMONG ALL THE performing arts, opera is the most expensive to produce. Consider: It has singers also acting roles. It has musicians performing with them. It has theatrical lighting, scenery, … Continue reading

September 14, 2021 · 1 Comment

AUTO SHOWS I’VE LOVED

A CONFLUENCE OF THINGS, especially the Internet and Covid-19, all but put paid to international auto shows. But, as shown by I.A.A. Mobility, a Munich replacement for the traditional biennial … Continue reading

September 13, 2021 · Leave a comment

ANNOUNCED: THE 2021 IG NOBELS

THE SCIENCE HUMOR magazine Annals of Improbable Research satirizes serious research, but also suggests that oddities of research often possess scientific significance. This year’s Ig Nobels display this, though still … Continue reading

September 12, 2021 · Leave a comment

TREVITHICK’S MERRY ADVENTURES (MULLED DRINKS AND STUFFED GOOSE INCLUDED)

ENGLISH INVENTOR RICHARD TREVITHICK had a novel idea: Why not use steam power to transport people? Here are tidbits on his 1801 steam carriage, a 21st-century recreation of its 1802 … Continue reading

September 11, 2021 · Leave a comment