Two recent amazing books

I recently finished two books I enjoyed well beyond my expectations. First:

This is the story of Louis Zamperini, a prodigy in track who was likely on track to be the first to break the 4-minute mile until World War II intervened.

The story of the war's influence on Zamperini's life and his survival through unbelievable hardship is a story I'll never forget.

Then I tried one that I've been seeing on the shelf for years but never tried:

This one was published in 1990 and is still on hold at our local library.

I experienced it as an audiobook and it's leapt up to the top of my favorites. I greatly enjoyed Neil Gaiman's American Gods and appreciated the one of Terry Pratchett's that I've tried so far: Raising Steam. 

But this one has everything:

• An angel and a demon as protagonists
• A plot involving the Antichrist
• Fumbling of this plot by a bunch of Satanist nuns that are supposed to be helping it
• A 17th century witch who's left prophecies about the present day

... and much, much more including interesting references (for me) to 1990-era computers ...

Money back if not completely satisfied with this one!

Why Amazon wins

I went last weekend looking for a "powerline internet" thing:

I could have used it that evening so instead of just ordering online (as I typically do) I instead went out to a local retailer:

Not only didn't they have any such item in stock, the young sales guy ("I've only been here 3 months") had never even heard of them.

I tried another retailer that was in the same complex: Fred Meyer. They didn't have it either but tried to be helpful: "Try Target" they said.

I did ... no dice. So I ordered from Amazon, along with several other things I needed ...

No wonder their stock is at $1600 or so ...

An alternative view of insomnia from a non-standard sleep doctor

I've never had much trouble sleeping, but others in my family struggle with insomnia. A friend recommended this book:

I enjoyed it thoroughly! One recommendation of his I'm taking is to try getting up at the same time, 7 days a week. I've been doing this and it seems to have helped my adjustment back to working an office job 5 days a week after a couple of years of working at home (and getting an after-lunch nap most days).

But his main focus is the large group that appears in his office saying "I don't sleep!" Everyone sleeps, he says, and proves it (IMHO).

Get a copy for your insomniac friend or loved one today!

Roast beef now comes with (*bleah* caramel coloring)

I recently went to buy some deli roast beef and was surprised that a lot of it in packages on the rack said "Caramel color added." I passed on all this and got what I had previously been buying: Safeway's "Primo Taglio" roast beef.

Much to my surprise, Safeway (or its supplier) has joined the caramel color bandwagon, making roast beef

 look like corned beef:

Bleah! I'm not buying any more of this stuff; I'll stick with making my own  or buying at PCC.

Carbon-dioxide removal: our best chance?

There doesn't seem to be anything like the political consensus to reduce emissions, not to mention the continuing / increasing love of the U.S. driver for big pickup trucks and SUVs:

... and a lot less for the kinds of cars (both EVs) we'd have to move to in large numbers to have a hope of solving the carbon problem:

Nissan Leaf

Chevy Bolt

But in a recent New Yorker article, Elizabeth Kolbert interviews scientists who have developed techniques to actually remove carbon from the atmosphere.

For just 100 million of the trailer-sized modules, you can keep up with current emissions. Sound like a lot? There have been 700 million iPhones produced since 2007 ...

Let's get going on this!

Larry Smarr uses a supercomputer to direct his own surgery

I first heard of Larry Smarr a couple of years ago when he gave a talk at the University of Washington.

He's a big proponent of the Quantified Self, and recently demonstrated the value of his particular approach when he directed his own surgeon in getting his Crohn's disease fixed.

Hmm, I may have to try the Quantified Self Seattle Meetup group ...

A bank transfer app that works as expected

To be fair, Zelle is a big-company app that's being shared out to a bunch of member banks. I tried it in October and it was unusable on the Capital One app I tried. But recently some friends with Chase accounts have got it working well.

So I may have to give it another try ... but another friend sent me a payment with Square Cash, and that worked beautifully:

It doesn't try to get debit card information from the picture of your debit card, just has you type in the number. It took me only about 4 minutes to get it set up and working to accept my friend's payment.

Their (Square, Inc.) revenue model is simple: transfers are free via standard one-business-day delayed ACH, but they charge a fee for you to collect your money instantly.

I can wait for today's payment, but the instant fee is only 1 to 1.5% if I can't wait.

My main bank BECU is working on their Zelle function; Square Cash is a high bar to meet, but I'm looking forward to it!