javacat

Common Moon Mistakes by MinutePhysics. I knew about the full moon rising opposite the sun, and the crescent moon rising near the sun, but there was a lot here i didn't know presented clearly with quick line drawings. 5 minute video, very worth it!

Jump the Paywalls and Help Others Over the Top by Alan Levine. I keep forgetting to try this, so let me know if it works!

right in your browser, where the address reads https://www.wired.com/2004/03/honey-i-shrunk-the-url/ stick right in front of it archive.ph/ making the full link http://archive.ph/https://www.wired.com/2004/03/honey-i-shrunk-the-url/

symbol.wtf. A page of useful Unicode symbols like superscript TM, paragraph, accented letters, musical symbols, etc. Labeled with names so you can search. It doesn't have the accented consonants I need for Balkan languages, but on a Mac I can just hold down the letter to get a list of accented versions to choose from.

I bought a maroon Osprey Sojourn rolling backpack about 15 years ago. Recently it came back from checked luggage with some frayed areas, so I looked up repairs. Turns out Osprey will repair or replace their products no matter how long it's been. I paid $25 to send it in, they decided it wasn't repairable, and sent me a new one in Koseret green. I don't love the new color, but it's better than trying to spot a black item in a sea of black items.

When I asked the customer support person about the color name, I got back what I'm pretty sure was AI slop, so I guess they just picked it because it sounds interesting. Koseret, Lippia abyssinica.

Grateful to have a new pack! In addition to being a different color, they've made slight improvements, but it's essentially the same.

This morning I went to the farmers market, and stopped at the hardware store on the way to pick up earthquake straps for my two 6' tall bookshelves. I swear I was thinking about it before the recent 4.3 earthquake just a couple miles up the road, but now everyone is after getting shaken awake at 3am. Fortunately there were still strap kits available.

I had cleared off the downstairs bookshelf and was working on marking where to drill, when CVS called. Their system let me schedule my Covid vaccine across their lunch break, so they were calling to say I could come in now, or an extra half hour later than I expected. I put down my tools and walked right over. Still on Team Moderna. They didn't ask me any extra questions or hassle me at all, and didn't ask for payment. Hopefully United Healthcare will cough up the payment for it.

Came home, struggled with drilling the holes and getting the long screws to go all the way in. I'm not sure they're anchored as firmly as they should be, but hopefully it's better than nothing.

My stud finder was giving me mixed signals, so I took it apart to check the battery, and then couldn't figure out where an extra piece went. Finally looked it up on youtube, found exactly the video I needed, with a lot of comments from people who had been exactly in my situation. Whew. Anyway, that's why I'm not sure if I picked the best places for the screws.

I put the shoe bins, bags, and cookbooks back on the bookshelf, and took a break by sitting on the front step in the sun and caught up with my accounting.

Then I tackled the bigger bookshelf upstairs. Found a few boxes to put books in, filled them, and made piles from even more books. Wrestled with locating studs again, and got the big screws most of the way into the wall. Sadly scratched the heck out of the wood floor moving the bookshelf on my own. :-( I wanted to find a handyperson to do it for me but just haven't found one. Oh well, now I get to go back to the hardware store and see if there's anything I can do to smooth over the scratch.

I put most of the books back. My arm is starting to feel sore from the vaccine, so I'll deal with the rest tomorrow. But it feels good to have the earthquake strapping done, even if not perfectly. And it feels good to have gotten my Covid vaccine too, although physically it won't feel great for a day or two.