Busy.

Been busy.  More, and more interesting stuff soon.  hint

How to Pitch a Tent on a Deck

Neat-o aluminum anchors:


Sure, there are many ways to improvise something similar – a stick and some line, for example – that would serve just fine in a pinch too, but this is so much easier.  Price is pretty reasonable too.  Article at Section Hiker.

When Seasons Collide

The last scrap of the C-storm crashed with what's almost certainly the last cool front of spring over my town this morning.  House-shaking, power flickers, thunder-booming, the whole nine yards.  Definitely worse than last weekend's TS-C.  No damage, so on the whole I'm not complaining.  But it was a sharp battle between spring and summer.

Tonight though.. 65F forecast.  Probably the last of that until October, and I'll gladly take it.

C-Storm Already

And it's only the first week in June.  *sigh*  Gonna be a long, hot summer.

No real trouble from this one though, beyond being stuck inside all day.  Wind gusts to maybe 30 mph.  Got some chores done, so there's the silver lining.  But still... C-storm already and it's only June 7th?  Wonder if we'll get into the Greek letters again this year.

Onward.  Onward and upward.

Still Lost in Math

No, not me.  Well, yeah, me, I'm always lost in math.  Or maybe at a loss with math.  But that's not the point of this post.

Sabine Hossenfelder has more to say, following up on her two year old book Lost in Math.  Video here.   (my 2018 book comments here)

And yeah, the book's now out in paperback.  You should read it, especially if you already have a copy.  In fact, it's high time I re-read my copy.

New from Buffett: Life on the Flipside

Just in time for summer there's a new Jimmy Buffett album.  So how is it?

Good, very good, with not a clunker on the disc.  The overall sound is best described as big, lush, and very Caribbean.  This is a long way from Buffett's early albums, where it's him and a guitar and a handful of session musicians.  This baby has the full entourage treatment.  Whether you think that's a good or bad thing is up to you, but there it is.  Personally, I like it.  Maybe not for every album, but hey, this one's a little different and there's plenty of his acoustic stuff out there already (which I also greatly enjoy).  Go with it, and have a good summer.  I'm glad he insisted on getting this album out to the listening public on time, especially with the delayed summer tour.

Two more things to mention:

1. The packaging is great.  It looks like a double-disc set in a single sleeve, but it's one disc plus an ample booklet of lyrics and notes.  There's a mention and picture of Dick Dale in there, and some heavy-string worked into a song or two.  Which reminds me, I really need to start looking into a new longboard for next year.  Yeah, after forty-plus years West Beach beckons.
2. As previously posted, here's the release notes page at Buffett's site.  Commentary, things to notice, and a few music video links.  Worth your time.

Book Mention: The History of Middle-Earth

– The Unofficial Guide to the Languages, People, and Books of Middle-Earth

Clocking in at a slim 70 pages, this is a mile-high overview of Tolkien's universe.  It covers the basics of the lingering mistrust among the races of Middle-Earth, enough of the history of men to see how things went badly wrong, a little bit on the various branches of hobbit-dom, why there are two major branches of the elves, those sorts of background.  This will emphatically not satisfy the hard-core scholar, but for the person who has watched Peter Jackson's film trilogy and wants to dig in a little deeper, it is just about right.  Even if you are well-steeped in the subject matter, it is still nice to see the grand sweep in course of an easy afternoon's read.

A word of warning however, this thing is completely spoiler-riffic.  If you haven't at least watched the movie (recommended) or read the books (recommended!), hold off on this one.  But yeah, for less than the price of a decent beer for the kindle version, you'll more than get your money's worth.