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

BOHEMIAN LEGS, OPERA-WISE

WHILE LISTENING to the Metropolitan Opera’s Mary Jo Heath commentate on  Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème, I got to thinking about operatic legs. Today an operatic mainstay, this tale of bohemian life … Continue reading

May 14, 2016 · Leave a comment

SEVERAL MORE MILHOUS TREASURES

BOB AND PAUL MILHOUS knew how to collect neat stuff. And, back in 2012, Bob, then 75, and his brother Paul, 73, also knew how to bring pleasures of their collection … Continue reading

May 13, 2016 · Leave a comment

ODD BEDFELLOWS: NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND IRAN

POLICY AIMED at reducing the world’s nuclear weapons has led to odd international liaisons. In particular, the U.S. Department of Energy is buying 32 tons of heavy water, D2O, from … Continue reading

May 11, 2016 · 1 Comment

AND THEN HOLMES SAID…. OR DID HE?

THERE ARE lots of memorable utterances of Sherlock Holmes, and a goodly number of other ones attributed to this world’s greatest consulting detective—but incorrectly. Here’s a sampling from each category. … Continue reading

May 10, 2016 · 4 Comments

THE ULBRICHT CAPER

FROM TIME to time, stories on the electronic currency Bitcoin appear in the media. On May 2, 2016, for example, BBC News reported that “Australian Craig Wright Claims to be Bitcoin … Continue reading

May 8, 2016 · Leave a comment

PORTSMOUTH AEROCAR, PART 2

THE BEAUTY OF a good hobby is never knowing where it might lead. And so it is with my GMax/Microsoft Flight Simulator hobby and the Portsmouth Aerocar. Yesterday I offered a … Continue reading

May 7, 2016 · 4 Comments

PORTSMOUTH AEROCAR, PART 1

THIS IS a tale of post-World War II aviation optimism, the independence of India and, seven decades later, serendipity of the name Portsmouth in researching my GMax/Flight Simulator hobby. This … Continue reading

May 6, 2016 · 3 Comments

CRETORS POPCORN AND PEANUT WAGONS

LAST SATURDAY, I ate popcorn during the Metropolitan Opera’s HD presentation of Strauss’s searing Elektra. What’s more, the popcorn came from a theater concession directly related to this fetching bit … Continue reading

May 5, 2016 · 9 Comments

IT USTA BE SAID…

COLLOQUIALISMS ARE here today and gone tomorrow. But like this temporal analysis, some remain. A little research and some thinking revealed several gems of both categories, which follow in no … Continue reading

May 3, 2016 · 1 Comment

ON GRAVITY CLOCKS

THE TERM “gravity clock” suggests sci-fi. In fact, though, it can be quite the traditional opposite. I learned about gravity clocks through a friend gifting me with the RM /Sotheby’s auction … Continue reading

May 2, 2016 · Leave a comment