ReaMde

I never thought that I would recommend a book before I finished it, but here I am, less than 1/8th of the way through Neal Stephenson's latest, and shouting to anyone who will listen that it is a must read.

Those who have read his previous works know Stephenson has a knack for portraying remarkably intelligent people doing not-so-intelligent things in bizarre situations, and he does it while keeping his people in character and making the bizarre situations totally believable.

His best books (Cryptonomicon and the System of the World trilogy for example) tend to run well over a thousand pages without an unnecessary word, and Reamde is no exception.

I would write more, but I can't wait to get back to the book.

Moon Stuff

Tonight will be a Super Moon, a Blue Moon and a Blood Moon, and, for once, it should actually be visible here.

• A Super Moon because the full moon will be closest to Earth in its elliptical orbit.
• A Blue Moon because it is the second full moon of the calendar month.
• A Blood Moon because a partial eclipse will cause the moon to turn reddish-orange just before dawn.

That is a whole lot to be happening in one night, and, as if that wasn't enough, it got me thinking about the moon's orbit of the earth.

How long do you think it takes for the moon to circle the earth?

If your first response was 24 hours (or 25 if you account for the fact that the moon rises a little later each day) you would be spectacularly wrong, since most of what you think you are seeing is the result of the Earth rotating on its axis.  

If, on the other hand, you thought in terms of a 28 day lunar cycle, you would be a lot closer to right.  Actually the time required varies depending on your point of view.  If you're counting relative to the sun, it is more like 29 days and change; relative to the stars, it's just over 27.

If all that seems complicated and a little confusing, that's OK.  We could always go back to when the Earth was flat.

Unhinged

The hinge project I talked about yesterday is a no-go.  There is not enough wood on the cabinet side to screw the hinges in properly.
I did find one of the old hinges broken and two of the others had come apart. I was able to get them back together, and that helped a lot.

Hinge Project

When we had our house remodeled several years ago, they built us a very nice pantry in the utility room, with a door that has shelves for storing lots of stuff. 
The only problem with that is that the darn door is too heavy for the hinges they used to hang it. 
The contractor used hinges like this -

which worked for all the kitchen cabinets, but constantly go out of adjustment on the pantry door, causing it to sag and hang open at about a 30 degree angle.

I had thought about replacing them with a six foot piano hinge, but the "expert" at Home Depot suggested these instead.

I bought three plain ones and two with an adjustable self-closing feature.  I'll probably get started on installing them later today, and I'll let you know how it works out.

Either Or

Either our new neighbor made it home last night, or somebody has stolen his truck.

Distracted Eating

A survey released yesterday says that 72% of Americans admit to some sort of electronic distraction while they eat.  Most of them just take their dinner with the TV on - I'm guilty of that - but 29% say they can't get through a meal without at least checking their smart phone.

I guess this gives me a chance to feel superior to that 29%.  For some reason, it reminded me of my father saying "If you had a brain, you'd take it out and play with it."

On the other hand, I'm one of those dinosaurs who only use their phone to talk.  I seldom text, and never use my phone to pay bills, check Facebook, play games, etc.

Spring Garden?